The Washington herald., 1908-04-05
- - - hIrher 80 80.

pensates for the higher wages paid
There are no government statistics as
to cotton manufacturing in Switzerland
fer the reason that the control OF the
country is so decentTalized there : no
power delegated by the people for such
purpose. The government is authorized
10 employ factory inspectors 10 see that
the confederacy laws in regard 10 factory
operation are carried out. and these, in
their occasional reports give the number
of male and female operatives, the num-
Der of accidents. &C, but any statistics
in regard 10 the extent OF the industry
can only be obtained from outside
sources
SpindIes, Looms, and Mills.
Mr.. Clark presents some imperfect sta
tistics furnished by the president Of the
Swiss Spinner and Weber Verein Ac-
ccrding to this showing. there were last
year 1s.se looms. 1896 twisters, and
1.474.926 spindles.
"Of the looms" continues Mr. Clark,
-. ges were given ss being on colored
goods. and 609 were Jacquard looms. The
great bulk OF the sIindles are mule spin
dies. The figures for January :. 1898, have
not vet been published, but during 1907
there were some increases in spindles, and
a larger increase in looms. so that the
spinning spindles are now probably 100,
600 The number of looms stated is only
partial, due TO the fact that some weave
mills are independent Of the association.
but with the increase, the 1e0S figures
would probably be in the neighborhOOd Of
p coo looms.
The cotton mills are entirely in the
northeastern section Of Switzerland,
mainly in the cantons of Zurich, ST. Gall,
and Glarus The city Of Zurich is the
largest and most important commercial
center OF Switzerland, and the cotton
manufacturing industry tOutside of the
special lire OF embroidery which centers
at st GaiD has its headquarters at that
point There are few mills at Zurich. but
the larger mills have their Offices there,
most OF the banking and export business
is carried on at that city, and the manu-
facturers' association has It's Office thee.
Factories and Cost of Operating.
There are cotton mills at Winterthur,
Valid. Flums Baar Wetziken Mels, &c,
but the mills are so scattered that none
of these places can be claimed as big
cotton mill centers; and. in fact, switzer-
land has no great mill center. as each
owner has tried. it would seem. TO locate
his mill as far away from any other mill
as the small limits Of the district would
permit. Most of the mills are small. the
average being q, 600 spindles or 200 looms.
There are four yarn mills containing over
s60eo spindles. the largest one being at
Zurich. and containing 1880 spindles,
and one at Flums with 100000 spindles,
one at Baar with 5S.O6s spindles, and
one at Langenthal with 10000 spin
dies The weave mills with over 800
looms are nine in number, which contain
from 800 10 $40 looms.
About 80 per cent of the cotton mills
are operated by water power. 40 per cent
by steam, and 10 per cent by electric or
other motive power The new mills ire
mostly steam or electric, and those that
utilize water power have il electrically
transmitted, and no longer locate AT thu
fall, as was necessary with the old mills
a manager Of one of the water-dr;ven
mills told me that while his motive power
was cheaper than that OF the steam
driven mills. In regard 10 direct operation.
the difference was small, and that If the
interest be figured on what they had TO
pay for buying up water rights, to pre-
vent the stream being diverted for other
purposes, as well as the costs of canal
and hume and Gpkeep, his power was ac-
tually costing him more than that paid
by the steam-power mills.
Most Mills Are Small.
'The majority of the Swiss mills are
one or two story buildings. Of brick or
stone, with sawtooth roofs. The steam
heating pipes are usually fastened to the
wall about foot above the floor. and are
made with projecting flanges every couple
OF inches. so as to give the greatest
amount of radiating surface
The complete cost OF a spinning mill
is given by the president of the spin
ners' association at about so francs (Sl54D
spindle. Most of the textile machinery
| is imported from England especially the
| spinning machinery. though a good deal
of weaving machinery is made In SWitzer-
land, and some machinery, mainly dyeing
and finishing comes from Germany.
There is an import duty of T7.2 cents per
/ 220 pounds on textile machinery. All of
i the embroidery machinery is made in
| Switzerland.
Tabulated figures upon the wages Of
| operatives show an average Of So cents a
day in enc mill. 50 cents IN another A
| cents in a third, and 81 cents in a fourth,
The highest wages are paid TO the head
man in the machine shop who gets SIP,
and the lowest $ cents. TO q spinner.
The average days wage pays for nine
| loaves Of bread. two pounds of meat. six
pounds of -four. ifty pounds of potatoes,
i've pounds OF sugar, one and one-half
pounds Of cofIe. and fifteen quarts OF
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