February 23, 1861; The Charleston Mercury
The White Lead, Zinc and Color Works manufactory of Messrs. CARMALT & BRIGGS, we are pleased to say, have never since their commencement been in a more flourishing condition than at the present time. The enterprising proprietors have demonstrated the fact that colors of all kinds can be manufactured in Charleston and sold at Northern prices, thereby giving the Charleston and more Southern purchaser a saving of freight and insurance – equal to three percent. Having heretofore been able to successfully compete with the Northern manufactories, the new tariff which goes into effect on the fourth of March, and which places a tax of fifteen percent on this class of Northern imports, will give our Charleston manufactory a decided and very apparent advantage, and will enable its managers to sell their lead and colors at much more reasonable rates than foreign imported goods, besides the gratification and satisfaction to purchasers of supporting a Southern institution. The mills of Messrs. CARMALT & BRIGGSs have been recently improved and extended, and the superior quality of the various colors manufactured has been fully and frequently acknowledged by many purchasers.
We mention these facts to apprise our friends of the Confederate States who are engaged in the business, of the fact that they need no longer be dependent on a stock on which they will have to pay a high tariff, while an acknowledged superior article, without a tariff, can be purchased in Charleston.