Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1877-01-29
A MODEL MANUFACTURER.

Ths Romance Of COmmerce ns
shown In Ine Career Of Fir Titus
hnlI.
London Telegraph, December 3d.
With the death of Sir Titus Salt.
baronet, ends a career which may
not inaptly he said to belong to the
romance of commerce, for the story
of how the owner of Saltaire made
his fortune is indeed singular.
Many years ago there were con-
signed to a firm of merchants in
Liverpool several bales of some
strange hairy wool from Australia.
Nobody had ever seen the like of it
before nobody thought much of
it; and thus it lay slowed away in
a shed at the docks as though it
were so much lumber. 1t happened
one day that Mr.. Titus Salt, small
manufacturer of Yorkshire, was in
Liverpool, and, wandering about
the docks, he chanced to come
across this neglected consignment
Of seeming rubbish. lie 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 be did with the
sample he thus procured need not
be told. Suffice it to say that he
came back again, offered to pur-
chase the whole of the rubbish, :"
and became its possessor for a
merely nominal sum. This hairy
wool, this trash which no one
would even look at as a marketable
commodity, aud of which Mr..
Titus Salt secured the monopoly,
was alpaca. Such was the way in
which the fortunes of the great
manufacturer and millionaire, who
died at his seat, Crowsnest, near
Halifax, yesterday, were founded.
For years Mr.. Salt and his family
were the sole makers of that useful
material which has grown to be
something like a rival for cotton;
and on the strength of the valuable
patent they thus acquired they
built q factory which, with exten-
sions, has become one of the largest
in England,
This huge hive of industry, con-
spicuous as it is to the eye of the
passing Traveller, is not, however,
the most remarkable feature of Sal
tarp. Surrounding the vast fac
tory is a large village or small town,
containing many thousand inhabi-
tants, every one of whom of work
ing age is somehow employed at the
big alpaca mill. Sir Titus Salt was
the cole landlord of this busy com
munity, and the manner in which
be discharged his responsibilities
as such is one of the most notable
facts of the times. At his own ex-
peuse and under his personal super
vision he provided eyeryehing that
seemed necessary for the moral and
material well-bcing of his little
kingdom. lie built for his people
baths and wash. houses, schools aud
places Of recreation; he erected a
mechanics institute, the appoint
melts Of which will compare with
those OF q fashioGSble club; and he
also caused to be constructed a
chapel attached to the Congrega-
tionalst body, Of which all Chat can
be said in the way of objection is
that it is only too splendid. Sal
'taire. in short, has been established
on what may be called q basis Of
practical philanthropy, while a
laudable attempt TO guard the NOR
ais OF lts lnDaOltalltS has Qeen MAGE
in the rigid exclusion from the
place Of all public traffic in intoxi-
eating liquors. In these tbings Sir
Titus Salt both meant we'll and did
well. Personally he was an intelli-
gent, kind hearted man, a progress
i've politician, a munifcent contrib
utor to public charities, and a zeal
Gus promoter Of popular education.
His life has been useful in many
gays. He made his fortune by the
iptFsdpction Of a useful and valu-
able commodity, and he spent a
large portion Of il in doing sub.
stantial good to those he at once
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