New-York tribune., 1903-04-05
RETITING HOUSEHOLD INDUSTRIES.

RETTTING HOUSEHOLD INDUSTRIES.
few years ago the products of household
industry were as little priced in the general
market as were the old freplaces and candle
sticks of our grandfathers after the modern i'm
provements of furnace heat and gaslight had
been introduced So the crochet needle ana
atrocities in fancy work took the place of the
loom and its enduring products. Factory made
goods were so varied and so cheap that there
was no demand for anything else But more re-
Gently there has been decided change and
there is a growing appreciation Of the old fash
ioned honest handcrafts. Taste has improved
and people who used TO be content with the
latest novelty turned out in quantity now want
individual things not merely in the domain OF
the fine arts but in that of useful household
articles. The woman who now has piece OF
her grandmotbers homespun prizes it not only
as a relic. but as a thing of use and beauty.
The oldTabrics made of the best materials and
the most unfading dyes, are eagerly seized upon
wherever found and new ones. made where the
old methods still survive or have been revived,
find a ready sale at remunerative prices or
course the great bulk of merchandise for all
classes OF people must be produced by macnln-
cry, but that is no reason why household III
dustries should die out.
In the Kentucky mountains the old looms are
still in use. The current number of The South
ern Workman gives al account of the work
that is done there in the cabins of "con-
temporary ancestors" and points the way TO en-
terprises which might be carried in rural
districts all over the country, bringing healthful
occupations and good incomes TO people who at
present have practically no earning capacity.
Girls who now rush off to distant towns TO work
in factories might do better at home; and the
b,,,o FOR
their energies might accomplish great good by
reviving cottage Industries The writer in THE
Southern Workman" discussing the future Of
these industries where they still survive. points
out the road 10 development there and else
where:
What is the future of these fireside indus
tries?" we are sometimes asked. ''Will they die
'out as the mountain region is opened to trade
and machine made products take the place Of
the nomespun?' So far as the OF the
mountaineers themselves are concerned. this will
probably be the But for really well made
homespun products there is an ever growing
demand Nothing is more artistic for furnish
ing country houses or for country wear. The
mountain girl may choose the fashy, shoddy
goods at the country store in preference to her
mothers homespun, for it is her. but
the golf girl Will not There is work here.
then, for the friends of the mountain people to
do They must help them find q market for
these products OF their skill, and they must
teach them TO develop that skill and TO turn IL
into new channels adapted to modern metnodS
of living. The woman who weave a cover
LID can weave portieres and table draperies
when she is shown what they are. Instead of
linsey ana blankets for her own use, she can
weave golf skirtings and homespun suitings.
The homespuns made by the cottage weavers
OF Scotland in demand all over the civilized
world. and woolens from our own firesdes, if
as well made, should be equally priced. II is
common complaint that individuality is being
stamped out by industrial SYSTEM and that
there is no chance for the people who are not
in the current Of progress; that there is no
chance for the farmer except in the West, where
agriculture is carried on at wholesale, or for
the era aftsman who does not rush TO the town
with its big factory That is only because the
farmer or the handcraftsman does not take his