Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1885-06-05
THE LYONS SILK INDUSTRY.
Work OF the Weavers-The Old jacquard
Loom-A Doomed Industry.

Work OF the Weavers-The Old jacquard
Loom-A Doomed Industry.
II. II. Haynie's Lyons letter.
The three centers of silk weaving ir
this city are the hill known as Crois
Eousse, the suburb of Saint Just, and
the plain of Brotteaux. Each one of
these sections of the city is filled with
tall houses of five and six floors, built OF
cheap stone and filled with silk
weavers. Each floor is occupied
according to the size of the
house, by one, two, three, and some
times even four families, al
in separate apartments, which open or
a common landing and stairway. The
largest of these apartments is com
posed of two rooms-a kitchen and tho
''chambre de tissage," or weaving shop.
The kitchen is the living room of the
family, where the wife of the ''canut'
cooks the meals, and where husband,
wife and children sleep in that disgust
ing promiscuity engendered everywhere
by poverty. The largest of the rooms is
always the 'chambre dc tissage, and
here the entire space is occupied by the
two, three or four looms which form the
most valuable part Of the family pos
sessions.
These machines are all, without ex,
ceptiOn, the old jacquard loom, long
since relegated everywhere except il:
Lyons, to the company of the spinning
wheel of our great grandmothers With
but few exceptions all these looms art
old and wOrm-eaten; they We're erected
by the grandfather of the present
"canut," who. himself silk weaver,
consented, with much reluctance and
many misgivingS, to replace the old
frame and shuttle with which he, his
father and his grandfather before him
had piled their trade, by the new
tangled invention of jacquard.
The appearance of Lyons chambrl
dc tissage has quaint flavor Of an,
tiquity about it; the light enters through
windows which have never been washed
since they were glazed; of the three OF
four looms it may contain but one is at
work, the crisis is so severe that there
is nothing for the Others to do. The
weaver stands in front of his loom,
works with his left hand the spring
which drives the shuttle forward. then
pulls with his right hand the string that
sets free another spring which draws il
back from right to left, at the
same time pressing with his right
foot on treadle which keeps the
threads of the warp moving around the
rollers between which they are
stretched, and automatically regulates
the pattern according to the perforated
cardboard pattern design attached to
the upper frame of the loom. The
weaver bends over his work in silence
never stopping the monotonous and
clock-like movements of hands and foot,
except, maybe, to lie a broken thread
and it seems as though the ghost OF
jacquard himself was lowering around
and experimenting the intricate move
ments of his invention, the noisy voice
of which fills the room with its inces
SAINT click. clack! click. clack
In some cases they have but one room
in which to live, as well rs work; here
there are never more than two looms
one for the husband, the other for the
wife, and the children wind the silk or
the shuttles. Where there are foul
looms one is generally confded to q
companion" that is to say, to weaver
who takes his meals in the house, and
receives for his work one half of the
price paid by the manufacturer. The
man bending over his old fashioned,
worm-eaten jacquard loom, can earn,
at the present prices, something
like 60 cents a day. The
head Of the family receives from
the manufacturer the materials-warp
and woodland makes bargain tc
weave it into velvet, into satin or silk,
at SO much per metre, metre being
equal to thirty-nine and one third inches.
This price varies according to the fabric
to DO woven and according to its dual.
ity, more being paid for velvet than for
weaving satin, which again is paid fol
at q higher rate than silk, but as the
quantity which can be woven within a
given time differs according to the ia.
brio and its quality the average daily
earnings of each loom are about the
same, depending more on the skill and
strength of the weaver than on the ma.
ture or quality of the fabric woven.
Ten years ago the silk weavers of
Lyons numbered 10000; five years later
their number had fallen to IS, 900, and
three years ago there were but 80, 900.
1t looks as though the time was coming
when Lyons will no longer contain more
than the 4, 900 or 5000 "artistes -tisseurs'
that weave extra fine grades Of silks and
velvet, the intricate patterns and high
finish Of which can, SO it is claimed by
the Lyons manufacturers, never be pro.
duced by any other than hand looms.