The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1864-12-03

HISTORY dr TIE INVENTION.
! From nc London TimsiI
| The history Of the Sewing Machine affords a
singular instance Of the manner in which a social
| problem, the ,ettlement Vi which has been tho
despair of pblauthropi 5ts, Sometimes settles itself
| by the most unCxpected means, and by the most
unlooked-for agents. While Hood was composing
/ the "song ofthe Shirt, and pniAting, with the
| tlnts Of despair, the poor seamstrNgs shaving in
| her garrCt, u mechanic, almost equally poverty
stricken, was working ont in an American garret
the means OF her emancipation. "In poverty,
hunger, and dirt" Elias Howe a native OF Mas
sachusctts surrounded by o young family for
whom he was obliged TO labor during the day,
devoted his aftcr.hour5 10 the construction Of
sewing machine. This was about the year 1884,
and his career since that period up to the present
time affords an episode in the annals Of inteli-
gent labor pregnant with incidents, and check
cred with lights and shades, which afford another
illustration of the old say Ing that fact is stranger
! than fiction" Judicial investigations have de-
! monstrated, in the clCarcst manner, that 20
Howe, and 10 him alone, belonged the credit OF
| inyGuiing the first sewing machine. Others, t is
true, had tried TO do what he had accomplished,
but faed and an Euglishman may fairly take
the credit ol going within an ace OF the invention
| without knowing how near he was to fame and
! fortune.
srArrsr1cs or MACHINE WORK.
Many tables have been published by the paten-
| tees OF different machines, showing the cOmplra-
| tive speed ofmachinc sewing and ordinary hand
| work. That some machines not using the shuttle
can be driven rs high rs 1000 stitches minute,
is doubtless true; but this rate Of speed implies
| She use OF steam instead of the foot as motive
power. The labor, however, is not so heavy in
cloth and linen work but that the human foot is
quite capable of performing it, and with adyan-
tage to the worker 40 far as health is concerned.
On on average, n ock-stitch machine makes be-
tween 800 and 900 stitches a minute against 2j TO
! 81 by hand.
THE MACHINE N ENGLAND.
AT the present moment, with the exception of
| one trade, the sewing machine may be said TO be
| wholly in the hands of the women, and that one
is the boot and shoe trade. The opposition of the
| Trade Union must be held responsible for this,
but to maintain it much longer is Impossible
outsiders or non Union men, are beating those
suffering under trade protection, both IN the
quality and quantity of the work they are turning
| out. The sOp. sellers and the great ready-made
houses almost exclusively sew by machinery,
| and the consequence is that the labOrlng classes
| get far better sewing than the gentlemen who
employ the crack tailors of the West-end. That
| the competition of these outsiders, or "baClS
sheep" a7 they are termed, will break down all
opposition we have no doubt. Meanwhile the
| machine will have TO 90 through the same ordeal
| as the threshing machine and other labor-slying
implements have already done in England.
HUMANIrAmAN VIEW.
The sewing machine has everywhere improved
instead of lowered the wages of needle women
il has practically rendered Hoods seamstress,
'with fingers weary and worm" thing OF the
past. No woman working at it earns SO little as
IS. u week, which with the common needle would
have been high wages, and they no longer labor
for such a pittanCe sixteen hours n day. In
the various factories where it is employed, ten
hours day is the average time OF labor. The
poor shirtmaker, who threw out such dsma
shadow on the wall in the poets picture, need dc
so no longer. We visited one of the largest shirt
II,. 10, I'm FIaV Iuw rtVa.
the young girls employed at wages ranging
between l2s and 20s a week-all healthy looking
merry, and bright. These wages we heard, were
fair sample of those now given in this partcu laI
trade, and that of shirt making throughout thu
metropolis and what is more, the cry on all hand.
is for labor. at is not machines we want bu
machine workers" is the constant complaint o
1 the manufacturers. "If had Thousand w0neI
who could work the sewing machine" said tn
Q agent Of one Of the largest sewing machine manu-
Q factories, 81 could find places at good wages TO
Q them ALL" In the United States, where the sewin
i. | machine has become domestic institution
/ | young girls when at schools are trained in il
| use. Possibly it may be so with us when tn
, machine becomes more widely known. What
4 wanted is IA training establishment, in which tn
machines of all the patentees in general use ma
be taught gratis.
: AN ERR\ND or MERCY.
} And the machine promises TO do moro for tn
seamstrcss than to shorten her daily toll, and :
improve its remuneration; 1t will enable her
i health Dressmakers, and indeed all person
/ working any length Of time with the needle, az
], sui iCct to special diseases. The needlewoman'
headache and the dyspepsia produced by Ion
# hours of naction in a STOPPING position, are a
a well known in our London dispensaries as th
"housemaid's knee" or the dropped hands" q
the plumber, or any other well-dehned trad
y disease. In working with the needle only one
e half of the body-mdeed, little more than th
l. ams--are employed while the chest is cor
II tracCd and the spine bent. On the other hant
10 working with the machine produces none {
a. these disorders; the necessity Of employln
G. the legs in working the treadlcs restores th
ID balance of exercise between the upper and lowe
r! eXtremi les and promotes the circulation. More
ID over, in machine work there is none Of the ete
= nal monOtony which the eternal stitch of Oh
needle makes so depressing to the mind Th,
the needle has destroyed more lives than th
sword there can be very little doubt, when we ca
le TO mind the very high rate of morIauiy-th
x highest among all Oc,upations-Of the taiors an
T., Eampstresses, which form large classes anon
10 the iluI 5tIiai p6pJ 'ssi0h. To this sad an
N altogether unnecessary mortality, the LOndo
s. drcSsmakers and milliners during the season col
10 tribute far more than their due proportion. L
: these poor girls the sewing machine will CON
y to the rescue 1t can work against time, au
m satisfy the reckless demands Of Mayfair far be
III tJr than any Act Of Parliament that has ever beG
u framed for their benefit.
90 rr GRAND TOTALS.
&c The Americans are fond of indulging in es
lt mates Ol the Yallc Oi tuelr sewing done IN tue
" country by thi, invention, and they placed Il
'tt high rs E5S,0OO,0O0 per aEuum in 1860. In Il
us four years that have eaped since that perio l,
e, employment has increased in an enormous Tati
er and we scarcely dare 10 mako a guess at what
amounts 10 ut the present time. England, althOul
late in the field, hi7 now fairly made sta
The machine is nov almost universally us
where female labor with the needle was former
employed, and in all trades where non-Unit
tic men work,
Honor aud thnuk>, hen, to the noble men wi
Na have bequeGthCd 20 Us and postcrity such I'm,
timoble blessings, and rendered labor pleasu
M rather than a dTudgery.
Let "Stephcnsou and his steam engine, "FI
,n- ton and his Wroat," "MOrse aud his te
no graph. "NlcCormirl aud his reaper" "GoodyC
les aud his rubber goods - "Iioe and his press" q
all the inventor, and inventions that have &C
ng trbuted so yasuy 70 the comfort and prOsper
st of the nations of tA earth, ever be held in gra
81 tul remembrance To them are due uuiyer
it1s, thanks And lct the "gentler seN"-the {
gat daughters Of America, especally-uuite in G
np- pressing their gratitude 70 one who, anxious
an emsucipae them from constant toll, aud ado
q" them opportunity for healthfu recreation and
arc te,leCtUBl Improvement, struggled with pOyel
ern through many weary months in the pursuit Of
w.. cherished ObiCCt-let them ever remember El
liss Howe, Jr, and his wonderful sewing machihe.
ali gr,rFs faH f,rstg