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TS ! SB "O ^^ Sfr ffi > ' 1 £ ' 3 S 2 S SP ^ 'S 22 ' ^ FSHSSffo GENERAL , CLASSIFICATION — TEXTILE FABKICS COTTON . The scheme of classification adopted by the Imperial Commission is derived in all its important features from that propounded in 1851 . All the objects exhibited are divided into two . great divisions ; one consisting of the Pine Arts , and the other subdivided into seven groups . I . Articles . U 9 ed for the extraction or production of raw . materials . , IL 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 . IV . Articles specially connected with the learned professions . V . Manufactures of mineral products . -VI . Textile fabrics . VII . ' Furniture and decoration , fashions , designs , printing , -music . These seven groups are again subdivided into twenty-seven classes , and tkeseagain into an immense number of sections .
'Ifrwill beat once perceived that this scheme is very artificial , and perhaps it would not 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 is open to criticism , or whether it be the best possible plan , are questions which it-Tvould he useless to discuss liere ; 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 incongruity . The third gronp , for example , is divided into four classes , and these again into thirty-one sections , and among these we find : — Weights and measures , instruments ofadmeasurement and calculation . Economical Combustibles ( Combustibles spfcialement 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 podrida of the 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 , Nftw 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 themselves .
This edition of the Catalogue contains the names of 16 , 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 fourth 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 . ( Cluss 21 . ) 4 . Linens . ( Class 22 . . ) 5 . Lacea . ( Class 23 . )
The last class is perhaps rather mixed in its character , and is certainly made still more so by the absurd introduction of Bonnets into its sub-classification . Lacos 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 used in Cotton . manufactures . 2 . Kaw Cotton and yarn . Q . Plain Cotton fabrics . 4 . Figured Cotton fubrics . 6 . Cotton fabrics for special purposes , wippcd , &c . 6 . Light Cotton fabrics . 7 . Cotton fabrics woven with dyed yarn . « . Printed Cottons . ¦ 8 . Cotton vclvots . 10 . Mixed fabrics . LI . Cotton ribbons . In the present edition of the Catalogue tho cotton , manufactures arc llustrated by about 700 oxhibitors ; of whom Franco supplies 410 , Great Britain and Ireland 87 , Austria C 3 , Switzerland J 39 , Belgium : ) 5 , Prussia 20 , Spain 24 , and Baden , Denmark , Greece , Mexico , tho .
Netherlands , Sandinia , . Saxony , Tuscany , and Wurtemberg the remainder . The United States of America do not seem to have sent a single exhibitor < to illustrate the branch , of industry upon which their national wealth is mainly built . Is it indifference , or 'what , that haskept the Lowell manufacturers back ? The division . of Great Britain . and Ireland iscreditedin 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 theirsev-eral names do not appear in the Catalogue . Tfae
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 and 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 lExposition 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 Tarare , 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-fouT 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 Rhone , as Gleize , 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 honour 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 , who give an excellent display of fancy cotton goods—cotton satins , ducks , towellings , and strong 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 , madapolarns , 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 Depai-tment 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 , Roubaix , and Tourcoing exhibits those fine threads and . yarns for which it is so justly celebrated . Edward Cox and Co . ( anEnglish 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 Algerine cotton , numbering 300 ' s . These tine counts are , of course , used in the manufacture of those muslins and laces for which the district is famous . Paris itself sends < . a
varied collection , consisting principally of lighter fabrics , and ( the light percales and nainsooks of St . Quentin ( Aisne ) are very well worth examination . It is obvious that even since 1851 the French jnairafacturers have made very rapid strides , and that in those light and fancy , fabrics which depend for a sale more : upon fashion than cheapness , tixoy are fast beating 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 bins are obvious . Human labour is much
cheaper in France than in Lancashire ; but then the possession of the great cotton port , vaet appliances for internal transit , cheap coal , and home-made machinery , are advantages-which the French manufacturer can never hope ^ to enjoy to the same extent as his Lancashire rival . Tho manufacturer <> f the Khino is perhaps in tho best condition for carrying on a successful rivalry ; but it must bo many years ( even if Mz \ Aspmall Turner carries out his threat of emigration ) before tho 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 Rumbourg in JJoliemm , are noticeable ; also mixod fabrics of cotton and wool from tho same place , and some excellent duck from Warnsdorf in Bohemia . In the Bclixiun collection tho Ghent manufacturers take tho load , supplyin ^ nearly n quarter of tho whole display : BrusaoUs , Antwerp , loumai ,
* It must bo confessed that hi this some of tho Lancashire manufacturers are not very consistent . Although tho resolutions of the Manchester Combined Committee do not permit Mr . Miller , the manufacturer of llorrookse * loincloth , to advertise lus goods to tho French public , there may be found in a case exhibited by John Wilson and Sons , of New liond-Htreot , professing to contain a display o Irjoh table-hncii and sheeting , about a dozen" pattern-books , innurihod with the well-known words , " Horrooksim , MH . I . KK , mid Co ., Waniji-actukkhh . " What business have the . M . M . M . or 11 II cloths of a l ' roston manufacturer among the fabrics from Belfast i
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We ahould'do our utmost to encourage tbe Beautiful , for . the Useful encourages itBeit . J-CtOETHE .
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^ une 16 , 1855 . ] TlBL'E AL 5 E . & DEB ,. # 70 .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), June 16, 1855, page 571, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2095/page/19/
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