The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1869-04-03
American and European Wooden Manu-.
featuring.
BY. L. r. NUDGE.

We cdHuol w Sdiu W occupy 1la-
tional position in the wooden manufac-
turc except in card or clothing wool
fabrics, our success in other depart
ments being exceptional Our work
has been in the direction demanded by
the prime necessities of our people and
the peculiar character induced by the
nature of our raw material Our pecu-
liarly national wool manufacture is
comprised in the production of all the
varieties of card-wool tissues from fam
ncls inclusive the fnest-faced broad
cloths, which arc only exceptionally in
Guided. Within this range, comprising
plain, fancy, domet, and opera fannels,
blankets, wooden shawls, satinets, the
infinite variety of fancy and silk-mi1ed
cassimeres, sackings, repellants, tricots,
beavers Esquimaux, escredons, cloak
ings, our success has been complete,
and our progress within the last five
years truly astonishing. In nearly all
these productions we can vie with any
nation in excellence, soundness, and
taste of manufacture, and in some of
them in cheapness. These goods, it
must he remembered, furnish all the
absolutely necessary card wool-clOthin,
for our population, and all that the
great majority of our people are III
clincd to wear at any time, very
small part of the population of the cities
wearing occasionally, only, the fine and
high-priced black cloths. 4 small part
Of our population, it is true, prefer to
purchase cloths of foreign make to dis
tinguish themselves from the masses,
but they are of the same class who in
France, under the empire, when cotton
stockings were prohibited, preferred
struggled cotton stockings to silk, be-
cause they could only be obtained at
double the cost of the latter. Fashion
all over the world demands the use for
common wear of the medium mixed and
fancy cloths in place of those of high
finish. These we can produce from the
admirable medium woods grown upon
our own soil, and thus the American
clothng-wool manufacturers and wool
growers are able to perform their part
in one of the first duties of nation,
that of clothing its own people In the
class of goods referred to there is no
need whatever of foreign supply, and
none would be sought abroad if there
were among us that national sentiment
in favor of home production which pre-
walls among the nations of Europe
Notwithstanding the freedom of ex-
change among European nations, the
national sentiment is found to be the
most efficient encouragement of domes-
tic production The lustrous German
cloths so freely sold here find no sale in
England. The London talors who
visited the Exposition reported that
there was nothing on exhibition which
could compare with the cloths of Eng
land. How different is the practice
with the tailors and retail dealers in
this country who persistentlv foster the
unpatriotic prejudice in favor of foreign
goods, because they obtain larger
profits on the foreign article than on
the domestic, as the cost and quality of
the former are less generally known
than Of the latter.
To specify more infinitely the COM
parative qualities of American goods /:
In the whole range of fancy cassimeres,
including the mixed goods of silks and
wool, in style, taste, perfection of man
ufacture, and strength of material, we
excel the English, and nearly approach
the manufactures of France. The same
may be said of the whole range of fan
nels, colored and plain, and of the
Esquimaux and Moscow beavers, which
we have initiated from the Germans
In the low cost pilots, used as substitu-
ties for the beavers, slightly to the buyer,
but trashy in wear, it must be admitted
that we can hold no comparison with
the English. In all the grades of wool
en- shawls which can be fabricated of
American wool we successfully vie in
fabric and cheapness of price with the
Scotch, who are confessedly at the
head of this branch of manufacture -
In the class of Atwood goods of light
weight, made in all varieties of colors,
denominated sackings and cloakings,
and largely sold for women's wear, the
fabrics are now sold in this country, at
prices reduced to a gold standard,
cheaper than any similar fabrics are
sold in Europe. Goods of this charac-
| ter, displayed in the American quarter
of the Exposition, and marked at their
net gold prices, attracted great atten-
| ton for their cheapness, and constant
applications were made for their pur-
chase.
In some other branches of the wooden
industry, beside that of card wool,
especially those where we have equal
facilities with the European manufac.
turer in obtaining raw material, our
productions bear q favorable COMPARE
son. American carpets are fully equal,
if not superior, to the English carpets
of similar grades. In the American
Brussels and tapestry carpets there is
no inferiority in designs, colors, or tex
ture. In fact they are woven here and
in England by the same machinery
The American retail purchaser is in
variably compelled to pay higher
price for foreign carpet of the same
grade; that is, he can purchase better
American carpet at the price of the
foreign article. The American ingram
carpet, which is much more largely con-
sumed, is unquestionably superior to
the English. This is evinced by the
fact that the yarns used in English car
pets are not sufficiently strong to ad-
NIT of their being woven in power
looms, as is done in this country
There is a prevailing prejudice against
American dyes in carpets as well as in
other fabrics. No prejudice could be
more unfounded. The same chemical
agents and the same processes are used
here as abroad. We have in our estab-
lishments the best dyers that the better
prices of labor paid here can seduce
from Europe. One manufacturer of
opera fannels exhibits patterns Of
eighty different hues on one card. In
the present state of the art of tincture
in Europe and this country bad dying
results not from want of skill, but the
intentional use of cheap materials, and