New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-02-26

A. .ho onan;ng of the present century Halifax
had nearly ten thousand inhabitants more Vuan
Leeds now Leeds has over fouI-fold the popuA
ton of Halifax In 1901 Bradford contaiheu io's
than half the population OF HALIFAX; o-"n'
IT has nearly three times the number from inc es-
Establishment of the woollen and worsted mahulac'uo
in the West Riding of Yorkshire the population
,.drol,v went I'M from 563 953 in 1901 to 976,4OO
in 1891 and 175 1874 to-day. This shows an IN
crease in the first three decades of the nlneieehh
csnturv of 73 per cent and III the last hve deoaues
of over 100 per cent. The aggregate popuiaiioh y.
the four cities above given shows an increase u
over 90 per cent during the first period OF tnrty
year. but during the second period OF nfty year
of less than 100 per cent Still Dave sho"h NAV
tbe incubation of the cloth country. TAKEN do
bole has increased more rapidly during the latter
period which may be attributed TO the ouiio!ns "a
sueh places as Saltaire, Bailey asd other small Du'
.h,;v;,o towns which had no existence prior to the
yntroducrion of the factory system. those toVns
have already been mentioned and their location
piyen in my general description OF the WooIleh us
frict The drifting Of trade from one Town "
another is worth noting as we pass. because suSi
sttemnt in nv closing letters, history of the
migration of industrial centres in Great Britain
regret TO saw that in a volume of 400 pages put
i'm circulation by the State Department at a'ning
ron n few days before / left New-1ork, entitled
are only couple of pages of value to either the
statistician or the public, as giving fresh or care
fnv prepared information the great woollen dis-
triets of Yorkshire. The exception REFER W -
table of wages prepared by Consul Dockery which,
after he explained to me the methods he adop'eu III
nrsparing them believe may be taken as a 1ait
average of the wages here in the Leeds dlsrlct ou'
not for Yorkshire and certainly not for Bradlord'
Tn the Volume referred 10 no similar facts are given
of ~
made February 2, 1892 (see No. Is. Commercial ne
orn ;s renrinted Since nv stSy i'll this city have
carefnllv gone over every page of the twentythree
xoumes of the State Department Reports. contain
inc as they do, in the aggregate, ABOUT o'ooV
closely printed pages, and am unable TO ma any
article from any one OF the conSu"'
of a general character on the woollen manu-
facture of Great Britain, and yet one
volume is called THE Wooen Mills OF Europe
strange that the NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. OF the "orlu
"a left ont. And vet the annual report of Consul
General Merritt for 1882 shows that about 1884,
600 600 worth of goods have in ten years gone 10
IN. limited States from the Bradford district; over
10000 600 from the Leeds district; and nearly
$3.50 900 900 from the Glasgow district, Inc greater
norton of all Of which was wooen ana worsteo
goods The twenty three volumes and five thousand
printed pages aforesaid, however, contain yauable
information relating to the "sale OF cheap Amen
can trunks in South Africa of the disposal OF an
English railway in Tunis ," the arrival of $47O 900
worth of wooll.n goods at Tnpo il duly chronlcieu;
pares teen with glowing description of the Gus
toms and surroundings of Maracaibo; twenty
pages suffice to give a description Of the railway
system of Scotland which in its entirety equals. In
miles one-uuarter of last years increment IN the
United States; and there pages on the industries
of the Fiji Islands, the "COrset Trade OF Wurten-
berg" glowing account of 1.-THE stuttgart Conserv-
atory of Music" the "Ice Trade of Norway"
the "Trade of Morocco with TmbuctOo,"
"How to Make Prime Butter" and variety OF
sther information, useful in its way, no doubt but
mt calculated to elevate the tone of the documents
of n GREAT Department Of great country. Here IN
England these publications are very generally
laughed at, and not altogether without cause
They absolutely contain nothing OF value on the
one industry which perhaps more than any other
is sensitive to English competition and which, as
shall hereafter show is SO widely spread through
ont the several States of the Union.
To attempt an exact comparison of tho wOollen
and worsted industries of Great Britain with those
of the United States is very difficult task, because
no ADEQUATE statistics exist for such comparison.
In England Industrial statistics are not collected,
as in the United States, by the Census Bureau. and
the Board of Trade the statistical department OF
the GOVERNMENT makes no returns OF this charac-
ter as English manufacturers have decided dislike
TO disclosing anything about their busi-
ness. The official returns under the Factories
and Workshops act will assist IN the inquiry
40 far as the number of hands concerned, but il
would be folly to attempt guess, for 1t would be
nothing else, of the annual product, amount Of
oapital invested and the value of the material con-
sumed. Indeed, The TRIBUNE, in its issue OF De
Gambler - touched on this point and showed con-
clusiyely that both Professor Walker and his ex
pers have taken care to call public attention to the
fact that all reports of the value Of products are ap
TO include freight to market, commissions, insur
ance and many other charges and cannot, there
FORE be relied upon as representing the sum actual
ly realized by manufacturers for products solo, lie
rardless of this caution. however, the more fanah
cal Free Traders here have divided the tofa
amount of wages paid, as shown by the census, BY
the total number of hands returned as employed
and armed with the quotient Bradford gentleman
attempted to prove to me the other evening, in tn
Union Club, that the American artisans as who'll
were paid about the same as the English laborer
blad. or II cents, an hour. These figures have gon
the rounds of the English Press, and have no doub
will find their way into the speeches of Englis
statesmen and into the pages OF the English re
views No explanation is made Of the fact that tn
diylsor represents merely the greatest number EN-
Moved at some one time during the year; that
represents people of all ages, aud that the experts
who are compelled by law &c make up these state
tics frankly say they are worthless for such con
parlsons. For these reasons shall make no a
tempt to compare amounts paid IN wages, value
material consumed. OF of product produced.
The most recent official figures at my comman
show that in the United Kingdom there are aDot
1900 woolen factories, 125 shoddy mills ana ~
worsted manufactures, making q total of 2.62'
The classification of the United States Census
somewhat different, and no especial enumeration
made of the shoddy mills. Broadly speaking thei
are 1000 woollen mills in the United State
and Including felt goods, carpets, hosiery etc