may be specified the silk-mixed cloths, having threads of silk incorporated with both the warp and the filling; adding strength to the texture, and giving agreeable neutral shades to the surface. It is admitted that the American products of these goods, which are largely consumed, fall short in no respect of their German prototypes. 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 consumption of silk is by no means inconsiderable, that consumed by one manufacturer, for this class of goods, exceeding annually $80,000 in value. The silk and wool manufactures are united in another fabric of great beauty, largely made in Connecticut-the Irish poplins, 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 sufficient protection to take its place in this country with the manufactures of wool and cotton.

"The great perfection which we have attained within the last two years in the manufacture of the class of cloths styled Esquimaux beavers, for overcoatings, is worthy of especial commemoration. Five years ago all the goods of this class, consumed in this country, were imported. The cheapness and excellence of the goods of this class recently fabricated here have led to the exclusion of the foreign product. The goods of this class, manufactured 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 drawers, 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 women by 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 makers; 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, by the surprising variety of styles and effects obtained, and that they are capable of being produced by machinery. The models which gave the idea

of the fabrics produced here, originally conceived and executed in Austria, under a protective system of over seventy per centum, first appeared at the London Exposition in 1862, and were regarded as marked features of the Exposition. To the genius and enterprise of a young manufacturer of Rhode Island is due the conception of reproducing 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 by other manufacturers who have followed his example, although purely 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 American 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 manufactured by the Washington mills, 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 view the excellence and variety of these fabrics, their fitness for general consumption, 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 Webster 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 New 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 mills, of San Francisco, California, for card-wool fabrics. The blankets exhibited from California would have done credit to any of the older States.

It is greatly to be regretted that no samples were displayed of our

productions in other departments of the woollen industry in which we have made much advance, as in carpets, knit goods, and delaines.

The department of combed wool manufactures, which in England and France employs the larger part of the capital and labor engaged in the woollen industry, we may be said to have scarcely entered upon, so vast is the field still unoccupied. Our progress in the cotton manufacture has directed our efforts principally to one branch of the worsted industry, 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 character of our native wools. In consequence of the domestic manufacture of this fabric, the importation of printed delaines has almost wholly ceased, our 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 to the Exposition a most honorable illustration of the manner in which the interests of the manufacturing 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 prizes 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 in Lawrence, Massachusetts, presented 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 having been made to 13 persons, establishments and localities in other parts of the world. The following 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 fall of water of 1,500 horse-power. The average sale of manufactured 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 intellectual 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 cheerful, comfortable, and well-ventilated workrooms; also, in the construction of dwellings for families of work-people, which are furnished at a rent equal to one-eighth of the wages of the head of a family; and, secondly, by the

erection of large buildings, used as boarding-houses, for the use of single females, whose residences are at a distance. These houses are provided with rooms accommodating 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 for mutual relief, of which each person employed by the company 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 boardinghouses, 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 openly vile person to remain connected with the company. Men of intemperate or general bad habits are excluded, and it is an established 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, established 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-people who cannot make use of this library, from being unable to read, does not exceed 50 in 1,000, and these are universally of foreign birth.

The advantages resulting to the employers from this care for the elevation and welfare of their operatives, and to workmen themselves, are: There have been no strikes among the work-people; they have been encouraged 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 overseers, 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 exceeding $100,000 at the present time; many work-people own houses free from debt, more than $50,000 being thus invested; several workmen have become owners of the stock of the company-the stock so held has

a present market value exceeding $60,000; many of the workmen have become members of the city government in its board of aldermen and common council; finally, the pecuniary success of the company has warranted a liberal payment of wages.

The least sum now paid in weekly wages to the youngest employé is $1 82, gold, and the number belonging to this class is very small. Boys of 16 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 receive much more. Females receive from $2 48, gold, weekly, or about 123 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 Salisbury 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 Roubaix, to be hereafter described, where fabrics similar to those of the Pacific mills are produced. The woollen manufacturers cannot claim for their industry alone the credit of harmonizing the interests of employers and workmen. They must divide their honors with the Lowells, Appleton's, and Jackson's, of the past generation, the early promoters of the American cotton manufacture, of which the woollen manufacture 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 influence 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. Appleton had been associated since 1811, "the credit of having first introduced the new system in the cotton manufacture 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 effect on the character of our population was a matter of deep interest. The operatives in the manufacturing cities of Europe were notoriously of the lowest character for intelligence and morals. The question 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 description 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 fund of labor well educated and virtuous. It was