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jTtjhe 16, 1855.] TlH/E flh E.A I) EjB. ...
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We ahould do our utmost to encourage the...
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GENERAL .CLASSIFICATION—: TEXTILE FABRIC...
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Jttjhe 16, 1855.] Tlh/E Flh E.A I) Ejb. ...
jTtjhe 16 , 1855 . ] TlH / E flh E . A I ) EjB . 6171
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We Ahould Do Our Utmost To Encourage The...
We ahould do our utmost to encourage the Beautiful , for . the Useful encourages itself . —G osthe .
General .Classification—: Textile Fabric...
GENERAL . CLASSIFICATION— : TEXTILE FABRICS COTTON . ' . The . scheme of classification adopted by .. the Imperial Commission is derived in ^ all its important features from . that propounded in 185 J . All the objects exhibited are divided into two great divisions ; one consisting of the Fine Arts , and the other subdivided into seven groups . I . Articles used for the extraction or production of raw materials . ill .. Articles used for the employment of mechanical forces . III . Articles founded upon the employment of physical and chemical agencies , or connected . with the sciences and the art of instruction . TV . Articles specially connected with the learned professions . V . Manufactures of mineral products . VI . Textile'fabrics . Vfl . Furniture and decoration , fashions , designs , printing , 'music .
These seven groups are again subdivided into twenty-seven classes , and these again into an immense number of sections . 'It ? will be at once perceived that this scheme is very artificial , and perhaps it-wouldnot be possible to devise any mode of classifying objects of such infinite variety according to natural law . Take , for example , the very obvious mode of divisions suggested by the animal , vegetable , and mineral kingdoms , and such a simple article as one of Erard ' s harps baffles you at once by distributing its component parts among all the three . But any system of classification is after all only useful in the arrangement of the catalogue ; national divisions and the necessity for picturesque effect , absolutely forbid its adoption in the actual distribution of the objects , and it is only when we come to compare results and balance the relative strength and merits of competing countries in particular divisions of industry , that the
• value . of classification becomes apparent . How far the system here adopted isopen to criticism , or whether it be the best possible plan , are questions which it ° would he useless to discuss here ; it may , however , be fairly observed-that the division into such a small number of groups , ' by attempting to be comprehensive , has in some cases produced a very confusing incon-• grtaty . The third group , for example , is divided into four classes ,, and these again into thirty-one sections , and among these we find : — Weights and measures , instruments of admeasurement and calculation . Economical Combustibles ( Combustibles spe ' cialement destines au chauffage e * conomique . ) Lighthouses . Caoutchouc .
Wines and Tobacco . Of the sections composing this third group it has been curiously remarked that stoves may be classed under any one of three sections . Class VII . is likewise a singular olla jwdrida-ofihe most dissimular _ objects . In the official Catalogue now circulated , the Imperial Commission offer some explanation of the extremely imperfect form in which it comes before the public . They urge that , whereas all the bulletins for the Catalogue ought to have been sent in before the . 30 th of November last , on the 1 st of January , 1855 , they had only received 350 French , and on the 1 st of March they had not one-third of the matter necessary for the construction of the Catalogue . Sweden and Norway did not send in before the 10 th of May , whilst Turkey , Egypt , Tunis , Portugal , the duchy of Nassau , the Argentine Confederacy , Peru , Guatemala , N " ew Grenada , Hayti , Costa-Rica , and the English Colonies , kept their lists back until two days before the opening of the Exhibition . It appears , therefore , that a portion of the blame so unsparingly awarded to the . Imperial Commission is justly due to the exhibitors themsfilves .
This edition of the Catalqgue contains the names of 10 , 944 exhibitors , of whom 8 , 968 are French , and 7 , 976 of other nations . Next in numerical strength to the French comes the Austrian list , and Great Britain and Ireland is third : Austria exceeds the United Kingdom by 281 exhibitors : Prussia stands ifourth on the list . Group VI . ( Textile Fabrics ) is perhaps the only one of the great divisions which is composed of elements strictly homogeneous . It contains five classes : — 1 . Cottons . ( Class 19 . ) 2 . Wools . ( Class 20 . ) 3 . Silks . ( Class 21 . ) 4 . Linens . ( Class 22 . ) 5 . Laces . ( Class 23 . )
The last class is perhaps rather mixed in its character , and is certainly made still more so b y the absurd introduction of Bonnets into its sub-classification . Laces are , strictly speaking , either silk or cotton , and there is no apparent reason why they should not have been so classed . Class 19 ( Cottons ) is subdivided into eleven sections : — 1 . Materials uacd in Cotton , manufuaturca . 2 . Raw Cotton and yarn . 3 . Plain Cotton fabrics . 4 . Figured Cotton fabrics . 5 . Cotton fabrics for Hpcciul purposes , napped , & c . ( i . Light Cotton fabrics . 7 . Cotton fabrics woven with dyed yarn . 8 . Printed Cottons . 0 . Cotton velvets . 10 . Mixed fabrics . 11 . Cotton ribbons .
In the present edition of the Catalogue the cotton manufactures arc illustrated by about 700 exhibitors ; of whom JtYnnco supplies 410 , Grout Britain and Ireland 87 , Austria Gfl , Switzerland 39 , Belgium 35 , Prussia 20 , Spain 24 , and Baden , Denmark , Greece , Mexico , the
JNcthorland £ , . Sardinia , Saxony , Tuscany , and Wurtemberg the remainder . The United States of America do not seem to have sent a single exhibitor & o illustrate the branch of industry upon which their national wealth is 'mainly built . Is it indifference , or . what , -that has kept the Lowell manufacturers 1-aok ? V The division of Great Britain . and Ireland is credited in the above summary with eighty-seven exhibitors , but this requires some little ^ . explanation . The exhibitors represented by the Manchester Committee ( comprising nearly the whole contribution of manufacturing Lancashire ) mass themselves into one body , and their several names do not appear in the Catalogue . The
Catalogue says that this committee represents " about sixty exhibitors . " The only Lancashire manufacturers who take an independent position in . the Exhibition are Messrs . Slater and Smith , of Preston , and Mr . Edward Hollins , of the same town . It is not easy to understand the spirit which animates the Manchester gentlemen in adopting this course , but it certainly looks very like that false pride aud fondness for combination which never appears to desert them . Why should they pretend to despise the advantages of publicity afforded by the plan upon which the JExposition is conducted , ¦ when the most respectable Glasgow firms and the best Yorkshire houses have not disdained to give their names at full length , and even to put prices upon their goods , to guide the juries in their verdicts ?*
The . most important part of the French cotton series is decidedly the contribution of larare , in the Department of the Rhone . The muslins sent from hence are celebrated all over the world , and though they may not have attained the extraordinary fineness of the Dacca fabrics , the manufacturers of Tarare have continued to take the lead in muslin manufacture by a combination of fineness of texture , elegance of design , and moderation of price . No less than -seventy-four exhibitors come from Tarare , and almost without exception , . muslins form the staple of their collection . In the north-west portion of the gallery . these beautiful fabrics may be found grouped together , objects of . admiration both to the lovers of the beautiful ,, and those skilled-in the lighter branches of the cotton manufacture . The yarn used at Tarare is mostly spun at other places on the Hhone , as GJeize , Thizy , & c . The weaving is , of course , by hand-looms .
If Tarare be celebrated for its muslins , the Pas-de-Calais is not less so for its cotton tulles and bobbin-nets . Forty exhibitors from that district sustain the ionour of its speciality . This fabric is more consumed by : the common people of France than of England , and enters largely into the composition of those wonderful caps for which the peasant women of Normandy and Brittany are so celebrated . Conde , in Calvados , sends twenty-seven exhibitors , iwho give an excellent display of fancy cotton goods—cotton satins , ducks , towellings , and-stuong yarns . The department of the Upper Rhine , of which the manufacturing capitals are Mulhouse and Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines , but which contains about twenty manufacturing localities of various importance , sends fifty-two exhibitors as its important contribution . Common yarns , dyed yarn , calicoes , jaconets , cotton prints , and coloured cottons , mixed fabrics , inadapolams , percales , and a variety of those fabrics known ; as domestics , form the staple of this excellent collection ; and some of those articles are of such excellence that they may possibly be found to shake . the
boasted superiority of the Manchester manufacturers in this branch of goods . The Department of Lower Seine , where Rouen is the seat of the cotton manufacturers , sends . ¦ forty-five exhibitors , with a large and creditable collection of fancy and mixed goods , coarse and fine yarn , and calicoes , for exportation . Chollet , in the Maine-and-Loire , has some extremely good prints ! and fancy-goods . The Department of the North , which . includes Lille , RoubaLx , and Tourcoing exhibits those fine threads and yarns dor which it is so justly celebrated . Edward Cox and Co . ( an English immigration ) , of Lalouviere , show fine yarn , ranging up to 600 . ' . The fine yarns sent by Mallet , of Lille , range up to 720 , and some of the other spinners from . the same town send yarn spun of Algenne cotton , 'numbering 300 ' s . These fine counts are , of course , used in the manufacture of those muslins and laces for . which the district is famous . Paris titaelf sends <& varied collection , consisting principally of lighter fabrics , and the light rpercales and nainsooks of St . jQuentin ( Aisne ) are very well worth
examination . It is obvious that even since 1851 the French manufacturers have made very rapid strides , and that in those light and fancy iiibrics which depend for a sale more . upon fashion than cheapness , they are ( fast bouting the English manufacturer . When cheapness , however , has to be considered , the Lancashire manufacturers seem far beyond all competition . In domestics , calicoes , longcloths , and jaconets , the difference in price is * most remarkable . The causes of this are obvious . Human labour is much cheaper in France than in Lancashire ; but then the possession of the great
cotton port , vast appliances for internal transit , cheap coal , and home-made ( machinery , arc tulvantages which the French manufacturer can never hope , to enjoy to the same extent as his Lancashire rival . The manufacturer . of the Rhino is perhaps in the best condition for currying on a successful rivalry ; but it must be jooany years ( even if Mr . Aupinull Turner carries out his threat of emigration ) before the banks of that glorious river can equal those of the muddy Irwell as a land of promise to tho cotton-spinner . The Austrian display of cotton is creditable but not remarkable . Some capital yarn is spun m Lower Austria and in Bohemia . Fustians from . Moravia , and light fabrics from Ruinbourg in Holienmi , arc noticeable ; also mixed fabrics of cotton and wool from the same plaoo , and some excellent
duck from Warnsdorfm Bohemia . In the Beluiuu collection tho Ghent manufacturers take the lead , supplying nearly a quarter of the whole display : BrusHullfl , Antwerp , lournai , * It muat ~ b 7 ' ouufoflacd that in this somo of the LuncH « hir « maiiufiuiLurora arc not very couHiatout . Although tho reflation * of tho Mnncluwtor Combined CoinniiUeo do not permit Mr . Millori the manufacturer of IIorrookww loincloth , to advertise 1 ms goods to tho French public , thoro may be found m a case exlubiLcd by John WiIhoii and Sons , of New Hond-stroot , profiling to contain u dwpluy o Jmh table-linen aud Bhcoting , about n < lo / . on pattern-book ,, niHcnbod with tho well-known words , " Hobkooksks , MM . I . KH , and Co ., Manukaotuhkiih . " What buHuiowi have the M . M . M . or 11 H . olotlm of u Proaton manufacturer among the fubnoa lrom iioltaot t
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), June 16, 1855, page 19, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_16061855/page/19/
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