The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-04-22 00:00:00

STRETCHING CLOTH

"The cloths, if intended to be stretched in width, say from
11-16ths to or 15.16ths to one yard wide, are tentered out
on a frame of the required width, and then driven between
two grooved rollers or cylinders, the convexities of the one
fitting closely into the concavities of the other, thus effecting
a series of minute tearings, so as scarcely to be seen ; for the
sly rogues know well that the widening could not be accom-
plished by one pull without destroying the cloth. On wit-
nessing this operation I observed, that it must surely weaken
the fabric. Oh, certainly,' was the answer, ' but this we
make good by the bleachers' worf ;' then showing me a large
long trough, filled with wheat paste, the machinery was then
set going, and the cloth passing between the two grooved or
knuckled rollers, by them singularly and appropriately enough
called the Devil,' it became saturated with the paste, and
then passing on through a series of rollers, came out fine
glazed calico or muslin."

The same correspondent affords a little insight into the
practice of attaching

FALSE LABELS, LENGTHS, &C

" I was next shown the machinery for folding and packing
up the cloths, which was exceedingly curious, particularly an
assemblage of wooden beaters, about two inches square, and
about three feet long, working vertically or endwise in a very
rapid manner ; such of the goods as were intended for our
own colonies, or home consumption, were packed with the
utmost neatness, and need no description : but, besides
these, I observed a number of pieces packed up in a com-
paratively slovenly manner; on inquiry as to them, I was
told that they were for the Spanish market in South America
(in imitation of some which were shown to me, and really of
Spanish manufacture), as on account of the inferiority of our
goods and other fiscal regulations they were scarcely saleable
or almost prohibited, and, therefore, these imitations became
necessary ; but, in order to obtain their introduction among
the Spaniards, an additional and crowning piece of villainy
was required, namely, the stamping them. I was then shown
a stamp in exact imitation of those on the genuine Spanish
pieces; as, for instance, though 1 have forgotten the real
names, say ./oze Pintado, a Sevilla;' Bartomeo Spznona,
a Malaga,' &c. I then naturally remarked that such a prac-
tice differed in no degree from forgery with intent to defraud,
and expressed myself with much surprise at such a procedure.
Oh ! we all do it,' was the reply."
The following is an extract from awork entitled " Francia's
Reign of Terror, being the continuation of Letters in Para-
guay ;" and affords an example of the OPINION FORMED BY
THE DICTATOR OF PARAGUAY, OF THE CHARACTER OF
BRITISH MERCHANTS AND MANUFACTURERS :

" This is the way," said he, on one occasion, to an English
merchant, " that you hucksters of rags vend your unsound
and deceitful manufactures over the world. The Jews are
cheats, but the English are downright swindlers. With your
labels, and your tickets, and your gilt finery upon your goods,
your colours that are. ' warranted fast,' and yet fade upon a
first washing, you are the veriest mountebanks and pedlars
that traverse the earth. There is nothing noble in your
souls ; for filthy lucre, filthily gotten, is the rotting disease of
your heart's core. Look ye, Mr. Merchant, for these ten
boxes of cotton platillas (they were spread out in the Dicta-
tor's audience chamber,) for which you asked me ls. a yard,
you shall have 6d. ; and think yourself well off that I do not
send you to some of the Paraguay looms (no doubt you un-
derstand how to manage a shuttle,) that you might there
learn how to make honest cloth. lam not, Mr. Pedlar, like
my countrymen, to be caught by fine outsides, quack com-
mendations, or the nick-nackery mode of packing up your
flash wares. Pan, pan, y vino, vino; [when they say to me
' there is bread,' let it be bread, and when wine,' let it be
wine.] If you think that, because Francia is a Dictator, he
cannot look after his own affairs, you are a little out of your
calculation. Go about your business ; and the next time you
come to Paraguay with linens, bring them from honest Ger-
many."

FRAUDS IN THE STOCKING TRADE

" It appeared in evidence," writes Mr. Babbage, in the
Economy of Manufactures,' "that stockings were made of
uniform width from the knee,down to the ankle, and being
wetted and stretched on frames at the calf, they retained
their shape when dry ; but that the purchaser could not dis-
cover the fraud until, after the first washing, the stockings
hung like bags about his ankles."
Have none of our readers bought such stockings ? We
should think they have.
The following is the concluding portion of a letter from
Wolverhampton, the writer of which authorises his name to
be given if required, illustrating the injurious operation of