Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1871-01-26
GLASGOW MANUFACTURES.

We referred in an article yesterday to
the building Of iron vessels at Glasgow in
Scotland. What that city has done and is
doing in the way of manufacturing and
building up its industries may be seen in
the following article. which appeared a
few weeks ago in the New York Tribune,
The article was written by Gilman c.
Fisher, a graduate of Colby University in
this State, and formerly Principal of the
High School at Castine. The date Of the
writing was Dec. 8. 1t is full of facts Of
the greatest interest to all who study the
growth of industry and would encourage
it in their own communities.
Tobacco, cotton, sugar, and iron are the
corner stones of Glasgow thrift. By the i'm
portatiOn and expectation Of these commodi-
ties, and manufactures connected Herewith,
the CITY, having now population of nearly
half million, has grown more than proper
tionately rich. The tourist pronounces Glas-
gov a place of no interest, and hurries from
its uninviting precincts; but the student of
national economy, who sees how this COM
mercial center of Scotland has grown great
and greedy upon the productions of foreign
soil, will feel sort of gratitude, in that he
has been taught also to see the necessity of
protecting home industries, encouraging
native talent, and aiding the development OF
struggling enterprise. Previously to l715,
the chief source of prosperity of Glasgow
lay in the tobacco trade with Virginia and
other American Colonies. While, in l772,
the total importation of the Empire was 90
600 hhds.. that of Glasgow alone was 49, 900.
D,,t a., 1an &C tt,a
profits accruing to the "tobacco lords" as
they were called, together with the means of
subsistence upon which numerous class of
employees depended, were, of course, sum-
marily cut off. After this collapse-at which
the tobacconists were so incensed that they
raised and equipped volunteer battalion of
900 men to fight those distant colonies-the
tobacco trade never regained that COM
parative Importance which had enabled it to
overlook other interests; yet its old energies
were not sapped-its life, though directed into
new channels, continued to be felt. Glasgow
now manufactures over 100000 tobacco
pipes week.
At the close of the war the knowledge, tact,
enterprise, and capacity acquired in the tobac-
co trade found new fields for exertion. The
importation of sugar and cotton began, and
manufactures were established. The cotton
lords, up to '6l, getting their raw products
almost exclusively from the United States,
soon eclipsed the tobacco lords" The be-
neficent results flowing from the introduction
and encouragement of new industry in a
country find no better illustration than the
marvellous expansion of the cotton manufac-
ture, and consequent impulse given to other
pursuits. The spindles Of Glasgow are esti-
mated to number about 100000, or four
times as many as the Lowell corporations ex-
WI he ha mi -lp
it is believed, to ca, 900 900 or "a, 600 900 per
annum. 1t is hard to conceive the scope and
bearings of such an immense industry. To
describe what will be its ultimate effects, or
even what it has already effected is simply
impossible. 1t gave origin to the greatest
SPOOL thread factories and the largest chemi-
cal works under the sun. incidentally it has
earned Glasgow the distinction of knowing
best how to dye turkey-red, and secured it al
most monopoly of the sewed muslin man
ufacture. Messrs. Tenant & Co.'S chemical
works, st. Rollox, cover % acres under roof
or within the boundaries of rooted walls (also
IL acres on the Tyne, and send forth their
obnoxious vapors by chimney-stack 435 l-2
feet, or one-twelfth of mile in height I'M
til near the close of last ycentury bleaching
was accomplished by simple exposure to the
sun. Seeing the need of new method, Mr.
Charles Tenant instituted experiments which
resulted in the discovery of the bleaching Ii.
quor, and soon after Mr.. Charles Macintosh
discovered the bleaching powder. These two
gentlemen then united in establishing their
great works, and their annual consumption of
the raw material, including fuel, is, in ap-
proximate figures, 100000 tpns.
A pound of the finest cotton yarn can be
worked into lace worth 81, 200; and probably,
the ratio here indicated cannot, if the increase