The New Bloomfield, Pa. times. (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1877-188?, 1877-08-28
AMERICAN AND EUROPEAN wORKMEN.

AMERICAN AND EUROPEAN WORKMEN.
TT WAS a matter to stir ones patriotic
i pride, but not less to move ones
pity, to observe the commotion in bust
ness circles in Switzerland, Jas the reports
of the Swiss Commissioners to the Phil
adelphia Exhibition were made public.
Affairs were not in cheerful state at
the time. The hard times" that had
begun in America were already sorely
felt in the centre of Europe. Produc-
ton was slackened in all the factories,
and the values of many favorite invest
ments had shrunk to one-half. When
the report of M. Favre-Perret on Amer
lean matchmaking was read to crowded
meetings of watch-makers at Neuchatel
and Geneva, the general expression was
that of abject despair. Work was sus-
pended for months on the costly build
ing of the school of Watch making
founded by the Geneva government A
commission was appointed by the can
tonal legislature to inquire what new
industry could be introduced in place of
that which must now be abandoned to
American competitors.
Among those interested in the other
leading manufacture of Switzerland =
the silk factories of Basle and Zurich -
there was like searchings of heart. This
same report of M. Favre-Perret warned
his fellow citizens that the silk business
was as sure to be run away with by the
Yankees as the watch business. The
wonder in both cases is that facts which
had long been accumulating, and which
! had never been hid in corner, should
have taken any body by surprise. The
| expectation of ribbons from Basle to the
United States has been dwindling regu-
| larly, and is now reduced to one-sixth of
what it was only four years ago. 1t is
obvious that the next step for the
Americans, after supplying their own
market, is to compete in other mar
| kets.
The productions of the Swiss diaries
are priced in all the markets of Europe.
Last January, M. Grenier, at the meet
ing of the Agricultural Society of the
Canton de Vaud, informed his associates
to what extent the dairy productions of
the great establishments of the Northern
States and Canada were overfowing the
home market. "There are thousands
of these establishments" he said, I" with
capital amounting to $25 200, 900 already
producing to the amount of $31 10000
annually. The export of cheese was
39,0O0,00O pounds iu 1868, and 10000 900
pounds in 1874, The export Of butter
has grown to 52,000,0OO pounds year.
The competition Is getting formidable,
for the manufacture of cheese has been
80 perfected in America that, unless we
look out, it will be utterly impossible for
us to compete with it,"
A very large dealer in leather, NJ.
Bally, declares that the same is true of
this article. " Europeans no longer con-
troll the leather market. Prices are now
set by America. Every little tannery
feels the influence of the importations
from America our own expectation to
the New Country has dwindled almost
| TO nothing.
At first thought it was supposed that
the superior advantages of the Ameri-
can manufacturer arose from his use of
machinery for operations that continue
in the Old World to be wrought out by
hand-work. If this were all, or nearly
all, it would be an easy matter to inn
port or to initiate the machinery and,
by combining capital in great establish
ments, to go on with their business with
the double advantage of the low wages
and abundant skilled labor of the Old
World and the organization and appli-
ances of the New.
One eminent American house, how
ever, with ample capital, had made this
hopeful but expensive experiment. The
finest business edifice in Gepva was
built, three or four years ago, by Ameri-
cans, and stocked with the best Ameri-
can matchmaking machinery. The