New-York tribune., 1885-01-11
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
o,n cNc,.yp on NEw-ENGLAND.

u. T..
Ths a,thor of that capital book of travels. " An
yponeers Holiday" has written another not less
;o,eresting though dealing with very different sub
;ects. He has been examining American industrial
life and manufacturing systems with the eye OF
trained observer and skilled mechanic, and the mind
OF a broad thinker The keynote OF his book Is
struck in the following passage:
The future of the American people Is the greatest
onestior of the modern world, aud 1t IS because
tbis vast trust is in the hands OF men OF tngllsn
blood that in eliigent Engishnen TAKE an itp ,s .h
which is quite unique in American .iave i ~ .to t
tonrist in the States at first, most strongly az
tracted toward the strange life pecuaI scenery OF
nav snort of the West he presently mas hiniseli
considering with at least e@9hi East nest or
canon of the Sierras indeed; no streteh OF su-llt
sea-like plain forest of giant pines no noun, IL
tain ,nlnng-camp offers to the rDgiis94niasm sd "a
America objects of such interest as may be fonnn
in -England's rocky valleys whose mar smmV
streams turn thousand mills rSt and reoSIe suggest
many q grave question 10 tue- le@S' 'no"e''"'
Briton. ~, ,oa.o,
To this inquest he has brought frank preposseS-
sion i'm behalf of Americans and an lntenigehV ap-
probation OF all the advances he encounters no
iourneyed much in New England. carefully study
ing the mills and factories. the condition OF the
operatives and the working of such political inst-
tutions as came under his eye. At the same time lie
noted every detail of the scenery, and his knowi-
edge of geology has helped him to many interesting
remarks and shrewd differences on the way. lie
visited Ansonia. the Connecticut "clockland'
Winsted, a temperance town, Great barrihgton
Pittsfield, Dalton. North Adams. Holyoke HART
ford Lowell. the Willimantic Thread Works, Boston,
and Lakes George and Champlain. He was greatly
impressed by the Connecticut man," as he calls
him. and of whom he SAYS: q" The thousand wants
of the world offer him boundless held 1or MS
creative powers and silently brooding. he brings
forth. now and again. new automaton as Poe'
produces a verse; or a musician melody"
His descriptions of the H-England factories ana
mills are very bright and graphic, and full OF
enthusiastic but rational appreciation, though
when he meets conditions which indicate stagnation
or retropression he does not hesitate to state MS
views cand,dly The account of the Wllllilantic
Thread Company's works is one OF the best III tne
book The following is a description OF the WORK
shops:
We spproaohed the newest and largest of these
fine workshops by a wide gravelled pain winding
thron0h a garden, whose beds were waiting for
their summer dress and entered the milI DIV d Danu @
some sazed porch one OF several slIhiiaT dhtel9olS
These m addition to being provided with numhered
closet spaces for wraps and hats. arc hung WIN PIC
tures and further decorated with suD'uOp'cai
plants growing in suitable beds SO to we
TO be on the threshold OF some great cons1IN
rather than approaching mill by the workpeoPies
entrance Nor can the visitor at hIst, thnh a
otherwise on passing from the poich lhlo uhe iac-
tory The floor OF its vast single ROOM nearly
thons,pd feet long and two hundred feet wiie
contains. indeed, fifty thousand splndies put
instead of looking upward TO a low dark ceiling
and chaos % whirng pulleys ana 1eI'si the Eye
seeks the azure of a New-t aud SKY throusna d
roof partly of clear partly of c0ored glass pretly
dsposed in geuInetrlcal desgus. The mOtlNe
mower is in the basement of the building ana all
the shafting is boused in brick tunnellike Guam
bers. beneath the floor. which consequently oneiS a
firm, instead of a dsagreea0ly Earring, lootIle U
the operatives The walls are mere PIERS SEPARATING
great windows, also of clear and cOlored grass,
below each of which the brickwOrk Is fashioned INTO
pockets filed with soil and forming great Hover
beds planted with climbers such as taxonia, e"ona
and English yy together " Ith geranlums, pctnlas
and Towering shrubs which frame the spindies' SO
to speak, in roses The huge room is sp9tIessly
clean aud beside the spinning frames stand gris,
who although mill-hands, may truly be sald To be
Ol from fifteen to twenty-five summers All OF them
neatly dressed and wear HnI1r f0 ~se yn
bright and healthful and their halr careiuy' oiVeh
skilfully, dressed
He found intelligent. active, cultivated people N
all of the works in which the employees interestei
themselves in an enlightened way. Here the labor
problem seemed to be solved There was content
thrift cleanliness, comfort aspirations after
higher life IN short, healthy progress. But IN
Holyoke another and less agreeable picture was
presented. There a great influx of French Cana
dians has driven the American operatives out Oh
most of the mills, aud the newcomers do not ad-
vance. Mr. Pidgeon gives this sketch of the situa-
ton:
Frash from the white cOttage-h0meS ana green
gardens of the Dalton operatives and stu almost
In view of the charming school children OF Great
sBarrmgton, what was our surprise and dIsaHoihl-
ment at the first view or frehch - Canauian II
ouarteri A narrow unclean street. gloomy ny
rasou of the great brick barracks ON IT'S ether sde
was resonant with the shrll voices OF chufen play
ing so TO speak in the cutters. Almost every boy
and girl was bare-legged and bare-iooted rags were
by no means scarce while the dirt OF hands, 1eet
and faces was sucb as bespeaks no daily wash: Inc
omen windows of every fat offered glmpses OF bare
and grimy interiors, overcrowded Win slovehly
people. either pigging together h al
Thinning from a scene whose outward appearance
spoke if not Of the worst yet OF very low conditions
OF life sought another street only 10 meet WI Wtn
the same experience, while the question: what
does all this portend for the future OF labor III
America ~ sprang into instant anu peroihPUoiy
existence IN our minds.
The factory system is thoughtfully discussed.
While recognizing that " it has very generally fallen
from the high estate it occupied when the factories
of New-England were filled with the children OF
equality and enlightenment" he hnfS abundant
ground for hope to the future in the conscien-
tous spirit with which manufacturers more and
more meet the difficulties imposed by the literacy
and political apathy of alien labor" FINS he thinks
is the true source of the apparent degeneration.
The tide OF foreign immigration has for the moment
risen beyond control 1t has swept American labor
out OF tho factories. and there has not been time
for the new element to be taught and assimllated.
In common with many modern thinkers Mr.
Pidgeon holds that the labor problem will not be
solved until there is better system OF disrib-
uting the fruits of labor; but that all the signs
indicate the settlement of this difficulty hereafter
through the general adoption Of some form of CO.
operation. And he says of the probable influence OF
capital upon the.solution:
Outside the simply luxurious classes more conspc-
nous in York than elsewhere, true idea OF tie
function of wealth has arisen in America, where it
must be remembered that there were practically no
rich men previously to the war. In New-England
particularly, the responsibilities of the rich arc
being constantly insisted upon, and, as constantly
acknoM ledged IN q variety OF WAYS. OF Mllch the