The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1877-02-15
MODEL MANUFACTURER.
The Romance ofCOmmerce as Shown in the
Career OF Sir Titus Salt.

The Romance OfCOmmerce as Shown in the
Career OF Sir Titus Salt.
From the London Telegraph, Dec. 3O.l
With the death of Sir Titus Salt, Bar
onet, ends career which may not inapt-
ly be said to belong to the romance of
commerce; for the story of how the
owner of Saltaire made his fortune is in
deed singular. Many years ago there
were consigned to firm of merchants
in Liverpool several bales of some
strange hairy wool from Australia. No
body had ever seen the like of it before
nobody thought much of it; and thus it
laid slowed away in shed on the docks
as though it were so much lumber. It
happened one day that Mr.. Titus Salt,
small manufacturer of Yorkshire, was in
Liverpool, and, wandering about the
docks, he CHANGED to come across this
neglected consignment of seeming rub
bish. He examined it, however, and
asked if he might be allowed to take
some of it away with him. Of course he
obtained permission to carry off as much
as he pleased. What he did with the
sample he thus procured need not be
told. Suffice it to say that he came back
again, offered to purchase the whole of
the rubbish, ;" and became it's possessor
for merely nominal sum. This hairy
wool, this trash which no one would
even look at as marketable commodity,
and of which Mr.. Titus Salt secured the
monopoly, was alapaca Such was the
way in which the fortunes of the great
manufacturer and millionaire, who died
at his seat, Crowsnest, near Halifax, yes
terday, were founded. For years Mr.
Salt and his family were the sole makers
of that useful material which has grown
to be something like rival to cotton
and on the strength of the valuable pat
ent they thus acquired they built fac
tory which, with extensions, has become
one of the largest in England
This huge hive OF industry, conspicu-
GUS as it is to the eye of the passing tray
eler, is not, however, the most remark
able feature of Saltaire. Surrounding
the vast factory is large village, or
small town, containing many thousand
inhabitants, every one of whom, of work
ing age, is somehow employed at the big
alpaca mill. Sir Titus Salt was the sole
landlord of this busy community, and the
manner in which he discharged his re-
sponsibilities as such is one of the most
notable facts of his times. At his own
expense, and under his personal super
vision he provided everything that
seemed necessary for the moral and ma
terial well-being of his little kingdom.
He built for his people baths and wash
houses, schools and places of recreation;
he erected mechanics institute, the ap-
pointments of which will compare with
those of a fashionable club, and he also
caused to be constructed a chapel at
tached to the Congregationalist body, of
which all that can be said in the way of
objection is that it is only too splendid.
Saltaire, in short, has been established
on what may be called basis of prac-
tical philanthropy, while a laudable at
tempt to guard the morals of it's inhabit-
ants has been made in the rigid exclusion
from the place of all public traffic in in
toxicating liquors. In these things Sir
Titus Salt both meant well and did we'll.
Personally he was an intelligent, kind
hearted man, progressive politician,
munificent contributor to public CHAIR
ties, and Jealous promoter of popular
education. His life has been useful in
many ways. He made his fortune by
the introduction of beautiful and valu-
able commodity, and he spent large
portion of it in doing substantial good to
those he at once employed and served.
In the history of the manufacturing in
dustry of England, few names will have
SO high place of honor as that of Titus
Salt.