W0msi¥^m ^mb ^ % m m 1 mm tt •n^^ ^U,,. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. ^.^ .At PRESENTED BY UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. y.-',u" V V ,. \>^;^J ^^ rkxSJ'^,,^ ^vj^JvjsJ^" *^, ^1 ^v^^^v^ :^v^-;^ygv; ^yvy^ ^ffc^g^^ ,M^ iy?,wwatf«?i*'<« i^i^:.,Mi i^k^^^y^.. ■tfkjW'^^ .,^'^^^^w ~lU( bWL; PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION, 1867. REPORTS OF THE UNITED STATES COMMISSIONERS. R E F O R T WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL E . R . M U 13 a E , UNITED STATES COMMISSIONEK, ASSISTED BY JOHN L. HAYE S, SECRETARY OF THE "NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF WOOL MANUFACTURERS 18(30 WASHINGTON: O O V E R X M E K T P R I X T T X G OFFICE. 1 868. ■5 CONTENTS SECTION I. WOOL AND ITS CULTURE. Varieties of wool in European markets — Necessity of protection to American wools — Cloth- ing wools — Silesian and Prussian clothing wools — Culture of fine clothing wools in the United States desirable — American clothing wools — Vermont sheep in demand in Austra- lia — Merino combing wools — Sheep husbandry in France — English combing wool — Che- viot sheep — Problems to be resolved in American sheep husbandry— Vast scale of sheep husbandry in Russia — Exemption of duties on sheep imported for breeding. — pp. 6-17. SECTION II. WOOLLEN MANUFACTURES— COMPARISON OF EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN MANUFACTURES. Antiquity of fabrication in Europe — Characters of woolly fibre — Consumption of the world — Characteristic fabrics of eastern nations — England — Belgium — Prussia — Austria — Russia — Relative rank of nations in production of woollen fabrics — Awards to leading centres of European production— Characteristics of American fabrics — Marked excellence in card- wool fabrics — Fancy cassimeres, shawls, flannels, cloakings — American carpets — Evidences of progress within five years — Awards of medals to American manufacturers — Award of grand prize to Pacific mills — Statements of the management of those mills — Principles upon which New England mills were founded — Mr. Nathan Appleton's statement — Rela- tive cost of production in the United States and Europe — Equality in skill, machines, and efficiency of labor — Disadvantages of cost of capital and labor — Necessity of pro- tective duties to neutralize European advantages — Relations of American sheep husbandry to American manufactures, — pp. 17-32. THE WOOLLEN INDUSTRY OF EUROPE. French woollen fabrics at the Exposition — Distribution of groups of manufacturing establish- ments in France — General features of French industry — Contributions of French inven- tions and fabrics to the woollen industry — Culture of taste in France — Schools of design at Lyons — Progress of the art of dyeing in France — Colbert's regulations — Discovery of steam colors — Discovery of artificial ultra-marine — Improvements in madder dyes — French purple — Discovery of murexide — The aniline colors. — pp. 32-44. CHARACTERISTIC CENTRES IN FRANCE. Elbeuf. — The great centre of the fancy cassimere manufacture — Designers — Echantilleurs — Facilities for credit — Separate establishments devoted to single processes of manufacture — Wages and condition of industrial population. — pp. 45-49. Sedan. — The centre of fine cloth manufacture — Invention of fancy cassimeres — Suppression of drunkenness — Wages and condition of industrial population. — pp. 49, 50. Region du Midi. — Centre of manufacture of fabrics for common consumption — Production of peculiar fabrics for the Levant — For the army — Workshop nui'series— Singular features of military establishment of Villeneuvette — Wages and condition of workmen. — pp. 50-53. Rheims. — A centre of combing wool industry — Fabrication of merinos — Improvements in combing wool — Power-loom weaving applied to merinoes — Dependence upon the United IV ' CONTENTS. States — Advantao-es of nudertaking the merino manufacture in the United States — Wages and condition of workmen. — pp. 515-55. Oateau. — Immense establishment — Perfection of machinery and processes — Wages and condition of workmcm. — pp. 55-57. RuUBAix. — The rival of Bradford — History of its growth — Public sentiment opposed to the Anglo-French treaty — Faithfulness of fabrication — The profitableness of manufacturing light fabrics for female consumption — Wages and condition of industrial population. — pp. .57-00. OTHER EUKOPEAN NATIONS. Belgium, Germany, and Austria. — Productions, and rates of wages. — pp. 60, 61. Great Britain. — Growth of the cities of the WestKiding — Bradford, Leeds, Huddersfield, Halifax — Statements of value of British woollen manufacture in 1861 — Wages and condi- tion of workmen — Decline of arts in England — Cause of decline ; Production to supply the markets of the world — Duties of American manufacturers. — pp. 62-GG. APPENDICES. Page. A. American Merinos. — Prepared by request for the report, by Hon. Henry S. Randali,, LL.D., president of National Wool Growers' Association (57 B. The Angora Goat: its Origin, Culture, and Products, by John L. Hayes, secretary of the National Association of Wool Manufacturers 81 C. The Wool best adapted TO VARIOUS Manufactures 107 D. Combing Wool in the United States. Letter of Mr. Joseph Walworth. lis E. Woollen Manufactures in the United States 122 F. The Woollen and WoRSTKD Trade OF Great Britain J3I WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. INTKODUCTIOX. The preparation of a report upon wool and manufactures of wool liaving been committed to the undersigned, it was his original purpose to limit himself to giving the general impressions made at the Universal Exposi- tion of 1867 upon a business man greatly interested in, rather than techni- cally informed as to, the woollen manufacture and the raw material supplying it. But in conformity with the views of the Department of State, that a report relating to so important a branch of national industry miglit take a wider scope with advantage to the public interests, the undersigned has consented to modify his original piu-jjose, by adding to his personal observations more general \dews as to the present condition of the woollen industry at home and abroad, and such statistical state- ments, obtained from the most recent and authoritative sources, as would throw light upon its economic and social relations. In the preparation of this work he has been assisted by Mr. John L. Hayes, secretary of the 2^ational Association of Wool Manufactm^ers, to whom the literary execution of the report has been intrusted. SECTION I. WOOL AND ITS CULTURE. Varieties of wool in European markets— Necessity of protection to Ameri- can WOOLS — Clothing wools— Silesian and Prussian clothing wools— Cul- ture OF FINE clothing WOOLS IN THE UNITED STATES DESIRABLE — AMERICAN CLOTHING WOOLS— Vermont sheep demanded in Australia — Merino combing WOOLS— Sheep husbandry in France. — English combing wool— Cheviot SHEEP — Problems to be resolved in American sheep husbandry — Vast scale of sheep husbandry in Russia — Exemption of duties on sheep imported for breeding. To commence with the raw material, the first impression made upon an American manufacturer by an observation of the woollen manufactures of Europe, as displayed at the Exi>osition, is the im- measurable advantage wliicli the woollen manufacturer of Europe has in the command of an unlimited supply of wot»l, and other raw material of every variety, free of duty. The policy of the modern governments of Europe, unrestrained by any regard for the opinions or prejudices of agriculturists so controlling here, is first and foremost to develop the manufactures of their several countries. Freedom from duties on raw material and breadstufts is but one mode of protec- tion. The necessity for duties on wool as a measure of encouragement to the wool-grower has passed away. Sheep husbandry in Eiu^ope could not be extended by protective duties, as all the land that could be pro- fitably devoted to this purpose is already occupied. England has one sheep to one and three-quarters of an acre of land, while Ohio and Ver- mont have one to foiu- and a half acres, New York one to six and a half acres, Iowa one to twenty-four acres, and the whole United States one to fifty-seven acres. The jjerfection to which the leading varie- ties of European wools has attained removes them from aU compe- tion, and renders protective duties unnecessary. No lustrous combing wools can compete with the Lincoln, Leicester, and Cotswold wools of England; no clothing wools ^ith the Saxon and Silesian wools of Ger- many; no soft combing wools with those of the Eambouillet stock of France. The culture of the latter wools was developed by protection until their excellence relieved them from comx^etition, and even the agriculturists of France assented to the abolition of the duty on wool. The great centre of distribution for the gTeat part of the wool of the world, not consumed at home, is England, the distribution being favored by her warehousing system. All the wool manufacturers of Eiu'ope are gathered at the annual sales at London. The European supply of raw matei'ial constitutes but an inconsiderable portion of the consimiption of Europe. The importations have increased with marvellous rapidity. The imj)ortations of wool into England a little over 30 years ago, viz, WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF AVOOL. 7 in 1830, were, iu roimd uuinbers, from Germany, 74,000 bales ; from Spain and Portugal, 10,000 bales; the British colonies, 8,000 bales; sundry other places, 5,000 bales ; total, 98,000 bales ; and yet at that period, as appears from the testimony before the House of Lords, in 1828, every Avarehouse in England was filled with wool, and stocks were lying on hand for five or six years. In 1864 there were imported, from Australia, 302,000 bales ; from the Cape of Good Hope, 68,000 bales ; from South America, 99,000 bales ; and 219,336 bales from other som^ces — in all, 688,336 bales. Australia now supplies more than three times the whole amount of foreign w^ool consumed in England a third of a centmy ago, and the production of South America exceeds the whole consumption then. The advantages which the European manufacturer enjoys over the American in the com- niand of an unlimited supply of every variety of wool cannot be over- estimated. The range of fabrication of the American manufacturer in clothing and combing wools is limited to the produce of American flocks, under the almost prohibitory duty upon those wools. The Em^opean can select from the peculiar products of every climate and soil of the whole world, which are poured into the great centres of distribution at London and Liverpool. Hence the infinite variety of European manufactures so conspicuous at the Exi)osition, and hence the capacity of the European manufacturer to relieve himself from home competition by changing at pleasure the character of his fabrics. It is true that the American is able to contend with the European manufacturer, who has his wool free of duty, by receiving the imposition of a specific duty on foreign cloths just sufficient to reimburse the duties on wool. Without this neutralizing duty the American could not live for a day, and with it he still suffers in the limitation of his supply of raw material. By these observations upon the present comparative advantages of the American and foreign manufacturer in the supply of raw material, it is not to be inferred that the undersignetl would advocate the application to this country of the British system of protection by the free admission of raw materials which can be advantageously produi^ed here, or that he would for a moment maintain that the wool-gTower can obtain sufficient encoiu^agement through the protection of the manufacturer. Tlie higher demands of American civilization require that all oiu^ industries should be defended against the cheap capital and labor of competing nations. The labor which jjroduces the wool cannot be distingiiished from that which spins and weaves it. Considerations of national independence require us to seek to the utmost possible extent all our sui)plies from domestic sources. The woollen manufacturer has the best assurance of permanent prosperity when he can look to an uninterrupted supply of wool from sources not liable to be cut off by w^ar, famine, pestilence, or political revolutions abroad. The American wool manufacturer, no less than the wool-grower, has the only market for his fabrics at home, and can have a profitable market only when aU the industry of the country is profitably occupied. The system of political economy essential to 8 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. industrial pr<)si)erity in this country demands that the claims of the avooI- grower and manufacturer should be equally respected. If any views here ])resented slumld l)e regarded as suggestive of a chtuige of the system of duties now prevailing, they should be regarded as addressed to American wool-gTowers alone, with the distinct acknowledgment that it is their right, after intelligent consultation with the representatives of kindred industries, to demand the duties which they shall judge to be necessary for the protection of their own. CLOTHING WOOLS, To return to the wools displayed in the great warehouses of Euroi^e, and exhibited at the Exposition. The American manufacturer is struck by the variety of wools, not produced abundantly here, and tirst with the Silesian and Saxony clothing wools of Germany, the fleeces small and the fibre exceedingly fine, and marked by the distinctness and number of its cui'ves or wrinkles ; the staple very short, the wools distinguished for their felting qualities, both the fineness and shortness of staple being- essential qualities for the fine broadcloths and doeskins, for which the German manufacturers are so distinguished. These wools have the highest price of any grown. The wools of Prussia of this character were very remarkable, and among them those exhibited by Mr. Dopping, of Silesia, are worthy of especial mention for their shortness and the distinctness of the cmwes, which were so sharply defined as to give the impression that they had been artificially crimped, Xext to these, and scarcely inferior, are some of the Australian wools, which were distin- guished for the same qualities of fineness of fibre and shortness of staple, and equally observable for theh^ admirable condition, evincing the care with which they are washed and put up. These wools were exhibited in such quantities as to give one the impression of passing through the warehouses of London, Next in quality are the Cape wools. Last among the fine clothing wools in quality and price are those of Buenos Ayres. The German and Australian wools exhibit the highest existing type of the product of the merino race. In their culture weight of fleece is never sought for. The efforts of the gTower are devoted solely to produciug fineness of fibre and shortness of staple. Without the command of wool of this character for filling it is hopeless to attempt the manufactiu-e of the best face goods, such as broadcloths and doeskins. Our foreign importation of German cloths is mainly confined to the black broadcloths, cassimeres, and doeskins made from these wools. There is no difficulty in commanding the skill required for this manufacture, as is evinced by the goods exhibited by Mr. Slater, of Rhode Island. AU the difficidties of mauufactirre can be surmounted by the importation of German workmen. Several hundred sets of machinery could be occupied here in the manu- facture of these goods, demanded for home consumption. The warps, which could be made of such American fleece as is now grown here, would take up two-fifths of the wool required for this manufacture. This AVOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 9 woiild be SO much added to tlie demand for tliis character of wool. The relief alforded to the inaniifacturer, by being able to vary his fabrics, wonld diminish the competition among those compelled to maunfactnre only one style of goods, and, giving more profits to the manipidator of the wool, would seciu-e better prices to the wool-grower. The great problem to be solved in the clothing- avooI industry in this country is how these wools shall be secured. The wool-growers assert that they can be gro^n in this country, and this is by all means the most desirable source from which they coidd be obtained. The success in certain dis- tricts in Tennessee, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, in former times, is an assm\ance that they can be grown. The present supply is altogether insufiicient for any progress in the flue cloth manufactiu-e. It is grati- fying to learn that importations are being made of the best Silesiau stock. It is the duty of the manufacturer to encourage these efforts by discrimi- nating in his prices for the finest wools. The growth of these wools is not a question of soil or chmate, but of profit. If these desired wools are more remunerating than others, they are certain to be produced. But the solution of the problem whether we shall manufacture fine broad- cloths in this country depends mainly upon the wool-growers. It is for them to decide whether or not these wools shall be grown here -, if not, whether they shall be admitted at a moderate duty. If the product of the finest woolled sheep is too small to admit of profit in their culture, the only objection to their growth here, it is worthy of serious consideration by the great body of American wool-growers whether their own interests, by the greater consumption of wool, which can be profitably grown by mix- ture with foreign fine wools, would not be secured by admitting, at a mode- rate duty, the highest priced German and Australian wools, not including such as the mestiza, which compete mth the wools grown here. Any movement for the development of this important branch of manufacture, whether by the growth of the desirable wools, their admission at a lower rate of duty, or by a higher specific duty upon extra fine wool cloths, nmst emanate from the wool-growers, for it is better that the manufac- tiu'e of the highest clothing wools should be abandoned than that the harmonious arrangements between the agricultural and manufacturing branches of the woollen interest, so essential to its stability, should be disturbed. AMEBICAN CLOTHING WOOLS. It should be clearly understood that the wools above referred to are desirable as an addition to, and not as a substitution for, the great bulk of the present American fleeces. The annual production of wool in the United States was estimated, in 1866, at 95,000,000 pounds; and it is estimated that this constitutes about 70 per cent, of the wool manu- factured in this country — this wool being the product of 30,000,000 sheep, consuming 30,000,000 bushels of corn. Our domestic fleece is, therefore, the chief source of our supply. This wool is maialy of a 10 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. medium quality, and is produced fioin grades of the merino I'ace. Witli the increasing gTowth of the country tlie demand for tliis wool should proportionally increase. Its great value for tlie pmposes for which it is generally used is shown in the excellence of our peculiar American fabrics, to be hereafter referred to. There is reason to believe that the jiekl of scoured wool, of a medium character, fiom sheep of the race now recognized as the American merino,^ which has originated in Vermont, is greater than has been oljtained from sheep of the merino blood in any country except those of France. ^Manufacturers are apt to complain of the greasy character of this wool — a complaint too Avell founded vrith respect to wool i>roduced from show sheep; suflicient development of yolk is, however, essential to the gTcatest yield in wool. It is for the interest of the manufactiu-er and of the country that the system of culture should be inrrsued by the wool-grower which shall produce the greatest amount of clean wool with the greatest economy to the wool-grower. The wool-growers, through their associations, which are now being extensively formed and conducted with an intelli- gence displayed in no other department of agriculture, ^ill determine how far this production of yolk can l)e carried with ultimate profit, and whether the evU of excessive yolk, if it is one, may not be corrected by the infusion of blood of another stock. A very interesting and instructive fact in favor of the American merino has been stated, while this i^aper was being prei>ared, by Mr. Bowes, the eminent wool dealer of Liverpool, viz : '' That Vermont bucks are now being selected to give body and quality to the degenerated wools of Xew Zealand." MEEINO CO^LBESG WOOLS. Conspicuous among the wools displayed at the Exposition were those of the merino race, distinguished for the softness and leiigth of fibre. Those fiom France and Australia Avere tlie most noticeable. The wools of this kind from Australia having been derived from the French stock, the length of fi])re, enal)ling these wools to be combed, adai)ts them for the beautiful diess goods for female wear, such as thibets and cashmeres and merinos, which are the most characteristic fabrics of the present century. The wool of this character produced in France surpasses that of any other country, and its possession has caused France to take the lead in this manufacture, which was not attempted in England until the wools from Australia Avere seen to dcA'clop similar s are bred to protluee wool for combing purposes, as this always obtains the highest price. They are of unusual size, ino- ducing tieeces of uncommon weight. Those which have been introduced into this country Avere not regarded as protitable ; partly for their want of hardiness under our system of husbandry, but mainly because there was no demand for their peculiar qualities of fibre. There can be no difiiculty in engrafting the French race niton the American merino. We have then in our own material, and that which can be readily and advantageously produced by the imitrovenunit of our race, the means of supplying a manufacture which is tme of the nu)st inqiovtant in France, and furnishes a large part of the expintation to this country. SHEEP msBAXDKY IX FKAJN'CE. As it is a matter of the highest interest, as well to tlie numufacturer as the agTicultimst, that sheep husbandry should be made profitable in this country, it will be appropriate in this connection to refer to the tendency of sheep husbandry in France to secure the double purpose of profit from wool and mutton in the culture of the merino race. A notice by M. Gayot, nunnber of the Imperial and Central Society of Agriculture of France, njion the merino-ovine races exhibited at Bil- lancourt during the period of the Exposition, furnishes sonu^ interesting information upon this i)oint. After noticing the impulse which was given to French agricultme and manufactiuv by the development of the imperial fiocks of the Spanish race at Kambouillet, and the tendency which prevailed for many years to cultivate the nnuino sheep for wool alone, and referring to the first efiects of the importation of foreign wools in lowering the price of those produced in France, he observes that, at this period, the abandonment of the merino sheep was earnestly urged by many French agricultmists who had become jxissessed with an Anglo- mania for the production of the long-woolled nmtton sheep. This agi- tation, although it ilid not procure the abandonnuMit o\' the meriuo race, naturally nunlified it. The question was finally resolved tliat there was no incompatibility in the production of a very good (piality of wool and 12 * PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. a satisfactory quantity of tlesb. The sheep now produced in France, with tliis doubk^ destination, produce a wool of medium fineness, very much appreciated, and furnish for the butcher a return in flesh satis- factory in quantity and quabty. "The new merino," says M. Gayot, " is well formed ; it grows rapidly; it produces abundantly a wool of medium fineness, but of a quality much sought for for the production of medium tissues, the consump- tion of which has a constantly ascending j)rogression. It is easy of nourishment ; it is more rustic and hardy than the foreign races ; it fat- tens well, and at all ages, and furnishes a product in mutton which bears comparison with all others without disadvantage, and it is notably less adipose than the so-called perfected races of England." The consideration last referred to will be appreciated in this country; the excessive fatness of the English mutton sheep, although not objec- tionable to the English laborer, being distasteful to American consumers. " 'No one can deny," says M. Des Farges, in 18G3, "that the growers in France, who have made a good selection, and have had in view the double end of wool and flesh, have obtained as much precocity and weight Avith the medium- wool merinos as with the mutton races, I have seen a lamb of seven months, killed by accident, which gave a net pro- duct in flesh of "24: kilograms, and in tallow of 4.50 kilograms ; the skin was worth about 8 francs. Another lamb of 9 J months gave a product, in flesh, of 32^ kilograms, and in tallow of 3.930 kilograms ; its skin Avas sold for 10 francs. The same grower sells regularly at his sheep-fold, for the butcher, his fat sheep, including the fleece, at 30 francs for animals six months old ; for 60 francs at eighteen months, and for 80 francs at thirty months. The change efiected in the French merino is thus described by M. Gayot after giving the peculiar points of the old merino : " The amelio- rators of the ncAV race have had to fulfil another piogramme. At first they had only to produce a short wool ; this alone implied great modifi- cations in the skin. The folds disappeared upon a more ample body, Avhich has become lower and more elongated, more filled out, more fleshy and less bone. It is a constant physiological residt that, with a given race, the less the skeleton is developed, the longer becomes the staple of the fleece. Such, then, are the new characters deduced physiologically one from the other ; a more cylindrical structure ; a diminution in the volume of the bone ; the disappearance of the folds of the skin ; a sup- pression of the horns ; a very notable contraction of the head and of the deformities which dishonored it ; a descent of the wool upon the parts of the body where it had neither quality nor value ; the choice pieces, the sides (cotelettes) and legs, become more marked and acquire more weight ; the wool of medium quality becomes more abundant, and is at the same time soft and long ; the growth of the animal is more rapid ; the fattening more easy ; the return of flesh greater, and the quality more appreciable." WOOL AND MAXUFACTUEES OF WOOL. 13 It was observed tliat tlie fitness of the new merino race for tlie (culti- vated and i)<)i)nloiis districts of France was so marlved tliat tlie exhibit- ors at Billanconrt of animals of the small and fine- wool Kegretti race displayed them Avith this published precaution : "In poor countries little advanced, where the pasturage is thin and the price of flesh will not cover the cost of production, the wool ought to be the principal and often the only product of sheep. We must then attempt to obtain as much wool as possible upon animals of small size and easy to nourish." It is for our ag'ricidtiu'ists to determine whether the facts above given can be of practical application in this country. ENGLISH COMBINa WOOL. The possession, by England, of the long-wooUed races of sheep was the foundation of her manufoctmnng supremacy, the worsted manufacture supplied by this wool far surpassing that of clothing wool, and having opened the manufacture of cotton. IVIore than half of the wool of Eng- land, whose annual product is about 250,000,000 pounds, is used for combing purposes, no wool of the merino race being produced. There is no more important question to American agriculture and manufactures, and no one more nearly related to the vital question of cheap sustenance, than the inquiry whether the long-woolled mutton sheep shaU be pro- duced abundantly in this country. The present consumption of this wool is about 0,000,000 pounds. The extension of the manufacture, which has been mechanically successful here, is limited by the supply of material ; were this abundant the combed- wool industry would soon take its place by the clothing- wool industry, and double the products of the wooUen manufacture. That there are no jihysical obstacles, such as con- dition of son and climate, iu this country to prevent the culture of the long wools of English blood, is demonstrated by the success in the cul- ture of this wool in Upper Canada, from which province we obtain nearly all the long combing wool consumed here, our manufacture having been stimulated by the reciprocity treaty, Avhich admitted these wools without duty. These wools are successfully and profitably grown in the neigh- borhood of Cleveland, Ohio, and also iu Kentucky, where a new race of long-woolled sheep appears to have been formed. The inducements for growing long-woolled sheep, especially in the neighborhood of the gTeat cities, are, that profit is derived from three sources — the mut- t<)n, lambs, and wool — each coming to market at different seasons. The value of combing wools, as compared with the merino clothing wools, has greatly increased, and, in all probability, will continue to do so. The English combing fleeces were worth, in 1855, only Is. l^d. In ISGl, they were worth 2s. •IrZ. They had more than doubled in price while the clothing wools had just about held their price; the reason for this difference being that, while the demand for long lustre wool for the worsted manufacture has greatly increased, its culture has been confined to England, Holland, and parts of Germany, while the vast regions of 14 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. Australia, the Gape of Good Hope, and Buenos Ayres, liave been opened to fine wool husbandry. American agriculturists differ as to the i)roflt ot growing the wool of English blood in the United States. On the one hand, the i)resident of the Kew England Society of Agriculture asserts that " the mutton sheep of England are unsuited to our climate and soil, and are neither adapted to the extensive grazing lands where flocks are fed which are counted by the thousand, nor to the small farm which cannot furnish any luxuriance of food." On the other hand, the presi- dent of the National Wool Growers' Association, with more discrimina- tion, asserts that the Cotswolds and Leicesters are well adapted to profit- able breeding in the State of 'New York, for mutton and wool combined, in situations where the lands are rich, unsubject to drouth and adapted to root culture, and where good city mutton markets are easily accessi- ble; he says, " they are great favorites with dairy farmers, and with grain growing farmers who wish to keep but few sheep." If the present high duties on combing wools shall stimulate their i)roduction, they should be continued. If they fail of this effect after a reasonable trial, the intelligence of the great body of the wool-growers will lead to the reduc- tion of duties on these wools to a revenue standard. It is for the interest of the grower of the American merino wool, that there should be a sup- ply of long wool to develop the worsted manufacture, that thereby a demand may arise for combing wools of merino blood, for the fabrication of the soft and fine stuff goods i^reviously referred to, the command of both kinds of wool being necessary for a prosperous manufacture, in some fabrics one supplying the warp and the other the filling.^ CHEVIOT SHEEP. A race of sheep producing wool adapted for combing and special cloth- ing purposes has been altogether neglected in this country. This is the Cheviot sheep, so extensively bred in Scotland in place of the old High- land breed, and which supplies the chief revenue of the vast estates of the noble families of Breadalbane, Argyle, Athol, Sutherland, and Buccleuch. The introduction of these sheep would lead to the supply of a most valuable and much needed material for our juanufacturers. The wool is sufflcieutly long to be combed and may be all converted into worsted. It is finer than the CotsAvold, and can be advantageously mixed with English combing wool. Our worsted manufacturers, familiar with the working of this wool in Scotland, consider its acquisition for combing purposes, simply, as very desirable. It is, however, particularly desira- ble to supply an imj)ortant deficiency of material for certain card wool fabrics. It is this wool, or a mixtui'e of it, which gives their peculiar character to the Scotch tweeds and the Scotch cassimeres and coarser shawls. It is also extensively used at Eochdale for blankets, for which 1 See letter of Mr. Walworth on "Combing Wools," in Appendix, not accessible when this report was submitted. WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 15 puriiose it is specially fitted by being less liable to felt than the merino wools. We have invariably failed, in this conntry, in attempts to make goods corresponding to the Scotch cassimeres, so much in request.^ The basis of these fabrics is the Cheviot wool, to which finer wools are added to give variety to the texture; their peculiar style resulting, according to the statements of Mr. Bowes, from the mixtiu-e of the coarse and long with short and fine fibre. These sheep resemble the Leicesters in general appearance, being witliout horns and having white faces and legs, though they are much inferior in size. They have an advantage over the Lei- cesters in their superior hardiness, as they thrive with conditions of keep and exposm-e under which the former would perish. Protected by their close fleece, which prevents the penetration of rain and snow, they bear with comparative impunity the storms of the Scottish hills and thrive on their pastures. Their limbs are of a length to fit them for travelling, and enable them to pass over bogs and snows, through which a shorter legged animal could not penetrate. In Scotland they have no other food, except when it is proposed to fatten them, than the natural grass produced on their own hills. The hardiness of the animals of this race, and the facil- ity with which, unlike the Leicesters, they are nourished and tended in large flocks, would seem to fit them admirably for the rough husbandry of Cahfornia, Kew Mexico, and the mountains of North Carolina. In the present state of our manufactures it is certain there would be an extensive demand for their wool. Although it may seem presumptuous in a manufacturer to attempt to throw light upon the question of sheep husbandry, the object is more to disclose our necessities than to pronounce remedies. It is apparent that this most ^'ital of aU agricultural problems is very far from ha\ing been resolved in this country. England has resolved the question for her soil and climate, and has made the mutton sheep culture the pivot upon which her agTicidture revolves, and the means of making her fields more productive in wheat than even the prairies of the west. In this country new elements enter into the consideration of this question ; among them is the means of making our peculiar possession of Indian corn most avail- able in the production of wool and mutton, and the relations of sheep husbandry to the culture of the beet for sugar, an industry destined to have a great extension at the west. Profit to the farmer and a supply of raw material to the manufacturer are not alone to be considered. With the increasing dearness of animal food the question of cheaper sus - tenance is commg to be as vital here as in Europe. The greater devel- opment of sheep husbandry, with a A'iew to the supply of mutton as well as wool, wOl be the most efiicieut and quickest means of dimin- ishing the cost of all animal food, as well as of increasing the supply of cereals by restoring our degenerating soil to remunerating cidtivation. Happily the interests of sheep husbandry are receiving, in this country, 1 Since the above was written, fabrics called Cheviots, similar to the Scotch g-ootls, have been successfully made here. 16 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. more earnest and intelligent attention than ever before. There is no movement in Ameri(;an agriculture more encouraging than the vitality of the recent national, State, and county associations of those engaged in this branch of agriculture, and the vigor and talent with which the departments of sheep husbandry are conducted in the leading agricultural papers. Eeciuring to the Exposition, the evidences of the vast scale upon which sheep husbandry is carried on in Russia, appearing in the notices of its exhibitors at Paris, could not fail to attract attention. Mr. Tilibert speaks thus of his flock : " It consists of 70,000 merino sheep. In 1864 it numbered 50,000 head, which gave 12,800 poods ^ of wool. Mr. Michel Bernstein, of Odessa, describes his production as follows : " The flock of Falz Feim consists of 400,000 animals. The last shearing pro- duced 30,000 poods, washed, and sold for 870,000 roubles, or 2,974,500 francs." Passing over the coarse wools of the Highland breed, the carpet wools of Russia and South America, the alpacas of Peru, and the Angora of Turkey ,2 all of which, with the exception, perhaps, of the latter, are of but nttle interest to the American wool producer, as they do not compete with any wools grown in this country, or which are likely to be grown, because other wool can be produced vnth greater profit, as it is not usual to raise rye on land which will raise an equal amount of wheat, the under- signed would observe that the interest displayed by all the continental governments of Europe in the introduction of valuable breeds of sheep is worthy of imitation by our own government. If the introduction, at the government exi)ense, of valuable foreign breeds of sheep, to be confided to the Department of Agriculture, might not be deemed expedient, there is certainly every reason for favoring the importation of desirable breeds of sheep and other animals by annulling the duties on such imx)ortations. ' V MooJ is Poual to 1G.8L1 kilorrams ; .45311 of a kiloo^ram is equal to one pound avoir- ' See special paper upon tlie "Angora Goat," in the Appendix. SECTION 11. WOOLLEN MANUFACTURES. COMPAEISOX OF EUROPEAN AXD AMERICAN MANUFAC- TURES. Comparison of European and American Manufactures— Antiquity of fabri- cation IN Europe— Consumption of the world— Relative cost of produc- tion IN THE United States and Europe— French woollen fabrics at the ExposiToN— Culture of taste in France— Progress of the art of" dyeing in France— Characteristic centres in France— Belgium, Germany and Aus- tria—Great Britain— Duties of American Manufacturers. The American observer, astonislied at the marvellous display of fab- rics of wooUeu of such infinite variety and beauty at the Exposition, nearly all the ijroducts of Em-opean looms, might have been mortified at the meagre dis]ilay from his own country, if he had not reflected that the AvooUen manufacture has hardly existed in this country more than half a century, and that even duriug its short existence it has been sub- ject to a system of legislation which has been constant only in its insta- bility. In Europe the woollen manufactiu'e was the first art which revived after the dark ages. As early as 1395, the stuffs of Rheims sent to Baja- zet II, for the ransom of French captives were regarded as the richest and most curious gift which France could offer. Both in France and England this industry received every favor which the state could render, and in the latter country its prosperity is the result of a persistent national care from the time of Edward III, unexampled in the history of industry. It could not be expected that the products of our brief expe- rience should bear any comparison with the results of the traditions and inherited experience of centuries. The comparison of our fabrics as they were known to exist here, rather than as they were exhibited — for the display of our goods w^as very far from being an adequate representation of the real condition of our industry — was far from discouraging, while the recent progress in the most advanced nations gave the best assiu'- ance that we also might attain success in the bountUess field upon whose borders we had entered. The emotion most vividly excited by a general survey of the depart- ment under consideration was admiration of the wonderful qualities of the fibre, w'hich is callable of producing objects and fabrics infinitely surpassing in variety of appearance as well as of application those i)ro- duced from any other material, thus showing itself to be, of all fibrous materials, that of the first necessity to man. This fibre, we observe, is made more perfect than any other by the chemical elaborations of an animal of high organization, thus surpassing silk which is derived from an animal of a lower organic structure. Its specific gravity being the least 2 w 18 PAEIS UNIVEESAL EXPOSITION. of all fibrous substances, its tissues are the lij^htest, warmest, and most healthful. This material, pro^'i(len make to distinguish themselves from the masses, but they are of the same class who in France, under the empire, when cotton stockings were prohibited, preferred smuggled cotton stockings to silk, because they could be only obtained at double the cost of the latter. Fashion all over the world demands the use for common wear of the medium mixed and fancy cloths in i^lace of those of high linish. These we can produce from the admirable medium wools grown upon our own soil, and thus the American clothing-wool manufacturers and wool- growers are able to j)erform their part in one of the first duties of a nation, that of clothing its OAAai people. In the class of goods referred to there is no need whatever of foreign sui)ply, and none woidd be sought abroad if there were among us that national sentiment in favor of home produc- tion which prevails among the nations of Europe. Il^otwithstandiug the freedom of exchange among European nations, the national sentiment is found to be the most efticient encouragement of domestic production. The lustrous German cloths so freely sold here find no sale in England. The London tailors who visited the Exposition reported that there was nothing on exhibition which would compare with the cloths of England. How different is the practice with the tailors aud retail dealers in this country Avho persistently foster the unjiatriotic prejudice in favor of foreign goods, because they can obtain larger profits on the foreign article than on the domestic, as the cost and quality of the former are less generally known than of the latter. To specify more minutely the comparative qualities of American goods : In the whole range of fancy cassimeres, including the mixed goods of silks and wool, in style, taste, perfection of manufactm-e, and strength of material, we excel the English, and nearly approach the manufactm^es of France. The same may be said of the whole range of flannels, colored and plain, and of the Esquimaux and Moscow beavers, which we have imitated from the Germans. In the low cost pilots, used as substitutes for the beavers, sightly to the buyer but trashy in wear, it must be admitted that we can hold no comparison with the English. In all the grades of woollen shawls which can be fabricated of American wool we successfully vie in fabric and cheapness of price with the Scotch, who are confessedly at the head of this branch of manufacture. In the class of all-wool goods of light weight, made in all varieties of colors, denom- inated sackings and cloakings, and largely sold for women's wear, the fabrics are now sold in this country, at prices reduced to a gold standard, cheai^er than any similar fabrics are sold in Europe. Goods of this char- acter, displayed in the American quarter of the Exposition, and marked at their net gold prices, attracted great attention for theii' cheapness, and constant applications were made for their purchase. In some other branches of the woollen industry, besides that of card wool, especially those where we have equal facilities with the Euiopean manufacturer in obtaining raw material, oiu- x^roductions bear a favora- 22 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. ble comparison. Ainericau carpets are fully equal, if not su]ierior, to the Enj>lisli carpets of similar grades. In the American Brussels and tapestry carjx'ts there is lu) inferiority in desiijins, colors, or textm-e. In fact they are woven here and in England by the sajue machinery. The American retail purchaser is invariably compelled to pay a higher price for a foreign carpet of the same grade; that is, he can j^urchase a better American carpet at the price of the foreign article. The Ameri- can ingrain carjiet, which is much more largely consnmed, is unques- tionably superior to the English. This is evinced by the ftict that the yarns used in English carpets are not sufticiently strong to admit of their being woven in power looms, as is done in this country. There is a prevailing i)reiudice against American dyes in carpets as well as in other fabrics. I>ro prtyudice could be nioi-e unfounded. The same chem- ical agents and the same processes are used here as abroad. We have in our establishments the best dyers that the better juices of labor paid here can seduce from Europe. One manufactm^er of opera flannels exhib- its patterns of eighty different hues on one card. In the present state of the art of tincture in Europe and this country bad dyeing residts not from want of skill, but the intentional use of cheap materials, and the risk of getting evanescent dyes is much greater in piu'chasing cheap imported goods than in buying the products of well-known American manufactm-ers, who only use inferior dyes when purchasers insist upon cheaper goods. The following extracts from the last annual report of the National Association of Wool Manufacturers are confirmatory of the views above given of our recent progress in the woollen manufacture : "During the war, the standard of excellence in oiu- goods was undoubt- edly far too low, and discredit was thrown upon our national production. Home competition, the inevitable result of protection, is now for excel- lence; and the vast improvement exhibited the present year is the sub- ject of universal comment and surprise with the leading merchants. The leading organ of the dealers in dry goods — the Economist, a w^ell-known free-trade advocate — declares as follows : ' It can be truly said of our manutacturers this season, they have made wonderful progress over last year. Such continued improvements in the manufacturing of woollen goods will soon place us beyond the name of rivals, and cause oiu^ pro- ducts to be imitated the world over, as our most choice styles and sala- ble patterns are the result of American ingenuity, both in coloring and in style.' As the admissions of an opponent are legitimate testimony, we may fairly quote in this connection the declaration of the same organ, that ' a great inqiulse has been given to domestic manufiicturers under the iniluence of the high tariff, and the result is seen in the splendid dis- play made by our woollen mOls.' " Our progress has not been limited to improvements of old fabrics in style or economical production. Many new fabrics have been success- fully achieved. Among the notable examples of recent introductions WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 23 may be specified the silk- mixed clotlis, liaving threads of silk incorporated with both the warp aud the filling-; adding strength to the textnre, and giving agreeable nentral shades to the snrface. It is admitted that the American products of these goods, which are largely consumed, fall short in no respect of tlieu' German prototj^ijes. The introduction of these goods is interesting, as aiding in the development of a kindred branch of American manufactures, all the silk used in these goods being- spun in this country. The consimiption of silk is by no means incon- siderable, that consumed by one manufacturer, for this class of goods, exceeding annually |80,000 in value. The silk and wool manufactm-es are united in another fabric of great beauty, largely made in Connecti- cut — the Irish i)oplins, composed of worsted filling, which is covered completely by a warp of silk. This beautiful addition to our products of luxury, it is hoped, is the harbinger of a broader extension of the silk manufacture, which needs only sufiicient protection to take its place in this country with the manufactures of wool and cotton. " The great perfection which we have attained mthin the last two years in the manufactui^e of the class of cloths styled Esquimaux beav- ers, for overcoatings, is worthy of especial commemoration. Five years ago all the goods of this class, consumed in this country, w^ere imported. The cheapness and excellence of the goods of this class recently fabri- cated here have led to the exclusion of the foreign product. The goods of this class, manufactiu'ed by the Germania Mills, exhibited at the Paris Exposition, received the award of a medal of high class. " Marked improvements have been made within the last year or two in the production of knit goods. Until quite recently the manufacture of shaped stockings, shirts, and di'awers, made abroad wholly on hand machines, has not been attempted here. An American machine now performs automatically the narrowing and widening of the best class of knit goods, which is done elsewhere by hand. A great difficulty in the manufacture of knit goods has been the seaming, which, when done by hand, involved the distribution of the work to the homes of the skilled Avomen hy whom the work was finished at great cost. Within the last year a machine has been perfected by American ingenuity for seaming automatically. In one establishment a hundred little girls are employed on these machines, earning from half a dollar to a dollar a day, and accomplishing the seaming more perfectly than it was ever done by hand. Thus a completely shaped knit article is produced entirely by power, equal in all respects to the goods of the most celebrated English makei's ; while they are afforded at materially reduced prices. " Of recent novelties in our manufacture, the fabrics which have attracted most admiration are the cloakings, so largely introduced during the present season. Even experienced manufacturers are astonished by the new range which is given to the application of woolly fibre, l)y the surprising variety of styles and effects obtained, and that they arc capa- ble of being produced by machinery. The models which gave the idea 24 PAEIS UNIVEESAL EXPOSITION. of the fabrics produced liere, originally conceived and executed in Aus- tria, under a protective system of over seventy ]h'y centum, first appeared at the London Exi)osition in 18G2, and were regarded as marked features of the Exposition. To the genius and enter])rise of a young manufac- turer of Rhode Island is due the conception of reprodu ting the Austrian inventions in this country. He was able to carry his conception into practical execution, by personal observation and actual labor in the Austrian mills. Not content with imitation, he introduced new styles and textures adapted to American wool ; and the goods now produced by him, and l\v other manufacturers who have followed his example, although iHirely American in design, are in no respect inferior to the foreign models ; while they are sold at from two to three dollars less than the prices at which the imported goods can be afforded, the Amer- ican goods being woven by machinery, while the Austrian goods are woven by hand." The highly respectable position occupied by the United States in the card- wool industry was indicated by the awards at the Exposition. It has been observed that no higher award than a silver medal was made to any individual or single establishment in this class. Among the 102 awards of the silver medal in this class, the 66th in number, and the first to an American exhibitor, was one for cloths manufiictured by the Washington miUs, of Lawrence, Massachusetts, exhibited as illustrative of the average styles and quality of the woollen goods now made in the United States. These fabrics, 30 in number, were not made for the Exposition, but represented the daily average products of the mill. Upon each sample a card was affixed, stating the selling price in this country. The jury, in making this honorable award, had in -sdew the excellence and variety of these fabrics, their fitness for general con- sumption, and the reasonableness of the prices at which these goods are afforded in this country. The award was an important testimony in behalf of American fabrics, as the production of this mill, although undoubtedly equalled in quality as to some fabrics by many others here, is the largest in the country, and ranks among the most considerable in the world. A silver medal, being the 67th in number, was awarded to the Web- ster woollen mills, of Massachusetts, S. Slater & Sons, for the admirable card- wool fabrics, consisting of black broadcloths, doeskins, castors, &c., produced in this establishment, their excellence placing beyond question our capacity of production in this department, with a sufficient supply of the requisite raw material. A bronze medal was awarded to Mr. H, Stursberg, of ^CSTew York, for beavers, fully equalling those of German make, produced at the Germania mills, in Holyoke, Massachusetts. A bronze medal was also awarded to the Mission woollen mUls, of San Francisco, California, for card- wool fabrics. The blankets exhibited from California would ha^'e done credit to any of the older States. It is greatly to be regretted that no samples were displayed of our WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 25 productions iu other departments of the woollen indnstry in which we have made mnch advance, as in carpets, knit goods, and delaines. The department of combed wool mannfactiu-es, which in England and France employs the larger part of the capital and labor engaged in the woollen indnstry, we may be said to have scarcely entered npon, so vast is the field still nnoccnpied. Om^ progress in the cotton manufacture has directed our efforts principally to one branch of the worsted indus- try, the manufacture of the mixed fabrics with a warp of cotton and a filling of wool or worsted, which are classed under the generic name of mousselines delaine. In this manufacture we are favored by the char- acter of oiu' native wools. In consequence of the domestic manufacture of this fabric, the importation of printed delaines has almost wholly ceased, oiu^ goods being softer, owing mainly to the qualities of domestic wool, and taking color better than the competing imported fabrics. Of these goods not less than 60,000,000 yards are made here, which are all consumed in this country. This manufacture is peculiarly interesting, as one of the American establishments engaged in it was able to present t-o the Exposition a most honorable illustration of the manner in which the interests of the manufactimng proprietor, and the material, moral, and intellectual well-being of the workmen, are harmonized in this country. A special jury was constituted at the Paris Exposition to award x)rizes to persons, establishments, and localities which, by a special organization or special institutions, have developed a spirit of harmony among all those co-operating in the same work, and have provided for the material, moral, and intellectual well-being of the workmen. In response to a call from this jury, the manager of the Pacific mills, situated iu Lawrence, Massachusetts, i)resented a statement of the operations and conduct of this establishment, and received the distinguished award of a grand prize, consisting of a gold medal of the value of 1,000 francs and 9,000 francs in gold; similar awards ha\dng been made to 13 persons, estab- lishments and localities in other parts of the world. The follo^^dng facts are condensed from the paper of Mr. Chapin, which will be found in full in the appendix: This establishment was erected in 1853, at a cost in capital of $2,500,000. Its machinery is propelled by a faU of water of 1,500 horse-power. The average sale of manufactm^ed goods, consisting of printed delaines and calicoes, has exceeded for some years past $7,500,000. It employs about 3,600 work people; of these there are 1,680 men and 1,510 women; the rest consisting of boys and girls from 10 to 18 years old. In the origin of the establishment provision was made to secure the material, moral, and inteUectual welfare of the workmen, both as a duty to them and as a measure of self-interest to the proprietors. The material interests of the workmen are provided for by the construction of cheerfid, comfortable, and well- ventilated workrooms; also, in the construction of dwellings for families of work-people, which are fiu-nished at a rent equal to one-eighth of the wages of the head of a family; and, secondly, by the 26 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. erection of large buildings, used as boarding-liouses, for tlie use of single females, whose residences are at a distance. These houses are provided vntli rooms acconunodating two persons in each, the female operatives paying about one-third of their average wages for lodging, food, lights, and washing in these boarding-houses. Another instrumentality for the material welfare of the workmen is an association ipr mutual relief, of which each person employed by the com- pany must be a member. This association provides for any sick person who has paid from two to six cents, for at least three months, a weekly allowance for a period of at least 26 weeks, of from $1 25 to |3 75. In the course of 12 years this association, to which the company contributes weekly, has expended for the benefit of sick members a sum exceeding $25,000. For the moral protection of the large number of females employed by the company, the boarding-houses are controlled by persons carefully selected to influence this class of persons, and to act in the place of guardians. Unmarried men are never allowed to lodge in the boarding- houses, and married men only in rare instances, when accompanied by their wives. The doors of the houses are locked at 10 o'clock at night. It is impossible for an openlj' vile person to remain connected with the company. Men of intemperate or general bad habits are excluded, and it is an establislnMl principle that all profanity, or any bad example, or severe use of authority among the head workmen, must be strictly avoided, especially when these overseers have in charge females or young persons. For the intellectual culture of the workmen there is a library, estab- lished by the contribution of one cent per week from each person employed, containing at present more than -4,000 volumes. This insti- tution is under the control of the workmen. Separate rooms, supplied with newspapers and current periodicals, at all times comfortably warmed and lighted, and accessible at all hours, are provided for males and females. The number of work-peoi)le who cannot make use of this library, from being unable to read, does not exceed 50 in 1,000, and these are univer- sally of foreign birth. The advantages resulting to the employers from this care for the eleva- tion and welfare of their operatives, and to workmen themselves, are: There have been no sfril-es among the work-people ; they have been encour- aged to feel that any grievance will be patiently listened to and frankly discussed, and the result has always been favorable to good order; a higher class of workmen has been secured, especially among the over- seers, who engage the laborers in their different departments, and give a character to the mass ; the work-people have been enabled to invest their surplus earnings largely in savings banks, such deposits largely exceetling $100,000 at the present time; many work-i)eople own houses free fi^om debt, more than $50,000 being thus invested ; several workmen have become owners of the stock of the company — the stock so held has WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 27 a present market value exceeding' |60,000; many of tlie workmen have become members of the city government in its board of aklermen and common council -, linally, the pecuniary success of the company has war- ranted a liberal payment of wages. The least sum now paid in weekly wages to the youngest employe is $1 82, gold, and the number belonging to this class is very small. Boys of 10 years do not receive less than $2 85, gold, weekly* The least amount paid weekly to men is $6 75, gold; while a very large majority receiA'e much more. Females receive from $2 48, gold, weekly, or about 12^ cents for the least, to |6 72, gold; while a few earn more. This excepts young girls, whose wages are the same as the least sum named above. Spinners, weavers, and a few others, are paid in accordance with the product, some of them earning very large wages. No comment is needed to give force or application to these facts, which may find their parallels at the Washington, Middlesex, and Salisbirry mills, and most of the large establishments of New England. These facts can be better appreciated by comparing the social influence of the American system of manufacture, as above exhibited, with that of Rou- baix, to be hereafter described, where fabrics similar to those of the Pacific mills are produced. The woollen manufactiu-ers cannot claim for their industry alone the credit of harmonizing the interests of employers and workmen. They must divide their honors with the Lowells, Ai^ple- ton's, and Jackson's, of the past generation, the early promoters of the American cotton manufacture, of which the woollen manufactme in New England, in its present form, is an offshoot. The benevolent forethought exercised by these excellent men to preserve the moral character of our rural population in the change to a new form of industry, whose influ- ence elsewhere had proved so deleterious, is referred to by Mr. Nathan Appleton in his " History of the introduction of the Power Loom and the origin of Lowell." After modestly attributing to Mr. Francis C. Lowell, with whom Mr. Ai)pleton had been associated since 1811, " the credit of having first introduced the new system in the cotton manufac- ture under which it has grown so rapidly ;" and observing that Mr. Lowell's " care was especially devoted to arrangements for the moral character of the operatives employed," Mr. Appleton continues : " The introduction of the cotton manufacture in this country, on a large scale, was a new idea. What would be its eftect on the character of our popida- tiou was a matter of deep interest. The operatives in the manufactming cities of Europe were notoriously of the lowest character for intelligence and morals. The cpiestion therefore arose, and was deeply considered whether this degradation was the result of the peculiar occupation or of other and distinct causes. We could not perceive why this peculiar des- cription of labor should vary in its effects upon character from all other occupations. There was little demand for female labor, as household manufacture was superceded by the improvements in machinery. Here was, in New England, a fimd of labor well educated and virtuous. It was 28 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. not perceived how a profitable employment bas any tendency to deteriorate tlie character. The most efficient ^lards were adopted in establishing boardinji^-honses, at the cost of the company, under the charge of respecta- ble women, with every i)rovision for religious worship. Under these cir- cumstances the daughters of respectable farmers were readily induced to come into these mills for a temporary i)eriod. The contrast in the char- acter of our manufacturing population compared Avith that of Eiu'ope has been the admiration of the most intelligent strangers who have visited us. The effect has been to more than double the wages of that descrip- tion of labor from what they were before the introduction of this manu- facture. This has been in some measure, counteracted, for the last few years, by the free-trade policy of the government ; a policy which, fully carried out, will reduce the value of labor Avith us to an equality with that of Em-ope." The opprobrious epithet of ^' white slavery" has sometimes been applied to the labor in the New England factories. No aspersion could be more unwarranted. The founders of the prevalent New England factory sys- tem carefully purged it from every element of feudalism. They avoided the English plan, which had been at first introduced elsewhere, of em- ploying families in the mill, often including children who should have been at school, the families being kept in a state of absolute dependence upon the mill, and exposed to suffering whenever there was any inter- ruption in the business. They abolished the custom of payment by orders on a factory store, which tended to involve the workmen in debt and dependence, and instituted the practice of weekly payment of wages in money. They provided comfortable boarding-houses, which attracted work-people of mature age from the distant rural homes, to which they could return when the business of the mill was interrupted, a system which greatly favored the freedom of movement of the laborer, and they abjured all attempts to exercise political or religious control upon the workmen. In fact the independence of the laborer secured by these measures was one of the most marked features of the new era in the manufactuiing business of New England. A more important point of comparison between American and foreign fabrics is the relative cost of production of such manufactures, as we have most successfullyachievedhere,measuredby the only correct standard, the relative expenditure of human labor required for such production. The solution of this question will determine whether we have such natiu-al or acquired advantages as will justify the encouragement of this manufacture as a national industry. In pursuing this inquiry we can fix upon no single representative article of uniform quality and value; such as a ton of pig- iron, the relative cost of which would determine the comparative advan- tages of the American or foreigner in the manufacture of iron. The infinite variety of cloths forbids the selection of any one as the standard of com- parison, even if it were possible to obtain data from the books of foreign manufacturers. This question must be solved for the products of the card- WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 29 wool industry, generally, by comparing the efficiency of our system, pro- cesses, and macliinery of tabrication. The many practical manufacturers who have recently visited Europe for the exi)ress piu^pose of studying its industries conciu" in declaring that, in these respects, we are on an equality Avitli the most advanced nations. Laying aside the supi)osed advantages which we have in the possession of water-power, upon which far too much stress is laid in popular estimates, we ai)i)ly everywhere in oiu- fobrication of woollens the factory system and make the utmost use of mechanical power, while handicraft processes are still largely used abroad, especially in weaving. For the i^reparation of card-wool no machinery at the Exposition equalled in efficiency the American burring machinery exhibited there, such as is in general use here. In the card- ing- of wool no improvements were seen at Virviers, one of the chief cen- tres of the card-wool industry in Europe, which we do not have in use. About the same number of hands were employed at the cards as here. Spinning in large establishments abroad is usually i)erformed by mules, while jack spinning is more generally adopted in New England, as better suited to the difterent qualities and quantities of yarns demanded by the variety of fabrics usually produced in our mills. The mules used here are of equal efficiency mth those in the best mills in Europe. With respect to weaving, it w^as remarked that looms were being constructed at the machine shops at Virviers such as we would not put into our mills to-day. It was also remarked that no European looms for weaving fancy goods were shown at the Exi)osition w^hich would bear comparison with the Crompton loom, and even upon that admirable machine great im- provements are known to be in progress. The other processes of manu- facture, such as dyeing, are the same as in Europe. When we take into consideration the greater energy and intelligence of our better fed and better educated workmen, the necessary use of every labor-saving pro- cess on account of the higher cost of labor here, and the admitted supe- riority in construction of American machinery, it may be safely asserted that a yard of cloth is made in this country with less houi"s of human labor than one of equal quality and the same degree of finish abroad. In other words, a week's labor will produce more yards of cloth in an American than in an Eiu'opean mill. But it is said that a yard of cloth costs less in Em-ope than in the United States. Even this statement requires qualification, for the American laborer can purchase here more yards of cloth by the produce of a day's work than the European laborer, the ratio of the price of cloth in this country, to-day, not being in pro- portion to the ratio of the rate of wages of ordinary labor. It is still true that the money cost of producing cloths is greater in this country than in Europe. From what has been* said it is apparent that the greater money cost of fabricating cloths is not due to any want of natural advantages, or any deficiency in skiU and eft'ective labor on the part of the American manufacturer. It is not true of this industry, as is often asserted by theorists, that it has a sickly and hotbed growth, 30 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. sustained only by artiticial stimulus, and rendering its produetious as unnatural, to use Adam Smith's often quoted comparison, as that of wine produced from grapes grown in the greenhousc^s of Scotland. Tlie higher cost of production in this industry is due, solely, to national causes inherent to the condition of a new country and a progTessive peo])le, to the higher rates of the interest on capital required to initiat«^ and sustain industrial enterprise, and the higher rates of labor demaiuled by the greater social and educational requirements of our industrial poi)ulation. The facility with which capital is obtained abroad on account of the low rates of interest is an advantage which- has been too much overlooked. The language of Burke, uttered 80 years ago, respecting the advantages of England over France, may be applied with equal force by all the nations of Europe to our own : " Our capital gives us a superiority which enables us to set all the efforts of France to rival oiu^ manufactures at defiance. The powers of capital are irresistible in trade ; it domineers, it rules, it even tj^'annizes ; it entices the strong and controls the weak." The following table showing the comparative rates of interest in Eng- land, France, and the United States is so instructive that no apology will be requked for its reproduction : Years. England. Bank of France. United Market. Bank. States. 1846 Per cent. 3.79 5.85 3.21 2.31 2.25 3.06 1.91 3.67 4.94 4.67 5.90 6.69 3.15 2.74 4.42 Per cent. 3.21 5.21 3.71 2.94 2.52 3.00 2.15 3.69 5.31 5.64 5.90 6.59 3.23 2.74 4.42 Per cent. 4.00 4.92 4.00 4.00 4.00 4.00 3.21 3.21 4.33 4.42 5.54 6.00 3.67 3.46 3.67 Per cent. 8.35 1847 9.54 1848 15.12 1849 10.08 1850 . . 8.02 1851 . . 9.68 1852 6.42 1853 10.21 1854 10.37 1855 8.96 1856 8.92 1857 12.77 1858 . . 4.99 1859 6.59 1860 6.80 3. 90 4. 02 4.16 9.12 1 In presenting this table, showing that the average rate of interest paid here during the 15 j^ears ending with 1800 was more than double the average on the other side, Mr*. Bigelow observes: "Eemarkable as this difference may seem, it is such, in kmd, as must always distinguish countries comparatively new, and i^artiaUy settled, from those of longer standing. Neither the laws nor the condition of the United States can be considered favorable to great accumulations of capital. Existing, as WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. dl it does here, in amounts comparatively small and ^yidely distributed, the price of its use must, in general, range high, so long as we have land in so large proportion to the number and wants of the population. The assimilation of our condition in this respect to that of England must of necessity be gradual and slow, awaiting and following the occupation of our yet unpeopled territory, and the full development of our internal resources." The prices of labor abroad, details of which will be hereafter given, and particularly in Germany and Belgium, which are oiu* most formidable competitors, will be sho^vn to be not more than half the rates paid here, being reduced to the lowest sum which will support existence. Having placed oiu-selves upon an equality with other nations in enterjirise and skill, oirr jiower of unaided competition has reached its limit, and our Avoollen industry could not sustain itself in competition with foreign pro- duction unless placed upon an equality in the command of capital, or unless the disparity against us were neutralized by legislative provisions. It is only to neutralize the foreign advantages of cheap capital and labor that i)rotective, or, more properly speaking, defensive, duties are demanded by the woollen manufacturers. The duties on wool x)aid by the manufac- turer, and theoretically reimbursed by the specific duties on the cloth, are demanded by the American wool-growers for the same reason. We speak only for our own industry, and with respect to that it is asserted, with the utmost confidence, that every spindle and loom employed in it would be stopped by the breaking down of the defensive barriers existing in tariif legislation. Capital and labor already employed with the utmost possible effectiveness, in the present state of the art, would not withstand for a moment an unaided conflict with foreign industry T^ielding capital and labor acquired at half the cost of our own. The feeble obstacle of transportation, so often magnified into an advantage in our favor, would be but a feather-weight in oiu' scale of advantages. Abandon the woollen industry, and 200,000 workmen are thrown upon the land for emi)loyment; the markets for agricultural products for these workmen and their families would be cut off'. Sheep husbandry, supported as it is solely by the American manufactiu'e, with all its incidental advantages of supply- ing cheap food and enriching the soil, woidd be abandoned; its 200,000 laborers would be driven to other branches of agTicultural labor. The coveted boon of cheap tissues would last only through the brief period during which our own manufactming industry is being swept away. -^PPly this system to all American industry, and we become a mere agri- cultural people, vegetating in the hopeless apathy and upon the low plane of civilization of Turkey, Ireland, and oiu* own southern States. We may appropriately dwell at some length upon a point above adverted to, the absolute dependence of American sheep husbamlry upon the domestic American manufacture. It has been often said that this country can advantageously grow wool for export. The fallacy of this notion is well exposed hj Dr. Elder, who has compared our exi^ortations of wool 32 TARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. with the imi)oitations of toys and playing cards to iHustiate the insig- niiicance of wool exports. In the seven years 1858-'G4, inclusive, our aggregate exports of domestic wool to all countries amounted to $1,725,799, and two-thu'ds of this was to bordering nations on our own continent, from whom we imj^orted more wool than we exported. In the same period the toys and dolls imported were valued at $2,483,489. In the year 1800 om- exportations of wool to all the manufacturing countries of the globe were of the value of $20,136, and our importations of playing- cards amounted to $19,238. It is clear that we have never had a foreign market for our wools, and the higher cost of labor Avhich i)revents exports of woollen goods must limit the production of wool to domestic consump- tion. The success of our domestic woollen industry thus becomes ideu- tifled with our agricultural prosperity. Such considerations would seem to place it beyond all question that our national interests require that we should repel the cheap fabrics of Europe even at considerable sacrifice, that we may api)ropriate for ourselves the labor and profit of their pro- duction. Such was the conclusion of the continental nations of Eiu^ope, when peace restored the nations to labor, at the close of the great wars of Napoleon. England then had the command of all the markets of the con- tinent, and was ready to fill them with her cheap fabrics ; each nation of the continent refused them, and built up its barriers of defensive duties, and with what results to their own wealth, and the industrial progress of the world! "Instead of a single workshop Europe has the workshops of France, Eussia, Austria, Prussia, Belgium, Sweden, Denmark, Spain; each clothing its own people Avith substantial fabrics; each developing its owTi creative genius and peculiar resoiu-ces; each contributing to sub- stitute the excellence of competition for the mediocrity of monopoly; each adding to the progress of the arts, and the wealth and comfort of mankind." THE WOOLLEJT INDUSTRY OF EUROPE. Not the least of the advantages which the European manufacturer possesses is the superior facility which he enjoys of observing the pro- cesses and comparing the best products of the most advanced nations. It is hoped that the notices of the woollen industry of the leading manu- facturing nations which follow may have some effect in stimulating our oA^ni manufacturers to study i)ersonally the operations of the most instructive establishments abroad, and at the same time convey to the general reader a more vivid impression of the important part which the wooUeu industry plays in the industrial movement of the world. FRANCE. England and France are nearly equal in amount of production, but in excellence France is at the head of all nations in the manufacture of wool. Her products are the most worthy of being our models. Her native wools most resemble our oAvn. It seems appropriate, therefore, WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 33 that we should avail ourselves of the full information conveyed by the vast display of her products at the Exposition and the precise documents furnished by French publications of authority, and occui^y a considerable portion of this report with statements respecting the French industry. The leading woollen fabrics at the Exposition were arranged in two classes — 29 and 30. Class 29 comprised yarns and tissues of combed wool, including combing wools, yarns of combed and carded wool, tissues of piu-e combed wool, flannels and fancy stuffs of wool carded and sHghtly fidled, and tissues of combed wool mixed with other materials. The i:)rincipal centres of production of these articles in France are Rheims, Roubaix, St. Quentin, Amiens, Mulhouse, Saint Maine, Aux Mines, Rouen, Fourmies, Cateau, and, flnaUy, Paris. The following facts are derived from the committee of admission of this class : In 1835 the wools of France played relatively a more imj^ortant part than at present in the supply of her manufactures. At that period the wools of Australia were little known, of which, in 1865, 23,000,000 kilo- grams were used. On the other hand the importations from Spain, Ger- many, Turkey, and Algeria have not lost their importance, having amounted, during the year 1SG5, to nearly 50,000,000 kilograms. The great increase of suj)ply has come from Australia. These different wools are now combed and spun by machines of great perfection. The weaving of stuffs of wool or dress goods by power was hardly attempted in 1855,. but since 1862 has had a rapid development, which increases every day.. The wea^ang by hand has not diminished, but has remained nearly stationary, while the great increase of production is due to the use of machinery driven by power. The number of workmen employed in power wea\ing is much less than those working at home by hand. The number of females emi^loyed in combing, spinning, and weaving is estimated at about one-half the whole number of operatives in some districts, and one- third in others. All the combed wool fabrics made in France have been much lowered in price since 1855. The exportations of manufactures of wool of all kinds have increased from 165,000,000 francs ($33,000,000) in 1855, to 396,000,000 francs ($79,200,000) in 1865. The yarns and stirffs of combed wool are valued at 279,000,000 fi-ancs, ($55,800,000.) The improvements observed are: new methods of combing and spinning; ingenious means of printing, facilitating the labor of the workman and the effectiveness of the machine; and the application of the i^roducts of aniline as a dyeing material. The French products of class 30, comprising yarns and tissues of carded wool, form four principal series : 1. Soft, black, and uniformly colored cloths, cloths for billiard tables and "carriages, black-faced goods, called satins, and beaver cloths ; 2. Fashioned or fancy cloths for pale- tots and women's garments ; 3, Novelties for pantaloons ; 4. Articles for waistcoats and complete garments. These jiroducts are mauirfa<3tm'ed by establishments situated in five principal groujjs : 3w 34 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 1. The group of Normandy, the centre of which is the to^^'Tl of Elbeuf. This city and Louviers, and the tovnis of Vire, Lisieux, and Eomorantin, produce specially fabrics for general consimiptiou, such as fancy and pilot cloths, novelties for pantaloons, and articles of wool velvet, and cloths for women's garments. 2. The group of Ardenne, the centre of which is Sedan ; here fine black broadcloths and cassimeres are largely manufactui-ed, as well as cloths for paletots and wool velvets. 3. The group of St. Isere, the centre of which is Vienne, which pro- duce generally articles of low price for pantaloons, paletots, &c. 4. The group of High Rhine and Moselle, the centre of which is Bich- waller, which j^roduces the fine-faced black cloths, called satins. The heavy stuffs for country use are made chiefly at Nancy. 5. The gToup of the Midi, comprising the towus of Carcassone, Maza- met. Saint Pons, and Bidarieux, which produce all the tissues of low jjrice mentioned above. The greater part of the wool employed in the card- wool industry comes from abroad ; the ordinary French w^ools, from unimproved races, being used for the common cloths. Hand labor is almost everywhere replaced by power. Hand- weaving is employed only for the fabrication of arti- cles, the designs of which, being subject to the caprices of fashion, are required to be in great variety, such as stuffs for pantaloons, waistcoats, and garments for ladies' wear. It is observed that power-labor, by reducing the price of the manufactured article, causes greater consump- tion, and employs more workmen. It is estimated that the manipulation of card-wool stuffs, and the general expenses, taking the winter and summer goods together, add one-thiixl to the cost of the raw material. The number of workmen employed by patrons in manufacturing estab- lishments, or mills, properly called, is estimated at nearly two-thirds of the total number ; the rest work by hand at their OAvn homes, but in both cases they generally work by the piece. The women emjDloyed in the card-wool industry comprise about two-fifths of aU the laborers. The goods are generally sold directly to the great commercial houses of Paris and the departments, and these send commercial travellers through France and abroad to place their goods. The exportation of card- wool fabrics in 1865 was about 5,500,000 kilograms, of an approximate value of 71,000,000 francs. The annual production of these fabrics is reckoned at about 250,000,000 francs. GENERAL FEATURES OP FRENCH UNDUSTRY. Before proceeding to a description of the several centres of manufac- ture it wiU be proi)er to refer to the general features of the French wool- len industry. Some passages from "The Fleece and the Loom,"^ pub- lished in 1860, may be appropriately quoted in this connection : "In studying the characteristics of the French manufactiu'ers, and the 1 Address before the National Association of Wool Manufacturers, by John L. Hayes. WOOL AND MANUFACTUEES OF WOOL. 35 part they have taken in advancing the general progress of the woollen industry, and in adding to the means of consumption, we observe that they have not attained that economy of production which so eminently distingiiishes the British manufacturers. Sui^plied with abundant labor, supported by cheap sustenance, the French manufacturers have been content to remain far behind the British and Americans in the substitu- tion of machinery for human labor. But the tendency of machinery, as they think, is to give mediocrity to manufactured products; and the French aim at the utmost excellence in their works. The individual skill or handicraft of the workman is developed to the utmost extent. All machinery is rejected which will not surpass the manipidations of the hand. Spinning, the foundation of good textures, is carried by them to the utmost perfection. Yarns, spun from combed or carded wool by the rival nations, exhibited at the great Loudon Exposition, were car- ried 10, 20, and even 30 numbers higher by Freuch spinners with the same wool. They excel equally in ameliorating raw materials, in making them softer and more flexible. The French, in the textile arts, are crea- tors; while the English are e,vploiteurs. The one nation invents new fabrics, new combinations of old materials, new styles and patterns, or what, in a word, are called French novelties. The other works up these ideas, copies, transforms, dilutes, and, above all, cheapens. Most other nations follow the English example, and our owti is as yet no exception. To specify the contributions of inventive or creative genius of France to the woollen industry, we must class, first among the machines, the Jacquard, already referred to, whose Avonderfid products are seen in all figiu^ed textures ; and next, the machinery for combing wool and also cotton, of Heilman, of Mulhouse, an invention which possesses interest, not only on account of its vast importance, but the circumstances of its origin. The most novel and valuable part of this machine, as stated by the inventor, which he had long unsuccessfully endeavored to obtain, was ultimately accomplished by carrying into mechanical operation a suggestion Avhich occurred to him while watching his daughters combing their hair. He was at that time meditating on the hard fate of invent- ors generallj", and the misfortunes which befell their families. This cir- cumstance, says Mr. Woodcroft, being communicated to Mr. Elmore, of the Eoyal Academy, was embodied by him in a pictiu'e which was exhibited, and greatly admired, at the Eoyal Academy in 1862. We all practice or use French creations without suspecting their origin. Before 1834 the colors of all fidled cloths were uniform. At that time Mr. Bonjean, of Sedan, conceived the idea, to give beauty to the productions of his looms, of uniting in the same stuff different tints and figures. His thought was that the domain of j)roduction would be as illimitable as that of fantasy, which was the name given to his goods. He was the originator of the product and name of fancy cassimeres, by far the most important branch of our own cloth manufactiu-e. The French, already skilled in making light gauzes of silk, first made hareges in 1818 ; a fab- 36 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. ric with a weft of ^\'ool aud warp of silk. The English imitated the fab- ric by substituting cotton for silk in the warp. In 1826 M. Jourdain first produced, at the establishment of Troixvilles, that invaluable fabric^ motisseline delaine, made of fine avooI, for printing. In 1831 the manu- facture and printing of this tissue was fully developed. In 1838 he also created cJuilUs, made of a warp of silk organ zin and a weft of fine wool. In 1833 first appeared at Paris, simultaneously introduced by three French houses, that fabric so appropriate for the consumption of the masses, the mousseUne delaine, with cotton warjis. The English adopted the manufacture in 1834-'35, and it prevails in every manuftictimng nation. This fabric, which is unquestionably a French idea, has been an inestimable blessing. Its products are counted by millions of pieces, and it enables the most humble female to clothe herself more comfort- ably and becomingly, and as cheaply, with wool, as she could 30 years ago with cotton. In 1858 plain hareges were introduced, for printing. These had before been made of colored threads ; at the same time halso- rine, having the effect of alternate ftibrics of cloth and gauze, was created in wool in imitation of a flaxen fabric. The foulards, with a warp of silk and weft of English combing, were introduced about this time at St. Denis. The fabric, however, most api^reciated by female taste, and the most unrivalled of modern woollen textures, and the only one not degTaded by imitation, is that beautiful material which derives its name fi-om the fleece of which it is made, the French merino. This tissue was first made at Eheims, in 1801, by a workman named Dauphinot Palloteau. The invention, for which a patent was asked, whether successfidly or not is not knoA^Ti, consisted solelj^ in the adaptation of a pecidiar tyi^e of wool, and not in the fabric. ***** " The creative genius of the French is more conspicuous in their arts of design aud color, as applied to all textile products. There is an unlim- ited application of these arts and a boundless field for novelties in the modern use of printed woollen goods. All the manufacturers of France, in producing new styles of fabric or figiu-e, noimsh their tastes by Par- isian ideas, the inheritance of the ancient splendor of Versailles. Says M. Benoville: 'At Paris each consumer is a judge, and becomes a guide to the merchant and manufacturer. The Parisians appreciate only what is good, and consecrate only what is beautiful. The grisette as well as the grande dame, the artisan as well as the dandy, has received, and practices without knowing it, the traditions of art.' Although important commercial houses are now established for the sale of designs elaborated in this school, there is no manufacturer in Europe who scru- ples to copy French patterns. We have even so framed our patent laws that, while protecting all other foreign works of invention, we might appropriate with impunity the works of the Parisian pencil and pallet. " Thus, by importation as well as imitation, all over the world, the true lovers of the beautiful, as well as ' the sophists, economists, and calcu- lators,' whose advent, upon the fall of Maria Antoinette, is so patheti- WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 37 cally lameuted by Burke, acknowledge France, so gracefully symbol- ized by Eugenie, the empress of taste and fashion." CULTURE OF TASTE. The modes in which taste is cultivated in France deserve study and imitation in this coiuitry. They are illustrated by the observations of Doctor lire upon the habits of the sUk weavers at Lyons. "Among the weavers of the place, the children and everybody con- nected vrith devising patterns, much attention is devoted to everything in any way connected with the beautiful, either in figure or color. Weavers may be seen in their holiday leisiu-e gathering flowers and grouping them in the most engaging combiuatious. They are contin- ually suggesting new designs to their employers, and are thus the fruit- ful source of elegant patterns. "There is hardly any considerable house in Lyons in which there is not a partner who owes his place in it to his success as an artist. The town of Lyons is so conscious of the value of such studies that it contributes 20,000 francs per annum to the government establishment of the School of Arts, which takes charge of every youth who shows an aptitude for di'awing, or imitative design of any kind, applicable to manufactures. Hence all the eminent painters, sculptors, even botanists and florists of Lyons, become eventually associated with the staple trade and devote to it their hai^piest conceptions. Li the principal school, that of St. Peter's, there are about 180 students, every one of whom receives from the town a gratuitous education in art for five years, comprehending delineations in anatomy, botany, architecture, and loom pattern drawing. A botanical garden is attached to the school. The government allows 3,100 francs a year to the school of Lyons. The school supphes the scholars with everything but the materials, and allows them to reap the benefit of their works. Their j)rofessor of painting is a man of distin- guished talent well known to connoisseurs. "The French manufacturer justly considers that his pattern is the prin- cipal element of his success in trade, for the mere handiwork of wea\Tng is a simple aftair with the improved Jacquard loom. He therefore visits the school and picks out the boy who promises, by taste and invention, to suit his purpose the best. He in\ates him to his home, boards him, and gives him a smaU salary, to be gradually ad^^anced. One gentleman told Doctor Bowriug that he had three such youths in his employment, to the youngest of whom he gave 1,000 francs, or £10, per annum. After three or foiu' years, if the young artist's success be remarkable, he may have his salary raised to double or treble that sum ; and when his reputation is once established, he is sure of the offer of a partnership. Such is the general history of many of the schoolboys of Lyons. Even the French weaver, who earns only 15<7. or 20^?. a day, prides himself upon his knowledge of design ; he will tm-n over several hundred patterns in his possession and descant on their relative merits. 38 PAEIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. seldom erriug' far in i)i'e(lieting the success of any new style. By this disposition the minds of the silk weavers in France become elevated and refined, instead of being stidtified in gin shops, as those of the English too fi-equently are. In flower patterns the French designs are remarkably free from incongruities, being copied from nature with sci- entific i^recision. They supply taste to the whole world, in i>roportiou to the extent of their exi^ortations, which amount to 110,000,000 out of 140,000,000. In the Lyons school collections of silk fabrics may be studied, extending over a period of 4,000 years, with explanations of the modes in Avhich every pattern w as i)roduced, from the rude silk of the Egyptian mummies to figured webs of the last year." It is worthy of mention that the Chamber of Commerce of Lyons solicited and obtained from the French government permission for M. Chevrueil, the eminent director of the dye works of the Gobelins, to lec- ture to tlie artisans of Lyons upon the "Laws of the simultaneous con- trast of colors," which he discovered and has so ably elucidated — ^laws which, once demonstrated, become a means of assorting colors so as to obtain their best possible eflect, and make the principles of taste which govern the arrangement of colors as definite as the harmonies of music. DYEING IN FEANCE AND CONTEIBUTIONS OF MODEEN SCIENCE TO THE AET. There would be but a limited field for the exercise of taste in the tex- tile industry without the art of dyeing, which is to tissues what the sum- mer's siui is to the landscape, the source of all w hich delights the eye in light and color. While admiring the splendors of imi)ression and color displayed upon the fabrics of the i)resent day, w^e should not forget how largely they are due to the intelligence and science of the French states- men and savans of former generations. The great Colbert in establishing manufactures in France, made improvements in the art of dyeing the object of special care. He pub- lished in 1672 a set of regidations "for the dyeing of wools and the manufacture of wools of aU colors," and showed that dyeing was an object deserving public attention from the additional value which it confers upon many of the articles of commerce. "If the manufactories of wool, silk, and thread are to be reckoned among those w hich contribute most to the support of commerce, dyeing," says Colbert, "which gives them that striking variety of color by which they resemble what is most beau- tiful in nature, may be considered as the soul of tissues, without which the body could scarcely exist. Wool and silk, the natuial color of which rather indicates the rudeness of former ages than the genius and improvement of the present, would be in no great request if the art of dyeing did not furnish attractions which recommend them even to the most barbarous nations. All visible objects are distinguished and recommended by colors, but for the purposes of commerce it is not only necessary that they should be beautiful, but that they should be good, WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 39 and tliat their duration shoidd equal that of the material which they adorn." These ideas bore fruit in the magnificent tapestries of the Gobelins manufactory, and more usefidly in the famous black cloths of Sedan, both of which are due to this great statesman. The art of dyeing was also during his time applied to printing cottons. The industry of calico l)rinting was founded in Holland during the 17th century by a native of France. It was planted by a Frenchman in 1G90 upon the banks of the Thames, and established about that time by a French refugee at ifeuf- chatel, from whence it was brought back again to the country of its nativity by the celebrated Oberkampf. The regulation of the art of dyeing continued after the time of Colbert to be an object of govern- mental care in France ; and Hellot, Macquer, and Berthollet, all eminent chemists, were successively appointed to superintend the practice of dyeing and to cultivate the branches of science which had a tendency to promote the progress of the art. Each of these chemists left practi- cal treatises upon dyeing, of great value. The work of Berthollet, pub- lished in 1791, became the standard book of the age, since it contained not only a detailed account of the practical operations of the art, but theoretical ^'iews of the principles upon which it was founded. These works, and that of Chaptal, who while occupjang the office of minister of the interior, had become interested in the art, contained nearly all that was valuable respecting the art of dyeing in any language at the close of the last century. The best informed Englishmen of that period, such as Mr. Anderson, author of the ^'History of Commerce," and Mr. Howe, author of an essay on bleaching, did not hesitate to admit the superiority hi brilliancy of color of the articles of French manufacture of this period, and to attribute it to the fostering care of the government. The Exposition of Paris has called forth a beautifid study on the dyeing and printing of fabrics from M. De Kaeppilin. This treatise, the more elaborate work of M. Schutzenberger, published in 18G7, under the aus- pices of the Industrial Society of Mulhouse, and the admirable report of Dr. Hof&nan, president of the Chemical Society of London, published in 1863, fm^nish ample information as to the progress of the art in this century. A signal step in the advancement of this art was the discovery by the cele- brated Vauqueliu, in the early part of the present century, of the metal chromium the compounds of which have since had so many industrial appli- cations, especially in the printing of mousselines and calicoes, as in the chromate of lead first prepared for printing cottons by Lassarque in 1819, and the oxide of chromium combined with arsenious acid to form green, applied by Courez. In 1810 Loflfet introduced the process of fixing colors by means of steam to the printing of cashmere shawls, thus dispensmg with the immersion of the fabrics in a bath of tmcture. During the years 1837, '38, '39, '40, and '45, the beautiful discovery of Loffet received its most remarkable application in the fabrication of mousselines of wool, and wool with warps of cotton, by means of colors fixed by steam. It was 40 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. this application whicLi gave tlie vast exteusioii to the maiiiilactiiie of X)riuted woollen tissues, which constitute at present the most important l)art of the combed- wool industry of France, and the only branch which has been successfully i)iu'sued in this country. The application of steam colors to cotton fabrics was greatly advanced by the discovery of stan- uate of soda by Mr. Steiner, which enables the colorist to give to the steam i)rint a solidity and lustre in which it was wanting before. Of the modern discoveries in chemistry there is none more brilliant than that of the cheap production of ultra-marine, which was effected by Guimet in 1828, the right being seciu'ed to him by patent. This material, affording a blue color of surpassing intensity and purity, was formerly suppUed by levigating the powder of the mineral la2ns lazuli, obtained in small masses from Siberia. Its value in the arts was 125 francs an ounce, more than its weight in gold. The artificial ultra-marine is produced by combining the same chemical substances, the soda, silica, sulphur, and alumina which are found in the lapis lazidi, and is equal in brilliancy of color to the natm-al ultra-marine. Its cost has been reduced from 0,000 fi-ancs to 6 francs the kilogram. The first impressions were made with this color, fixed by albumen upon mousselines delaine, in 183-4, and in the richest fabrics of France this beautiful color replaces the duller tints formed by indigo and prussian blue, the latter dye hav- ing been fixed upon woollen tissues as a color of impression in 1836. We must not pass over another series of inventions, although they have special relations to the printing of cotton fabrics. For the printing of cottons madder is by far the most important material on account of the permanency of its dyes. The extensive demand for this material and the desirableness of obtaining brighter tints has made it an object of the highest importance to free the coloring principle of the madder root from extraneous matters. The French chemical manufacturers have achieved remarkable results in this direction. In 1820 MM. Eobiquet and Collin discovered in the madder root the principle alizarine, formerly a rose-colored dye, which the English afterwards introduced as a com- mercial article under the name of pincoffine. In 1828 purpurine, also derived from madder, was indicated by the same chemist as a chemical S])ecies distinct from alizarine. It fimiishes a more vivid red than the alizarine, and is now prepared commercially. Since the period last men- tioned the coloring matter of madder has been concentrated in the form known as garancine and flowers of madder. These materials are prepared commercially in France in vast quantities, their use proving greatly advantageous, both in respect to economy and improvement of color. The dyeing powers of puri)uiine and alizarine are remarkable, that of purpiu'ine being equal to forty or fifty times the same quantity of madder, and that of alizarine to that of thirty-eight times that of madder. These new substances have been found valuable in dyeing wool. Wool mordanted with alum and cream of tartar gives, with purpurine, a briUiant crimson WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 41 red, and. mordanted ^Yitll tartar and a solution of tin gives, with purpurine, a scarlet almost as fine as tliat from cocliineal. The advantages resulting fi'om the recent improvements by which the coloring matter of madder is obtained in a purer and more concentrated form will be rendered more obvious by a brief statement of the usual processes in printing. These may be divided into three principal classes : First, where the colors are fixed without a mordant, as in dyeing blue with indigo, either of a uniform tint, or where the whites are reserved by an application which prevents the contact of the dye upon the parts to remain uncolored. Second, where mordants are first printed upon the tissues, which are afterwards subjected to subsequent operations of tinctures, as by immersion in the dyeing liquid, «&c. This process until very recently has been necessary for all madder dyes. Third, where the mordants and coloring matters are previously combined together to form the color to be impressed, which is called a "color of application." In this last class of processes the printed tissues are suspended in a vessel filled with steam from boiling water, which produces the same effect as dying by immersion in a liquid bath, the colors combining directly "\\ith the fibres of the tissues. By means of the steaming process, the operator can i^rint and fix at once an indefinite number of colors, and terminate by the two or three operations of printing, fixing, and washing a work, which formerly required many weeks when accomi^lished by the process of dyeing after the printing with mordants ; almost all the coloring materials known could be fixed hj the third i^rocess upon tis- sues of wool, silk, or cotton. The coloring matter of madder alone has not been isolated in sufliciently advantageous conditions of assimilation, that the X)rocess of fixing by steam could be applied to it. The discov- ery of the different i)imfications of madder has placed it in the power of the printer of tissues to apply the expeditious process of steam printing to the most permanent and usefid of all vegetable colors. The most important use of madder as a color of application has been achieved only within a few months. Very beautiful fabrics printed by this process at two establishments, one in France and the other in Bohemia, were displayed at the Exposition. M. De Kaex)i)ilin, referring to these fab- rics, says, "It is evident that the long and difficult operations required for fixing the vegetable coloring inaterial on tissues are now quite sim- plified, and that the new manner of fixing the coloring material of mad- der, all prepared and combined with the different mordants, being allied with the beautifid and simple fabrication of colors from aniline, will achieve for the industry of printing tissues its most beautiful conquest. Instead of the ancient steam colors, which in respect to solidity left much to desire, the madder colors, married as it were with the brilliant colors derived from coal tar and the solid and resistant mineral colors, like ultra- marine and chrome green of Guignet, 's^ill replace the fugitive colors of the dye woods. The fabrication will be more perfect, and will reunite solidity and brilliancy of colors with the delicacy of execution which can be obtained only by machines which print mechanically." 42 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. It lias long been known that certain species of liclieu exposed simnl- taneously to the action of ammonia, moisture, and a moderate tempera- ture, gradually acquire a deep purple color, and the property of dyeing wool and silk with pure and brilliant tints. Tlie pasty and woody mass containing the coloring matter is known as cudbear. The coloring mat- ter extracted by means of an alkali and separated from the woody por- tions is known as archil or orseille. A new kind of archil was intro- duced in 1856 by MM. Guinon, Marnas, and Bonnet, under the name of French purple, in the form of lime lake. It furnishes verv' fine and pm-e mauve and dahlia tints upon silk and wool without mordants, and mixes easily with other coloring matters, such as ultramarine, indigo, carmine, cochineal, aniline red, &c., producing the most varied and delicate tints. The. manufacture of French pm-ple, although at one time extensively prosecuted, has been greatly tliminished in importance by the competition of the coal-tar purple. In 1854 MM, Hartmann and Cordillet succeeded in fixing upon fab- rics the green coloring matter of leaves. In 1851 and 1852 the famous Chinese green, called Lo-lmo was introduced. Subsequently M. Charven, of Lyons, obtained the coloring j)rinciple of the Lo-Jcao from a weed indig- enous to Europe, the RJiamnus catJiarticus, for which he received a gold medal. The Chinese green was especially admired on accoimt of the beautiful green shades which the fabrics dyed with it assumed in artificial light. MM. Guinon, Marnas, and Bonnet discovered the means of producing at less cost shades of green which preserve their character under artificial light by the use of Prussian blue with picric acid. It is a curious fact that, while the greens produced by indigo and picric acid appear blue in artificial light, the dyes produced by Prussian blue and picric acid aj^pear gTcen. A remarkable and very beautiful amaranthine red was first commer- cially prepared from lu^ic acid in 1856. This dye, caUed mnrexide, created a great sensation, but its use was of short duration, as a more vi^id and more easily applied tint was about this time obtained from aniline, and the miu'exide was objectionable because the color, though unaflfected by the sun, was destroyed by sulphiu^ous fumes, as in the atmosphere of London, impregnated with sulphur from coal. This coloring material is peculiarly interesting fi-om the circumstance that it is nearly identical in composition with the ancient purple derived from the murex. Pro- fessor Hoffman records, as he shared, the triumph which was felt in Liebig's laboratory when a few grains of this substance were first obtained in a state of purity, and the rapidity with which the scientific discovery was made practical in the arts. When the manufticture reached its cul- minating point, the weekly jield of murexide in one factory only amounted to no less than 12 cwt., a quantity in the production of which 12 tons of guano were consumed. The long-sought-for rediscovery of the Tyrian dye was hardly attained before it was replaced by a product of modern science. The year WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 43 1856 was remarkable in the history of dyeing as the epoch of the most complete revolution of the art. It was the iieriod of the practical dis- covery of the first aniline colors. The property which anilme, a pro- duct from the hydrocarbons of the coal series, possesses of forming colored compounds, was indicated by Eunge in 1856. This indication was followed bj^ the discovery by a young English chemist, named Per- kins, of the means of preparing commercially from aniline a coloring substance of great intensity of hue and permanency, which is known in the arts as the '■'■ Perkins violet." This was almost immediately followed hj the commercial preparation in France, by Verguin, of the aniline red. The extraordinary qualities of these products, the wonderfnl facility with which they could be api)lied to wool and silk, and the freshness and ^aviduess of their hues, stimulated the scientific and x)ractical chemists in France and England to search for new comi)ounds from the same soiu'ce, and to cheapen the production of those known. The most important scientific results were obtained by the English chemist Hoff- man, who discovered and prepared the colorless rosaniline, a base from which all the reds, besides many other colors, may be formed, by differ- ent reagents. The colors derived from the hydrocarbons of the coal series are as various and as vivid as the hues of the flowers. The aniline colors whose use in the arts has been fully established by l^ractice, are: 1. The aniline, or Perkins violet, called also rosaline, indesine, mauve, aneleine, hamaline, and violene. 2. The aniline reds with a rosaline base, called also fuschine, azaleine, and magenta. 3. The blues of rosanaline, Lyons blue, blue de lumiere. 4. The rosaniline violets, different in hue from the Perkins violet. 5. Hoffman's violet. 6. Imperial dahlia. 7. Aniline green. To these may be added an orange color, chrysaniline, and colors pro- duced from the oxidation of aniline, but not directly applied ; a green called emeraldine, a blue called azurine, and the intense aniline black, developed onlj on vegetable fibres. The use of these colors gives a marked character to the dyed tissues of the present age. The great change effected by them was remarkably illustrated at the Exi:>osition by a display of parallel series of wools dyed by the ancient, and the new or aniline processes. The aniline hues were predominant in the richly colored fabrics of the Exposition, and, adopt- ing the figure of Colbert, that " color is the soul of tissues, without which the body could scarcely exist," we might say that these colors fix the psychological character of the fabrics of the present day. Among the wonders of modern science what is stranger than this, that the gigantic lilants buried in the coal measures of the ancient world are made to bloom with all the tints of the primeval flowers, upon the tissues of modern industry ? 44 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. Artistic reasons are not the only ones which have led to the prevailing use of the new dyes ; economical reasons have had equal weight, espe- cially in the woollen industry. One of the most remarkable characters of the coloring materials derived from aniline is the powerful affinity Avhich they possess for materials of animal origin, or nitrogenized sub- stances, and especially for wool, silk, albumen, gluten, and caseine. The affinity for these substances is so great that there is no need of any mor- dant. In the application to vegetable tissues, such as cotton, it is only necessary to aninialize the tibre with albumen. These colors may not only be applied with the greatest facility in dyeing by immersion, but add vastly to the economy of i^rinting mousseliues or calicos, as they may be used as " colors of application" in steam printing. Besides, all these colors are now sold commercially in a state of great purity, and very often in crystals. The colorist has rarely anything more to do than to dissolve the i^roduct in a suitable vehicle, and to put it in presence of the fibre, in the conditions in which it can adhere, which for wool and silk are extremely simple. The great problem in the art which science has now to resolve is to give more stability of color to these magnificent products of modern chemistry. The chemist who has fiuniished many of the facts above given, M. De Kaeppilin, is hopefid that this will be accomplished. He says : " Some of these results have already been obtained ; above all, upon tissues of wool and silk. It is evident that colors derived from archiUs, such as the violets and reds, are more fugitive than the Perkins violet or new violets from rosaniline of Fourier and Chappal ; that the roses of safflower or cochineal are not more stable than the roses of aniline, and that aniline black is not only superior to all other blacks, but that it is wholly unalterable and of complete stability upon tissues of cotton." Before closing this imperfect re\dew of the relation of chemical arts to the woollen industry, it is due to American science to observe that the name of the lamented Dr. Dana, of Lowell, is most honorably mentioned by French savans among those who have rendered important service to the art of dyeing and i)rinting tissues. The credit is awarded to him of the introduction of lime in the operation of bleaching for the purpose of saponifying the fatty matter contained in the crude tissues. He thus completed the great discovery of BerthoUet of the bleaching qualities of chlorine. CHAEACTEEISTIC CENTRES IN FEANCE. The highly philosophical work entitled "La Laine," being one of a series of stutlies upon the regime of manufactui'es, by Louis Eeybaud, member of the Institute, accomx)anied by numerous statistical documents, pub- lished in 1SG7, together with the treatise on the industry of card- wool, by M. Eaudonig, and the more elaborate treatise upon the industry of combed wool, by M. Benoville, published in 1851, fiu'uish reliable data for special descriptions of the most important centres of the wooUen WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 45 industiy iu Frauce. The former work is the principal authority for the statements which follow. ELBEUF. In the woollen industry Kormandy stands in the first rank among- the present provinces of France. The genius and taste of the ISTor- man race are the inheritance of a remote antiquity. The coimtry of Caux and the valley of Ange were renowned for their fabrics during the period of the Eoman empire, and furnished plaid cloths, woven in squares, the original tyi)es of the Scotch tartans, for clothing the Roman armies. There are traces of this industry at Elbeuf in the seventh century, and of considerable activity in the 13th. The industry was arrested by the English invasion of the 14th century, and the inaction was prolonged by the wars of the Frond. In the 17th ceutury the manufactiu^e of cloth was revived through privileges obtained from the founder of the French protective system, Colbert, and became established upon their present firm foundation through the industrial war which Napoleon waged against England by means of the continental blockade. It is not strange, there- fore, to find at Elbeuf one of the most characteristic centres of the woollen industry in the world. The whole life of Elbeuf is its card- wool manu- facture, which supports a population of 19,000, and, including that which is floating-, a population of 30,000, and furnishes a product of 85,000,000 francs. Elbeuf rauks first of all towns in this manufacture in the fabri- cation of novelties or fancy fabrics of clothing- wool. Other towns can rival it in the strength of goods and cheapness of price, but in every- thing requiring ornament, delicacy of tints, taste, and elegance in card- wool fabrics Elbeuf stands above all rivals. It is the point above aU others where the American manufacturers and designers can acquire that taste which is unattainable without the study of models. The cus- tomers of Elbeuf are the principal tailors and great commission-houses of Paris, and they are usually the judges who determine whether a nov- elty shall be a success. Cases are mentioned where a manufacturer has distributed 40,000 fi-ancs' worth of patterns of a single fabric into the hands of commercial travellers, thus sowing that he may reap. The harvest is sometimes enormous. The cases are not infrequent where a li^PPy chance, or a fugitive fancy, has founded a fortune. In the com- petition of novelties, none of which last more than a season, but which establish modes which extend like the wave of a tide aU over the world of fashion, the tide being at its height in a distant province when it has ebbed at its som-ce, there is a novelty and activity which impresses itself upon the physiognomy of the inhabitants of the town. In the manufacture of novelties and fancy stuffs the designers perform a very important part; for the success of a season depends upon their inspiration. A good designer makes his own terms, and the manufac- turers usually secure their services by large rewards. In many cases they have an interest in the sale of their designs, and sometimes become 46 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. partners in houses whose fortunes are made by their taste. The design of a fabric is not difficult, and requires no great preparatory study, as it is only necessary to combine some hues and colors to produce a certain harmony of efiects. It is a work which it would seem any one could do, and yet it requires a peculiar gift. There is a precise point which the designer must reach, and not overstep; a shade which will be accepted when no other would find favor; a contrast which will be agreeable on one stuff and displease on another; and a management of mere nothings, or Uttle accidents, which appear to have no signification, but which make success or failiu'e. The French designer is restrained by the public sen- timent of his country, to which he must never do violence, which requires elegance without afl'ectation, and, in the midst of perpetual caprices, demands what is natural in everything that is original. Next to the designers rank the workmen, who act as their interpreters, by translating the design upon the loom or the Jacquard cards, and arrange the warps and harnesses so that the weaver may j)erform the mechan- ical work. These workmen are all highly paid. Another class of work- men are the echantilleurs, or men who execute the first specimen pattern, by which the probable effect of a design is determined. These men are required to be absolutely trustworthy, especially when many specimen l^atterns are made to secure orders for goods. Some of the large estab- lishments keep their workmen of this class in the utmost seclusion. There are some establishments which make the furnishing of specimen patterns for the smaller estabUshmeuts their sole business. There is one peculiar feature in the woollen industry of Elbeuf which has greatly stimulated its extension. It is the facilities for credit which are afforded to the manufactiu-er. Cost of capital is the obstacle of all others against which the woollen manufacturer has chiefly to contend, on account of the dearness of raw material. Usually the wool manufactiu'er obtains his raw material only for cash, or on short credit. At Elbeuf there are several houses which are at the same time banks and warehouses, and which give credit for all operations of trade; but the pecidiarity of these houses at Elbeuf is that they seU the raw material not for notes payable at a fixed time, but on an accoiuit current. Any manufacturer who wants a lot of wool can select it, fix his price, and carry it away. The jjayment is almost discretionary with the purchaser. Every facility is given for payment, which may be made from time to time, as the manufacturer gets his retiu-ns. The account-ciu-rent is the mirror in which the manu- facturer has reflected the state of his affairs. This system, under which personal character is the gauge of solvency, has given great \itality to the business of Elbeuf. Alongside of the hereditary houses of this ancient town there are great numbers of children of their works, who, rising from workmen to overseers, have finally exchanged their chevi'ons for epaulettes. It is this infusion of new blood which preserves the char- acteristic vitality and freshness of the woollen industry of Elbeuf. It is unnecessary to say how desirable it is that this system should be imitated WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 47 here. It offers a means of improving the condition of the workmen cer- tainly not less practical than the system of co-operation which is now being so earnestly recommended to public favor, but which does not seem of easy application in the textile industry, A characteristic feature in the manufacturing system of Elbeuf is that while there are many comi^lete establishments where wool enters in the fleece and issues in finished fabrics, the dominant industry of this town is the apphcation of distinct processes of manufactirre, single estabUsh- meuts being devoted wholly to preparing wool, others to carding, or spinning, or dyeing. Each of the processes of washing the wool, dry- ing, burring, carding, supplying patterns, weaving, spinning, fulling, gigging, pressing, and packing, constitute separate industries. There are 20 great dyeing establishments, 12 for spinning, 50 for work- ing up waste, many diying estabhshments, &c., and many houses which are commercial rather than industrial, uniting these different industries to produce fabrics which they put in the market. This system is very advantageous to the small fabricant who has but little capital at com- mand. He can choose for each kind of operation the special estabhsh- meut where it is done best, and at the least expense. The advantages are so marked that many wealthy houses avail themselves of it. It is weU worthy of consideration whether this system could not be advan- tageously introduced in some of the great manufactiu'ing centres in this country. It prevails here to a limited extent, as for spinning yarns. It has recently been applied to washing and preparing wool. It may be found, as has been the experience at Elbeuf, that where both systems, that of concentration and dispersion of labor, prevail, it is advanta- geous to the general advancement of the manufacturing industry. All the regions where the wooUen industry is pursued in France have a comparatively improved aspect, showing the increase of wealth which manufactures have added to the national resources of the soil. The cot- tages with only a single room are less frequent, and here and there may be seen the dweUing of a workman indicating a comfort and decency of living which is rare among the peasantry of France. Yet the condition of the common workmen at Elbeuf, judged by the American standard, is far from being easy or enviable. The whole number working within and without the town is estimated at 24,000. The following statement of their average wages is derived from statis- tical documents prepared since 1864 by a former mayor and president of the Chamber of Commerce of Elbeirt": For children, Umited to 8 hours' work, 75 centimes to 1 franc 10 cen- times, (equal to 15 cents to 22 cents;) for those working 12 hours, 1 franc 25 centimes to 1 franc 50 centimes, (equal to 25 cents to 30 cents;) youths from 16 to 18 years old, 1 franc 50 centimes, (equal to 30 cents;) work- men by the day, 2 francs to 3 francs, (equal to 40 cents to 60 cents;) men working by the task or piece, 3 francs to 4 francs 50 centimes, (equal to 60 cents to 90 cents) — these are more numerous than the day workmen ; 48 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. workmen working by the day, 1 franc 10 centimes to 2 francs, (equal to 22 cents to 40 cents;) women working by the piece, 1 franc 75 centimes to 2 francs 50 centimes, (equal to 35 cents to 50 cents.) It is estimated by M. Reybaud that in the most ordinary cases the yearly wages for men are 750 francs, ($150;) for women, 525 francs, (1105;) for young men and girls, 375 francs, ($75;) for children, 225 francs, ($45.) The prices of food and lodging are relatively high at Elbeuf. Meat costs 1 franc 60 centimes the kilogram, (or 17 cents per pound,) and potatoes 5 to 6 francs the bushel. The food of the men, such only as serves merely to support life, costs per year 350 fi-ancs, ($70;) house rent, 125 francs, ($25;) other necessary exjienses for maintenance, 160 to 180 francs, ($32 to $36.) On this scale of hxing the workman is able to eat meat only on Sunday, the only animal food on weekdays being salt- herring or mackerel; and even with this meagre sustenance there is hardly any margin for saving or amusement. The invariable conse- quence of the reduction of the compensation of labor to the bare neces- sities of life, the system which free trade demands to have apx)lied in this country, is shown at Elbeirf in the moral degTadation of the work- ing classes. The consumption of alcohol at the drinking shops is, for the whole poi)ulation of the town, 16 litres (28 pints) per head, or, deduct- ing the women and the children, 50 to 60 litres (from 80 to 100 pints) for the average consumi^tion of the frequenters of the cabaret. "On the other hand," says M. Eeybaud, "the women give themselves ui^to other tastes. Theii- toilettes consume their savings, and their scrui^les are not in general very vivid as to the means of increasing the same when it is msufticient." One proof of the general looseness of morals among the whole peoj^le is the custom which j)revails among men and women to resort for the night's lodging to vast dormitories, where both sexes are mingled in a common, unlighted apartment, without partitions, and wholly free from surveil- lance or restraint. Another evidence of the low morality of the work- men is the common practice among the hand weavers to sequestrate a portion of the yarn delivered to them to be woven. It is estimated that some workmen by this means add a quarter to a third to their stiinilated pay. It is thus that labor revenges itself for insufficient wages. In looking at the woollen industry at this important centre, as a whole, we find this industry, viewed merely as an art, in the highest state of perfection, and presenting in taste and iirocesses everything worthy of imitation; but, while art thrives, and emijloyers are enriched, labor is degraded, morality is depressed, and humanity suffers. When we see the benevolent men of France candidly publishing such facts as are stated above, and acknowledging and deploring the evils of the social system inherited from the old feudalism of Europe, shall we not submit to the slight sacrifice demanded to reconcile, in this country, what Europe has failed to do — progress in the industrial arts, with a just compensation to labor? WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 49 SEDAN. The woollen iudiLstry of Sedan, althongli of the same general character as that which flouiishes with greater j)rosperity at Elbeiif, deserves special notice from the celebrity of its products. The manufacture of cloths was pursued by isolated workmen from Flanders, when Colbert applied his vast energies to give a national character to the manufac- tiu-es of France. He gave to Abbeville, Van Robais, a legacy chronicled by Thiers as more valuable to France than the conquests of Louis XVI, which struck down the Spanish j)ower, and to Sedan, Nicholas Cadeau, a master in his art, who soon converted the modest production of the hamlets into an urban manufacture. Establishments for dyeing, card- ing, and di"essing were brought within the walls and became protected by the cannon of the citadel. That which, above all, promoted the suc- cess of the manufactures of this city after their first establishment, was the fidelity with which its cloths were fabricated; the marks of its fabrics were, like the marks on Swedish iron, or the tower mark on Eng- lish silver, infallible seals of excellence. The black and blue cloths pre- served their reputation from generation to generation, and many houses of Sedan are still faithful to the ancient traditions, as proved by one gold medal and eight silver medals, and none of less degree, awarded at the Exposition. It is singular that an invention originating in Sedan should have changed the ancient system which made excellence in material and fabilcation the essential qualities of cloths. This invention was that of the modern styles of fancy cloths, and was due to one of those hapi^y chances which often lead to great results when improved by intelligence. M. Bonjean, an educated manufixctiu-er, one day found among his pro- ducts a piece of goods which was defective in body on account of the dead wool of which it was fabricated. It occiuTcd to him that he could give body to the wool by incorijorating some fibres of silk in the warp. Ul^on combining the wool with the silk he found that the latter was not incorporated in the fabric, but made a distinct design upon the cloth. Imin^oving upon the idea here suggested by using the Jacquard loom, he finished a fabric and sent it to a leading tailor at Paris. To his aston- ishment he had an immediate order for more goods of the same styles ; stiU more variety was given to the fabrics, and the stuffs received the name of the Bonjean patterns. This was the origin of the fancy cassi- meres, and other stuffs, which now comprise three-quarters of the pro- duction of card- wool goods, but which, unhappily for Sedan, built ui) the city of Elbeuf, the most formidable of its rivals. Lea\ing the consideration of the technical for that of the social aspects of the industry at Sedan, we are interested in observing the superior morality of the workmen of this city, which is partly attributed to a smaller population, as compared to other manufacturing cities of France, but mainly to most honorable efforts on the part of the manufacturing employers. 4 w 50 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. The increased use of strong alcoholic drinks in consequence of the dearness of the wines, has caused drunkenness to become a prevailing evil among the manufacturing population of France. " For the first time in the course of my travels," says Mr. Keybaud, "I have found at Sedan a jiopulation which was able to defend itself against drunkenness. The first honor is due to the chief of the manufactui'ing houses. By a concert which should be taken for an example, they have closed the doors of their ateliers against workmen with whom this ^ice was notorious, who themselves consent to this exclusion. The strife has been a long one, and with any other population, perhaps, the reform would not have succeeded. At Sedan it has had full success : acting first upon those less hardened, it has ended by reclaiming or improving the most obdu- rate. Towards those who, with the best intentions, would occasionally yield to temi)tation, they have shown indulgence, admitting them to the benefit of successive amendments; provided it was recognized that the cases were less frequent and less grave, their presence in the mill was tolerated. The condition was that they should make a sincere confession, or that the wife, the i^arty so deeply interested, should ask favor for the husband's delinquency. The results of this reform are exhibited by the statement given of the habits of the workmen of Sedan by a former member of the assembly : ' The working poi)idation are very regular. The life in the family is the rule. The religious sentiment prevails in the mass and manifests itself in acts. The workmen do not frequent the cabaret on Sunday. They pass the day with their wives and children in the little garden which is the object of their ambition. Education is spreading every day; a man of 30 years who cannot read and write is a rare exception.'" The economy produced by these habits, and cheapness of food and lodging, enable the workmen to sustain themselves upon the smaU wages ; which are, for spinners working by the piece, from 3 francs to 5 francs 50 centimes (60 cents to $1 10) per day of 12 hours. The women, spinning by the piece, earn 1 franc 50 centimes (30 cents) i)er day. The weavers, working by the piece, can earn 4 francs (80 cents) per day. The ordinary workmen receive 20 centimes (4 cents) per hour, or 2 francs 40 centimes (48 cents) per day. The women average 1 franc 20 centimes, (24 cents,) and children 75 centimes (15 cents) per day. The absolutely necessary expenses of living of a single workman earning 750 francs ($150) a year are stated at 601 francs, ($132 20 ;) being for food and lodging, 531 francs, ($106 20;) tobacco, 20 francs, ($4;) wash- ing and general expenses, clothing, &c., 100 francs, ($20;) leaving the pittance of 89 francs ($17 80) for luxuries and savings. It is supposed in the above estimate that the workman, as is the usual practice, eats animal food once a day. REGION DU MIDI. The region of the middle of France comprises the third imi)ortant cen- tre of the card-wool industry of that country, but contrasting strongly WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 51 in its cbaracter with that of the districts before described. Its principal points are Lodeve, Mazamet, and Bedarienx, while there are many less important localities. The common character of the production of this group, Mazamet only being excepted, is its adaptation to popular con- sumption. The foundation of the manufacture consists in the fabrication of strong cloths for workmen and army use, recommending themselves rather by their serviceableness than their appearance. A noticeable fea- tiu-e of the woollen industry of this group is, that the goods for common use are not trashy imitations of showy fabrics, but i)retend to be no more than they are, common but serviceable goods. The manufacturers of this grouj) supply nearly all the cloths consumed in the French army. The government demands only two conditions, a moderate price and ftiithfulness in execution. The rigid requirements of the government cause the most severe scrutiny on the part of the manufacturer, and have cultivated honesty of fabrication among the workmen. The absolute reliability with respect to these fabrics has opened a very important trade in cloths with the stationary people of the east, this trade having been established some generations ago. Bedarienx, with a population of 9,000 soids, has 5,000 woollen workmen and as many more in the environs. The goods are manufactiu'ed i^rinci- pally mth reference to exi)ortation ; through the means of commercial houses at Marseilles it sends its products to the markets of the Levant, or the French ]3ossessioms in Africa and often to India. In this trade certain conditions have to be scrupulously observed to maintain the honor of the marks upon the cloths and guard the confidence of the eastern customers. For example : for the Levant there are required two sorjts of cloths, the stamboul, which is a heavy cloth, and the mahout, whicli is a hght cloth. The weight of the stuff must correspond exactly to the denomination assigned to it. For the army cloths 40 kilograms of wool give regidarly 43 metres of stuff. For the cloths destined for the Levant the x)roportions are lowered. The stamboid, which is used for cloaks, requires onlj" 44 kilograms of wool for 50 metres of cloth. The mahout requires 37 kilograms of wool for GO metres of stuff, the price and quality decreasing in the ratio of the quantity of material employed. Ill the east the stuffs are both measured and weighed, and the goods are not received unless the measiu-e and weight conform. With the fixed habits of the east the consumxition of these goods is constant and regu- lar. Here is a case where an important trade supplying all the armies of France, and an immense and increasing popidation at the east, has been estabUshed for generations mainly upon the commercial honor of the manufacturer. Our former trade with the east in brown drillings is a similar example. The manufactiu'ers of this group are not wholly limited to the special- ties above mentioned Bedarienx has almost the monopoly of cloth for caps, of which it sends forth, principally to Paris, 250,000 pieces a year. Mazamet, a town in this group, through the enterprise of a single manu- 52 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. facturer, M. Houles, has risen iu half a centiuy from an obscure hamlet to a town of 12,000 inhabitants, of which there are 5,000 workmen, while there are as many more in the environs. Mazamet has entered into com- petition with Elbeuf in articles of novelty; its products, which now reach a value of 14,000,000 of francs, have made their way into the mar- ket of Paris and even of London. A pleasing- feature in the industry at Mazamet is the establishment of special workrooms for workwomen with nursing infants. Ordinarily the workwomen are prevented by their confinement in the mills from nurs- ing their 3 oung children, as the women cannot leave the mill without losing their places. They ordinarily relieve themselves from this care by intrusting their infants to hired nurses. This is both a j)rivation and an expense, the latter being equal to half the wages of the woman. At Mazamet a special workroom is provided for mothers with nursing chil- dren. The women are employed in very simi)le work, such as the sort- ing of wool or winding yarn upon bobbins, and can continue their labor while exercising their maternal duties. All access to this workshop nur- sery is prohibited to other workmen. The wages of the women are reduced in proportion to their labor, but all things considered, they gain greatly by this arrangement. It is refreshing, amidst the indifference to the condition of the laborer so prevalent in Eiu'ope, to see in an indus- trial experiment the expression, in this touching form, of a sentiment of humanity. Within this group there is one establishment quite remarkable for the original manner in which it has been sought to combine industrial pros- perity with the social amelioration of the workmen. The establishment of YOleneuvette bears the title of a royal manufactiu-e, it being one of those founded by Colbert. Although under private proprietorship, it is exclusively devoted to the fabrication of cloths for the army. It pre- serves in many respects the features of a miUtary post. It is siu'mounted by battlemented waUs, the drum beats the reveille and tattoo, and the drawbridge is raised at night. The whole town is under the proprietor- ship of the establishment, and residence is permitted to no stranger who refuses to conform to the usages of the place. The mayor and officers of the municipaUty are workmen, elected by tlie workmen themselves, and there have been but four mayors since the time of the first emj^ire. The workmen submit cheerfully to the military discipline which they have imposed themselves. The lU'oprietors pay the best wages in the district ; they contribute to the schools, at which attendance is com- pulsory, and to the common fund for the relief of the sick and aged, and provide flour and fuel at cost prices. Games of chance are prohib- ited; drunkenness is punished by exclusion. There is but a single cabaret, which is closed at 9 o'clock. In the course of 30 years there has been but one illegitimate birth. The people of this community have invariably kept aloof from political agitations ; and when, in revolution- ary times, bands of workmen of the surrounding country have scoured it WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 53 iu arms, the workmen of Villeneuvette have excluded access by raising tlieir drawbridge and manning tlieir ramparts. The average wages for labor in this grouiJ are less even than in the districts of Elbenf and Sedan. The average day's wages are stated to be, for men, 2 francs 25 centimes, (45 cents ;) for women, 1 franc 25 cen- times, (25 cents;) and for children, 50 centimes, (10 cents.) This woidd give to a family of a man and wife with two chihb-en, all at work, 1,350 francs ($270) per year. It is estimated that the food i)er head costs, for a man, 75 centimes, (15 cents ;) for a woman, 65 centimes, (13 cents;) and for a child, 50 centimes, (10 cents.) This for a family, as above, would be an expense of about 900 francs, ($180.) To this is to be added lodging, 100 francs, ($20;) clothing and other necessary expenses, 250 francs, ($50,) making a total expense of 1,250 francs, ($250;) and leaving a nominal siu^plus of 100 francs, ($20.) These receipts are possible only when all the family are at work. Thus, under the most favorable circumstances and without accident or sickness, all that a family of four persons can hope to secure for saving or luximes is $20 a year. RHEIMS. We come now to the great centres of the combing- wool industry of France, far surpassing in importance that of card wool, already passed in review. To the agricultmist and the manufactiu'er, the city of Eheims — the most ancient seat of the Roman Catholic faith and of some of its most splendid monuments of architecture — is more interesting as the seat of a complete revolution in a great branch of textile industry, eil'ected through the introduction of an improved race of ovine animals. The fabrics of combed wool, for which Eheims was so celebrated in ages past, the says, serges, and tanimins have wholly disappeared since the Spanish blood has been introduced into the sheepfolds of Champagne. In 1801 an obscure workman of this city, named Dauphinot Palloteau, first made from the soft and long wool of the Eambouillet sheep the most unrivalled of modern woollen textures — the French merino — which, from its softness and solidity, must always hold its place independently of the caj)rices of fashion. The manufacture was extended through the influ- ence of the Baron Ternaux, the most celebrated of all the manufac- turers of France of his time, who founded at Eheims one of his many manufactories. This fabrication of merinos constitutes at present the most important part of industry at Eheims, no cotton- warp fabrics being made, as at Eoubaix. In 1786 the product of stuffs in this city was 94,615 pieces, of a value of 11,000,000 francs, employing 30,000 workmen and 12,000 looms. In 1803 the value of fabrics produced was 80,000,000 fraiu'S. The number of hand looms employed was 19,000, occupying 38,000 workmen, and the number of i)ower looms 1,300, occupying 900 workmen. For combing the wool there were 340 machines; for carding, 350 sets of machines, employing 5,000 workmen ; and for siDinning, 170,000 spindles, 64 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. with 2,400 workmen. The inmiber of Avorkiuen in full activity was 55,000. The 30,000 Avorkmen in 178G produced a vahie of 377 francs per head. The 55,000 workmen in 1863 produced a vahie of 1,454 francs per head. The most important change in the manipulation of this industry has been in the combing- of wool. This was formerly effected by handicraft workmen, employed at their own homes. No labor in the woollen industry was so poorly paid, and the misery of the hand combers was proverbial. Their irregidar wages did not exceed 1^ franc (30 cents) X)er day. Still the strife between the first imperfect machines and the hand combers was long and severe. The latter did not succumb until their wages were reduced to 80 centimes (IG cents) per day. Longer resistance was vain ; the best workman coidd comb only 350 kilogTams of wool per year, and a machine combs 20,000 kilogTams. Of 10,000 hand combers at Eheims not one remains. For thirty years the genius of inventors has been applied to the perfection of combing machmes. More than twenty inventions have added imj)rovements in details. At Eheims there are at present in use three jirincipal processes, that of Lister, of Heilman, and of Hubner ; each of analogous merit, and each having its partisans. M. Holden has become the proprietor of all the principal processes or patent-rights, in addition to his own, holding 45 patents ; 17 of his own and 18 by assignment. He thus nearly controls the combing of wool in France. He has put in operation three combing establishments at Eheims, St. Denis, and at Croix, near Eoubaix. He is able to comb 16,000 kilograms a day. He employs 1,300 workmen, engines of 1,000-liorse power, and 80 combing machines. There are no other establishments in Eiu^ope having these proportions, and so well able to resist competition. For many years it was deemed impossible to weave merinos advan- tageously by power looms. Mechanical weaAing is now accomi^lished with a i)erfection which leaves nothing to desire. A hand weaver can make 24 throws of the shuttle a day ; the weaver on the power loom makes from 50 to 55 throws, and can easily tend two looms, so that his product is fom* times as much as the hand weaver's. There is, besides, more regidarity in the product and less loss of material. The power loom is worked without muscular effort, hardly anything more being required than a little dexterity in mending the broken yarns. Women can do this work better than men, and in many establishments at Eheims women are exclusively employed under overseers. The superior advan- tages of the power loom open a sad prospect to the hand weavers of Eheims, of whom there are 38,000 ; and the means of averting the suf- fering from this class of workmen, in the inevitable change which must take place in the procedure of weaving, is a subject of most anxious consideration to the benevolent men of Eheims. The precarious condition of so large a class of the workmen, and the gradual diminution of their wages, create a discontent which is ominous WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 55 of public calamities. The incendiaries of 1848 inflamed the workmen to such an extent, they destroyed the first establishment provided with power looms, and they look A\dth an evil eye upon every one who introduces the new machines. It is admitted by the authorities of Eheims that an envious hatred of the rich prevails always among these workmen, and if they are tranquil at present, it is because they are " kept down by a strong government." The manufacturers of Eheims regard the United States as the most important outlet for their goods. Our late war seriously affected their trade. They speak of the American crisis as having weighed so hea\Tly upon it that the influence of the Anglo-French treaty upon commercial transactions was of comparatively little moment. The value of this trade is a sufdcient inducement for us to transfer to our own shores the industry of fabricating merinos, which is dominant at Eheims. It can be adopted here mth aU its recent perfections, and without any of the drawbacks which weigh so hea^dly upon it in France. It is fitted for the skiUed female labor already developed in oiu' wooUen mills. It will be fa^'ored by the character of the wools most advantageously grown here, and will greatly increase the production of sheep husbandry by creating an entu-ely new demand, and will introduce into more general use the softest and most beautiful of all fabrics for female use. The effects of the struggle between the old and new system of manu- facture is seen in the low average rate of wages in this city. The work- men employed upon power machines are comparatively weU paid. The men spinning combed wool are paid from^ francs 50 centimes (70 cents) to 4 francs (80 cents) per day, and the women from 1 franc 40 centimes (28 cents) to 1 franc 70 centimes, (34 cents.) The power-loom weavers earn from 2 francs 25 centimes (45 'cents) to 3 francs (GO cents) per day, but the hand weavers, who compose the greater part of the working population, are reduced to wages which average only, for a man, 1 franc 50 centimes (30 cents) a day, for a woman 1 franc, (20 cents,) and for two childi-en 75 centunes, (15 cents,) a total of 1,200 francs ($240) a year, for a family of foiu- persons. The estimated expenses for the absolute neces- sities of living are 1,188 francs, ($237 GO,) leaA^ng a surplus above bare necessities of only 12 francs, or a little over two dollars. It is hardly necessary to say that this siu-plus is scarcely ever attained, and that poverty, debt, and moral degradation are the normal conditions of this industrial population. CATEAU, in the region of the north, furnishes an example of what may be done in the industry of merinos by adapting on a large scale the most recent processes, and making use of a raw material supplied from domestic sources. In 1818, M. Paturle selected the locality of the small toAvn of Gateau, ha^ing a stream of water, aftbrding a moderate hydi-aidic power and a laborious and intelligent population, already skilled in the 56 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. domestic manipulation of wool, as a site for the development of tlie idea of deriving the greatest possible benefit from the soft wool of the Span- ish race, then commencing to abound in that region. He conceived that the utmost develoi)ment of which the fibre of the new race was susceptible was in the fabrication of merinos, recently introduced at Rheims. From this idea there sprung up in the hands of MM. Paturle & Lupin, and of their successors, the most extensive manufactory of merinos in France, and the one which would serve best for a model in this country. The original machinery comprised only some instruments for combing and spinning, the weaving being operated on the hand-looms of the adjoin- ing country. In the course of 30 years the machinery has been enthely renewed. The old water-wheels have made way for steam engines of 250 horse power, moving CO combers, 40,000 spindles, and COO poAver- loonis. 2,000 workmen are employed directly in the mill, and the hand- weavers of the country furnish 4,000 auxiliaries, making a total of C,000 workmen. The freight transported to and from the establishment amounts to 5,000 tons, and the value of the production is from 18 to 20 million francs, three-quarters of which is exi)orted to all quarters of the world. The proprietors have earned their splendid prosperity by being faithful to the fabric first adopted. They have attained the utmost perfection in x)rocesses of manufacture by the emi)loyment of machines whose serviceableness had been verified, and have made their goods salable by a moderation of price without the sacrifice of quality. The Bradford delegates who visited Cateau, at the time of the Exposition, were " struck with astonishment at the cleatdiness, order, and regidarity of the vast establishment." Admirable schools are provided for children and adults attached to the works, and a public laundry and baths. The widow of the founder of the works has constructed and endowed a hos- pital provided Avith twenty beds for invalid workmen, as a monument for her husband. These foundations show that the generous sentiments of the proprietors have been among the elements of their prosperity. The best workmen earn at this establishment, where their condition is probably more favorable than anywhere else in France, from 3 francs 50 centimes (70 cents) to 4 francs (80 cents) per day, and the women at the power-looms from 1 franc CO centimes (32 cents) to 2 francs, (40 cents.) It is estimated that with strict economy the head of a family can save from CO to 150 francs, but, as has been said with regard to all such calculations, " we must distinguish that which is possible from that which is." There are many other important centres and special localities of this industry which might be studied with profit, as that of the fabrication of merino shawls, or imitations of the Cashmere, distributed in the agri- cultural villages of the north in the arrondissements of Cambrai and Avesnes, and conducted under the direction of large houses in Paris ; the spinning establishments of Fournies, where a mere hamlet has grown into a town of 4,000 inhabitants, employing 30,000 spindles, through the WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 57 co-operative association of workmen, the most signal example of the snccess of co-operative industry in France ; the characteristic manu- factm-es of Amiens, which produce annnally more than 20,000,000 francs in value of the various fabrics ft'om the hair of the Angora goat ; but the space allotted in this paper for the manufactures of France must be reserved for the most important centre of the combing wool industry. EOUBAIX. Of all the manufacturing towns in France there is no one which in acti\dty, enterprise, and rapidity of growth, compares with Eoubaix, the '' Bradford" of the empire. Situated upon the borders of French Flanders, its industry is a direct inheritance from the Flemish artisans, who in the middle ages were masters of the woollen industry of the world, and who supplied what Fuller calls that "treasury of foreigners" who enriched England by the introduction of the Flemish arts. A mere rui-al hamlet of two hundred families in 14G9, overshadowed by the pow- erfrd town of Lisle, it was authorized by patent from Charles, Duke of Biu-g-undy, to fabricate a limited class of woollen stufts. Its powerftil neighbor, Lisle, disputed this right, which was finally confirmed by the Emperor. Still, for three centuries an industrial war was carried on between the rival towns, which contributed greatly to the hardihood and enterprise of the victor, which Eoubaix has finally become. The treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1668, which united Flanders to France, by opening a larger market, gave a broader field to Flemish activity. The production of stuffs at Eoubaix, which in 1612 was about 3,000 pieces, regularly increased until 1771, when the production was 38,000 pieces, occupying 40,500 laborers of both sexes, and representing a value of 2,987,500 fi-ancs. In 1786 the manufactures of Eoubaix were sufficiently imiiortant to induce her to take the lead in resisting the consequences of the disastrous treaty of the Marquis de Yergennes, which admitted English goods into the French markets at nommal duties. All its in- habitants, men, women, and children, signed an act by which they bound themselves to wear nothing but the stuffs of France. This movement was followed in all the provinces, and the engagement was kept until the policy of 1786 was repealed and i)rotection restored. True to her traditions, Eoubaix, of all the cities of France, is most earnest in denunciation of the relaxation of the protective policy through the recent treatj^ with England. Within the present year, as appears by the Journal des Economistes, the considtative chambers of arts and manu- factui-es of this and the adjoining city of Tourcoing have iirotested to the minister of commerce against the renewal of this treaty, declaring that the public fortune of Eoubaix has suffered by the treaty to the extent of 200,000,000 of francs. The workmen of Eoubaix have petitioned the Emperor to the same effect. The manufactiu'ers of Lisle and Amiens have followed this movement, which is supported by the Moniteur In- dustrial of January 9, 1868, as foUows : " 15,000,000,000 this Anglo- 58 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. Frencli alliaucc lias cost us. Counting' the results of tlie Belgium treaty, and of that which we have concluded with the Zollverein, and we have a total of 20,()0«),()00. Tlie treaties of commerce, the grand economical reform, the ^^'orks ^vhich render illustrious the second half of the 19th century, have carried 20,000,000 to the debtor side of our national balance sheet." The ancient device upon the municipal coat of arms of Eoubaix embodies in two words the secret of all prosperity in manufactures as well as in common life, Industrie ct Prohite. Among the masters in textile industry in former times, a faithful fabrication of their stuffs was a point of honor as cherished as bravery in knights and "sdrtue in women. The fabricants of Eoubaix resisted the license in the fabrication of stuffs which was i^ermitted after the revolution. They insisted that the ancient municipal regulations established to prevent frauds in manufac- ture should be preserved, and for forty years, thi'ough their chamber of commerce and council of Prudhommes, demanded of the government the restoration of the ancient restrictive regulations. No city has derived a greater advantage from the freedom which it so earnestly resisted. For the last half century, the industrial life at Eoubaix has been only one series of enterprises and happy experiments. Its dominant idea has been to adapt fabrics of luxiuy to popular consump- tion by combining the best taste and highest excellence with the lowest possible price. With this idea it has continually varied its materials and styles, combining wool with cotton, with silk, with mohair and flax, but in all the economies of production preserving a grace of decoration and sobriety and harmony of colors which takes from cheapness all its vnl- garity. The Anglo-French treaty has compelled Eoubaix to enter into direct competition with Bradford in the production of the light and fra- gile mixtures of wool or goats' hair with cotton warp, such as the bareges, the coburgs and mohairs, which have given such an immense develop- ment to the English worsted industry ; but it appears, from the recent statements of its manufactiu-ers, that its superior taste and invention have not enabled it to retain the control of the domestic market in con- flict with the more powerfid capital of England. The great establish- ments sustain comparison with their English rivals, whose methods, dimensions and machines they have adopted. The rapidity with which the town has advanced is without parallel in France. From a popula- tion of 5,000 souls in 178G, it has gone progressively to 10,000 in 1806, 15,000 in 1830, 25,000 in 1840, until it reached 55,000 in 1864, while its pro- duction of fabrics has risen from 3,000 to over 400,000 pieces, and the annual value of its manufactiu'es has been increased from 3,000,000 or 4,000,000 to about 200,000,000 francs. This rapid growth is rivalled in Eiu'ope only at Bradford, which has been built up by a similar industry. It is remarkable that this marvellous prosperity is due in no respect to any advantages of nature or location. Eoubaix had no water power, its natural streams being insufficient to supply the bleacheries ; WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 59 and even in 1824, its only approacli to Lisle Avas by a road impracticable in winter ; the original source of its power was its native population, which had inherited the skill, arts, and enterprise of its Flemish ances- try. The idtimate source of this prosperity has been the happy idea of applying the native skill and taste, aided by the modern jiowers of steam and machinery, to furnishing in the cheapest and most attractive form the light fabrics for the largest and most important class of con- sumers, the women and children, and in satisfying the fickleness of female taste by constant variations of textm^es, styles and colors. The secret of the profitableness of this manufacture is, that the utmost amount of mere machine labor is given to the smallest iiossible amount of raw material. Sales and estimates of tariff duties in card- wool fabrics are made in a great measure by weight, having reference to the quantity of raw material. In combing- wool fabrics they are made by the j^ard. It is estimated that a single hoggett fleece from a Lincoln sheep weighing 20 pounds of a length of staple of 17 inches, such as has been some- times exhibited in England, when used in manirfacture to its utmost extent, with cotton, to fabricate the finest alpaca fabrics would suflice to make 16 pieces, or 672 yards, enough for 56 dresses. The same amount of wool made into cloth would not make suits for six men. M. BenoAdUe states that a careful calculation made at Eoubaix in 1843 showed that there were consumed at that place in the manufacture of the class of fabrics in question, 4,536,168 kilograms of wool, of the value of 17,000,000 francs, averaging 3 fi^ancs 74 centimes the kilogram. There were consumed, besides, 1,225,000 francs in value of silk and cotton, making the total raw material consmned 18,285,000 francs. The total production of fabrics of this district was valued at 63,000,000 francs. The goods put in consumption, then, had a value three and a quarter times more than that of the raw materials consumed ', that is, 3 francs 74 centimes for the raw wool, &c., and 9 francs 35 centimes for the manip- ulation, cost of capital, and profit. But it is unnecessary to specidate upon the reasons of the remarkable development during the last half centm-y of the class of manufactures under consideration. Eoubaix and Bradford are in themselves enough to demonstrate that the combing wool industry, which, comparatively speaking, we have hardly touched, is for this country the most encour- aging field for labor in the whole range of the textile industry. It remains, j)ursuing the course adoi^ted with regard to the other great centres, to consider the condition of the industrial population at Eoubaix^ The average wages per day actually received, deducting the time actu- ally lost, are stated as follows by the statistical authorities : Combers of wool : men, 2 francs 60 centimes, (52 cents ;) women, 1 franc 80 centimes, (36 cents.) Spinners : men, 2 francs 60 centimes, (52 cents;) women, 1 franc 80 centimes. Weavers: jacquard, 2 fi'ancs 25 centimes, (45 cents ;) power loom, 2 francs 25 centimes, Dyers : 2 francs 60 centimes, (52 cents.) 60 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. It is estimated that tlie strict expenses for a liouseliold of five persons, the father and mother only receiving wages, are 2 francs 70 centimes (54 cents) per day ; being 40 centimes (8 cents) for lodging, 1 franc 10 cen- times (22 cents) for bread, 75 centimes (15 cents) for other aliments, and 45 centimes (9 cents) for washing, fire and light. In this calculation meat is not included, it being only occasionally used by the workmen. The total cost for the above items per year is between 98G and 1,000 fi-ancs. Estimating that the cost of supporting the family falls upon the father and mother, on the average conditions, their united wages are from 1,150 francs to 1,250 francs a year, being an excess above expense in the first case of 150 francs, and in the second of 250 francs. But in the above calculation neither clothing nor furniture are included, and absence from animal food is a condition of the estimate. Where family life must necessarily be so hard and austere, and having scarcely any enjoyment except that derived from performance of duty, we are not siu"- I)rised to find among the statistics of a city provided even with schools and religious institutions, that in the year 1863, of a population of 54,000 there were but 487 marriages, and that there were 283 illegitimate births, of which 265 were not acknowledged. It is due to the French social writers and statisticians to say that the facts illustrative of the condition of the laborers are stated without any attempt to justify them on the one hand, or to exaggerate them on the other. It woidd appear that the evils of the European ride of the com- pensation of labor are so vast and so entwined with the existing social and political system, that it is vain to attempt to grapple with them. " The question of wages," says one writer, " is one of the most important questions of oiu^ epoch, and x^erhaps the most difficidt to resolve ; we shall not attempt to discuss it." Another writer says : " Before long this question of wages wUl occupy a more important part than it has done before in the respective accounts and means of defence of the various industries." It is hoped that for this country, at least, the question of wages is solved by adopting the system of protection, not of manufac- tui'es, but of labor, " as the means of defence of oiu* various industries." OTHEE EUEOPEAE^ NATIONS. BELGIUM, GERMANY AND AUSTRIA. The other principal centres of the woollen industry upon the continent of Europe can be passed in review but briefly. In Belgium, the princi- pal seat of the card- wool industry is at Yerviers. This city, a century ago a town of 5,000 souls, has acquired through its woollen manufac- tures a population of 28,000, and with that of its suburbs of 40,000. In 1797 its production amounted to the value of three or four millions of francs. In 1864 the production was valued at 70,000,000 francs, its annual increase being at the rate of 10,000 pieces a year. The reputa- tion of some of its manufacturers is nowhere surpassed, as of M. Sim- WOOL AND MANUFACTUEES OF WOOL. 61 mollis, wliose name stands first among the individuals wlio were honored by medals in the class of card- wool fsihrics at the Paris Exposition. Bel- gium manufactures principally for foreign consumption, and the United States is one of its largest outlets. It is able to surmount the barriers of our duties, by reducing the wages of its workmen. The day's pay of many weavers does not exceed 1 franc 50 centimes, (30 cents,) and women do not earn more than from 80 centimes (16 cents) to 1 franc, (20 cents.) The average wages at Verviers is 2 francs (40 cents) for twelve hours' work. By means of this cheap labor, stuffs of wool mixed with cotton are jiroduced which cost only from 1 tranc (20 cents) to 1 franc 55 centimes (31 cents) the metre. The wear and dye are in proportion to the price. The low wages in Belgium are looked upon with no little alarm by England, and especially by the iron manufacturers. The woollen manufacture of the ZoUverein, that is, Germany without Austria, according to the most recent statements, employs 850,000 spin- dles, and iiroduces tissues of a value of more than 400,000,000 of francs, of which 50,000,000 are exx)orted. The cloths, especially the fine broad- cloths and doeskins, are largely exjiorted to this country. Competition with England and the siu'mounting of our duties are rendered easy by still lower wages than prevail in Belgium. The average juice for a day's work for weavers in the country does not exceed 1 franc 25 centimes, (25 cents,) and for towns 1 franc 75 centimes, (35 cents.) Women are paid one-third less. The following facts as to the production and wages at Aix-la-Chapelle, one of the most important centres of the card-wool industry, were obtained from Mr. Yesey, United States consul at that city, by Mr. R. W. Robinson: "Annual j)roduction, 150,000 pieces, of 25 yards to the piece. "Raw wool principally procured from Berlin, Breslau, London, and Antwerp, in the raw state, 7,500,000 pounds ; average cost from 40 to 110 thalers, Prussia, the 110 i)ounds English — say 27 cents to 70 cents per pound, gold. " Wages — 10,000 workmen. "Men earn from 3 to 5 thalers per week, $2 25 to $3 75. "Women earn from 1^ to 3 thalers per week, $1 to $2 25. "Children earn from f to IJ thaler per week, 50 cents to $1 12^." Austria works up annually 77,000,000 pounds of wool into tissues which represent a value of 150,000,000. The town of Brunn, in the heart of the pastoral province of Moravia, is one vast cloth factory, having at command an excellent situation at the confluence of two rivers and upon two lines of railroad, and also employing the best jirocesses and machines. Its really admirable goods have been largely introduced into the United States, the introduction ha\ang been aided by a system of invoices in fi-aud of our tariff, hardly equalled in unscrupidousness elsewhere. The prices of sound cloths are the lowest in Europe, and the average wages do not exceed 1 fi-anc 25 centimes (25 cents) a day. 62 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. GREAT BRITAIN. It is tlirougli lier wool tliat England has risen to the first place in the world in the textile industry. Her soil and climate favored the culture of sheep possessing qualities found in no other race or country. The prevailing national sentiment, as expressed in the words of one of its old writers, is that " wool is the flower and strength, the revenue and the blood of England." Its exclusive possession was secured bj" laws for- bidding its exijortation, and the acquisition of auxiliary wools from abroad was secured by their admission at small or merely nominal imposts. Tlie woollen manufacturers having acquired the highest arts of the Low Countries and France, from the refugees whom the persecu- tions of the Duke of Alva and the revocation of the edict of Nantes had driven to the English shores, were "fondled, favored, and cherished," to use the words of Mr. Huskisson, by a persistency of national protec- tion mthout parallel in the history of industry. The woollen industry was first planted in the eastern and western counties. In the 18th centmy it changed its seat to the counties of the north, where coal abounded for propelling machinery, and the neighborhood of large flocks of sheep gave the choice of fleeces, and in the West Eiding of the county of York it has been developed into gigantic proportions. The most remarkable woollen establishments of the world are concentrated in this district, but distributed in foiu' principal towns, each of which, by a law which seems universal, has devoted itself to a special industry. Leeds, to heavy drapery ; Huddersfleld, to light drapery ; Halifax, to carpets ; and Bradford, to thin and briUiant worsted stuffs. The efl'ect of a succesful woolleu industry upon popidation is remarkably illustrated in this dis- trict. In the West Riding, where there was a popidation of only 51)3,000 inhabitants in 1801, it had risen in 1811 to 1,151,000, and in 1807 to 1,375,000. In 1811 it had increased at Halifax from 03,000 to 130,000,- at Huddersfleld from 11,000 to 38,000 ; and at Leeds from 53,000 to 152,000. The increase of population is still more remarkable at Brad- ford, the great seat of the worsted industry. At the commencement of the century, when all the wool was spun and woven in the houses of the workmen, this town had a poi)ulation of only 13,000 soids ; in 1821 it had doubled the number of its inhabitants, which then reached 26,000. By the introduction of power-looms in 1825, the use of cotton warps with yarns of wool in 1831, and the employment of the hair of the alpaca and Angora goat, first used in 1836, the manufacturing industry was so developed that it sustained, in 1851, a population of 103,000, and of 115,000 in 1861, an increase of over 100,000 in half !a ceutmy. In singu- lar contrast with the infinite variety which Yorkslm^e now ijroduces, and its industry, which occupies upon a distiict of 50 square miles 750,000 spindles and 35,000 power-looms, distributed in 932 establishments, emi)lo5 ing 75,000 woikmen, is the picture left by an ancient statute of the condition of the woollen industry in the city of York, in the time of WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 63 Henry YIII. During tlie reign of tliis mouarcli an act was passed in favor of the city of York, reciting and declaring " tliat tlie poor of tliat city were daily employed in spinning, dyeing, carding, weaving, &c., for tlie making of coverlets, and that the same have not been made in the same county till of late ; that this manufacture has spread into other parts of the country, and was thereby debased and discredited ; and therefore it is enacted that none shall make coverlets but the people of York." We see this wretched handicraft now expanded into the most magnifi- cent manufacture to be found in the woollen industry of the world. Although the West Eidiug of Yorkshire is the most important seat of the woollen industry in England, it is by no means confined to this dis- trict. Other centres are marked by the same singTdar devotion to par- ticular branches observed in Yorkshire. While heavy pilot cloths, &c., for overcoats, are produced i)rincipally at Leeds, pantaloon stufis andvestings at Huddersfieid, blankets at Dewsbury, carpets and damasks for furniture at Halifax, all in Yorkshire ; tweeds, tartans, shawls, &c., are made prin- cipally at Galashiels and Hawick; imitation cashmere shawls, at Paisley; flannels, in Wales, and at Eochdale ; heavy goods, such as blankets and rugging, horse-cloths, &c., in Oxfordshire, and at Witney, Chipping Norton, and Kendal, in Westmoreland ; hosiery, at iJ^ottingham, and silk and wool poplins at Norwich ; each of these j)oints being recognized as the headquarters of the branches of production above enumerated. We find a singular deficiency of recent statistics respecting the woollen industry of Great Britain, proceeding from the characteristic reticence of its manufacturers. This is observable in the proceedings of the Cham- ber of Commerce of Bradford, where we might exjiect to find detailed information. The most recent statements are those given by Mr. Symonds, in 18G1. From them it appears that the total value at that IDcriod of the woollen manufacture of the kingdom, separate from the worsted manufactiu'e, was £20,290,079, composed of the following items : 76,000,000 pounds of foreign and colonial wool, valued at £4,717,492 ; 80,000,000 pounds of British wool, at l.s\ 3^7. per pound, £5,000,000 ; 30,000,000 pounds of shoddy, at 2^d. per pound, and 15,000,000 pounds of nmngo, at -i^d. yev pound, together £009,370 ; cotton and other warjjs, used in the union and mixed cloths, £206,537 ; dye-stufis, oil, and soap, £1,500,000 ; wages, £150,000 ; work people, at 12s. 6d. per week, £1,875,000 ; rent, wear and tear of machinery, repairs, coal, interest on capital and profit, 20 per cent, on above, £3,381,680. According to the same author- ity, the worsted manufacture consumes 80,000,000 pounds of British wool, and 15,000,000 pounds of foreign and colonial wool, and employs 125,000 hands. The Avliole number of operatives engaged on wool is 275.000. The total number of persons, directly dependent upon the wool- len industry, is set dowTi at 837,500, including the workmen, there being a larger numl^er of dependent workers in auxiliary trades than in con- nection with any other manufactui'e. It is not projjosed to give the details of the compensation of labor in 64 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. the woollen industry of Great Britain. English statistical statements of the reliable character of those given respecting the French industry are wanting. The rates obtained from scattered sources vary so much in different establishments, locations, and employments, that facts supi)lied by a few establishments would lead to no correct conclusions. A better opinion can be formed from a general view than a microscopic examiiia- tion. M. Ileybaud is of opinion that, throwing aside the exceptional cases where the receipts of an English workman and his wife would amount to 3,000 or 3,500 francs, the average receipts for the couple can- not be fixed at less than 1,700 or 1,800 fiancs, the receipts in Eoubaix in corresponding cases being 1,350 francs, and at Amiens 900 francs. The average wages in this industry, although materially less than in this country, particularly for common hands, and women and children, are greatly above those in France and other countries on the continent. The Chamber of Commerce of Leeds, according to the author last referred to, estimates the wages of the workman at 35 francs for the articles best paid, and at 22 francs for those which are least paid, with intermediate rates. American manufacturers admit that it is not so much the lower rate of wages in England against which we have to contend, as the low rates of interest, which permit the emx)lo5Tnent of vast capital and most the advantageous use of machinery, together with the abundance of labor which may always be recruited from the vast reserve corps of paupers, eager to be elevated to the rank of work- men. A marked improvement in the material condition of the workmen, especially in Yorkshire, has been effected of late years by the increase and the lessening of the cost of subsistence. In the West Eiding the labor which, in the period from 1845 to 1847, produced 10 shillings per per week, udll earn at lu-esent 16 shillings per week. The food for a familj" which then cost ds. M. is now obtained for 6s. In this industry at the present day, the Yorkshire workmen are able to consume ani- mal food at least twice a day, to be respectably clothed, to have some luxuries, and accumulate savings. They are the envy of the workmen of the continent. Without stopping to inquire whether this change has been brought about by chartist agitation, the trade unions, the self-inter- est of employers, or the moral enlightenment of the English nation, we recognize the fact that the material condition of the English workman is vastly superior to that of his brother workman in France, Belgium, Prussia, and Austria. On the other hand, it is now freely admitted in England that the general and technical education of the English opera- tive is far inferior to that of the workmen of the nations above-named. The Universal Exposition at Paris served to open the eyes of England to the startling fact that she had been making but little progress in man- ufacturing and mechanical industry since 1851, compared with that made in many other Eiu'opean countries. Among the responses of eminent jurors to a request for information, addressed by the Schools Inquiry Commission of Jidy 2, 1807, we find the following statements as to the inferiority above referred to, and its apparent cause. WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 65 Dr. Playfair says: "A singular accordance of opinion prevailed tliat onr country had sliown little inventiveness, and made little progress in the peaceful arts of industry since 1862." Professor Tyndal says: "I have long entertained the opinion that in virtue of the better education provided by the continental nations, England must one day, and that no distant one, find herself outstripped by those nations both in the arts of peace and war." More pertinently to the immediate subject of this report, Mr. Huth says: "I am sorry to say that, although we may still be unsur- passed in many of oiu- productions, we no longer hold that pre-eminence that Avas accorded to us in 1851. The enormous strides that have of late been nuide by our continental rivals in France, Belgium, Prussia, and Austria, will make it daily more difficult for our woollen manufacturers to hold not only their former prominent i)osition, but even to maintain their present one. I found that it is the want of industrial education in this country which prevents our manufacturers from making that pro- gress which other nations are making. I found both masters and foremen in other countries much more scientifically educated than our oavu. The workmen of other countries have a far superior education to ours, many of whom have none whatever. Their productions show clearly that it is not there a machine working a machine, but that brains sit at the loom, and intelligence stands at the spinning wheel." The references here made to the provisions for scientific and technical education upon the continent of Europe are worthy of grave considera- tion in this country, and the exami)les cited should stimulate us to extend such institutions as already exist here in the schools of the Cooper Insti- tute of New York, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The cause, however, of the decline of the industrial arts in England, so fuUy admitted in the testimony of her own experts, is to be found in a source more deeply seated than in a simjile deficiency of technical education. Schools of art are the result, as well as the cause, of a national sentiment of excellence, and such a sentiment cannot be predominant in a nation where the riding idea of its system of manufacture is production at the cheapest possible rate for the utmost possible consumption . A constantly declining standard of excellence is insej^arable from this idea. The fruits are seen in the shoddy cloths, the fragile raih-oad iron, and the hardware, to which no more opprobrious term can be applied than that derived from its chief seat of fabrication — the trashy fabrics and wares inundating every country which does not protect itself by domestic production and defen- sive duties. It is to the commerce which this system of manufacture nourishes that the famous line of Goldsmith is so justly applicable — "And honor sinks where commerce long prevails. '\ The French economists deplore the influence of this idea, which has crept into France, in consequence of the Anglo-French treaty, and they assert that it has exerted a baleful influence upon French artists who have sojourned a long time in England. "They lose their manner," it is said; "their imagination is subdued; it is a flame which becomes extin- 5 w 66 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. guislied by tlie positive and cold spirit of the Englisb." The Avoolleii manufacturers of this country in producing, as they have done formerly, chiefly for the masses, have followed too much the jiresent English system, instead of aiming at the standard of the old English masters of the woollen industry, and of their descendants in the western counties, who produce for the home markets, or the still higher standard which we have seen prevailing in France. The system whicih may be i)rofitable for a foreign trade cannot be permanently remunerative for domestic con- sumi)tion. In fabricating for the home markets the delinquencies of the producer are like jjersonal "sins," which, in the words of the homely proverb, "always come home to roost." The false economy of making- poor, or, more properly speaking, dishonest fabrics, is sure to be at length demonstrated by reclamations of buyers, by accumulating stocks, and, finally, by bankrui)t establishments. Our mamifactiu'ers, in producing even for the masses, should consider how rapidly the masses in this coimtry are improving in taste and in appreciation of what is really good, and that American consumers will no more be satisfied with ordinary fabrics than American mechanics with cheap tools. Let the ancient device of Eoubaix, '^Industrie etprohite,''^ be the rule also of American manufacturers ; let the surprising adA^ance of oiu' woollen industry in the last five years be the earnest of its futiu^e progress, and the excellence and variety of its x^roducts will excite in the people a sj^mpathy in our struggles and a national pride in our achieve- ments. By our own faithfid work we shall secure the final condition of success — a positive public sentiment which shall pervade the country in favor of the products of its own soil and labor. E. E. MUDGE, United States Commissioner to the Farts Exposition of 1867. APPENDIX A. AMERICAN MERINOS. Prepared by request, for this report, by Son. Henry S. Randall , LL. D., President of National Wool Groicers' Association} Fnll-Wood American merino sheep, as that designation is now under- stood, inchide only fnll-ldood descendants of the merinos imjiorted from Spain into the United States near the beginning of the present century. Six were introduced by different persons between 1793 and 1802. In the last named year, Mr. Livingston, the American Minister in France, sent home two pairs obtained from the French government flock. Later in 1802, Colonel Humphreys, the American Minister in Spain, on his return from his embassy, shipped a flock to the United States, of which 21 rams and 70 ewes safely reached his farm in Connecticut. The merinos imported prior to these last have not, so far as is known, left any full- blood descendants. Col. Humphreys liublished no detailed account of his purchase or of the previous history of his sheep. He evidently regarded the fact that he i)urchased them, and that he obtained them directly from the merinos of Spain, as all that was important to be known, and as a sufficient guar- antee of their blood and quality, and so indeed it was. He was a singu- larly high-toned and public- spirited man — wealthy — intent on doing a j)atriotic service to his country by introducing these sheep ; and that he fidly sui)posed that he had accomijlished the latter object he himself bears witness. In his i)oem " On the industry of the United States of America," he proudly declares : "Not guarded Colchis gave admiring Greece So rich a treasure iu its golden fleece." The particular Spanish family or families from which his sheep were selected cannot now be regarded as a matter of any consequence ; but from investigations which circumstances formerly impelled me to make among all the accessible i)ublic and jirivate records and facts appertain- ing to the subject, I came to the undoubting conclusion that they were drawn from a single family, and that the Infantado. Judging from the statements in Colonel Humphrey's manuscript letters lying before me, he not only found great satisfaction but great success in breeding his merinos. The very ones he brought from Spain, he says, increased half a pound in their fleeces ; and their descendants continued to improve in that and every other i^articular. He speaks glowingly of their hardiness and propensity to fatten ; and in the highest terms of their mutton. This gentleman died iu 1818, when causes, hereafter to be 1 Author of Sheep Husbandry in the South, Fine Wool Husbandry, The Practical Shep- herd, &c., «fec. 68 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. detailed, had sunk the merinos into contempt and neglect. His invalua- ble sheep were then scattered, and, as a general thing, they appear to have fallen into the hands of those who attached no great value to their blood, for I can learn of but two or three instances where they were pre- served distinct after 1820. The next importations of imi)ortance were made by Mr. William Jar- vis, American consul at Lisbon, Portugal, in 1800 and 1810. Taking- advantage of the offers of the Spanish Junto to sell the confiscated flocks of certain Spanish nobles, he bought and shipped to different ports in the United States about three thousand eight hundred and fifty merinos. He wrote to me, in 1811, that about thirteen hundred of these were Aqueirres, two hundred Moutarcos, the rest Paulars and Negrettis — mostly the foimer. He says : " Those I reserved for myself were com- posed of about half Paulars, a quarter Aqueirres, and the other fourth of Escurials, Negrettis and Montarcos, which I subsequently mixed together." In regard to other importations at this period, Mr. Jarvis writes in the same letter : " There were sent in the latter year (1810) by others about two thousand five hundred, composed of Paulars — had of General Downie — Montarcos, AqueuTes and Guadalupes. Part of those went to ISew York, part to Boston. All those sheep were Leonesa, trans-human- tes, and were of the prime flocks of Spain. I have been able to be thus minute in relation to the merinos in 1809 and 1810, as I was then Amer- ican consid at Lisbon, which was the port from which they were all shipped, it being only about one hundred miles to Badajos, and the near- est seaport to that place." Some of these cargoes did not reach the United States until 1811. I have elsewhere given the names of a nuiu- ber of the importers, and it is not necessary to repeat them here. The circumstances existing at the time of the introduction of these sheep were highly propitious to their careful breeding and rapid diffu- sion. From 1807 to 1812 the maritime regulations of England and Prance, and our own retaliatory ones, paralyzed, and during a portion of the time entirely suspended, our foreign trade ; and the ensuing war with England, which lasted to 1815, completely swept our commerce from the ocean. Thus oiu- i)eoiJle were driven to the establishment of wool and other manufactures, and to the i^roduction of the raw materials. State legislatures, the public press, and politicians of every party and grade, encouraged efforts in that direction, and patriotic as well as pecu- niary enterprise warmly responded to these appeals. The new importa- tion of merinos was hailed with enthusiasm. From $1,000 to $1,500 a head was frequently paid for them. Flocks of full-bloods or grades were started in all parts of the country. Unwashed full-blood wool rose to $2 50 a pound during the war. The peace of Ghent exposed our infant and unprotected manufactures to the competition of the world. The exhaustion and derangement of our finances accelerated their overthrow, and they fell without a strug- WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 69 gle, and irretrievably. There was no longer any market for fine wreij>n competition can alone floxirish. I have not space here to give the provisions of the different wool and woollen tariffs, but a glance at the prices of wool under them will throw some interesting light on the subject under examination. Under the tariff" of 1824, in force until September, 1828, fine wool aver- aged a trifle over 45 cents a pound; under the tariff of 1828, extending to March 3, 1832, about 57 cents a pound; under the tariff of 1832, extending to January, 1834, about 57 cents a i)ound; under the tariff' of 1833, to towards the close of 1837, about G6f cents a pound ; thenceforth under the same tariff', extending to October, 1841, about 51| cents a pound; under the tariff' of 1841, extending to September of that year, about 4Gi cents a pound; under the first year of the tariff' of 1842, about 35 J cents a pound; thenceforth under the same tariff, extending to December, 184G, about 41 cents a pound. Dming this entire period of 22 years, fine wool did not on the average exceed medium wool in price more than 10 cents a pound, and medium still less exceeded coarse.^ During the same period, pure Saxon sheep in the best flocks averaged less than three pounds of wool per head. In 1840 the flock of Henry D. Grove, the celebrated German importer and breeder — not numbering over 200 sheep, and well kept — yielded an average of 2 pounds 11 ounces of washed wool a head, and he regarded this product as so satisfactory that he adduced it as a proof of the value of his favorite breed in that controversy between the advocates of the Saxons and Sj)anish merinos which was then filling our agricultiu'al publications.^ This controversy had opened in about 1835. At that period small picked lots of Spanish merinos, ijurchased by diff'ereut persons of Mr. Jarvis, yielded 4^ pounds of washed wool a head. The flocks of Stephen Atwood, of Connecticut; of John T. Rich, of Vermont; of Francis Rotch, of New York, and my own, yielded an equal amoimt.^ The increase in the weight of Spanish fleeces was thenceforth rapid. In 1844, my Humphreys sheep yielded 5 pounds 13 ounces of washed wool a head,* and a small lot of Rich ewe tegs purchased in Vermont, five pounds. In 1845, Mr. Stephen Atwood wrote to the author of the iFrom 1827 to J86I inclusive, a period of 35 years, the average price of fine wool at Boston was 50 3-10 cents ; of medium, 41 8-10 cents ; of coarse, 35^ cents. Fine wool aver- aged 15 per centum higher than njedium, and medium 14 per centum higher than coarse. 2 See his letter to me in "Transactions" of New York State Agricultural Society, 1841, p. 333. 3 Mr. Atwood's flock and my own, here referred to, were descended from Colonel Humphrey's flock ; Mr. Rich's from a Paular importation made at New York in 181] ; Mr. Rotch's were selected from different flocks. * Four of the ewes had two years' fleeces on, but I thought this fully oflfsetted by the number of tegs in the flock, which, under the usual treatment of those days, yielded consid erably less wool than grown sheep. My Premium ram's first fleece in 1844 was 10 pounds. In 1847 one of my ewes produced 7 pounds 10 ounces. In 1849 one of my rams pro- duced 13 pounds 3 ounces. All were well washed. WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 71 American Sheplierd, that his flock consisted of 150 half ewes and half rams and wethers; that his ewes yielded five j^ounds of washed wool per head, and his lambs an equal amount ; that his wethers yielded six pounds, and his rams from seven to nine pounds ; that his heaviest ewe's fleece in the preceding spring was six pounds six ounces, and the heaviest ram's fleece 12 pounds 1 ounces. I think a few other flocks yielded about equal amounts of wool, but the facts are not before me. The prime merinos of that period then were producing upwards of two pounds more of wool a head than prime Saxons, while that of the latter fetched in the market but 6| cents per pound most in 1815, and but G^ cents per pound most in 1846. The Saxon breeders had never received anything like a i)roportionable remuneration for their wool. They had lived on hopes deferred, looking- for changes which never came. When the tarift' of 1840 overthrew the broadcloth manufactures of the country, there was no longer any ground for hope, and the Saxon sheep rapidly disappeared and gave place to the American merinos, as the Spanish sheep were thenceforth generally called. They had indeed become a distinctive variety, like the Saxon Merino, the French merino, &c., presenting both essential and visible difl'erences from their Spanish ancestors or from any other merino family. They diflered materially from the Spanish in amount of wool, size, and form. The weights of prime American washed fleeces have just been stated. Livingston gives the average weight of the Spanish ram's fleece, unwashed, at the beginning of this centiuy, at 8J pounds — Youatt at eight pounds. Both give the average of the unwashed ewe's fleece at five pounds. The King of England's carefully selected Negrettis, about 100 in number, yielded, for five successive years, (1798-1802,) an average of Siff pounds of brook- washed wool — scoured weight 2L5-2, Tiiig included the wool of some wethers (the number unspecified) but no rams.^ In 1801 Dupont de Nemours and an associate sent to the United States unquestionably the largest-fleeced Spanish ram ever introduced here.'^ He produced S^ pounds of washed wool. Colonel Humphreys mentions it as a matter of note, in a manuscript letter which I have read, that a merino ram bred by himself yielded seven pounds five ounces of washed wool. In respect to size and form, Petri, who visited Spain in the early part of this century to examine its merinos, gave a table from which I select 1 See Sir Joseph Banks's annual reports concerning this flock. 2 Dupont de Nemours was head of the commission appointed by the French government to select the merinos given up by Spain by the treaty of Basle. He and M. Delessert sent four rams to America, three of them intended for their own farms in this country, and one for President Jetferson. All but one perished on the passage. The remark in the text is confined to Spanish sheep imported from Spain. French merinos of heavier fleece were subsequently introduced. 72 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. the following admeasurements. American merinos: I add some corresponding ones of _: o o ^ an o s ^ a s Names of flocks. bo a •3 3 o p P g o „■ B 2 o E 1 p o Of a 1 ■~ ft .2 o o 4; -a 1 ° "3 O ^ .to ■a 5 to a J3 to a 0) B s o i "3) ^ iJ h) tS Eh 5 s a Negretti : Lbs. In. F«. in. Ft. in. J^?. in. Ft. in. J'f. m. In. In. Ram 97 9i 8i 1 7 2 2 4 6i 4 2i 4 H 4 li 1 3 10 6 Ewe 67 1 6 2 1 X 1 9i 4i Infant ado : Ram lOOJ 70 10 9 1 6 1 5k 2 3 2 1 4 7 4 3i 4 2 3 11 1 1 9 8i 6 Ewe 5.i Guadeloupe : Ram m 69 9 9 1 6 1 2 2 2 2 1 4 5 3 11 4 5i 3 9 1 lOi 8 6 Ewe 4 Estantes of Sierra de Somo : Ram 96i 62J 9i 9 1 6 1 2 2 2 1 4 3* 4 4 2i 3 10 1 11 8 7 6 Ewe 5 Small Estantes : Ram 43 7i 1 3 1 9 3 7i 3 2 10 6,^ 3 Ewe 30 7 . 1 1 1 6 3 2 2 10 8 6 3 American merino : Ram 122 9 10 2 4 3 11 4 4i 11 9 9 Ewe 114 9i 10 2 4 3 lU 4 1* 11 9 8 Ewe 122 100 9 9 10 11 2 5 2 3 4 3 11 4 3 4 i 9 8i 9 8 8 8 The weights and measures given of the Spanish sheep are Austrian, a little exceeding English weights and measures. From a careful com- parison of all the figures, I think Petri must have taken the circumfer- ence of the belly without compressing the wool, for if there was no greater difterenee in this particular, it is difficult to see from the above table — notwithstanding the marked superiority in breadth of hip of the American sheep — why they should have weighed so much the most. The American ram represented in the table was a small one, not usually weighing over 100 pounds with his fleece off. A fidl-sized one of the family (Infantado) would have weighed from 10 to 25 pounds more. The ewes were rather above the average of my grown sheep of the same family, and were in good ordinary condition. My measurements were made in 1801, and therefore do not exactly represent merinos of 1846 ; but I think the change in size and form was not very considera- ble between those dates ; and I am not aware that any corresponding data of the American merinos of 1846 are preserved. Some persons perhaps will get a clearer idea of the difference between the form of Spanish and American merinos from descriptive terms than from the above figures. The American sheep was far the lowest, round- est, and most comjiact animal, broader on the hip, fuller and broader in the bosom and breech, and shorter, proportion ably, in the neck and legs. The Spanish migratory sheep travelled 800 miles a year, and, all things WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 73 considered, with great rapidity ; and liis deep, narrow chest, longer legs, and lean form — making some approach to that of the deer — adapted him to that necessity. The American farmer had no occasion for such prop- erties, and he bred a sheep better calculated to take on flesh and fat, and possessing more of the essential points which are found most profitable in animals not required to travel far for their feed. The American merino has not much increased in size during the last 20 years, and probably scarce any since 1861. Our breeders, indeed, have sought no such increase, considering it uniirofitable in respect to wool production, inasmuch as smaller animals have more surface in pro- portion to weight than larger ones, and believing that a development of size greatly beyond the long established limits of the breed is unfavor- able to vigor, hardinesss, and easy keeping. I think the introduction of French merinos (1840-1850) exerted much influence on public opinion and taste in this particular. These great overgrown sheep, which, at first attracted so much admiration, proved so completely weak and worthless that our breeders got to eschew everything resembling them, and the I)opular impression was that their want of constitution was due to their extraordinary size for the breed, or rather to the same causes whicli had produced that size.^ The Rich or Paular family of American merinos, when not much mixed with the Humphreys or Infantado family, are smaller than the latter — having been bred purj^osely in that direction by their earlier proprietors, to adapt them to the short keep of the Vermont hills. In their natural and unpampered state, they are nearly as hardy under privation and exj)osure as the British mountain breeds. The unpampered American Infantado is also a hardy sheep, but requires more food than the former. The two families bear the same relation to each other as do Devon and short-horn cattle. One is the most profitable in sterile and exposed sit- uations, the other on rich lands and generous keep. Latterly, the Paular family have been, to a large extent, crossed with and bred towards the Infantados, but I think it highly expedient that they be preserved as a distinct variety, to meet the wants of many i)ortions of our country. While the carcass of the merino has been so materially improved in the United States, and whUe its improved form has doubtless diminished its capacity for long and rapid travelling, I am not aware that it (I speak of unpampered sheep) has lost in any characteristic of value for its present situation. From my own recollections of the breed when it was but little changed from the original Spanish model, and fi"om all the ' I do not intend to apply these remarks indiscriminately to the merinos of France. The stock imported by Mr. D. C. Collins, in 1840, from the royal flock at Rambouillet, were not thus overgrown. Their size, however, materially exceeding that of the American merino, was an entire novelty and a most captivating one to the popular eye. Consequently most of the later importers selected not only from the largest French stocks, but the largest sheep of the flocks from which they purchased — often paying comparatively little attention to other characteristics. These gaunt, unthrifty monsters, required an excess of keep and care, and then they generally perished within a year or two of the period of their iutroduc tion here. 74 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. older recollections of experienced and reliable men with whom I con- versed many years ago on tlie subject — men in various instances whose recollections of these sheep extended back to the time of their importa- tions in 1809-1811, I am satisfied that their vigor of constitution has been on the whole increased ; that they are more prolific, and furnish their offspring more milk ; and it is certain, as already said, that they fatten more rapidly and better, and furnish better mutton. They accu- mulate, it is true, far less fat than the English mutton breeds ; but good merino wethers are favorites in our markets. Their meat is darker colored and shorter grained than that of English sheep. It flavor is good. Multitudes of Americans prefer it to English mutton, and especi- ally to Long- wool mutton ; and the lambs of Southdown rams and grade merino ewes sell in our early markets for equal prices, pound for pound, with full blood Southdowns; perhaps the only other variety which habitually commands an extra price. And it has been found that pam- pering from birth, as mutton sheep are pampered, gives the merino a very liberal share of that early matiuity which has been denied to it by those w]i<3 have described the original variet^^ I am not contending, by any means, that the improved American merino rivals the British breeds as a profitable mutton sheep ; but I would show" that it no longer takes the low rank in that particular which has been traditionally assigned to it, and that its mutton has become an important considera- tion in estimating its general value, or its comparative adaptation to special localities. But it is in weight of fleece that the American merino has made the most remarkable advance beyond its progenitors. We have seen that in 1844-'5 small very choice lots yielded an average of over 5 lbs. a head of Avashed wool. Now flocks of several hundred, including tegs, ^Nith- out any wethers and not more than one per cent, of rams, on fair ordi- nary keep, yield an equal amount. Flocks of picked sheep jield 6 lbs. a head, and small, high-kept lots a pound or two more, all of washed wool. It has become difficult indeed, for reasons which w ill presently appear, to learn accurately the amount of well-washed wool in a large j)roportion of the heaviest-fleeced small flocks. These are usually in the hands of " breeders" — ram-sellers, as they are termed in England — who raise sheej) especially to seU them for breeding pm-poses, and who expect to obtain extraordinary j)rices. This business has been highly remunerative for a number of years; and during the recent war of the rebellion, the demand for choice merinos swelled into a mania. According to the popular idea "king cotton" was dead, and there was to be no resurrec- tion for him. Woollen fabrics were permanently to supersede cotton fabrics in clothing, and in ever}i:hing else where it could be employed as a substitute. There was therefore to be an enormous and j^erpetual demand for wool at high prices. Stimulated by such golden prospects, sheep holders increased their flocks, and made the most energetic eflbrts to improve them by the purchase of valuable rams ; and thousands of WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 75 persons, wholly inexi>erienced in the business, abandoned other piu'suits to embark tor the ovine El Dorado. I think, speaking within bounds, I received two or three thousand letters, between 18G1 and 1807, from lawyers, doctors, small merchants, clerks, mechanics, men out of busi- ness, clergymen, and farmers not previously engaged in sheep hus- bandry, who propounded inquiries on the subject of breeds, the most profitable localities for wool growing, and other matters connected with the establishment of flocks. The prices of sheep rose above the high-water marks of 1809-15 and 1821-28. Without speaking of "refused offers," which sometimes are not very real, I know that an American merino ram actually sold for $5,000; quite a number of others at $3,000 to $4,000 each ; and multitudes at $500 to $1,000 each. Several ewes were sold at $3,000 each ; more at $2,000 each ; and many at $500 to $1,000 each. There was the most eager competition to secure celebrated and costly animals; for every man expected to become a ram seller forthwith, and he found no difti" cidty in convincing himself how A^ery soon he could thus obtain back his original expenditure, and then, by an easier process than was dreamed of by the alchemists, transmute his sheep into gold. In the lit'i'iui^ient improvements of flocks, these costly animals, it is true, often richlj^ paid for themselves ; ^ but many of the recent adventurers in the business were not satisfied with this — were not satisfied because they could not at once sell for as high prices as they had given ; and when at the close of the war a temporary depression necessarily ensued in the woollen and consequently in the wool markets, (owing to causes which do not demand explanation here,) they were as anxious to abandon as they had been to embark in sheei) husbandry. This remarkable era in merino breeding, commencing in sound meas- ures of imi)rovement, but cidminating during the war in the excitement which I have described, developed several fashions in breeding and management which were altogether new in the business. Quality of wool was little talked about. Weight of fleece was the primary con- *Take an example. My American merino ram, " Twenty-one per cent," (measurements, &c., of which are subjoined to Petri's table, heretofore given,) was previously owned by Major Davis Cossit, of Onondaga, New York, and used by him in 1859 and the two suc- ceeding years. His ewes were Saxons, with sufficient American merino blood to yield, on ordinary keep, about 4 ibs. of washed wool a head. In 1862 the fleeces of the progeny of this cross were first weighed separately. Eighty-three two-year old ewes yielded 552 lbs., and 80 yearling ewes 5(14 lbs. of washed wool — within a fraction of 6^ lbs. a head. Each lot was the entire one (of ewes) of the year. In 1863, 65 two-year old and 92 yearling ewes yielded l,119Jlbs. of washed wool, or an average of 7 lbs. 2 oz. a head. The yearlings were not over 14 mouths old when shorn, and none of the sheep had been pampered. The original stock of ewes would never have fetched over, say, $8 a head immediately after shearing. For their progeny (ewes) the owner was otfered $30 a head. The grade rams were mostly sold in lots, for $15 to $25 a head. I used this ram three years on my full-blood ewes ; and I think he permanently increased the wool product of the flock half a pound per head — quite as extraordinary a gain as the preceding one, when the blood and previous pro- duct of my flock are considered. This remarkable ram was bred by Mr. Hammond, of Vermont. 76 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. sideration ; and it became the custom of many " breeders" to weigh the fleeces in the yolk, because, I suppose, it gave them an advantage over others. A rigid system of housing their sheep from contact with rain or snow the year round wouhl preserve all the yolk in the fleece, and this woidd add to its weight several pounds. The holders of larger flocks could not do this without great inconvenience and exi)ense. The former, therefore, were enabled to go into the ncAvspapers with far higher statements of weights of fleeces. Inasmuch as this system of housing and preserving all the yolk in the wool gave the fleece externally a very dark color, that color soon became a prime necessity of fashion. And as the more the yolk, the more the weight and the darker the color, yolk itself was as carefully bred for as wool. I have seen it literally dropping from the fleece under a hot sun. As a high-fed sheep produces con- siderably more wool and yolk than an ordinarily kept one, a system of pami)ering was also extensively resorted to. Many of the summer and winter housed flocks were fed grain to the utmost verge of immediate safety, and far beyond the bounds of ultimate safety ; for such continued forcing is destructive to the constitution and longevity of merino sheep, as all will bear witness who have tried or observed its effects. Under the above system of breeding and treatment, and sometimes without any special pampering, merino rams' fleeces in the yolk are fre- quently reported as weighing upwards of 25 pounds, and some have risen to 30 pounds. Ewes' fleeces range fi'om 10 pounds to 15 pounds, and sometimes individuals or small lots have gone higher. Unfortunately these weights afford scarcely an approximate criterion of the actual weight of the tvool, the proportion of yolk to wool possessing no uniformity. The breeders' customs above described constitute the reason which I promised to give, in a preceding part of this paper, why the present amount of well washed wool in most of the heaviest fleeced flocks cannot be accu- rately determined. The practice of housing sheep from rain and snow for the preceding objects is not a fraud, if distinctly avowed to all buyers. But I think it productive of no benefit, and of considerable injury. It is a useless waste of a good deal of time, and occasionally produces loss in other respects. The new-mown hay or grain must be left to get wet on the ground, to the serious deterioration of its quality, rather than have the precious weight- giAdng and color- giving yolk washed out of the fleece! And there can, it appears to me, be no reasonable doubt that this habitual non-exposure to the ordinary changes of weather must, in the course of time, to a greater or lesser degree, beget an incapacity to endure such exposures with entire impunity. Besides, this housing, if ever so frankly proclaimed, tends to warp the judgment of all buyers, and especially inexperienced buyers. If it did not give a fictitious value to the animal — rendering it more salable than sheep of equal value not thus treated — what would be the use of it? It is perfectly notorious that it, with early shearing,^ does ^ These "fitted" sheep are sheared from a month and a half to two months earlier than sheep in general. WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 77 SO alter the appearance of slieep, that a pair of twins of the closest resem- blance, one thus treated and the other not, scarcely look as if they belonged to the same variety, and the "fitted" one will far outsell the other. It is considered the breeder's right, in all kinds of domestic stock, to "put the best foot forward," and it is equally done with other breeds of sheep; but it is a pity that a higher standard of action cannot be per- mitted to prevail. Such fashions beget inducements to direct fraud- Thousands of jxn'»f«? sheep (painted to the true color by a preparation of oil, burnt umber, and a little lampblack) are annually hawked about the country, with pedigrees as artificial as their color, and sold as genuine simon inures. Fitting sheep for sale by pampering is fraudulent, for it is never avowed or admitted, and if it were so, there can be no honest or decent excuse for a practice which is directly and undeniably fatal to the well-being of the animal. We have no right to poison what we sell, because we know there will be fools to buy it, and to buy it more readily because it is poisoned. Another result has followed this indiscriminate scramble for huge fleeces. Those Avho have carried it farthest have usually consider- ably depreciated the quality of the wool. The finest fleeces are not gen- erally the heaviest. The greatest combination of wool and yolk — how- ever coarse, uneven, and even hairy, the former — has been what these extremists have looked for in their breeding rams; and the progeny of such rams must of course partake of the st"ime characteristics. I shall presently speak of the i^revailing character of American merino wool. To complete my account of these animals I must allude to one more modern fashion, that of breeding those folds and corrugations of the skin, usually termed "wrinkles." They, to a certain extent, characterized the original Spanish merino when introduced into this country, but they were confined principally to the neck. To a reasonable extent they are approved of in all countries where the merino is bred, being understood to indicate heavy fleeces. But our American extremists reasoned that, if some were desirable, more would necessarily be better; and these wrinkles "took the eye" of novices. Our most sagacious breeders have continued to resist this innovation; but it is not uncommon to see rams, and even ewes, in addition to enormous neck-folds, closely covered from head to tail with folds in the skin, elevated an inch or more from the surface of the body. There are two profound objections to this. The wool on the upper part of the ridges very rarely corresponds in quality with that between them, thus destroying all evenness of fleece; and it often takes an expert shearer two hoiu"s to clip off the fleece of one sheep evenly. With shearers at $2 to $2 50 a day, the last consideration will prove an important one among wool gTowers who own sheep in any considerable numbers, and this miserable fashion cannot long prevail. Notwithstanding the shams and deceits, as well as more innocent prac- tices, which have been resorted to by a class of sellers of American merinos to produce great fleeces in their unwashed state, there has 78 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. unquestionably been a very gTeat improvement in the actual weight of the washed or scoured fleeces within the last few years. I do not believe there is any other national family of merinos, or any other breed of sheep whatever, that can vie with them in this respect. This fact is, I think, established by the scouring- tests made so frequently during the last few years by State and local wool growers' associations, and by indi- viduals. In all these, which have commanded any attention, the sheep have been publicly shorn at the meeting of an association, or, in indi' vidual tests, in the presence of a number of reputable Avitnesses. The age of the Heece has been proven by affidavits. Where tlie test made was the proportion of wool to weight of animal, the animal has been pub- licly weighed when shorn, and its condition noted. The associations have selected competent and reliable avooI manufacturers to perform the scour- ing, and required of them statements of processes and results. The ISTcav York State association, in its scouring tests of I860, 1860, and 1867, appointed a committee of eminent and experienced gentlemen to make an examination of all the facts and of the scoured wool;^ and other State and county associations, and individuals, have taken these or otlier steps deemed necessary to secme accuracy and command entire public confidence. These expermients have demonstrated that the scoured fleeces of American merino rams of full growth not unfrequently range from six to over eight pounds, and in a recent instance, in this State, (New York,) one reached the weight of nine pounds and three ounces, the fleece being of 11 months and 21 days' groAvth. This ram was three years old, weighed 108 ])ounds after shearing, and was in good condition. His unwashed fleece was 24 pounds. The scoured fleeces of full-grown American merino ewes frequently weigh from five to over five and a half pounds ; the shorn carcases weighing from, say, 65 to 75 pounds. And it should be remarked that the heaviest fleeced sheep of the most celebrated flocks have, in very few instances, been entered in these scouring tests, for the reason, doubt- less, that their owners have not been willing to risk their established reputation by any new or unnecessary experiments. From the preceding facts it appears, first, that prime American merinos produced more washed w^ool in 1814-'46 than was produced of unwashed wool by the original stock in Spain, at their palmiest period, the opening of the present century ; second, that prime American merinos produce about as much scoured wool now as they did of icashed wool in 1814-'4:6, and nearly twice as much scoured wool as the picked merino flock of the King of Great Britain from 1798 to 1802.* They undoubtedly produce twice as much scoured wool as the average of the prime Spanish flocks at that ijeriod. 1 The committee also apprais-ed the value of the scoured wool, aud presented various other comparative data of value, not necessary to be mentioned here. - 1 take into account the wethers in the King's flock, which yield considerably more wool than ewes. WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 79 It remains to speak of the quality of American merino wool. From tlie best information I can obtain, the wool of the descendants of the original Spanish sheep imported into this country rather gained in quality between 1809 and 1824. This was undoubtedly true of the Jarvis and Humiihreys stocks ; and from 1821 to 1816 there was a more decided gain in this direction, owing to the taste for fine wools diffused by the prevalence of the Saxons. After 1846, for reasons already stated, the demand for broadcloth wools ceased, and our merino breeders sought a rather coarser and also a longer staple, because it was equally adapted to the fabrics in which it was thenceforth employed, and because much heavier fleeces coidd thereby be secured. It is now, in our heaviest fleeced flocks, too coarse for a good quality of broadcloths, and it is also quite too long for that purpose, two inches and a half being- not far from the medium length, and wool three inches long- being frequently met with. It has a remarkably strong- staple, and is found admirably adapted to fine wool combing purposes and to those medium fabrics which con- stitute so large a proportion of the consumption of the United States. In regard to the particular properties .of our full blood and grade American merino wools, the executive committee of the National Associa- tion of Wool Manufacturers, the committee itself consisting of the most eminent and successful manufacturers in the United States, bore the fol- lowing voluntary testimony in a public report made in 1866 : " In a class of fabrics, entering perhaps more largely than any other into general con- sumption — that of flannels — the superiority due principally to the admira- ble adaptation of the common wools of this country, their strength and spinning qualities is so marked as almost wholly to exclude the foreign flannels. American fancy cassimeres compare favorably in finish, fine- ness, and strength, with those imported. Our delaines, owing again, in a gieat measure, to the excellence of our merino combing wool, surpass the fabrics of Bradford at the same price. The excellence of American shawls was admitted at the Great Exhibition in London." And they subsequently add: "It has been the experience of all nations, that the domestic supply of this raw material has been the first, and always the chief, dependence of its manufacturers, and the- peculiar character of this material has impressed itself upon the fabrics which each country has produced. Thus, in the fine wools of Saxony and Silesia, we have the source of German broadcloths f in the combing wools of England, the worsteds of Bradford; and, in the long- merino wools of France, the ori- gin of her thibets and cashmeres. The peculiar excellencies of American wools have given origin to our flannels, our cassimeres, our shawls, and our delaines ; and they give strength and soundness to all the fabrics into which they enter." A gradually reviving demand for wool suitable for broadcloths and some other fine fabrics has led to the introduction, within a few years, of merinos of shorter and finer staple, from Silesia, in Prussia; sheep vastly superior to our former Saxons in size, constitution, and product of wool. 80 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. There are also Saxon slieep, so-called, of pure merino blood, in contigu- ous portions of western Pennsylvania, eastern Oliio, and the part of West Virginia which lies between those States, which furnish a very high quality of broadcloth wool. They too are larger, hardier, and yield more wool than the original Saxons imported in 1824-1828. But any account or description of these tiimiHes does not come within the pro- vince of this paper. Cortland Village, JSfew York, July, 1868. $ APPENDIX B. THE ANGORA GOAT; ITS ORIGIN, CULTURE, AND PRODUCTS/ By John L. Hayes, Secretary of the National Association of Wool Manufacturers. The Jardiu des Plantes, tlie source aud model of our societies of uatural history, gave to the world uot ouly Buftbu aud Cuvier, who, by their brilliaut labors, won for the researches of the uatui-alist a place iu the domaiu of scieuce, before accorded ouly to studies of the iuipoudera- ble elemeuts, but two other scarcely less illustrious uaturalists, whose labors were iuspired by the purpose of applyiug- their favorite scieuce to iucrease the material resources of mau. To this idea France owes the merino sheep Avith which Daubenton eudowed her, and the Imperial Society of Acclimatatiou, the creation of Geoftroy St. Hilaire, which aims to submit to iDractical study all the animals by whose acquisition the geographical zone of France can be advantageously augmented. Trust- ing that this society may regard with favor the discussion of a subject akin to those which have received the attention of the great practical naturalists of France, I iiropose to submit a memoir upon the Angora goat, the last acquisition which our agriciUtiu-e and manufactures have received from the animal kingdom. When we reflect that of the numerous species which compose the ani- mal kingdom 43 only are at the command of man, and that the oulj' lanigerous animal extensively appropriated in this country, besides its product of food, has furnished in a single year, from domestic sources, 70 per cent, of the raw material for a manufacture valued at over $120,000,000, we must regard the acquisition of a new animal, producing food and material for clothing, as an epoch in the industrial history of the country. It is the peculiar province of a society like this to aid the development of this new national resource hy shedding the fidlest light upon the specific and geographical source of this animal, upon its habits, food, and diseases, the use of its products, and, above all, upon the laws which govern its reproduction ; in a word, to make upon this subject natural history applied. As my object is less to present original matter than to diffuse the best authenticated information, corrected by your criticism, or sanctioned by your approval, a work rendered necessary by the errors abounding in agricultural reports and i^ublications, I shall avail myself of the memoirs of M. Brandt, M. Tchihatcheff, M. Sacc, and M. Boulier, naturalists of high repute, and the very numerous notices scat- tered through the proceedings of the Imperial Society of Acclimatation. The description of this animal, given in 1855, by M. Brandt, director of the Museum at St. Petersburg, and distinguished among the zoologists ^Eead before the Boston Society of Natural History, March 18, 1868.. 6w 82 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. of Europe for his conscientious work and jirofound knoAvledge, is as fol- lows : " The magnificent example of the Angora goat, which the Museum of the Imperial Academy owes to M. Tchihatcheff, produces at first sight the general impression of a domestic goat, when attention is not directed to its thick and silky fleece, to its flat ears turned downwards, and its inconsiderable size. But it is precisely these traits which impress upon this animal a distinct seal, which give it the character of a pecidiar race, whose origin is perhaps not the same as that of the domestic goat. The extremity of the snout, the cheeks, the nasal and frontal bone, as well as the ears, and lower part of the legs below the tarsal articulation, are covered with external hairs, which are shorter and thicker than those which cover the above-mentioned parts in other species of goats. The forehead has soft hairs of less length, less applied to the skin, and, in part, curled. The hair of the beard, which is pointed and of moderate dimensions, being six inches in leugth,^ is stifter than the hah' of the rest of the body, but less so than that of the beard of the ordinary goat. The horns, of a grayish white tint, are longer than the head; at their lower part the interior marginal border tiu-us inwards in such a manner that in this part they appear broad viewed in front, and narrow when seen exteriorly; at half their extension they direct themselves moderately backwards, and turn spirally outwards, so that their extremities, directed slightly upwards, are very much separated one from the other, and cir- cumscribe a space gradually contracting itself The whole of the neck, as well as the trunk, is covered with long hairs, which, particularly upon the neck and lateral parts of the body, are twisted in spirals having the appearance of loosened ringlets, it being observed at the same time that they unite themselves into rolled tufts, a disposition which is less marked in tlie anterior part of the neck. The hairs which exhibit the greatest length are situated above the forelegs, and are almost nine and one-half inches long. Those of the neck are a little shorter and are nine inches long, and those of the belly eight inches three lines. The length of the hair with which the lateral parts of the body, as well as the back, are covered, is only seven inches six lines, and that of the hair of the hind legs six inches to seven inches. Finally the slight stiff hair of the tail is about foiu- inches in length. The color of the robe of the animal is a pui-e white, here and there slightly inclining to yellow. The hoofs, somewhat small in proportion, are, like the horns, of a grayish white tint. The hair is, without exception, long, soft, and fine ; it is at once silky and greasy to the touch, and shows distinctly the brilliancy of silk." M. Brandt observes that the hairs corresponding most to external hair have only a third, or at most do not attain half, the thickness of the external hair of the common goat ; and that the external hair of the wild and domestic goats is not only closer, stifter, and more massive, but has a more considerable torsion and a less even siu-face ; that is to say, ' All the dimensions given by M. Brandt are in German measurement. One German foot is equal to 1.0299 English feet. WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 83 it is rougher and more scaly. He also remarked that " the walls of the hair of the Angora goat being thinner than those of the hair of the com- mon goat, the substance contained in the fatty cellules oozes out more readily, which renders the hair of the Angora goat softer and more flexi- ble, and gives it the lustre of silk." M. Brandt omits to mention that the long ringlets cover the hair, properly called, which is rough and short and lies sparingly upon the skin. The dimensions of the specimen examined by Mr. Brandt are given by him as follows : ^ Ft. From the point of the snout to the root of the tail 5 Length of head From the point of the snout to the eye From the eye to the ear From the eye to the horns Length of ear Length of horns in direct diameter 1 Length of horns following the curvature 1 Distance between horns taken at their roots Distances between their terminal points 1 Width of horns at theii- roots Length of tail, including the hair Height of anterior part of the body 2 Height of posterior part of the body 2 The point of inquiry most strictly pertinent to the objects of this soci- ety, and one at the same time eminently practical, as indicating the laws which govern the reproduction of this animal, thus illustrating the rela- tions of pure science with utilitarian ends, is the determination of the specific source of the Angora goat. The popular opinion as to the origin of this species is founded upon the authority of Cuvier, who mentions but three species of the genus Capra — Capra cvga/jnis, Capra ibex, Capra caucasica. He says: '■'• Capra wgayrm appears to be the stock of all the varieties of domestio goat 5" adding that they vary infinitely in size and color, in the length and fine- ness of the hair, in the size of the horns, and even in the number; the Angora goats of Cappadocia having the largest and most silky hair.^ The more recent researches of zoologists have greatly developed the knowledge of this genus. Listead of three only there are now recog- nized nine species of wild goats, which are divided into two groups based upon the form of the horns : r Capra ibex. Capra hisi^auica. 1. Group with horns flat in front, having a hori- Capra pyrenaica. 1 Bulletin de la Societe Iniperiale d' Acclimatation, t. ii., pp. 316-18. '^ Animal Kingdom, McMmtrie's Translation, vol. i., p. 198. in I. 4 2 11 9 5 1 2 5 1 9 6 2 6 6 2 1 9 9 2 1 9 9 2 4 2 2 84 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. zontal triimgular section, and fiiriiislied witli large ^ Capra caiicasica. transversal knots. Capra sibirica. Capra Walei. L Capra Beden. 2. Group wltli horns compressed and carinated in i Capra Falconeri. front. ( Capra iegagrns.^ The so-called goat of the Eocky mountains is removed by Professor Bakd from the genus Capra, where it was formerly placed by him under the designation of Capra Americana, mountain goat. He says in the description of ApocernH montanus, contained in his Eeport of the Zoology of the Pacific Eaikoad Eoutes: "The figures and descrix^tion of the skull and other bones of this species by Dr.Eichardson show very clearly that the aftinities are much more with the antelopes than with the goats or sheep. ^ Essai sur les Chevres par M. Sacc. Bulletin supr. cit., t. iii., pp. 519, 561 ; t. iv., p. 3 Giebel. Note.— The Cashmere Goat. — The only ^oat besides the Angora which is strictly lani- geroiis is the Cashmere or Thibetian goat, which abounds in central Asia, but whose origin is still obscure; although it has, according to Brandt, affinities with the Angora race. The size of the Cashmere goat is quite large; the horns are flattened, straight and black, and slightly divergent at the extremities. The ears are large, flat, and pendent. The primary hall", which is long, silky, and lustrous, is divided upon the back, and falls down upon the flanks in wavy masses. Beneath this hair there is developed in the autumn a short and exceedingly fine wool, from which the famous Cashmere shawls are fabricated. The enor- mous price of these shawls when extensively introduced into France at the commencement of the present centurj', as high as 10,000 or 12,000 francs, stimulated the French fabricants to emulate the Indian tissues. The first yarns from Cashmere wool were spun in 1815, and the high numbers were worth eight dollars "per pound. The peculiar Indian texture called '•Espouliue" was perfectly achieved ; and the success in this manufacture was hailed as the most brilliant triumph of the textile industry of France. Under the patronage of Monsieur, afterwards Charles X, in 1819 a great number of these goats were imported from Thibet, as many as 400 being introduced by one manufacturer. Baron Teruaux, and much enthusiasm was excited in their culture. Experience, however, proved that these goats yielded but little milk, and that the raw wool or down produced from an individual never exceeded 108 grams, usually much less, which it was very difficult to separate from the coarse hairs, "yarre," and yielded not more than 25 per cent, of material which could be woven. The manufacturer also discovered, although they had overcome all the mechanical difficulties of fabrication, that the raw material, expensive as it was, formed not more than one-tenth of the cost of a shawl ; that the Indian weaver worked for one-fifth the wages of a French workman, and that the ladies of fashion would pay double price for an Indian shawl, inferior in color, design, and texture to the French fabric. The manufacture, which employed 4,000 workmen in 1834, began to decline in 1840; and, although an occasional fabric may still be made, the manufacture has now ceased as a regular industry. The demand for the wool ceasing, the Cashmere goats became absorbed in the common race, and there is at present but a single flock of pure blood in Europe ; the one preserved is the remarkable collection of domestic amimals possessed by the King of Wurtemberg. There is rea.son to believe that the culture of the Cashmere goat will never be revived in Europe as a matter of profit, since a perfect substitute for the Cashmere down is found in the silky fleece of the new Mauchamps sheep, which is declared to be fully as brilliant and fully as soft as the product of the Cash- mere goat, while it costs less as a raw material, and requires less manipulation to be trans- formed into yarn. (Sacc, sur les Chevres. Bulletin supr. cit., t. iv., p. 48. Industrie des chales. Travaux de la Commission Fran9ais, p. 10. Bernoville, Industrie des laines Peign6es , p. 161.) WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 85 In fact, none of tlie more modern systematic wi-iters place it in tlie genus Capra, or, indeed, in tlie ovine groui). The mere general resemblance, externally, to a goat is a matter of little consequence; indeed, its body is much more like that of a merino sheeiJ. The soft, silvery, under hairs are very different from those of a goat, as well as the jet black horns, which are without any ridges, and smooth and highly polished at the extremities."^ The more recent investigations have shown that the animals referred to, and figured by G. Cuvier and F. Cuvier as types of the Capra ccgagrus or Paseng, and said to occur both in Persia and on the Alps, were domes- tic goats which had become wild. Later researches have determined the true characteristic of Capra wgagrus, a species formed by Pallas from a cranium only, received by Gmelin from the mountains of the north of Persia, and have sho^vn that natiu-alists had adopted this species as the source of the domestic goat without resting the assertion upon any proof. The cftmparison by M. Brandt in 1848 of a collection of skulls and horns obtained by M. Tchihatcheft' in the Cappadocian Taiu-us, with the original cranium which served Pallas for the type of his species, has enabled that natm-alist, for the fli'st time, to demonstrate positively the derivation of our domestic goat from Capra wgagrus. M. Brandt asserts that it results from his labors that this species "is incontestably and exclusivelj^ the source of the domestic goat of Euroiie," and gives the following argu- ments in support of this assertion: 1. "The Capra wgagrus has all the exterior forms and all the propor- tions of the domestic goat." 2. "It resembles it very much in the general as well as local distribu- tion of its colors." 3. "It approaches the domestic goat more than any other species in the configuration of its horns, a configuration which plays so important a part in the characteristics of the Avild species." 4. "It presents the same agreement with the domestic goat in respect to the cranium. Finally, it is found in the moimtains of the coimtries, especially Mesopotamia, inhabited by the people of antiquity, (the Isra- elites, Assyrians, &c.,) which have fm^nished the most ancient informa- tion respecting the raising of the goat."^ The establishment of the perfect identity of the domestic goat with a wild species is a negative argument of much force for the exclusion from the same source of an animal so widely differing as the Angora goat. A positive argument of equal weight is the recent observation that the Angora goat more nearly resembles another wild species lately discov- ered. This species, the Capra Falconeri, is found upon all the mountains of Little Thibet, and upon the high mountains situated between the Indus, the Badukshan, and the Indo Kusch. It resembles greatly the domestic 1 Vol. vii, p. 672. ' ^ ■^Considerations siir la Capra fegagrns de Pallas, souche de la Chevre domestique, par. J. F. Brandt. Bulletin supr. cit., t. ii, p. 565. 86 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. goat, from which it dilters principally iu its magnificent horns, which, near together at the base, are at first arched backwards, and then tiu-n in a si)iral inwards, and then over again ontwards. They are strongly compressed, triangular and free from knots; their internal face, at first plane, is ronnded higher up, whilst their external face is everywhere con- vex. Although there does not appear to be a development of fleece in this "vvild species corresponding to that of the Angora goat, M. Sacc, professor in the faculty of sciences at Neuchatel, who has made a special study of the goats, does not hesitate to declare that "all the characters of this species seem to indicate that it is the source of the beautiful and precious Angora goat, whose horns are si)irally turned like those of Fal- coner's goat." M. Brandt intimates that the domestication of other wild species than Capra ccgagrus and perhaps the Capra Falconeri had pro- duced the Angora goat. Geoffrey St. Hilaire, the highest authority upon the origin of domestic animals, refers to the oi)inions of M. Sacc and M. Brandt without dissent, thus: "He (M. Brandt) is led especially to see in the Angora goat, produced, according to Pallas, by the cross of the sheep with the goat, an issue of the C apr a Falconeri ; this opinion is also admitted by our learned confrere, M. Sacc."^ The hypothesis that the Angora goat is descended from Falconer's goat is rendered probable by the diffusion of the former around the moun- tains of Thibet, where Falconer's goat abounds, and even beyond the central plains of Asia from Armenia to Chinese Tartary, where its wool is manufactured, or exported in a natm-al state by the port of Shanghae. Angora wool, or mohair, was exhibited at the London Exhibition of 18G2 among the Eussiau products, as proceeding from the country of the Kal- mucks of the Don, situated between the Black and Caspian seas. This species is thus seen to be diffused, although it may be sparingly, over the whole surface of Asia. That this goat is at present more abundant in the country about Angora in Asia Minor, near the habitat of the Capra mjagrus and dis- tant many thousand miles from Thibet, may seem opposed to its deriva- tion fi^om the Thibetian species. The learned memoir of the Eussian traveller, M. Tchihatcheff, ^ establishes beyond question the compara- tively recent introduction of the Angora goat into Asia Minor. He has shown that among the countries of classic antiquity there is no one which the ancient writers have mentioned more frequently and under more varied aspects than Asia Minor, because this country was not only one of the foci of the Greek civilization, but also the native country of a great number of the most celebrated winters of antiquity, such as Herodotus, Homer, Strabo, Dion of Halicarnassus, Galen, &c. Hence in all that concerns the natural history of Asia Minor, the waitings of these authors have an especial interest, while their silence has the value of a negative a^rgument. Eeferring to the writings anterior to the classic period, we ^ Sur les origines des animaux domestiques. Bulletin siipr. cit., t. vi, p. 503. 2 Considerations sur la chevre d' Angora. Bulletin supr. cit., t. ii, p. 411. WOOL AND MANUFACTUEES OF WOOL. 87 find in tlie most ancient and venerable of historic monuments, the Bible, that the goat is frequently mentioned among the domestic animals which constituted the riches of the first patriarchs. Yet there is nothing in these notices which leads us to supi^ose that they were possessed of a race with fine and white wool. The beautiful comparison in the Song of Solomon which might seem to suggest the existence of a choice race of these animals, " Thy hair is as a flock of goats that appear from Mount Gilead," taken in connection with the verse following, " Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep that are shorn, which came up from the washing," would seem to intimate that the color was referred to by the poet as the point of resemblance; while the first comparison, to be flattering to youth- ful beauty, must imi^ly that the color was black and not white. Coming down to the Greek authors — Homer and Hesiod, though fre- quently mentioning the goat as a domestic animal, make no allusion to any particular race, ^lian, referring to the goats of Lycia and the prac- tice of shearing them like sheep, says that the wool is used for cords and cables. Ai)pian mentions the stuft's known under the name of KcXcxca from Cilicia, the ancient name of the country in which Angora is situ- ated, as a means of protection against projectiles ; implying that the tis- sues of the goats of Cilicia were not distinguished for their fineness. Virgil gives the wool of the goat no other destination than to serve for the necessities of the camp and for the use of poor sailors : "Usum in castrorum et miseris velaniina nautis." Columella, the great ^Titer on Eoman agriculture, quotes this line of Yirgil as applicable to the covering of goats, and while tracing the qual- ities which a perfect animal should possess, excludes all resemblance to the Angora goat by demanding that the hair should be black. Strabo, born in the town of Amasia, very near the present domain of the Angora goat, makes no mention of goats of that country distinguished for their fleeces, although he remarks upon the different races of fine wooled sheep found in many jjlaces in Asia Minor. The author whom I am following observes that the most careful research among the Byzantine writers, after the Eoman possessions became the patrimony of a barbarous people, has not afforded the least indication of a fine and white wooled goat. It was not until the year 1555 that the Angora goat was distinctly made known through the Father Belon, who had travelled in Asia Minor, by a brief but sufliciently characteristic description. The silence of the classic authors in respect to any goat with fine and white fleece would seem to place it beyond doubt that the progenitors of this animal were introduced into Asia Minor at a comparatively recent period, when the country was invaded by barbarous and pastoral races, either Turks or Arabs. M. Tchihatcheff observes that the Arabs have never formed stable estabhshments in Asia Minor, while the Turkish race is the only one among the modem invaders of that country which came in search of a permanent home and has preferred it unto this day. He shows that two branches of the Turkish race, the Suldjeks and the Oghus, sue- «0 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. cessivoly installed tlieinselves iu Asia Minor in tbe eleventh and thir- teenth centuries, taking possession of the precise region in which Angora is included, and which their descendants still occupy. Immediately pre- vious to their immigration they had occupied the vast plains of Khoras- san and Bokara, and still more anciently, according to the most cele- brated orientalists and geographers, the country on the southern borders of Siberia and the mountains of the Altai chain. It appears thus to be not improbable that a race of animals, originating in Central Asia, whose representative still exists in the Cfqyra Faleoneri, should have been car- ried by the migration of pastoral tribes to the region in which the,y are now found in the modified form of the Angora goat. This hypothesis is supported by the statement of the President de la Tour d'Aigues, prob- ably derived from the Turkish shepherds who accompanied the tlock introduced by him into Europe in 1787, that " there is a constant tra- dition that the goats of Angora did not originate in that country, but were derived from Central Asia." ^ Although the origin of the Angora goat from Falconer's goat is not demonstrated by proofs as positive as those which support the deriva- tion of the common goat from Capra mjagrus^ they are not less positive than those which formerly led all naturalists to attribute the paternity of the common goat to that species. The absolute knowledge of the j)rogenitor of the Angora goat is of less practical importance than the demonstration of a specific difference between the two races. That the Angora goat constitutes a particidar race, and is not due to the same origin as the common goat, seems established by the following consid- erations : 1. There is an essential difference in the horns of the two races, those of the Angora race being twisted spirally, a configuration wholly want- ing in the common race, the form of the horns being recognized by mod- ern systematic writers as the basis of the classification of the family Cavicornia, or ruminants with horns permanent, hollow, and enclosing a piece of the frontal bone. 2. The mammillary organs are hemispherical, while they are elongated in the common species. 3. The very long woolly hair, hanging in corkscrew ringlets, fine, white and lustrous as silk, covering the short and harsh hair properly so called, which lies upon the skin, is in striking contrast with the short and coarser external hair of the common goat with its finer interior hair or doT\Ti. 4. The cry, whoUj' different from that of the common goat, resembles that of sheep. 5. The milk is more fatty ; the odor of the male less strong and disa- greeable. 6. The Angora, like the common goat, is fattened as readily as the sheep, and the flesh is exceedingly palatable. 7. The specific difference is finally established by the character of the crosses, a point to be referred to hereafter with more detail. ^ Sacc, Essai sur les Chevres. Bulletin supr. cit., t. iv, p. 6. WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 89 The tlieory of tlie diifereiice of species in these two races is not invali- dated by the fertility of the prodncts of their crosses ; snch fertility hav- ing been observed in the mixed offspring- of the more widely separated species, the horse and the ass. In this case it is well established that the he mide can generate and the she mide prodnce, such cases occurring in Spain and Italy, and more frequently in the West Indies and New Holland. ^ The practical deduction to be drawn from the separation of the two species is thus clearly stated by M. Sacc : " There is then no utility in creating flocks of the Angora for crossing with the ordinary goat. We must limit oiu'selves to preserving the species in entire piuity and devote ourselves to improving the race by itself, as has been done with the justly celebrated merinos of Kambouillet." ^ A leading object of this paper is to enforce the opinion of this sagacious and practical naturalist. Upon the introduction of the Angora goat into France in 1787, and more recently in 1855, the opinion was generally entertained that the principal benefit to be derived from the new race would residt from the amelioration of the products of the common species. This opinion unfor- tunately i)revails in this country. It is sanctioned by all the agricultural notices or essays which have been published respecting the new race, and is naturally fostered by importers and breeders to enhance the selling price of bucks. One of the earliest papers descriptive of this species which appeared in this country was published in the Patent Office Agricultural Eeport for 1857,^ it being the abstract of a report upon the Cashmere goats, as they were called, in the possession of Mr. Richard Peters, of Atlanta, Georgia, ^\^?itten by the well-known naturalist. Dr. John Bachman, of Charleston, South Carolina. This excellent natiualist, repeating the views at that time entertained, says: "The varieties of goats are equally numerous and equally varied in different countries. They are all of one species, the varieties mixing and multiplying into each other ad injinitum. They all claim as their origin the common goat, Capra hi reus, which it is admitted by nearly all reliable natiu'alists derives its parentage from the wild goat, Capra (vgagrus, that still exists on the European Alps." After referring to the diversity of color, aspect, and form, seen in the goats of Hindostan, Chinese Tartary, and Thibet, he says: "In a word, they are all of one species, but under many varieties; breeds have become permanent, and some are infinitely more valuable than others." He gives the results of breeding the Angora ^ith the common goat as shown in the flocks of Mr. Peters in the following language: "Familiar as we have been through a long life with the changes produced by crosses among varieties of domestic animals and poultry, there is one trait in these goats which is more strongly developed than in any other variety that we have ever ' Lyell's Principles of Geology, vol ii, p. 423. -Bull, siipr. cit., t. v., p. 571. « P. 56. 90 PAEIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. knowu. We allude to the facility with which the young of the cross between the male of the Asiatic goat and the female of the common goat assume all the characteristics of the former. It is exceedingly difficult to change a breed that has become permanent in any of our domestic varieties, whether it be that of horses, cattle, sheep, or hogs, into another variety by aid of the male of the latter. There is a tendency to run back into their original varieties. Hence the objection to mixed breeds. But in the progeny of these Asiatic and common goats, nine-tenths of them exhibit the strongest tendency to adopt the characteristics of the male, and to elevate themselves into the higher and nobler grade, as if ashamed of their coarse, dingy hair, and musky aromatics, and desirous of wash- ing out the odorous perfume and putting on the white livery of the more respectable race." Speaking of the Angora goat, Mr. Israel S. Diehl, who has contributed a paper upon it of much research, and valuable for many original observations, says:^ "This goat, though described as the Capra Angorensis, is only an improved variety of the Capra Mrcus, or common domestic goat." He refers to numerous State agricidtural societies and scieutiflc and practical men to shoAV the A'alue of the Angora goat and its fleece, "and the facility with which it can be crossed and bred with the common goat, by which a flock can be readily raised and increased," adding, " almost all the progeny exhibit the strongest tendencies to the higher and nobler grades by assimilating themselves to the male and putting on the white livery of the more respectable, honored, and valued race." These views, widely circulated through the government agiicul- tural reports, have been accepted without question, and the eftbrts of breeders in this country have been largely wasted in vain eftbrts to pro- duce crosses which woidd have all the value of the pure race. To judge of the value and feasibility of such attempts we must bear distinctly in view the precise economical result to be sought for. It is obviously not primarilj^ to obtain a breed of goats which shall be fit for the butcher. ISTeither is it to secure a breed which wiU furnish a merely tolerable fleece which woidd be simply a substitute for the wool of the sheep. The object is to appropriate a race of animals which shall pro- duce a textile material adapted for certain defined pm^poses in the arts as distinct as silk, noble Saxony wool, or sea-island cotton; a material which is substitute for nothing else known, and has originated its own fabrics. The introduction of a race which fails to give this peculiar fibre woidd be no real acquisition, however amusing to the breeder and inter- esting to the physiologist the experiments in crossing might be.^ ' Report of the Department of Agriculture for 1863, p. 216. 2 The conviction is extending among intelligent wool growers in this country of the import- ance of preserving the varieties of woolly fibre, each in its own character, purity, and excel- lence, and free from that " mongrel type which will do for everything, but is not desirable for anything." At a meeting of the Ohio Wool Growers' Convention, January 7, 1867, "Mr. E. M. Montgomery moved that the true course in breeding sheep is to keep breeds entirely distinct and to endeavor to produce the best clothing of the best combing wools, which pro- position was unanimously agreed to." — U. S. Economist, January 25, 1868. WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 91 Laying aside the statements given in the agricultural reports, as of little value as testimony, because there is no matter in which even skilful flock breeders are so liable to be deceived as in the character and adap- tation of their fleeces, and because there is no evidence that the x)roducts of the crosses referred to have ever been subjected to the only conclusive test, that of sijinniug, let us consider the feasibility of producing the tyi)ical fleece of the Angora goat by means of crosses, by reference to admitted physiological principles, and the residts in analogous cases. The illustrious naturalist, M, de Quatrefages, who has recently discussed, in his lectures at the Museum d'Histoire Natiu'elle, and in the Ee\^ie des Deux Mondes,^ the principles which govern the formation of races, remarks that "there is one law in crossing which is constantly verified: each of the two authors tends to transmit to the products at the same time all its qualities good or bad." This tendency he admits is modified by the predominance, in one or the other, of the power of transmissibility. "When this power is equal in the two parents the product will have an equal mixtui-e of the qualities of the parents ; there will be a predomi- nance of the qualities of one where this power of transmissibility is unequal. The inequality of the power of transmissibility appears to be much greater when the races are nearest each other, for sometimes the crossing between such races gives a product which seems to belong entirely to one of the two."^ He observes that it follows from these prin- ciples that nothing coidd be more irrational than to take animals of the half blood as regenerators to ameliorate a race; for not possessing com- pletely the qualities which we seek, and having preserved a part of the bad which we wish to shun, they transmit a mixture of one, and besides, as they are necessarily of a formation more recent than the race to be regenerated, it will be the last one which will impress itself, if not upon the first, at least upon successive generations. These views are confirmed by the recent observations of Professor Agassiz in Brazil on the effects of crosses of races of men. He observes that the principal residt at which he has arrived from the study of the mixture of human races in the region of Brazil is that "races bear themselves towards each other as all distinct species ; that is to say, that the hybrids which spring from the crossing of men of diflferent races are always a mixture of the two primitive tjT)es and ncA^er the simple reproduction of the characters of one or the other progenitor." It is also remarked by the same high authority, that, " how- ever naturalists may differ respecting the origin of species, there is at least one point in which they agree, namely, that the offspring from two so-called different species is a being intermediate between them, showing the peculiar featiu'es of both parents, but resembling neither so closely as to be mistaken for a pure representative of the one or other." ^ ^ Vide Revue des Deux Mondes, December 15, 1860, to April 14, 1861. 2 Amelioration de I'espece chevaline, Bull. supr. cit., t. viii, 1861, p. 257. ^ A Journey in Brazil, by Professor and Mrs. L. Agassiz, pp. 296 and 338. 92 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. The views of the eiuiiieut physiologists above quoted give no support to the popular fallacy into which Dr. Bachman and Mr. Diehl seem to have fallen, that the male animal possesses the greater power of trans- mitting blood to his progeny. Dr. Randall, in the chapter upon the prin- ciples of breeding in his "Practical Shepherd," while admitting that the ram much oftenest gives the leading characteristics of form, attributes the greater jiower of the ram to the superiority of blood and superiority of individual vigor, as the ram is generally " higher bred" than the ewes, even in full blood flocks. ^ If it be true as a physiological principle that the parents in widely separated races tend equally to transmit all their qualities, what hope is there of obtaining a valuable lanigerous animal from the crosses of goats so widely separated as to belong to different species ; especially when the heavy coating of one is absolutely worthless, and nothing short of the peculiar qualities found in the other is worth seeking for ? All anal- ogy teaches that it is vain to expect to form a permanent race of any value from the crosses of such widely separated racras into this country the most consiilerable have been made by M. Winthrop W. Chenery, of Belmont. Massachusetts, (office 196 State street, Boston,) who has made arrangements for this purpose with a commercial house havinj^ a branch in Constantinople and a confidential agent in the district of Angora. Mr. Chenery, who is an experienced stock breeder, has imported about 300 animals of this race, and has at present 80 or 90 imported animals upon bis farm at Belmont, which are for sale. The first Angoras sent to California were imported by Mr. Chenery, 26 full-blooded animals having been introduced by him into that State. The experience of Mr. Chenery and the excellent condition of his flock, which I have visited, are conclusive as to the successful acclimation of this race in this country. The first animals under his charge were placed upon his farm by an agent of Dr. Peters, of Georgia, at the breaking out of the rebellion. These animals having beeu sheared under the direction of the agents of Dr. Peters, were immediately exposed to cold easterly winds, and several became affected by a pulmonary disease and died. 102 PAEIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. APPLICATION OF PRODUCTS. It lias been already stated that mobair is not a snbstitnte for wool, but tbat it occupies its own place in the textile fabrics. It has the aspect, feel and lustre of silk without its suppleness. It differs materially from wool in the want of the felting quality, so that the stuff's made of it have the fibres distinctly separated and are always brilbant. They do not retain the dust or spots, and are thus particularly valuable for furniture goods. The fibre is dyed with great facility and is the only textile fibre which takes equally the dyes destined for all tissues. On account of the stiffness of the fibre it is rarely woven alone; that is, when used for the filling, the warp is usually of cotton, silk, or wool, and the reverse. It is not desired for its softness in addition to silkiness, such qualities as are found in Cashmere and Mauchamp wool, but for the elasticity, lustre, and durability of the fibre, with sufficient fineness to enable it to be spun. Those who remember the fashions of 30 or 40 years ago may call to mind the camlets so extensively used for cloaks and other outer garments, and will doubtless remember that some were distinguished for their peculiar lustre and durability, which was generally attributed to the presence of silk in the tissue. These camlets were woven from mohair. Its lustre and durability pecuUarly fit this material for the manufacture of braids, buttons, and bindings, which gxeatly outwear those of silk and wool. The qualities of lustre and elasticity particularly fit this material for its chief use, the manufactiu'e of Utrecht velvets, commonly called fiu'niture plush, the finest qualities of which are composed principally of mohair, the pile being formed of mohair warps, which are cut in the same man- ner as silk warps in velvets. Upon passing the finger lightly over the surface of the best mohair plushes, the rigidity and elasticity of the fibre will be distinctly perceived. The fibre springs back to its original upright- ness when any pressure is removed. The best mohair plushes are almost indestructible. They have been in constant use on certain railroad cars Mr. Cbenery by proper precautions has since preserved his flock in perfect health. A warm but ventilated shelter is provided, to which the animals have access summer and winter. In a flock of nearly a hundred, not one has died for a year. Mr. Chenery regards these goats as more hardy than sheep. They are fed in the same manner as sheep, with the excep- tion tbat white-pine boughs are occasionally given them to brouse upon during the winter. They delight in rocky and bushy pastures, feeding eagerly upon barberry and raspberry bushes. They cannot be confined by ordinary stone walls, but are restrained by any fence ■which they cannot climb, as they do not jump. They are herded and driven more easily than sheep. The doe never produces more than one kid at a birth. The young demand atten- tion when they are first dropped, as they are liable to chill. After they have once suckled there is no farther trouble. Although quite small at birth, they grow with great rapidity. The average product of fleece is, for bucks, seven, eight, and sometimes as high as 12 pounds. The does produce from three to five pounds. Mr. Chenery states in illustration of the hardi- ness of this race, that seven animals sent round Cape Horn were six months upon the voy- age, and all arrived at their destination in good health. It is stated that if there should be a sufiicient demand for these animals there would be no difficulty in increasing the imperta- tions to some thousands per year. WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 103 in the country for over 20 years without wearing out. They are now sought by all the best railroads in the country as the most enduring of all coverings, an imeonscious tribute to the remarkable qualities of this fibre. The manufacture of Utrecht velvets at Amiens in France con- sumes 500,000 pounds of mohair, which is spun in England. Ten thou- sand workmen were employed in weaving these goods at Amiens in 1855, the product being principally sent to the United States. The mohair plushes are made of yarns from 'No. 20 to No. 70; the tissues made of the former number are worth four francs per metre, and of the latter 10 francs lier metre, showing the importance of preserving the fineness of the fleece. A medium article is made extensively in Prussia, of yarns spun from an admixture of mohair with combing- wool, but it is wanting in the even- ness of surface and brilliant reflections or bloom of the French goods. Mohair yarn is employed largely in Paris, Nismes, Lyons, and Germany, for the manufactm-e of laces, which are substituted for tlie silk lace fab- rics of Valenciennes and Chantilly. The shawls frequently spoken of as made of Angora wool are of a lace texture, and do not correspond to the cashmere or Indian shawls. The shawls known as llama shawls are made of mohair. I have seen one at Stewart's wholesale establishuient valued at $80, weighing only 2^ ounces. Mohair is also largely consumed at Bradford, in England, in the fabrication of light summer dress goods. They are woven with warps of silk and cotton, principally the latter, and the development of this manufacture is due principally to the improve- ments in making fine cotton warps, the combination of avooI with mohair not being foimd advantageous. These goods are distinguished by their lustre and by the rigidity of the fabric. All the mohair yarns used in Europe are spun in England, the English having broken down by tem- porary reduction of prices all attemi)ts at spinning in France. Success- fid experiments at spinning and weaving Angora fabrics have been made in this country, as shown by the samples of yarn spun by Mr. Cameron, and the dress goods spun and woven by Mr. Fay of the Lowell Manufactur- ing Companj^, from Angora wool grown by Mr. Chenery, of Belmont. Before the demand of this material for dress goods and plushes, mohair was largely used in Eiu-ope and this country for lastings for fine broad- cloths, the lustrous surface acting as a frame in a picture to set oft" the goods. This use is now abandoned. Mohair is now extensively used to form the pile of certain styles of plushes used for ladies' cloakings, also for the pOe of the best fabrics styled Astrakhans. J^arrow strips of the skin of the Angora mth the fleece attached have been recently in fashion for trimmings, and great prices were obtained for a limited number of the pelts for this purpose. The skins with the fleeces attached will always bring high prices for foot rugs, on accoimt of their peculiar lustre and the aer cent, during the last five years. Kentucky has taken hold of this business in good earnest, and they are getting good iirices and a quick market for both their wool and mutton; and wherever these wools are grown in the States, they are readily sold at good prices. And they are the most i^rofitable wools to grow for those who are adapted to keep such sheep, for the fleece will weigh from four to six pounds of well- washed wool, and the carcass is large, weighing from 150 to 250 pomids each. These sheep are more profitable to keep than the merino. 1 extract from the 'New England Farmer the following: Mr. Winnie, of New York State, fed the last season 901 head of sheep, 180 of which were merinos, the balance Canada Leicesters, and they were sold for $12,049. To test the comparative profit of feeding the two kinds of sheep, Mr. Winnie set apart GO Leicesters and 61 merinos, which were weighed Feb- ruary 10. Tlie merinos were chosen from GOO, and they were the best of their kind. They were kept till March 28, or 46 days. The following is the result : Pounds. February 10, 60 coarse wools weighed 8, 870 March 28, GO coarse wools weighed 9, 878 Gain in 46 days 1, 008 Total cost of feed, (hay, grain, oatmeal, roots, &c.,) for 46 days $174 43 Pounds. February 10, 61 sheep fine wools weighed 6, 909 March 28, 61 sheep fine wools weighed 7, 389 Gain in 46 days 480 Total cost of feed as above $144 78 If the coarse wooled sheep gained 1,008 pounds at a cost of 1174 43, the merinos ought to have gained 836 pounds at a cost of $144 78 for feed — whereas they gained only 480 pounds, or little more than half in proportion to cost. As compared with live weight, the coarse wools gained 11^ per cent, in the 46 days, and the merinos not quite 7 per cent. In Brighton market, the day before Christmas in 1839, there were only 400 sheep offered for sale, while the same day, in 1859, 5,400 sheep were sold in the same market. Fine woolled sheep sold from $1 50 to $4 50, while Leicesters sold from $11 upwards, and in 18G6, in the same market, WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 121 Leicesters sold from |10 to $16 per liead. In Cleveland, tMs spring, I know one farmer who sold 24 Leicester sheep to the butcher for $12 50 a head. In one market in England, in Norwich, there are sold every Saturday from G,000 to 8,000 hoggets or yearling sheep, and they sell from $12 50 to $11 50 a head. These are mostly what we call half-bred — that is, some dark faced Down ewe, crossed by a Leicester or Cotswold ram. This makes better mutton than j)ure Leicester or Cotswold, the meat is not so fat, and the grain is finer, and the half-bred wool is valued in England as highly as any kind! Now, although it may be most j)rofltable to keep combing woolled sheep, yet it won't do for every one to go into it indiscriminately. Men who wish to have large flocks of sheep — say several thousand — or even a thousand in a flock, ought not to keep these sheep, but will do better with the merino. Men li^dng on the prairies ought not to keep them, for the prairies will not gTow combing wool. But I think they shoidd in many parts of Kentucky, Ohio, the hills of Pennsjdvania and New York, and in Maine, and in many parts of New England, and in best parts of Michigan. And in particular I would suggest to those farmers who have now in many of the States coarse native sheep, whose wool is common, and does not jield much combing or delaine, that if they would cross these sheep with a Leicester or Cotswold ram — I like the Leicester best — in one year they would receive more than 50 per cent, for their outlay, for their sheep would be larger, and their wool would yield probably 20 per cent, more delaine, or combing, which sells for more and sells quicker, and foUow this cross up for a few years, and they might, with very little expense, improve the breed of all such slieej). I do not recommend them to buy very costly rams for common purposes. Let men who make breeding a business buy the fancy bucks. I would not recommend the farmers in the far west, or in very new countries, to keep these sheep, for in such places the breed is apt to run out, and the wool becomes brashy and hairy, and of very little value. I think Michigan well-adapted for delaine wools of the medium grades. In that branch I have always classed her next to Ohio. Any farmers wanting combing woolled sheep can now find them in many parts of the States as weU as Canada. I think Burdett Loomis, esq., of Windsor Locks, Connecticut, has some of the best sheep in the country, and F. W. Stone, esq., of Guelph, Ontario, has a great variety of sheep, and is a large dealer in long- woolled sheep. Mr. Shields, of Newark, Licking county, Ohio, has tried the experiment on a small scale of keeping these sheep, and has proved it a great suc- cess. I saw his wool, and it was equal to any wool I ever saw anywhere. He says it is far more profitable to raise these sheep than the merinos, independent of the great advantage of having so much quicker and surer a market for both wool and mutton. Yours, truly, JOSEPH WALWORTH. Messrs. Thomas McGraw & Co., Detroit. APPENDIX E. WOOLLEN MANUFACTURES IN THE UNITED STATES. The number of sets of machiueiy or series of cards — a set forming the unit for calculation in woollen machinery — emplojed in the United States, reported to the National Association of Wool Manufacturers, on the 25th of October, 1865, was 4,100. The estimated number in the United States, as all were not reported at that time, was 5,000. The distribution and weekly consumption of foreign and domestic wool appear in the follow- ing- table : Statement of aggregate results, obtained up to October 25, 1865, in reply to circulars of February 24 and May 30, 1865, addressed to ivool manu- facturers. states. Maine New Hampshire Vermont Massachusetts Rhode Island Connecticut , New York New Jersey , Pennsylvania : Philadelphia . ^ Remainder of the State Delaware Maryland West Virginia Ohio Indiana Illinois Michigan Wisconsin Minnesota Iowa Missouri Kentucky Kansas California Oregon Nebraska Territory Total, October 25, 1865. 40 69 39 186 61 88 154 11 24 57 6 1 w 177 361 112 1,467 340 452 576 64 68 90 15 83 103 47 26 25 o 43 21 14 3 4,100 93, 835 217, 110 50, 217 857, 496 188, 775 252, 880 236, 510 33, 660 88, 200 39, 054 14, 050 5,400 32, 615 51, 200 23, 355 9,660 10, 800 1,200 17, 658 16, 650 6,600 1,620 4,000 2, 252, 545 .b B 74, 120 174,841 32, 652 560, 396 152,967 125, 486 174, 536 25, 238 68, 650 39, 054 13, 050 2,700 32, 615 51, 200 23, 355 9,660 10, 800 1,200 17, 658 16, 650 6,600 1,620 4,000 1,619,038 19, 715 42, 299 17, 565 297, 100 35, 808 127, 394 61, 974 8,422 19, 550 1,000 2,700 19f 19J 35 34J 19 50J 26i 25 22i 50 530 601 448 585 555 559 411 526 1,297 434 937 675 392 497 497 372 432 600 411 793 400 540 11 28 19 74 15 43 124 7 98 69 4 o 1 34 41 13 12 6 2 6 4 7 2 1 1 624 WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 123 The value of the woollen manufacture is shown in the following : Table sJiowing the value of woollen goods manufactured in the United States for tlie year ending June 30, 1864. [Calculated from official report of United States Commissioner of Internal Revenue.] States. a 2 c & Total. Maine New Hampshire Vermont Massacbusetts Rhode Island Connecticut New York New Jersey Pennsylvania Delaware Maryland West Virginia Kentucky Missouri Ohio Indiana Illinois Michigan Wisconsin Iowa Minnesota Kansas California Oregon Nebraska Territory. Total ?3, 238, 9, 044, 3,145, 38, 905, 2, 963, 11, 873, 10, 850, 2, 752, 13, 022, 548, 450, 58, 117, 72, 1,315, 54.5, 341, 118, 104, 102, 8, 14, 538, 128, 098 67 762 00 933 67 399 00 154 33 763 67 180 00 652 00 447 33 134 67 385 33 486 00 534 33 980 00 243 00 128 33 907 00 094 00 457 67 815 67 696 00 947 67 956 00 620 67 45 67 $238, 34, 562, 800, 7, 668, 3, 913, 2, 214, 25, 3, 502, 385 00 915 00 788 00 531 33 531 67 965 00 802 67 361 67 190 00 $897, 720 67 261, 014 33 78, 912 33 912, 792 33 70 33 75, 076 00 1, 526 67 5, 267 00 242, 370 67 2,364 00 85,634 67 11, 794 33 11,384 00 33,754 33 860 00 15, 489 67 450 00 1, 692 67 5, 793 33 $3, 476, 9, 079, 3, 708, 40, 603, 10, 892, 15, 866, 13, 977, 2, 778, 16, 599, 548, 451, 63, 359, 75, 1, 400, 558, 359, 151, 105, 118, 9, 14, 538, 128, 483 67 677 00 721 67 651 00 700 33 641 00 775 00 084 00 713 33 134 67 912 00 753 00 905 00 344 00 877 67 615 33 084 33 848 33 317 67 305 33 146 00 947 67 956 00 620 67 45 67 121, 868, 250 33 THE PACIFIC MILLS, LAWEENCE, MASSACHUSETTS. Paper presented at the Paris Exposition. This paper is a statement written in response to a call from a jury of the Paris Exposition for distinct illustrations concerning "persons, estab- lishments, and localities, which, by a special organization or special insti- tutions, have developed a spirit of harmony among all those co-operating in the same work, and have provided for the material, moral, and intel- lectual weU-being of the workmen." "Pacific mills" is the corijorate name of a joint-stock company devoted to the manufacture, from the raw staples, of ladies' dress goods of cot- 124 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. ton wholly, of worsted wholly, and of cotton and wool combined, and the printing and dyeing of the same. It is located in Lawrence, State of Massachusetts, United States of America, 26 miles from Boston. Its post office address is, " Pacific MiUs, Lawrence, Massachusetts, United States of America." J. Wiley Edmands, Boston, is the treasiu-er of the company, and Wm. C. Chapin, of Lawrence, the local agent or manager. The management is confided by about 150 stockholders to nine directors, chosen annually. The original number of shares of the company was 1,000, costing $1,000, or 5,000 francs, each, making a total capital of $1,000,000, or 5,000,000 francs. The cost of the buildings and machinery having ex- ceeded this sum, 1,500 shares more, at same cost, were issued, making the total number of shares to be 2,500, and the cost of the capital $2,500,000, or 12,500,000 francs. They commenced operations near the close of the year 1853, but no goods were ready for market until the spring of 1854. The amount of machinery then consisted of 1,000 looms, with carding, spinning, and di-essing machinery sufficient to supply them, together with combing machines and spinning for worsted yarn, used in the manufacture of mixed fabrics, and was equal to the production of about 200,000 yards weekly of calicoes and moussehne de laines, with 10 printing machines for preparing these goods for market. The buildings and machinery have been since increased, so that there are now in operation about 100,000 spindles for spinning cotton, T\ith cleaning, picking, and carding machines to supi^ly them, and about 16,000 spindles for worsted, with aU the necessary preparing machines to occupy 3,500 looms for wea^dng the two classes of goods above named and others, together with 18 printing machines, producing a weekly aver- age of about 700,000 yards. The machinery is propelled bj^ eight tur- bine wheels, six of them being 72 inches in diameter, and two 84 inches in diameter, with a fall of water equal to 20 feet, yielding 1,500 horse-power. The average sale of the manufactured goods of the company for a few years past exceeded $7,500,000, or 37,500,000 francs. About 3,600 work- people are now employed by the company. Of these there are 1,680 men, 1,510 women, 80 boys between 10 and 12 years, 140 boys from 12 to 18 years, 40 girls from 10 to 12 years, and 150 girls from 12 to 18 years. In the origin of the establishment the principle was adopted by the managers that there was to be a mutual dependence between employers and employed, each having rights which the other should respect, and that, inasmuch as the success of the proprietors must depend much upon the cheerfid and intelligent co-operation of the work-people, certain plans were adopted to secui-e "the material, moral, and intellectual wel- fare of the workmen," both as a duty to them and one of self-iaterest to the proprietors. WOOL, AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 125 MATERIAL WELFARE OF WORKMEN. For the material well-being of tlie laborers, special care was used iu the original construction of the workrooms to make them cheerful, com- fortable, and well ventilated, so as to avoid, as far as possible, the unpleasant drudgery of work, ai?d to seciu^e order and neatness through- out. Houses were constructed for dwellings which should give to fam- ilies residences at moderate cost of rent, that would secure the health and comfort of the work-people, while they were cheerful and attractive. Men i)ay for these houses a weekly rent about equal to one-eighth of their wages. Large buildings were erected for the use of single females whose residences were at a distance, and divided into 17 large ax)art- ments, capable of accommodating 825 persons in the aggregate. The rooms are arranged for two persons each, well ventilated and lighted, and comfortably furnished. Unmarried men are never allowed to lodge in these houses, nor in any case a married man, except he is accompanied by his wife, and then but rarely. Females pay about one-thkd of their average wages for rooms in these boarding-houses, iucludmg food, lights, and washing. Fuel for fires in their rooms is an extra expense. It is common to provide coal, and sometimes floiu-, to the work-j)eoi)le at the cost^jrice of large quantities. Another effort for the material welfare of the operatives was adopted in the earliest history of the enterprise, and has been continued for nearly 13 years, with marked success, doing much to promote "harmony among aU those co-operating," and to establish a bond of sympathy and union. An association was formed, called '^ Pacific Mills Belief Society," of which each person emj)loyed by the company must be a member, the entire management thereof being in the hands of the work-people, each ofl&cer being chosen by themselves from their own number, excepting the president, which office has always been filled by the resident agent or manager, who rarely acts, however, except as counsellor or umpire. Each person on commencing service elects whether he shall pay two, four, or six cents per week to the relief fund, the lower sum being a lit- tle more than j^th part of the weekly average wages of those who are the youngest, and consequently least i^aid, and the highest sum, six cents weekly, bearing the same proportion to the average weekly wages of the entire body of work-people. When the sum in the hands of the treas- urer of the society, who is always the confidential clerk of the company, and keeps the deposit with the com^^any for protection, has reached the sum of $1,000, the weekly subscription of all persons who have been employed by the company three months ceases, while it continues with the new comers. This condition of funds occurs so often that for nearly one-half of the time the older emjjloyes are not assessed, and the real sum withdi'aA\Ti from their wages annually is a very smaU i)roportion of their wages, and is far from being a burden to the poorest. 126 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. When a person has been in the employ of the company three months, and, conseqnently, for that time paid his elected sum to the funds of the relief society, he becomes a full member of that society, and entitled to certain privileges. If sickness occurs, preventing him from labor, and he sends notice to the overseer, or head workman of his room, one of the appointed stewards is sent to learn the nature of the illness, and the sick one becomes the special charge of this steward, who, for a man, is one of his own sex, or, if a female, a woman, and it is this steward's duty to see that a nurse and physician are secured, if necessary, and to draw from the wardrobe of the society such changes of personal and bed linen as the circumstances demand. Each sick person, if the illness continues one week, is thenceforward granted an allowance from the funds of the society. He who has j)aid two cents x>er week for at least three months receives $1 25 weekly for the period of 26 weeks, if sick so long. Double this sum is allowed if four cents have been paid, and $3 75 when the amount paid has been six cents weekly. In cases of special need the officers of the society are authorized to make an extra allowance, though great care is used in such a dispensation. Those who die poor have their funeral expenses paid, and are respectably buried in the beautiful lot in the city cemetery belonging to the society. In some cases the deceased has been sent to his native town by the desire of his friends, without cost to them, if they were poor. Sick members are often accompanied to their friends by a steward, or the overseer of their work-room, when too feeble to go alone, or the ft-iends too poor to come for them. The blessings of this society are thus made known to parties at a distance, and it often induced persons of excellent character to seek employment of this company, while those who have secured the benefits of the relief society retain it in warm remembrance. More than one poor mother, whose only child, while a member of this society, has been disabled by sickness, has found the weekly allowance an invaluable aid to her slight income, and called loudly for blessings upon its officers and the institution with such a work of merciful kindness. Many a father and mother, or other relative, whose child or friend has been sent to this company, have besought the blessings of Heaven upon the members of this society, who have cared for their absent ones in the time of sickness, and soothed them as they have faded away from life. Though there is not space for details of great interest, it must be seen that this plan has a direct tendency to promote sympathy for each other among the work-people, and to secure a bond of union. Most surely those who daily observe its workings see it. It wiU also be noticed that a very important feature of this plan is that it is an association of the work-people themselves, wholly controlled by them, and consequently sure of permanency while favored to its pres- ent extent by the employers. This is likely to continue, because they witness its important influence and usefulness. WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 127 The total amount of money expended for the benefit of sick members in 12 years of its existence, ending in April, 18G6, has been $25,530 68, or 127,053 francs, to 1,868 persons, and the amount paid to the fund in the same time has exceeded this sum about $1,200. The corporation contributes weekly to this fund, and also to meet individual cases which are specially aggravated. MORAL WELFARE OF WORKMEN. To meet the protection of the large number of single females em- ployed by the company, who, as is often the fact in the manufactiuing establishments of the United States, and perhaps elsewhere, are away from the gmardianship of their friends, the boarding-houses referred to above are controlled by persons carefully selected for their ability to influence this class of work-people, and for their established good char- acter, who will take an interest to secm^e the comfort of then- boarders, and save them from bad moral influences, acting really, as far as pos- sible, in the place of guardians. If a young female is known to visit places of evening fimusement of doubtful character, or gives any reason for suspicion that she is guilty of immorality, or even of careless, un- guarded conduct, she is admonished, and if reform is not immediate she is discharged from the house and from employment. The doors of the house are locked at 10 o'clock at night, and no one allowed to be out after that hour without a satisfactory excuse. Doubtless persons of immoral character secure employment by the comjiany, and by superior secresy retain this connection. Among so large a number some will be impiu-e, but it is believed that very few of these females are led astray whUe connected with the mill, if virtuous when commencing work. It is imi^ossible for an openly vile person to retain connection with the company. Men of intemperate habits, or of general bad character, are excluded from the company's ser\ice, though patience with them is encouraged, with the hope of securmg reform ; and this forbearance, and attendant labor, has often been rewarded. It is an estabhshed principle that all profanity or other bad language, and any bad example or severe use of authority among the head workmen, must be strictly avoided, especially when these overseers have in their charge females or young persons. More than one such respouvsible workman has been removed for using imjiroper words or ill-treating his subordinates. It is absolutely demanded of these persons that they treat those under them as they would desire to be treated themselves if in their position. The directors have placed their associate, the manager, at the works to represent their feelings to the work-people ; to show them sympathy in their trials, to counsel them in their need of advice, and to be their friend. Careful eftbrts have been made by him to secure their confidence, and he has cultivated the conviction that they could ever find in him a father, 128 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. brother, or friend. Many hearts have been moved to earnest giatitude for the aid which they have thns secured in their time of need. It requires a vast amount of patient listening to comi)laints, to tales of sorrow and want 5 but it has had its reward in seeing so many relieved, made glad and hopefid. The real moral effect, and the real satisfaction in such a relation between employer and employed, cannot be written. The spirit of the employer is imparted to the more responsible and influential workmen, and to those under them, while a healthy moral condition is seciu-ed. INTELLECTUAL AVELFAEE OF WORKMEN. When the company was first estabhshed the directors appropriated $1,000, or 5,000 francs, for the purchase of suitable books for a circu- lating library, and provided a suitable room for it on their premises. The work-people have always been requii'ed to pay one cent each week during their service, and they thus become members of the "Pacific MOls Library Association," which is managed enth-ely by themselves, they choosing their own officers for the control of its affairs and for the selection of books, but selecting the resident manager for the president and chairman of the library committee. This weekly payment secures the privilege of the use of the library and reading-rooms of the society. One room is ai^propriated to males, and is suxDplied ^ith the local news- papers of the city, and of Boston and New York, together with numer- ous serials of a scientific and literary character, and is open from 6 o'clock a. m. till 9 o'clock p. m., warmed and lighted. It is in close proximity to the other room containing the library, now exceeding 4,000 volumes, and also a cheerful, aiiy, comfortable apartment for the females, which is carx^eted, and made attractive by daily and weeklj" ijublications especiall;^" adapted to their w^ants, and stereoscopes with numerous slides, all in charge of an intelligent and cultivated young lady. It is open from 9 o'clock a. m. till 9 o'clock p. m., and is much frequented and valued. A large number of volumes of the library are in constant circulation, as the number of the work-people who cannot read or write does not exceed 50 in 1,000, and these are universally of foreign bkth. All new publi- cations adapted to this class of readers are bought as soon as pubUshed. The privilege of taking books from the library is extended to members of famiUes whose head is a member of the association. The funds of the society are -also used to purchase tickets of admission to lectures and suitable popidar amusements, which are distributed among the members. This association, as weU as the relief society, it will be seen, is sup- ported and managed by the work-people themselves, who secure a valu- able retiu-n for their small outlay, and also the permanencj" of its opera- tion, avoiding the dependence for existence and usefidness upon the life, or even connection, of any one person of special prominence. WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 129 A law of the State forbids the employment of childreu under 10 years, and requires that chddren employed between 10 and 12 years of age shall be in school 16 weeks in each year, and those between 12 and 16 years 11 weeks. The company contributes annually to the support of an evening school for both sexes. SUCCESS OF THIS CO-OPEEATIVE OEGANIZATION. It has often been stated that care of emj)loyers for the elevation and welfare of their operatives, especially to the extent herein shown, is incompatible with pecuniary success. Facts prove that this is not true with the Pacific mills, but others must determine how much of this is due to the principles of action established and maintained. It is also believed that the work-people have received great benefit. Some of the evidences of this are the following: 1. There have been no strikes among the work-people, which are their curse, and the dread of employers. They have been encouraged to feel that any grievances will be patiently Listened to, and frankly discussed, and the result has always been favorable to good order. By no means has every uneasy spirit been quieted, but the mass has beeu satisfied. 2. A higher class of workmen has been secured. Those best able to appreciate the pri^dleges enjoyed in connection with this company have been drawn thither for employment. Specially is this true among the overseers, who engage the laborers in their different departments, and give character to the mass. Their intelligence and hearty co-operation in the plans for the material, moral, and inteUectual advancement of the oiJeratives, moulds the whole, and secures a higher standard. The gen- eral influence of the principles adopted by the company leads these prom- inent workmen to feel that they are intrusted with a degree of guardian- ship of those under them, and this feeling is very manifest. Respect for the manhood of a workman moulds him. 3. Many of the work-people have invested their fimds in savings banks, and this is specially encouraged. Formerly the company received deposits themselves from the work-people, allowing an annual interest of six per- cent. ; but for some prudeutial reasons this plan was abandoned, and the depositors encoiu-aged to invest in chartered banks. The company held in their hands at one time more than $100,000, or 500,000 francs, of the earnings of their work-people, which has been changed into other channels. There is no doubt that their deposits now exceed this sum largely. 4. Quite a number of the work-people own houses free of debt, while others have been partially assisted by the company, it reserving a portion of their wages each month in reduction of the debt. More than $50,000, or 250,000 francs, are thus invested. 5. Others invest their funds in the bonds of the United States govern- ment in j)reference to sa\4ngs banks. 6. Several of the workmen are owners of the stock of the company, and 9 w 130 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. have tlie same rights in regard to the control of the otficers and general management as other stockholders. Their stock has now a market value exceeding $00,000. 7. Investment of earnings in premiums on life insurance has been made by many of the workmen. 8. More than one of the workmen has been a member of the city gov- ernment in its board of aldermen and common council, and not an annual election passed Avithout the choice of one, or more, to some of these important offices. 9. The pecuniary success of the company has warranted a liberal spirit in the payment of wages to the work-people. The least sum now paid in weekly wages to the youngest employe is $1 82, gold, a little more than 9 fi*ancs, and the number belonging to this class is very small. Boys of 16 years do not receive less than $2 85, gold, weekly, or more than 14 francs. The least amount paid weekly to men is $6 75, gold, or nearly 34 francs, while a very large majority receive much more. Females receive from $2 48, gold, weekly, or about 12.50 francs for the least, to $6 72, gold, or more than 33 francs ; while a few earn more. This excepts young girls, whose wages are the same as the least sum named above. Spinners, weavers, and a few others are paid in accordance with their product, some of them earning very large wages. The stockholders, as previously stated, have invested $2,500,000 in the company. During the past 12 years they have received in dividends more than $3,000,000, and the fixed property has cost a much larger sum than the amount of the capital stock. The treasurer fnrthermore holds in his possession a very large amount of undivided earnings with which to purchase cotton, avooI, and other materials, for cash. APPENDIX F. THE WOOLLE^^ AND WORSTED TRADE OF GREAT BRrrAIN. DescHptio)i and statist les from the third report of the commissioners ap- pointed to inquire into the best means of preventing thepoUution of rivers, f rivers Aire and Calder,) presented to both houses of Parliament by com- mand of her Majesty, 1807. A glance at table D of the interesting and valuable returns (page 134) will inform the reader that woollen and worsted j)roducts to the extent of 381,200,000 pounds in weight, and of a value of £64,400,000 sterling, are annually sent out of the mills of Great Britain. The West Riding of Yorkshire is not the only district in which this vast industry is located, but it may safely be taken that from one-half to two-thirds of the woollen and worsted trade is carried on there. This trade is of ancient date in England. The Romans had weaving establishments of woollen cloth at Winchester, where the copious springs from chalk afforded means both for power and for washing and dyeing. The mother of Alfred the Great is recorded to have been skilled in spin- ning wool. Flemish woollen weavers settled in England about the time of the Norman conquest, and continued immigration of woollen weavers from Flanders took place in the reigns of Henry I, Henry III, Edward I, and Edward III. The woollen tissues first spun and woven at Worsted in Norfolk, about the year 1388, became the staple trade of Norwich. Devonshire manufactured woollens soon after the introduction of the trade into England, and Worcestershire a little later. Friezes were also early manufactiu-ed in Wales. In the middle of the sixteenth century Berkshire took the lead in woollen manufacture. About the middle of the last century the West Riding of Yorkshire became the seat of the worsted and woollen trades. Halifax began to be specially noted for kerseys. From about this date these trades find- ing so much water available, not only for power, but also for washing, dyeing, scouring, fulling, and all other purposes, the Yorkshire manu- facturers and traders were enabled to undersell those of other places. The rivers Aire and Calder were made navigable by act of Parliament about the year 1698, and have from time to time been improved so as to meet and supply the requirements of a growing trade. This navigation has such advantages and has been so ably managed up to this date that it successfully comjietes with the established railways. It is of the utmost importance to study the rise, progress and con- dition of any manufacture, especially if it has changed its locality. Suc- cessful trade is generally contingent upon local imtural advantages which forethought and care may improve, or which continued abuse may deteriorate and even ultimately destroy. The West Riding of York- 132 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. sliire, and especially the Aire Jiiid Calder district, possesses many natu- ral advantages favorable to the establishment and conduct of trades requiring good water. A range of mountains conii>os('d ]»rincipally of scar, limestone, and Yoredale rocks, capped with millstone grit, forms the western boundary, and sends down numerous spring-fed rivulets and streams to wind and flow over the entire breadth of this portion of the county. The graduated fall afi'ords means of obtaining water power, and the nimierous valleys offer favorable sites for storage reservoirs. The vast numbers of mills and dye works (upwards of 5,000) established since the commencement of the present century, and the iai)id growth of the worsted and woollen trades of the West Riding, clearly indicate that the natural advantages of this part of Yorkshire are great. There are not only spring and river water, but there is also cheap fuel obtained from the local coal field, enabling the manufacturers to supx)lement water power with steam, and in numerous instances to obtain all the power required from steam alone. Abuses in the district by throwing solids into running waters and by pollution have, however, become in some cases destructive to trade, and in numerous cases prohibitive to further extensions, some branches of trade having migrated to Scotland, where water less polluted is obtainable. The various processes to which water is put in cleansing wool and in manufacturing woollens and worsteds, may be stated as follows : 1. Scoiu-ing the wool with a ley and hot water to remove grease and dirt. 2. Washing with clean cold water. 3. Dyeing when the cloth is to be wool-dyed. 4. Scouring cloth with fuller's earth to remove oil and size. 5. Dyeing when piece-dyed. 6. Milling or fulling with soap and warm water, either in the fidling . stocks or in the improved milling machines, where the cloth is squeezed between rollers. 7. Scoimng to remove the soap. 8. Boiling cloth to give it a permanent face. 9. Steaming to take away the liability of the finished cloth to spot. Dirty water may be used for power, but even for such purpose it is a nuisance, and for washing and dyeing water may be so polluted as to be injiu'ious even to dark and coarse goods, and totally unfitted for cleans- ing and dyeing fine fabrics. The vast interests involved in the wool, woollen, and worsted trades of Great Britain are set forth in the following statistical tables kindly furnished to the commission by Mr. Jacob Behrens, vice-president of the Chamber of Commerce of Bradford. WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 133 Table A. — Estimate of tlie iwoduce of wool in the United Kingdom from 25,795,708 sheep, based upon a return made for Great Britain on the 5th of March, 1866, and for Ireland in 1865. In England 4,505,345 Number of Bheep. Under one year old. In Wales In Scotland In Ireland Isle of Man and Channel islands. 380, 854 1, 624, 638 1,048,491 24, 410 Total 7,583,817 Under one year old hoggets . . . Lambs killed and clipped Lambs killed and not clipped . Total - One year old and above. 10, 620, 196 1,287,809 3, 630, 439 2,640,251 33, 196 18, 211, 891 Weight per fleece. Pounds. si Wool pro- duced. Pounds. 69, 031, 274 7, 082, 250 23, 597, 853 1.5,841,506 215, 774 33, 503, 293 3, 000, 000 152, 272, 650 Mem. — The number of sheep in Ireland under one year old is supposed to bear the same proportion to the whole number as that given in the return for Great Britain. Table B. — Estimate of the quantity and value of wool and similar material worked up in worsted and woollens. Articles. English wool Foreign wool Goats' hair or wool. Home-made shoddy Imported shoddy . . . Wool extracts Foreign yarn Total Produce and imports. 152, 272, 650 206, 473, 045 4, 737, 330 52, 000, 000 22, 482, 880 5, UOO, 000 4, 479, 984 447, 445, 889 Exports. 7, 320, 299 55, 993, 803 63, 254, 102 Retained for home con- sumption. 144, 952, 351 150, 539, 242 4, 737, 330 52, 000, 000 22, 482, 880 5, 000, 000 4, 479, 984 Price per pound. S, s. d. 2 4i 1 6i 2 8i 5 4i 6 4 6 Value. £17,213,075 11, 123, 905 650, 191 1, <;83, 334 494,611 125, 000 1, 008, 004 384, 191, 787 31, 698, 120 Mem. — Imports, exports, and values from Board of Trade tables for 1864, except quantity of English wool, for which see A. Table C. — The exports of tcools, tissues, and yarns, and the quantity of foreign icool tcorJced up in the years 1844, 1854, and 1864. Description. Exports of English wools Exports of worsted yarns Exports of wool tissues Exports of British produce Foreign wool retained for home consumption lbs. . £535, 134 958, 217 8, 204, 836 50, 642, 306 63, 741, 087 £734, 490 1, 557, 459 9, 121, 186 97, 092, 308 81,654,711 £67.3, 446 5, 417, 377 18, 533, 4.57 160, 449. 053 155, 276, 572 134 PAEIS -UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. Comparative ][)ercentage of the exports of ivorsted and woollen manufactures to the other textile fabrics in 1864. Description. Exports of worsteds Exports of woollens Exports of cottons Exports of linen and jute Exports of silks £16, 217, 898 7, 732, 976 54, 882, 329 11,636,049 2, 274, 927 ■*8i 59 12i Total. £92, 744, 179 Total exports of British produce £160,449,053 Six per cent. Table D. — Estimate of the value and weight of wool and similar material manufactured into worsted and woollen yarns and tissues in the United Kingdom, 1SG4. Description. Value. English wool, exported as yarns English wool, manufactured into tissues, 4s Foreign wool, manufactured into tissues, 3s Mohair wool, manufactured into tissues, 5s Foreign yarn, manufactured into tissues, 8s Shoddy and extracts, manufactured into tissues, Is. Cotton, yarn, and other material 35, 000, 000 £5, 500, 000 110, 000, 000 150, 500, 000 4, 700, 000 4, 500, 000 79, 500, 000 22, 000, 000 22, 600, 000 1, 200, 000 1, 800, 000 4, 000, 000 7, 300, 000 Total. 384,200,000 ;£64, 400, 000 Table E. — Estimate of the value and weight in 1864 of the ivool and similar material worked up ivith it into worsted and icoollens for export and home consumption} WORSTEDS. Description. Pounds. Value. EXPORTS. 35, 000, 000 30, 000, 000 14, 000, 000 66, 000, 000 4, 700, 000 £5, 417, 377 7, 945, 633 2, 852, 815 HOME. 13, 200, 000 1, 200, 000 2, 984, 175 Total 149, 700, 000 £33, 600, 000 1 In this estimate all English wool is considered as worked up into worsted, and that which is worked up into woollens is supposed to be more than balanced by the foreign wool (Russian, Australian, and others) in worsteds. WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 135 Table E — Continued. WOOLLENS. Description. Goods, mixed with one-fourth of other material, £890,000, Is. Goods, all wool, (foi'eigu,) 3s Goods of foreign wool, 3s Goods of foreign yarns, 8s , Goods, shoddy and extract. Is Cotton and other material mixed with wool Total. 18, 000, 000 43, 500, 000 1U7, 000, 000 4, 500, 000 61, 500, 000 234, 500, 300 Value. £1,186,815 6,546,161 16, 000, 000 1,800,000 3, 200, 000 2, 067, 024 30, 800, 000 Under the name of slioddy, wliicli occurs so conspicuously in the foregoing tables, an enormous weight of material is used which, until recently, was waste. Shoddy was first introduced into use about the year 1813, at Batley, near Dewesbiuy. Mungo was adopted in the same district, but at a later j)eriod. Shoddy is the produce of soft wooUen rags, such as old worn-out carpets, flannels. Guernseys, stockings, and similar fabrics. Mungo is the produce of worn-out broad or similar cloths of fine quality, as also of the shreds and chppings of cloth. It was stated at our inquiry that the term arose in consequence of the diffi- culty at first of manipulation. A manufacturer gave some of the mate- rials to his foreman, who, after trial in the shoddy machines, came back with the remark, "It winna go;" when the master exclaimed, "But it mun go!" These woollen rags are collected, packed in bales, and are imported from Eussia, Egypt, Tiu'key, the entire area of Europe, India, China, and, in fact, from all jiarts of the world where woollen garments are worn, and rags produced and can be collected. They come to York- shire from districts where iilague, fever, smallpox, and loathsome skin diseases extensively prevail. The bales are opened and the rags are sorted by human fingers before being placed in machines, which break up, tear, separate, and cleanse the fibre for manufacturing uses. Accord- ing to the e^ddence we obtained no disease has ever broken out among the persons who so manipulate these old woollen rags, although in many of the countries in which they are collected they are believed to be peculiarly i^lague-bearing materials. The lapse of time in collecting, storing, and transmitting these rags, as also the possible destruction of any special poisons, by friction or otherwise, must be taken into account. The whole of the facts deserve, however, the serious attention of those l)ersons who insist that the power of communicating disease is contained in a dangerous manner by woollen goods which have been worn by per- sons vsuffering fi'om contagious diseases. The experience obtained by 136 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. the niaiiipulation of shoddy, for upwards of 50 years, proves tliat old woollen rags are not in any degree dangerous to the health of those who work anu)ng them. ^ The shoddy trade, as now carried on in the West Riding, is a remark- able instance of the utilization of waste material. The term " shoddy" was, in the first instance, one of reproach, but this has ceased to be. Shoddy now enters into honorable companionship in official returns with British and foreign wools, mohair, silk, and cotton, and is used by manufacturers throughout the woollen and Avorsted distri(;ts. By recent returns (1800) the total weight of wool and goats' hair — of home and foreign growth — used, was about three hundred and ten millions of pounds ; the total weight of shoddy and extracts for the same period was about seventy-four and one-half millions of pounds, or some thirty- three and three-quarter thousand tons ; so that shoddy now forms near one fifth, by weight, of the woollen and worsted manufactm-e of the district. The woollen trade of Great Britain coidd not be carried on to its in'esent extent without shoddy. Shoddy is mixed A\'ith wool in i)roportions from one-third to two-thirds shoddy or nuingo, and is used in the manufacture of cheap broadcloths, fine cloths for ladies' capes and mantles, jnlots, witneys, flushings, friezes, petershams, duffels, hoideys, ])addings, linings, cloths used for rough and loose great-coats, office-coats, and trousers, pea-jackets, and blankets. A considerable quantity is used in the form of flocks for beds. Felted cloth is extensively mauufactiu-ed ; it dispenses with spinning and weaving, depending on the felting i^roperty of wool by reason of the curl in the fibre. The process is carried on by the aid of warm moisture, pressure, and milling ; such cloth is used for table-covers, horse-cloths, carpets, paddings, druggets, and the coarser and thicker kinds for covering steam boilers, steam pipes, and ships' bottoms beneath the copper. Some of the finer and better class of felted cloths are l)rinted. The manufacfure of shoddy and mungo need not produce any .special pollution. The rags are torn into fibre by machines specially prepared, and the dirt, dust, and fine particles of wool are blown out in such manner that this refuse can be collected and sold for manm-e. About one-seventh, by weight, of shoddy is so cleaned out as waste in pre- paring it. The price obtained for it as manure varies from 10s. to 20a\ per ton. Some of the richer sort of waste shoddy is sent into Kent as a dressing for hop-gromng. INDEX. A. Page Africa, annual production of wool in trf Agassiz, Professor, views on the effects of the crosses of races of men 91 opinion of, in regard to the whiteness of animals 97 Aix la-Chapelle, production of 61 American goods, qualities of 21 manufacturers, duties of 66 American merino sheep, table of measurements of 72 diiference in from Spanish merino 73 Paular family of 73 Infantado family of 73 washed wool of 78 scoured fleeces of 78 quality of wool of 79 improvement in 74 price of rams 75 ram "Twenty-one per cent., " note 75 increase of yolk in 76 Ancyra, description of by Tournefort 94 Angora, description of its goats by Tournefort 95 number of goats in district of 99 Angora goat, impracticability of crossing with common goat ] 05 importance of acclimatizing the breed in this country 105 effect of crossing black female with white buck 98 variety of shawl-wool goat 99 power to resist extreme cold, but not moisture 97 results of acclimation in Europe and America 99, 100 differences between this and common goat 88 Aniline colors, discovery of by Runge 43 Perkins violet 43 affinity of for materials of animal origin, or nitrogenized substances. 44 stability of 44 Annual French card wool production 34 Annual production of wool in France 18 Great Britain 18 Spain, Italy, and Portugal 18 Germany 18 European Russia 18 Australia, South America, and South Africa 18 United States 18 British North American provinces 18 Asia 18 Northern Africa 18 Antiquity of the woollen trade in England 131 Appian, mention of stuffs known as Ki.2,iKia by 87 Appleton, Mr. Nathan, " History of the introduction of the power loom and the origin of Lowell," by 27 138 INDEX. Page. Archil or orseille, a new kind introduced by MM. Gninon Mamas and Bonnet 42 Asia, annual production of wool in 18 Atwood, Stephen, Spanish merinos of 69, 70 Australia, total production of wool in Ill annual production of wool in 18 Austria, value and amount of production of 61 fabrics of 19 B. Bachman, Dr. John, reference to paper on Angora goat by 89 Baird, Professor, opinion of affinity of Rocky mountain goat with antelope 84 Bauendahl & Co., letter of to Mr. G. W. Bond in regard to mohair or goat's wool. . 104 in Country Gentleman iu regard to mohair — note 105 Behrens, Mr. Jacob, statistical tables of 13'6 Belgium, woollen industry of 60 fabrics of 19 Belon, Father, mention of Angora goat first by 87 Benoville, M., treatise on woollen industry of France 44 Bernstein, Michel, flock of 16 Berthollet, M., work on dyeing by H9 Bigelow, Mr. E. B., remarks of 30 Billancourt, exhibition at 11 Bowes Mr., statement in regard to Scotch cassimeres 15 statement in regard to American merinos 10 Bradford, manufactures of 6.3 Brandt, M., description of the Angora goat by 82 dimensions of specimen examined by 83 argument of in support of his assertion in regard to the derivation of the domestic goat 85 observations in regard to spinning Angora goat's hair 85 British North American provinces, annual production of wool in 18 Buenos Ayres, wools of 8 C. Calico printing, foundation of 39 Cape wools 8 Capra, division of the genus by Cuvier 83 division of the genus by recent zoologists 84 Card-wool fabrics of various countries 20 Carpets, American ^2 Brussels and tapestry 22 Cashmere goat, note 84 Cateau, immense establishment 55 perfection of machinery and processes .56 wages and condition of the workmen 56 manufacture of imitation Cashmere shawls . . . — 57 Centres of woollen industry in France, treatises by M. Eandouig and M. Benoville.. 44 Chapin, Mr., paper of, in regard to Pacific Mills 25 Chemical Society in London, publications by 39 Chenery, Mr. Winthop W., flock of Angora goats of, note 101, 102 Cheviot sheep, character of 15 character of wool of i 4 Chevreul, M., lectures of, to the artisans of Lyons 38 Cloakings, Austrian 24 INDEX. 139 Clothing wools, ability to grow fine, in the United States 9 Australian 8 Silesian and Saxon 8 production of, in the United States in lH6fi 9 Colbert, regulations for dyeing wools 38 Columella, no mention of Angora goat by 87 Combing wools, growth of, in the United States 13 price of English fleeces in 1855 and 1864 13 profit of growing, in United States 14 French and Australian 10 present consumption of, in United States • 13 English 13 necessity of growth of, in United States 113 extraordinary care taken in growth of, in England 112 amount of, produced in Canada. , 113 Combing-wool sheep, profit in keeping. Table by Mr. Winnie 120 Comparative rates of interest in France, England, and United States, table of 30 Competition between diiferent countries in the growth of merino wool 119 Consumption of wool in England at present time 110 Crompton loom, the 20 D. Dana, Dr., of Lowell, honorable mention of, by French savans 44 Davis, Dr. J. B., importation of Angora goats by, in 1849 101 De Kaeppilin, M. , treatise on dyeing 39 Des Farges, M. , ou the peculiarities of the French merino 12 Designers of Elbeuf, peculiar character of their work 46 Diehl, Mr., contribution on the Angora goat 90 observations by, on flocks of Angora goats in the southwestern States.. 101 Domestic woollen industry identified with agricultural prosperity 32 Dyeing, discoveries by Vauquelin 39 discoveries by Lassarque 39 new process introduced by Loftet •. 39 colors fixed by steam 40 discovery by Mr. Steiner 40 discovery of cheap process of manufacturing ultramarine by Guimet 40 the use of madder and colors derived from it .'. . . 40 advantages resulting from the recent improvements in madder 41 in France, and the contributions of modern science to the art 38 Dyes in American carpets 22 E. Echantilleurs, character of their work 46 Elbeuf, separate establishments of 47 statistics of Chamber of Commerce of 47 prices of food in 48 low tone of morality of workmen of 48 centre of card-wool industry of France 45 population and value of production of 45 facilities for credit in 46 Elder, Dr., statement of in regard to exportation of wool 32 England, number of sheep per acre 6 importation of wool in 1830 7 importation of wool in 1 864 7 annual production of wool in ' 13 exportation of wool at present time 110 140 INDEX. Page. English operatives, inferiority of technical education of Exposition, fabrics of F. 28 Factory, system of New England Fibre, character of wool Fine wools, need of them in United States 77 " Fitting sheep," fraudulent practice Flannels, opera "Fleece and Loom." extract from ' Fleischman, Mr., on the results of constantly regenerating with the pure-blooded Merino ram France, sheep husbandry in superiority of her manufactures of wool exportation of woollen goods in 1855 and in 1 865 principal centers of production of woollen fabrics products of, in class 29 products of, in class 30 exportation of card fabrics in 1865 annual production of wool in exportation of woolen goods in 1861 and in 1863 French Merinoes, character of Merinoes, change effected in taste, excellence of Full-blooded American Merino sheep G. Gayot, M., notice by on Merino ovine races exhibited at Billancourt 1 1 Germania mills, goods of exhibition by Germany, the woollen manufacture of the ZoUverein annual production of wool in 62 Great Britain, woollen manufacture in annual production of wool in Grove, Henry, importation of Saxon Merino sheep by Groups of French woollen industry H. Halifax, manufactures of Henry VIII, act in regard to city of York ^ Huddersfield, manufactures of ' Humphries, Colonel, Merino sheep of Huskissbn, Mr., on woollen manufactures of Great Britain I. Importance to American farmer of the production of combing wool sheep 121 Importations of wool into Great Britain in 183U, Industrial society of Mulhouse, publications by Influence of Anglo-French treaty on French artists Importations of wool into Great Britain in 183U, 1862, and 1864 110 J. 81 Jardin des Plantes, model and source of societies of natural history Jarvis, Mr. William, Merino sheep imported by I^DEX. 141 K. Page. Kilogram, equivalent of 16 Knit goods, manufacture of 23 Knitting machines 23 L. Labor, prices of here and abroad 31 La Plata, fine wool of HI Leeds, manufactures of 63 Leicester sheep, price of in England and United States 121 Lo-kao, Chinese green, introduction of 42 M. Machinery, American 29 Mazamet, workshop nurseries of 52 Merino combing wools ] Negretti, race of : ] ;} Mission mills, San Francisco, exhibition of goods of 24 Mohair, use of in the manufacture of Utrecht velvets 103 use of in manufacture of shawls 103 use of in manufacture of lastiugs, cloakings, dress goods, &c 103 annual export of from Turkey 104 price of per pound 1 04 application of in the manufacture of fabrics 102 Mousselines delaine, manufacture of 25 Mungo, origin of the word 1 12 introduction and use of 135 N. National association of wool manufacturers, extract from report of 22 report of 79 Negrettis sheep, weight of fleece of 70 Number of animals domesticated by man 81 P. Pacific mills, success of co-operative organization 130 wages of work people in 130 medal awarded to 25 Patent OfSce Agricultural Report, paper on Angora goat, by Dr. John Bachman 89 Pood, equivalent of 16 Portugal, annual production of wool in 18 " Practical Shepherd," principles of breeding discussed in 92 Price of Leicester or Cotswold sheep in England and United States 121 Production of wood in England at present time 110 Profit in keeping combing wool sheep, table by Mr. Winnie J 20 Prussia, fabrics of 19 Q- Quatrafages, M. de, discussion by on the formation of races 91 R. Ranibouillet, flock of Angora goats at 100 Randall, Dr., observations on the principles of breeding 92 Randonig, M., treatise by on woollen industry of France 44 Relative cost of production of American and foreign fabrics 28, 29 Region du Midi, centre of card wool industry of France 50 towns which it comprises 51 142 INDEX. Page. Eegion du Midi, production of peculiar fabrics for the Levant, for the army 51 workshop nurseries of 52 pecuHar customs at Villeneuvette 52 wages of work men in 53 Rhienis, centre of combing wool industry of France 53 production of merino fabrics 53 improvements in combing wool 53 power loom applied to manufacture of merino fabrics 54 the United States the outlet for its goods 55 importance of manufacturing merino fabrics in United States 55 wages and condition of workmen of 55 Rivers Aire and Calder, pollution of water of 131 Roubaix, the rival of Bradford 57 history of its growth 57 public sentiment of opposed to Anglo-French treaty 58 excellent character of its fabrics 58 fabrics of for women and children 59 amount of wool consumed in 1843 ; amount of goods produced 59 wages of workmen in 59 Russia, fabrics of ._ 20 European, annual production of wool in 18 vast scale of sheep husbandry in 16 S. Sacc, M. , opinion of on crossing Angora with common goat 89 Saxon merino sheep, introduction of 69 Saxony wool, importance of the growth of in this country ^ 108, 109 Sedan, manufactures in 49 superiority of the moral tone of its workmen 49 wages of workmen in 50 Shawls, excellence of American 79 Shoddy, manufacture of 19 amount of manufactured . 112 introduction and use of 135, 136 Silk-mixed goods, use of 23 • origin of 49 Slater, Mr. , goods exhibited by 8 South America, annual productiou of wool in 18 Spain, annual production of wool in 18 Spanish merino sheep, importations of, by JohuT. Rich, Francis Rotch and Henry D. Grove 70 weight of wool of 71 table of measurements of 72 faults and merits of 69, 70 St. Hilaire Geofifi-ey, assent of, to opinions of M. Brandt and M. Sacc 86 Strabo, no mention of Angora goat by 87 Stursberg, Mr. H., medal awarded to 24 Symons, Mr., statement of, in regard to woollen manufacture of the United Kingdom. 63 T. Tariff legislation, importance of = 31 Tchihatcheft, M., memoir on Angora goat 86 Tilebert, M., flock of 16 Tour d'Aigues, M. de la, observations on breeding the Angora goat 93 Tournefort, M., description of the ancient city of Ancyra and the goats of Angora — 94 Turkey, fabrics of 19 INDEX. 143 U. Page. United States, number of sheep per acre 6 annual production of wool 18 future sheep husbandry 15, 16 Ure, Dr. , on the habits of the silk weavers of Lyons 1 37 Utrecht velvets, manufacture of, in France 1 03 V. Value of woollen goods manufactured in the United States in ]864. Table 123 Verviers, production of 60 wages of workmen in 61 Vesey, Mr., facts by, on the production of Aix-la-Chapelle 61 Villeneuvette, peculiar custouis in 52 W. Walworth, Mr. Joseph, letter of 1 J8 Washington Mills, medal awarded to 24 Water, use of, in the manufacture of woollen cloth 1 32 Webster woollen mills, S. Slater & Sons, medal awarded to 24 West of England, fabrics of 19 West Riding of Yorkshire, advantages of, for woollen manufacture 62 manufactures of 62 cost of living aud wages in 64 Woollen industry of Europe 32 manufactures in Europe 17 Worsted wools, where grown 1 19 manufactures of England 118 United States 119 ' ' Wrinkles on ' ' Merino sheep, objections to 77 Y. Yolk, development of 10 increase of, in American Merino 76 Youatt, Mr., observations of, in regard to the breeding of horses 92 ZoUverein, wages of workmen in 61 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION, 1867. REPORTS OP THE UNITED STATES COMMISSIONERS. H E P» O JEl T UPON WOOL AID lAIUPACTIJRES OF VOOL, BV E. R. M U D QE, UNITED STATES COMMISSIONER, ASSISTED BY JOHN L. HAYES, se<;retarv of the "national association of wool manufacturers. WASHINGTON: GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 1868. PAKIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION, 1867. REPORTS OF THE UNITED STATES COMMISSIONERS. H E F O R T BETON-COIGNET, ITS FABEICATION AID USES : CONSTRUCTION OF SEWERS, WATER-PIPES, TAMS, FOUNDATIONS, WALLS, ARCHES, BUILDINGS, FLOORS, TERRACES, MARINE EXPERIMENTS, ETC., LEONARD F. BECKWITH, CIVIL ENGINEER. '"^.: WASHi:^GTON: GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1868. PREFACE. The following remarks on betou-coignet are drawn from numerous partial reports which have appeared from time to time during the last fifteen years, and from xiersonal observations on the methods in actual use, which are somewhat in advance of the publications on the subject. LEONAED F. BECKWITH, C. E. Fauis, December, 1867. ^ CONTENTS. ^ NATURE AND VARIETIES OF BETON. DEFINITIONS. Common beton — Common beton for marine uses — Beton-coignet. THEORY. Theory of the concretion of common mortar— Observation on sandstone — Conclusions. COMPOSITION, Elements — Mixing — Use — Compacting. VARIETIES. Common lime— Hydraulic lime — Cement — Slacking — Varieties of sand — Proportion. FABRICATION AND PROPERTIES OF BETON. MIXING. Mixing, cylinder — Driving gear — Elevator — Locomobile — Description of engine — General view — Details of fabrication. PACKING AND MOULDING. Packing — Moulding in place — Moulding in blocks. PROPERTIES. Table of experiments on the strength of beton — Table of relative strength of building mate- rials. APPLICATIONS OF BfiTON— CONCLUSION. APPLICATIONS. Warehouses — Churches — Granaries — Cellars — Foundations — Arches and vaults — Walls — Floors — Terraces — Roofs — Flagging — Sidewalks — Foundations for machinery — Sewers- Aqueducts — Water-pipes — Table of dimensions and cost of sewers in beton — Cistern — Reservoirs — Tanks — Cess-pools — Marine structures — Experiments. CONCLUSION. ILLUSTRATIONS. Plate I. Portable Apparatus for Mixing the Materials. Plate II. Application of BfeTON-CoiGNET to Building. BETONCOIGNET. KATUEE AND VARIETIES OF BfiTON. DEFINITIONS. Coiniuoii beton is a conglomeration of sand, pebbles, broken stones, common lime, and water. Common beton for marine uses is a conglomerate of similar stones, hydraulic lime and water. Beton-coignet, to which this memoir chiefly relates, is an artificial stone formed of sand, lime and water, and is used in blocks or in contin- uous masses for foundations, walls above and below ground, sewers, water-pipes, floors, pillars, arches, embankments, aqueducts, reservoirs, cisterns, and the entire walls of buildings. The elements are the same as those of common mortar for masonry, but the relative proportions of each, the method of making", and the results are different. THEORY OF CONCRETION. Common mortar being composed of sand, lime, and water, the theory of its concretion may be briefly stated as follows : 1. The chemical changes which occiu" from the contact of quicklime (oxide of calcium) and Avater produce hycU-ate of lime, and the subse- quent absorption of carbonic acid from the air, displacing the water, produces carbonate of lime. 2. The strength and hardness of mortar result from the cohesion ot sand and carbonate of lime, and from the crystallization of the carbonate which grasps and binds the grains of sand. 3. Homogeneity deijends upon the equal and uniform diffusion of the lime among the sand. 4. An excess of lime in i)roj)ortion to sand produces great shrinkage and imperfect crystallization, and leaves the mass brittle and weak. 5. An excess of water in proportion to lime cannot combine with it, but lodges between the particles of sand and lime, and by slow evapoia- tion leaves the mass porous and friable. 6. The practical difticidties are, first, to find the proportions in which the elements will best combine ; and, second, to produce the conditions most favorable to their combination. Observation : Common sandstone is usually composed of large quanti- ties of silicious sand and small quantities of some cementing substance, oxide of iron, clay, carbonate of lime, &c., &c. ; therefore, 6 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 7. The right ek^meiits being properly mixed and in dne proportions, each grain of sand enveloped in a coating of moistened lime, and all the grains brought into contact, the conditions in short being right, crystal- lization should be sinudtaneous and uniform throughout the mass. This line of thought, i)ursued through a long series of experiments, has produced the beton-coignet, a kind of calcareous sandstone, of great durability, admirably adapted to numerous and common wants and of small comparative cost, its elements being found in abundance in all countries. COMPOSITION. A large quantity ot sand, a smaller quantity of lime and a little water; only water enough for quick assimilation with the lime to jjrepare it for crystallization, and lime enough, when uniformly diffused, to form a thin coating to the grains of sand. These ingredients when properly manipulated are barely moist, but the preparation is complete and ready for use. The mixture is handled with shovels and transported in carts and wheelbarrows, the same as dry sand. It may be spread on the ground for foundations or iioors, placed in moulds for blocks of different models and sizes, and shovelled into cribs of planks to give shape to walls, or dumped into trenches pro\dded with wooden forms for the sides and arches of sewers. The beton when placed should be slightly compacted by the use of light hand-pestles, to perfect the contact of particles and hasten the pro- cesses of solidilication. In a short time the spontaneous action which foUows will be complete, and the forms may be removed. VARIETIES. Betons cemented with different sorts of lime attain the same final solidify and strength, but require various i)eriods of time for consolida- tion. Common lime sets slower than hydrauli(r lime, and the latter sets slower than cement; in other words, crystallization is quicker in each of the varieties named, reversing the order. Hydraulic lime, in addition to quicklime, contains alumina oxide of iron, silica, magnesia, &c., &c., and cement consists of similar elements with the alumina, silica, &c., augmented; the latter hardens quicker than the preceding and gives a finer and smoother surface. Consequently, when time is of importance and structures are required for immediate use, hydraidic lime is substituted for common lime; and to quicken the result, a portion of cement is usually added. Lime for common mortar should be slacked at least 24 hoiu-s before it is mixed. For beton-coignet the lime should be slacked but two or three hours before it is mixed; barely enough water should be applied to reduce it to powder, and the supplementary water applied in mixing BETON-COIGNET. 7 should be only sufficient to render the lime damp and adhesive, leaving- still in the lime a capacity for the absorijtion of water. The natural affinity of the lime for moistiu-e being thus incompletely satisfied, renders the taking or crystallization more vigorous and rapid, and promotes the subsequent carbonation by the readier absorption of carbonic acid. Coarse sand makes a harder beton than fine sand, and the taking is stronger. Clean river sand, one-twentieth to three-twentieths of an inch in diameter, is best; all kinds, however, are used, and if it contains earthy particles, more liine is required ; fine sand requii-es greater care and more packing for consolidation. Beton-coignet may be described general^ as composed of: Sand, 4 to 5 parts in volume ; lime, common or hydraulic, 1 part in volume ; cement, ^ to f of 1 part in volume ; water, variable. But the exact proportions vary in conformity with the variations in the properties inherent in the elements, which wiU be subsequently noticed. FABEICATION AND PROPERTIES OF BfiTON. MIXINGr. The machinery most in use for mixing consists of a vertical cylinder, an oblique elevator, and a locomobile for working the machine. Mixing cylinder. — The drawing (Plate I, Fig. 1) represents the cylinder and elevator in place, drawn to scale, a, section of the vertical cylinder showing the interior. It is constructed of boiler-j)late, and rests on a cylinder or base of cast iron h, with projecting arms for supports and for sustaining the bottom plate P, which is suspended, c, a vertical shaft passing through the centre of the cylinder, to which shaft curved arms d, are attached, which revolve horizontally, for mixing the sand and lime. Q, a distributor, which rcA^olves horizontally, recei\dng the lime and sand as they enter the cylinder fiom the conducting trough I, and distributing them equally around for mixing. Fig. 2. d c Q represents an inverted curved arm, distributing arm, and cross-section of vertical shaft, dd, cross-section of the curved arm. E E, short stationary horizontal arms, which are attached to the sides of the cylinder, forming with the movable arms breaks for dashing and mixing the sand and lime, e e, three warped or helicoidal blades attached to the lower part of the shaft for forcing the mixture downwards and outwards. //, cycloidal arms revolving horizontally near the floor of the cylinder, to expel the mixture at the side opening around the bottom. Fig. 3. Horizontal section of the cylinder, presenting a vertical view of the helicoidal blades eee, and of the cycloidal arms fff, below them. bi w » B .-»^^ a' o o o o o in o = 00 ■'S' J-TJ. n i^ to to ■ -5 ■ a 03 in CI in cj 00 in in o< a .2 a o oo o o o o o o g g' ton to o to 00 C-J s a f~"in t-^ in d t--' t>iri '7-'-— - ' T^r - " '— ^— : § •^ -* If _ ■^ -+ I -^ «- "*. 1 TJ r- ■H-* ■a « -^ a a 'u ■ >. ^ 3 : 1 o a o o "3 a 'E . ao p. 1 C a P. c i J3 a g : > < a S o " O c S o o Sa « 3 bl } o O ti > a £ i 2 § .5 •J J o "a o ■« 2 .2 S J i O >-! c C ^ « i 3 pa M J P< — ., — ' ' ^ ' ^ — / ' y— — > v ' 1 "S i- n c< to to 00 00 ■O , m' =2 o 1 >, >» >■ u G i^ a u %^ XI to ° § i 03 5 OS a B a >• &; cS n o cj fl fc b E^ •^ 1^ i 12 PAKIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. All exaii dilation of tlu' preceding- table Avill sliow tliat the strength or bearing jiower of ea(;h variety of betoii is sufficient for ordinary uses, but that the differences are great; and a more careful study will trace these dift'ereuces to the properties of vaiious sands, to the i)roportions of sand, lime, cement and water, and to the i)eculiar ingredients inherent in the various limes, derived from different localities. But an elaborate exi)lanatioii of the table would have no_ jiarticular value, as similar substances derived from different localities are never exactly alike, and the best mixture in each particular case must be ascer- tained by actual experiments, which are easily made, the results being simple and obvious. Most of the betons in the preceding table are stronger than is neces- sary for ordinary uses, and if used, the thickness of the structures as compared with common masonry may be diminished. For the more com- mon ijurposes betons of more sand and less lime are used. The tensile and bearing strength of betons is variable, as is that of every kind of stone. The following table shows the range of strength in the particular kinds, and the relative strength of the different kinds of building materials named : Mortar. Beton. Brick. Limestone. Sandstone. Granite. 280 to 2,100 2,634 to 7, 495- 550 to 1, 700 4,000 to 5,000 4, 000 1 5, 500 to I to 5 000 ! 11 000 50 to 290 288 to 426 115 to 280 120 to 864 180 to 900 A cubic yard of beton weighs about 3,700 pounds. APPLICATIOX OF BlilTON— CONCLUSIOJ^. WAREHOUSES, CHURCHES, GRANARIES, CELLARS, FOUNDATIONS. Structures and buildings of solid masses of betoii suffer less than ordinary materials from uneciual settling of the ground, and underground rooms and cellars built of it are particularly free from damp. The railway station at Suresnes, several houses at St. Denis, the church at Vesinet, «&c., are examples of this kind, and from the absence of joints are the same as if made of one blo(;k of stone. Cheap dwellings for workmen are now in course of construction in several localities in France. A small house of beton-coignet was exhibited at the Champ de Mars, with specimens of arches, piers, slabs, statues, fountains, &c., finely moulded and well made by Mr. Coignet. The materials for common work of the above kind are five parts of sand, one of lime, and the ordinary quantity of water. BETON-COIGNET. 13 ARCHES AND VAULTS. Various experimeuts have been made Tvitli good results to test the strength of beton for arches, and it is now much used for that purpose ; in the structures of the ^N'orthern railway, at Paris, in the new prison of the Madelonnettes, and in the new barracks of Notre Dame. In the lat- ter, an arched vault was built, of 18 feet span, 1^ foot versed sine, 8^ inches thick at the croAvn, with surface of 14 square yards, on which experimental weights of 17 tons were placed for a fortnight without damage. Beton was afterwards used for all the similar arched vaidts in the building, giving a surface of 3,588 square yards. An experimental arch on the quay de Billy, has a span of 55^ feet, versed sine 4 feet, thickness of crown 14 inches, with good results. At Aubervilliers the machinery of a considerable saw mill is placed on an arch of 33 feet span, versed sine 6^ feet. The ventilation of the Exhibition building, at the Champ de Mars, is effected by underground works, consisting of a series of circular and radial galleries, arched with beton, span about 10 feet, for the circulation and supply from below of cool air through openings in the floor. The outer gallery is 33 feet in width, and 1,443 yards in length ; the groined arches of beton are supported on two rows of beton pillars, 864 in number, carrying- a roof, the uppyer surface of which forms a floor of 15,873 square yards of sui-face. The quantity of beton consumed in these galleries was 353,160 cubic feet. Plate II, Fig. 11, is a cross section of the outer gallery. The materials of this structure were: Four parts of sand, one of lime, and one-half part of Portland cement. WALLS. The embankment on which runs the avenue de 1' Empereur, at tho Trocadero, for a quarter of a mile is supported by a wall of beton about 40 feet high ; the outer side is strengthened by pilasters ; the inner side consists of a series of arches at right angles to the wall, built one upon the other, and extending into the embankment, forming a bearing for the mass of earth, and diminishing- its lateral pressure against the wall. The walls and arches are a solid mass of beton. Plate I, Fig. 6. The steeple of the church of Yesinet is constructed of beton, 130 feet high, and shows no sign of weakness. FLOORS, TERRACES, ROOFS. If the area does not exceed 13 or 16 feet in width, a slab of beton 10 or 12 inches thick will be strong enough to sustain itself; if the area be greater, double T-joists of iron shoidd cross the space for ceilings, floors, &c., and the slabs of beton may be made thicker or thiAner, depending on the distance of the joists one from another, the flanges of which form the holding of the slabs. 14 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. Joists being thus placed and a temporary scaffbldinft- or floor of boards erected underneath, the betou is dumped upon it and i)acked, the edges hold u]ion the flanges, the be-ton hardens, the scafl'olding is removed and the ceiling remains Arm; if the upper side should serve for a floor also, the beton should be laid thicker and carried over the joists so as to form a smooth suiface above them. Beton for this work should be five parts of sand, one part of lime, and one-fourth part of cement. FLAGGING, SIDEWALKS. Beton being impervious to water and without joints, no moisture is absorbed beneath, if the ground be ])roperly drained; therefore no liea\'ing or disturbance results from frosts in the ground. Flagging and floors of beton for courts, stables, cellars, coach-houses, schools, railway stations, warehouses, &c., &c., are much used. Sand five parts, lime one part, cement one part. FOITSTDATIONS FOR MACHINERY. Foundations for machinery of beton are usually cheaper and as good as masonry of stone. For engines, jj cubic yard of beton corresponds to a horse-power, and a 30 horse-jjower engine should have 30 cubic yards of foundation. Foundations of beton for water-wheels and turbines may be seen at St. Maur, for steam engines at the percussion aq) factory at Paris, the tobacco factory at Chateaiu-oux, the glass works at St. Gobain, &c.; at Oyssel a steam-engine of 400 horse-power, which works admirably, rests on a block of beton 7 yards in thickness, and at the Exposition of 1867 a great portion of the machinery was placed on beton foundations laid in winter, and worked well. Composition : sand five parts, lime one part, cement one-fourth part. SEWERS, AQUEDUCTS, WATER-PIPES. Twenty-five miles of main sewers in Paris have been made of beton, and its use for this purpose is rapidly increasing. A trench is cut as usual, a floor of beton is laid on the bottom, a frame- work of timber and boards introduced as for masonry to give form to the sides and arch ; the beton is dumi)ed and packed by the commonest labor, the wood- work removed, and the sewer is finished. The regulations for sewers requiring walls of 10 inches of stone umsonry admit of walls of 8 inches in beton; their construction of beton requires less time ; the economy in masonry is reckoned at 30 per cent., and the sa\ing on the whole work at 20 per cent. BETOX- COIGNET. 15 Dimensions and cost of the principal seicers in heton of Paris. Dimensions of sewer. Area in square yards of cross- section of sewer. Length in yards of inner cir- cumference of cross-section of sewer. .a a a "3 o fl a linear linear g cost e, and Type of sewer. 1 ja ■♦a £ O .2 1 '•3 « 5 Cubic feet of b6ton per foot of sewer. Entire cost in Paris per foot of sewer, includii of excavation, centrin masonry. Feet. 9,186 9,022 7,874 4,493 7,054 6,562 6,234 5,577 Feet. 7,546 6,562 5,641 2,296 4,265 3,281 2,524 2, 524 Sg. yards. 6,045 5,071 3,959 0,969 2,894 ],794 1,419 1,292 Yards. 8.667 8,503 7,170 4,044 6,492 5,574 5,301 4,263 Inches. 10. 63 9.45 7.87 10. 25 7.87 7. 37 7.87 7.87 Cub. feet. 26, 156 22, 075 15, 608 9,257 14, 639 12, 465 $5 92 9 5 00 10 3 53 11 2 35 12 3 31 3 18 2 11,948 1 3 04 3 11,087 1 2 84 Plate II, Fig. 12, is a cross-section of a large sewer in beton, (tji)e No. 8,) showing the mode of construction and the appearance when finished. Fig. 13, a water-pipe. Water-pipes of beton are made at half the expense of iron and they cost little for repairs. The whole of the underground drainage of 40 acres roofed by the palace of the Exhibition was through beton pijies of 12 to 16 inches tube discharging into sewers of beton. The cubic contents of materials used in these pipes amounted to 264,825 cubic feet. For the sewers of Paris, and for this service, the following proportions of materials were used: 175 cubic feet of sand. 35 cubic feet of hydraulic lime. 550 pounds heavy Paris cement, equivalent to Portland cement. CISTERNS, RESERVOIRS, TANKS, CESS-POOLS. These, when built of masonry and coated with cement, are impervious to water, but need constant repairs ; of beton they are equally impervious, cost less and are more seciu-e. A cistern 39 feet in depth, 5 feet in diameter, with sides of 10 inches in thickness, after two days receives water, and remains soimd an hidefi- nite period. The cess-pools of beton authorized by the prefect of the Seine in 1862 are without cement, hold good, and are water-tight; structures of this kind are adopted for the great opera-house now building, and for the great railroad stations, &c., &g. Gasometer tanks of large dimensions, 130 feet diameter, 49 feet in depth, are built of common betou-coignet at Eueil and St. Denis. The 16 PAEIS UNIVEESAL EXPOSITION. difficulties of making structures of this size in iimsoury wtiter-tiglit are said to be much less in beton. Composition: live parts of sand, one of lime, and one-half part of cement. MABINE STRUCTURES. For the foundations of breakwaters and piers stones of irregular and various sizes are used, but small stones are preferred. Being cast into the sea without order and left to find their position as they sink, small stones paclc closer and form beds more solid than large ones; they are also less liable to disturbance than large stones from the "hydraulic press action" of waves arrested in their horizontal movement and thrown downwards. Banks or ridges with more or less sloping sides are thus raised from the bottom of the sea nearly to the surface at low tide, and upon these walls of masonry are built of sufdcient height and thickness to resist the force of the sea. The force of the waves against a vertical wall, as measured in different localities, shows the following results, in weather ranging from ordinary to tempest : At Cette, in the Mediterranean, from 14,000 to 24,000 pounds per square yard; Bell Eock, Scotland, as high as 30,675 pounds per square yard ; island of Serry^^or, Scotland, 5,000 to 10,000, and 55,760 pounds per square yard ; Oherboiu-g, 30,000 to 55,000 pounds per square yard. The horizontal movement arrested by a wall in deep water becomes vertical and produces a descending wave of great force, which tends to excavate and sweep away the bank and undermine the wall. The banks or foundations are therefore protected by covering the slopes with large blocks of stone, of sufficient size and weight to resist displace- ment by the descending waves, and in very exposed situations the talus of blocks thus formed is raised above the surface to afford protection also to the wall. The difficulties and expense of obtaining blocks of stone sufficient in size and abundan(;e for this purpose have led to the use of artificial blocks of concrete. These blocks are also extensively used to form the inte- rior of walls and piers, the facings being of stone. In solidity and strength they are equal to the purpose, but they suffer more from the action of sea- water than the best kinds of stone, which is attributable to the ingredients in the cementing substance. Hydraulic limes. — Hydraulic limes are exceedingly variable in their elements, but may be divided into three general classes — silicious, alumi- nous, and cements. Silicious limes. — Limestone composed of carbonate of lime intimately mixed with fine silicious sand, after burning leaves 70 to 80 per cent, of quicklime, and 30 to 20 i^er cent, of silicate of lime, forming a hydraulic lime usually called "• silicious," and expressed by the fornmla : CaO. + SiO^ 3 CaO. BETON-COIGNET. 17 Slaking of tliis produces hydrate of lime and hydrous-silicate of lime; formula : n. CaO. HO. + SiOl 3 CaO. 6 HO. Aluminous limestone. — Limestone containing- 8 to IS per cent, of clay, the principal elements of which are hydi'ous-silicates of alumina, after burning leaves 70 to 80 per cent, of quicklime, and 30 to 20 per cent, of mixed silicates and alumina, forming an hydraulic lime called "alumin- ous," which, after slaking, is expressed by the formula: n. CaO. HO + SiO^. 3 CaO. 6 HO + AP O^*. 3 CaO. 6 HO. Cement. — Limestone containing from 18 to 3(3 per cent, of clay, which leaves after biu-ning quicklime, silicate of lime, alumina, silicate of alumina, produces "hydraulic cement," which, after slaking, contains hydrates of the preceding elements. Hydraulic limes and cements usually contain, in addition to the sub- stances above enumerated, small quantities of oxides of iron, silicates alumina and magnesia, sulphate of lime, «&c. Mortar jiroperly made of either of these limes crystallizes simulta- neously, and sets quickly and strongly, though the presence of magnesia and sulphate of lime is detrimental to good setting, as these bodies crystallize slower; oxide of iron does not impede the setting. ACTION OF THE SEA. The action of sea- water on hydraulic mortars is excessively comxilicated. The elements of lime, as above shown, are variable, and the salts of mag- nesia, carbonic acid, and sulphureted hydrogen in sea- water are variable, and differ in localities but little removed from each other. I do not propose to follow in detail the results of the observations and experiments which have been made of various sea- waters on different sorts of hydraulic mortar. The mortars are all exj)osed to the mechanical action of the sea, and to the chemical action of the salts and gases which it holds in solution; they are sharx)ly attacked, and the effect is considerable before the hydrate of lime on the outer surface is converted into carbonate of lime by the absorj)tion of carbonic acid from the water and air. The crust of carbonate of lime thus formed resists the chemical action of the sea, and the protection thus given to the interior is increased in some cases by the growth of sea-shells and of marine plants. The waste is thus dimin- ished, but it is never extinguished ; the destruction goes on, and the best hycb'aulic mortars are gTaduaUy eaten away. Blocks of concrete contain more mortar than masonry of dressed stone; they are consequently more exposed to waste from the causes in question, and are sooner destroyed. Many remedies have been proposed, and numerous trials of them made, but hitherto without important and }3ermanent success. The method proposed by Mr. Coignet is to get rid of the hydraulic limes and their perishable ingredients by the substitution of common lime as the cement- ing substance. 2bc 18 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. EXPERIMENTS OF MR. COIGNET. Time is evidently required to test experiments of tliis kind, and those of Mr. CJoignet are too recent to prove conclusively success or failure. His method of experimenting is by continually diminishing the quantity of hydraulic lime and cement, and continually increasing the proportion of common lime in the composition of his blocks. The blocks are placed in exposed positions in different localities to the action of the sea- water, and followed by periodical examinations and records of the progressive results of the experiments. His first experiments were begun, by order of the government, in November and December, 1858, and January, 1859, on the Socoa break- water at St. Jean de Luz, in a very exposed situation. The blocks were of several kinds, as follows: First series of blocks. — Blocks made several months before being placed in the sea : 1st. Blocks composed of seven parts of sand and one part of common or fat lime. 2d. Blocks composed of seven parts of sand and one part of lime, vslightly hydraulic. 3d. Blocks composed of seven parts of sand and one part of fat lime, and one-fourth to one-half part of cement. 4th. Blocks composed of seven parts of sand, one part of lime, slightly hydraulic, and one-fourth to one-half part of cement. These blocks are all alike in good condition at this date, (1867,) and have resisted the action of sea -water with satisfactory results. They are compact and hard, and the only effect noticed has been the wearing of the edges of the blocks and the rounding off' of the angles, produced by the friction of pebbles and the general mechanical action of the sea. No difference has yet appeared in the durability of blocks made of com- mon lime and those containing hydraulic cement. Second series of blocks. — This series is composed of 12 small blocks, made on land, and allowed to harden for eight days before being placed in the sea. Six blocks were composed as foUows : 1st. Seven parts of sand, one part of fat lime. 2d. Seven i^arts of sand, one part of fat lime. 3d. Seven parts of sand, one part of artificial hydraulic lime, made of fat lime and clay. 4th. Seven parts of sand, one part of lime, slightly hydi'aulic. 5th. Seven parts of sand, one part of hydraulic lime. 6th. Seven i)arts of sand, one part of very hydraulic and siliceous lime. The remaining six blocks were composed as follows : Each of seven parts of sand, one part of the same varieties of lime as the above blocks, with the addition to each of one-foiu-th to one-half part of cement. This series of blocks has completely resisted until now (1867) the BETON-COIGNET. 19 action of tlie sea, aud show no trace of decomposition. The blocks of fat lime and hydraulic lime are in equally good condition. Some blocks are slightly worn by the mechanical action of the sea. Third series of hlochs. — Large blocks made on land at the same time as the blocks of the second series and allowed to dry for nine months before being placed in the sea. These blocks were composed in a similar manner and of similar ingre- dients to those of the second series. Under the influence of this long exiiosui'e to the air, these blocks at the end of nine months had attained great hardness and solidity. Their structure was compact, and chips could be struck off with a hammer, as if the blocks had been made of stone. Some of them showed small cracks on the uj)per surface, owing, it is supposed, to the unequal quality of the fat lime used in their fabrication. \Vheu exposed to the sea they have all proved good, and are alike in good condition at this date, (1867,) the fat and hydraulic limes and cements giving a similar result. Fourth series of hloclcs. — Blocks made in i)lace at low tide, and imme- diately covered by the rising tide. These blocks, seven in number, were composed as follows : Blocks 1, 2, 3, of seven parts of sand, one part of a very hydraulic aud siliceous lime, and one-half part of cement. Block 4, of seven parts of sand, one part of artificial hydraulic lime, and one-half i^art of cement. Block 5, of seven parts of sand, one part of hydraulic lime, and one- half x^art of cement. Blocks 6 and 7, of seven parts of sand, one part of common lime and pozzuolana, and one-half part of cement. The rocks on which these blocks were constructed are situated at the extremity of the breakwater ; at low tide they are uncovered for an hour or two, and at high tide are covered with water several metres in depth. The moulds were made of thin pine boards and established on the rock as a bottom. Their form was a truncated cone of fom- feet diameter of base and three feet in height. At low tide the moulds were filled with beton and carefully iiacked. They were immediately covered by the rising tide and in less than 24 hoiu's the beton was sufficiently haj?d and firm to allow the moulds to be taken apart and the blocks entirely exposed to the sea. Examined at the end of nine months, the fom- blocks first mentioned were iu perfect condition and showed no sign of decomposition. They were very hard and sonorous when struck with a hammer. The 5th block was at first partially decomj^osed, but immediately hardened. The 6th and 7th blocks were respectively reduced to one-half and three-fourths of their original size by the destructive action of the sea. At this date (1867) the four first mentioned blocks are in perfect con- dition, having comx3letely resisted the action of the sea ; the fifth block 20 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. is now as bard and solid as the iDreceding ones and shows no signs of decay; the sixth and seventh blocks perished in two and a half years, which is attribnted to the presence of pozznolana, which had been added to (xuicken the taking of the fat lime by rendering it hydi-aiilic. EXPERIMENTS AT ^MARSEILLES AND AT CHERBOURG. Another series of exj)erinients was commenced at Marseilles at a later l)eriod. A large number of blocks of beton-coignet, made with numerous varieties of lime and cement, were exposed to the sea on the outer break- water of the Bassin Napoleon. When last examined in I^ovember, 1867, they were in good condition and had not suffered decaj' ; fat and hydraulic limes gi\ang equally good results. Lately a number of blocks have been ordered by the navj department for fiu-ther experiments at Cherbourg. E\"idently the experiments have not been continued long enough to test fully the relative resisting qualities against the chemical action of sea- water of blocks cemented with common fat lime and blocks cemented -with hydraulic lime, since both show thus far equal enduring qualities. But the results, on the whole, are interesting and suggest the following conclusions : 1. Common lime can be substituted for hydraidic lime in beton- coignet, with an equally durable result, provided the blocks are allowed to harden for a few days on land previous to immersion. 2. Blocks of beton-coignet (sand and hydraulic lime) can be made in direct contact with the sea, provided they be protected by a crib during the time nenecessary for the taking, say 24 hours. Blocks thus made have proved as diu-able as those made on shore, while under similar cir- ciunstances of immediate immersion in the sea, and 24 hours' protection by a crib, blocks of ordinary concrete (sand, hydraulic lime, and stones) made with the same hydraulic lime woidd disappear in a short time. 3. Blocks of beton-coignet made on land are quite ready for immersion after drying and hardening for three or four days, while blocks of hydi-au- lic concrete usually require from three to six months for drjdng and hardening. To supply the daily demand for these blocks of concrete in the con- struction of a breakwater large yards are necessary, which are usually at a distance from the breakwater. .They must have space for 1,000 to 2,000 blocks in various stages of fabrication and drying ; they requirb, also, a large establishment of machinery and railways ; a large capital is thus invested and the exi)ense is hea^^j". In making beton-coignet less machinery and plant, less gTOund for drying, less preparation in advance are required, the time and capital involved are less, and the whole cost is consequently diminished. Mr. Coignet noAv proposes the construction of piers and breakwaters in the following manner : 1. Blocks of beton to be made on land, in length equal to the breadth BETON-COIGNET. 21 of the pier and of corresponding size, weighing say 140 tons, to be lowered into the sea, and placed side by side, across the line of the pier, for fonndation. 2. The wall to be constructed likewise of beton, in place, forming thus a single mass, binding the blocks below by the weight and solidity of the wall. For this he would use from five to seven parts of sand, one of lime, fat or slightly hydraulic, and one-fourth to one-half part of cement. But it is not probable that the government engineers consider the experience already gained sufficient to warrant them in recommending so great an outlay at present as this experiment involves. CONCLUSION. The materials of beton-coignet exist in abundance in all countries and in most localities, seldom requiring long and exi^ensive transportation. Sand is easily excavated, lime is a simi^le preparation, and both are materials of low cost; most of the labor in making is j)erformed by machinery, and little of the manual labor required need be skilled labor. Sand, lime, water, machinery, motive force, few tools and common labor, are the elements of structures made of beton, and the beton itself is well adapted to numerous daily wants, in which solidity, durability, and cheapness are preferable to beauty of materials, the e\adeuce of which is shown in the ground and underground structures of the gTeat palace of the Exposition, and in its increasing application to sewers, tanks, foundations, floors, walls, «&c., enumerated in the preceding pages. The cost of beton varies with that of the lime and cement enii)loyed. In Paris, works in beton cost, including fabrication and construction, from $5 to $8 per cubic yard. Flagging, two inches thick, costs 56 cents per square yard. p/ PLATE I Leonax'dZ Beci^wit}!. A , y 1 I 1 I _ 1 tlL \A_ l-^RU; EXP( .qITIuN 18^/r-P?EP0RT..ON,„^^TH^ FABRICATION OF BETON COTGNET Mixing Cylinder. Elevation POBTAELE _-\PPAEATUS ELATE I Cross-Section AE of the mixing C^mder. ^^0^^^^. BecimtJi, PAF ^i :a:3':on .jf beton coignet. PLATE H. Beion Walls 'PLICATION OF B: T^TTTl T> jNE T TO Construction of a Sewer c| Beton. Ci srn^ . '^ \.^;y ^C : © '^' mJ^\Mi*^ 'j^x,yi'' S^VuvWlUM' jfi'^^ti&l 'iMdiUjM mft* |J Sis s*^?^ *'3. 'VW\^^W'W. 'S^J'hH. :*s^v^vv„ W^^VW^wV .:y^i^<^^. J.-VC-. uu-. li^Ufe " y ■ ■■ ■ .^ 'M^'^Hy^^m^l'^Siji^^ tow^^ui^^^U^^^k "-vv^.i^v^-W^jy.