The Sun.
London, England, 1864-11-03 00:00:00

STATE OF TRADE.

CARDIFF, Nov. 1.--The steam coal proprietors, through
the timely arrival of vessels,
have been able to export largely
of late, and the complaints of the scarcity of supply are not
so general as was the case a fortnight ago. The Stafford.
shire demand still continues brisk, but as there is every pro-
bability that the men there will go in on their employer's
terms, the demand from that quarter cannot be expected to
lastte long.
maintained, especially for
am a
Quotationssuperior
quality.
more satisfactory state, and the shipments coastwise are in-
s
creasing. Freights have declined a little, and this circum-
stance has given a slight impetus to the trade, Coke is in
fair request. In the iron trade makers are noderately well
off for orders, and the works are in regular employ. The
are
well
The house coal trade is in a
American inquiry has not improved, and the export trade
generally has been checked through the high rate of dis-
count and the unfavourable exchanges,
DUNDEE, Nov. I.—There was a slightly improved feeling
in the market to-day, and some inquiry for goods, but the
business actually done was not of great extent. Flax, tow,
and codilla on the spot continue dull,but considerable trans-
actions are reported in fresh Riga flax, cost, freight, and in-
surance, at good prices. Some sales of jute have been
mule within the last few days at prices not previously at-
tainable—but there is yet no life in the trade, the business
done being confined to the supply of present wants. A fair
consumptive demand exists for yarns, and the downward
tendency in prices appears to be arrested. Linens continue
to go off in moderate quantities, the orders still being
placed, together with those previously on the books, being
sufficient to take off the greater part of the goods as fast as
made, and there are almost no stocks in the hands of menu
facturers. Prices are rather irregular, but on the whole
they are about the same as last week.
LEICESTER, Nov. 2.—There has been a fair amount of
business doing in the hosiery trade during the past few days,
considering the state of the money-market and the unsteadi-
ness of yarns. Manufacturers are making for present re-
quirements only. Business is quiet in the country districts.
Yarns are without important change, and spinners are fairly
employed. The wool-market is quiet.
NOTTINGHAM, 2d—The lace trade has not recovered
from the depression by which it has been characterised for
some weeks past. If possible, business has been even more
dull during the past few days, all branches being flat. Very
little is doing for the home market, and shipping orders are
exceedingly limited. A few small orders are being com-
pleted; but buyers only purchase for present requirements.
All kinds of silk goods continua in limited request. In
hosiery very little business has been done, but few buyers
having been in the market. A great many hands are out
of employ.

When the hawker working the suburban districts
comes by with his barrow blooming with flowers,
and petitioning for old clothes, old huts, an l old
boots, Szo., in exchange for them, Ihe bargain seems
so one.sided that most people are only too glad to
begin the barter. We all get so sick of frowsy old
clothes that it seems almost a mercy to get rid of
them at any price, but to be able to translate them
into geraniums and fuchsias, &c., to exchange
musty, fusty gabardines for fresh odours and rain.
bow hues, is more than anybody ever expected to
do. The coster who initiated this subtle method
of weeding our wardrobes must have had a special
insight into female character, ever ready to ex-
change the solid and useful for the brightly decora-
tive—at all events, this almost poetical method of
filling old clothes' bags dtserves to be mentioned as
one of the most abundant means of building up a
trade which has now assumed enormous proportions
The great dealers into whose hands our cast-off
skins ultimately fall have arrived at the dignified
position of merchants. The value of their exports
to foreign countries makes no inconsiderable item
in our annual trade returns. The streams of old
clothes that hour by hour are seductively drained,
either by floral exchange, attractive advertisement,
or by the downright pestering of " Old Ikeys,"
culminate in the great old clothes mart in Hounds-
ditch where Hebrews most do congregate. • This
inodorous spot has been so often described in poplin
lar works that people are now pretty familiar with
it, by name at least. But having described the
fierce contest which ensues over the mounds of old
clothes therein daily deposited, our social statis-
ticians seem to have had enough of them, and have
proceeded no farther. But the true interest in the
story of old clothes begins just at the point where
they leave off. To the question of what now be-
comes of' them, we might answer that the greater
part of them are now about to set out upon their
travels, to enter new circles of society, and to see
life both savage and civilized under a thousand new
phases. _ _

Those that are intended to remain in this country
have:to be tutored and transformed. The "clobberer,"
the " reviver," and the " translator" lay hands
upon them. The duty of the " clobberer" is to
patch, to sew up, and to restore as far as possible
the garments to their pristine appearance ; black
cloth garments pass into the hands of the " revie
vers," who rejuvenate seedy black coats, and, for
the moment, make them look as good as new. The
" translator's" duty is of a higher order ; his office
is to transform one garment into another—the
skirts of a cast-off coat being the least worn part
of the garment make capital waistcoats and tunics
for children, &c. Hats are revived in a still more
wonderful manner; they are cut down to take out
the grease marks, re-lined, and appear in the shops
like new ones. The streets surrounding the old
clothes market are full of shops where these c:ob-
bered and revived goods are exposed for sale, and
really a stranger to the trade would not know but
that they were new goods. There is a department
of the market also dedicated to old clothes, male and
female, clobbered and revived. It is a touching
sight to see the class of persons who frequent the
men's market and turn over the seedy black gar-
ments that are doing their best to put on a good
appearance—the toil-worn clerks, who for some
social reason are expected to apparel themselves in
black, and the equally careworn members of the
clerical profession, chiefly curates whose meagre
stipends do not permit of the extravagance of new
auits of clothes. The ladies' market is a vast ward
robe of silk dresses, but if we are to believe the sales-
woman the matrons of England are more thrifty
than we gave them credit for. " Servants come
here to purchase, Sir ! No, indeed, Sir, ladies worth
hundreds of pounds," was the reply wo got to our
inquiries as to the class of purchasers. Black cloth
clothes that are too far gone to be clobbered and
revived are always sent abroad to be cut up to make
caps. France takes the best of these old clothes for
this purpose. The linings are stripped out, and in
this condition they are admitted duty free as old
rags. Russia and Poland, where caps seem to be
universally worn by the working population, are
content with still more threadbare garments to be
cut up for this purpose. The great bulk of our caste
off clothes of rill kinds, however, find their way to
two markets—lreland and Holland. The old clothes'
bags of the collectors may, in fact, be said to be emp-
tied out in the land of Erin, as far as the ordinary
order of clothes go, while to Holland only special
articles of apparel are exported. Singularly enough,
the destination of the red tunics of the whole British
infantry is the chests of the sturdy Dutchman.
There seems to be some popular belief or supersti-
tion
affords the best protection against rheumatism, cons
sequently these jackets all find their way to the land
of dykes. The sleeves are cut off, and they are made
to button in a doubleebreasted fashion; thus remoe
delled they are worn next to the skin like a flannel
waistcoat by all careful Dutchmen among the labour.
ing classes. The Irish chiefly favour corduroys, and
we suspect the wornout-legs of British pantaloons
of this material are cut off and converted into
breeches for Pat. Where he gets those wonderful
swallow.tailed coats with brass buttons is a puzzle
to all the dealers—it is very certain they do not
come from this side of the Channel, and it is equally
clear they are remnants of costume two generations
back. Our readers will perhaps have noticed the
special avidity the dealers in old clothes evince for
all kinds of regimentals, full dress liveries, Volun-
teers' uniforms, beadle's coats, &c. Anything spe-
cially splendid in this line is marked by the col-
lectors as a sportsman marks any rare and brilliantly
plumaged bird, and ultimately is sure to be bagged
by them. One of the largest dealers ia London in
these showy dresses once said to us, seeing a Guards-
man going along the street, " A thousand to one that
coat comes into my hands." Really the inevitability
there appears to be about the destination of these
regimentals, if known to their wearers should make
them very uncomfortable. The dealers would if they
could strip them off their backs just as an eel-woman
skins an eel. The Lord Mayor's footman's full dress
livery is viewed by these gentry with wolfish eyes_
These are the great prizes of the profession—and
their barbaric splendours are destined for a special
market—the South Coast of Africa, where nature
puts on her most gorgeous apparel, and the great
ones of the land are determined to have something
to match. Travellers often tell us of the marvellous
appearance of the chiefs of these parts when in full
mufti, and we scarcely expected to find our old
clothes dealers the regular costumiers of these sable
dignitaries, transmitting regimentals, laced liveries,
and cocked hats, as regularly to them as the London
tailor sends his clothes to his country customers.
And Mumbo Jumbo will not be put off with inferior
articles—the slightest blemish in color or inferiority
in cloth is instantly detected and rejected by these
semi-savages, hence the greatest care is necessary in
catering for their wants. It is just possible that
the Lord Mayors for these last dozen years would
be able to recognise their own splendid liveries on
the backs of a Council of these potentates if they
could ever be got together for any purpose what-
ever. We ourselves saw an assortment of well.
preserved liveries of the heir to the proudest throne
in the world, just being packed for exportation to
the grand destination of all fine liveries we have
just mentioned. It should be some solace to the
parish beadle that his clothes, instead of descending
in the social scale like those of ordinary civilians,
is destined to flame upon the back of some autocrat
who holds the lives of thousands of men at his dis-
posal, instead of only being the emblems of terror
to poor parish boys. The vast majority of the
scarlet coats of our officers that are a little worn
find their way to the great annual fair at Leipsic.
There is a belief in the trade that the destination
of this bright scarlet cloth is the cuffs and facings
of the civil officials in the Russian Government.

Bat old clothes, after they have served the
purpose of two or three classes cf society, are
yet far from closing their career; when they have
seen their worst they take altogether a new lease
of existence. As old Jason was renewed, in ancient
story, by being ground in a mill, so are our gar-
ments in the present day. When old clothes are
too bad for anything else they are still good enough
for Shoddy and llungo. It is not many years since
Mr Ferrand denounced the " dust" of the
Yorkshire woollen manufacturers; this devil's (lest
arises from tho grand translastion- of th© old cloth
into new. Batley, Dewsbury, and Leeds have been
described as the grand centres of woollen rags—
the tatterdeciallion capitals into which are drawn
all the greasy, frowsy, cast off clothes of Europe,
and whence issue the pilot cloths, the Peter-
shams, the beavers, the Talmas, the Chesterfields,
and the Mohairs in which our modern dandies dis-
port themselves. The old rags, after being reduced
to the condition of wool by enormous toothed
wheels, are mixed up with a varying amount of
fresh wool, and the whole is then worked up into
the fabrics we have mentioned, which now have
the run of fashion. It is cst!mated that shoddy
and mungo supply the materiais for a third of the
woollen manufacturers of this country. Here is a
grand transformation. No man can say that the
materials of the coat he is wearing has not been
already on the back of some greasy beggar. In one
corner of the animal products department in the
South Kensington Museum the visitor can see
hundreds of specimens of this shoddy and mungo
—a perfect resurrection of the old clothes from
every country in Europe. The cast off wardrobes
of civilised man by a law of commerce aro sucked
into this country, and mainly into this metropolis,
and in return we distribute it in perfect fabrics,
destined to go once more the round of civilisa-
tion. Woollen fabrics are hard to die, and for all
we know, clothes are thus ground up over and
over again.

The final destination, however, of all old clothes
is the soil; when art can do no more for much-
vexed woollen fibre it becomes a land rag.
We have pursued old clothes through so many
shifting scenes that, having run them to earth at
last, here perhaps it would be as well to leave
them ; but no, they once more reappear in our
beer. Hops, we are told, of 0- certain quality
cannot be grown without the manure of land
rags. Thus, the final destination of old clothes
after all is the human frame, and we only finally
lose sight of them when, instead of clothing this
vile corpus, they are transmuted into the body
itself, as we quaff the foaming tankard, or the
more genteel bottled beer of Bass or Allsopp.—
Times.