Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-02-25
The HQskit1 Letter . es1e a:sz
AN ART THREATENED WITH EXTINCTION.

ABLY one OF the most llRHly pau Ci0oseS
of workmen in the world in an industry
ing-that Of making high grade 1eWelry
by hand.
The facts about this trade were
brought out at conference held by
the Jewelry Crafts association IN New
York. The leading topic OF discus
sion among the jewelers., present was
the enormous wages which their work,
men are demanding and receiving, and
the difficulty which they experience in
getting new men. Think of workman
making as high as $50 to $500 a
week. Yet some Of the jewelry work.
ers and diamond settlers get that much;
i while weekly earnings Of hundred
or more are not uncommon. GOOD
workman gets about 81 an hour, WnI VI,
an exceptional one may make So: The
and half is paid for overtime. AS
there is always shortage Of compe-
tent workmen, most Of the men work
overtime during great part OF the
year, and so pile up their enviable
earnings.
During the war conditions were even
| better for the workmen and worse for
their employers. Some Of them during
that period were making as high as
SIS an hour and double time for over
time. The employers objected to the
demands for more money and less
working hours and a. long strike. took
place. The result was the establish
ment Of the open shop principals. This
was not as great victory for the en-
ployer as it usually is, because the
shortage Of first class workmen en-
abled them still to successfully demand
very high wages.
These men are interesting, not so
much on account Of their spectacular
earnings as because upon them depends
the survival Of an ancient art which
is threatened with determination. or at
least great injury, as are so many other
arts, by the modern domination OF
machinery.
Machine Made Jewelry Cheaper
Certain lines Of machine made jew
elry may be beautiful and often are.
Some materials can be worked very
successfully by machinery, and Of
course machine made jewelry is much
cheaper than that made by hand, and
so within the reach of persons who
could not otherwise afford jewelry at
all. The place of machine made jew
elry-making as an art is in the hands
of those jewelers. and their workmen
who do fine hand work. This art IS
threatened by the scarcity Of work
men. In this country, especially, few
men care to go into trade IN which
it takes 10 to. 10 years to become fairly
proficient. As result of this, the
United States has been getting many of
it's grade jewelers. from Europe, pre-
ponderance of them from Germany and
France. Many of the skilled workmen
were killed or disabled in the war. The
restrictions of the new immigrant law
prevent others from coming to this
country. Hence the difficulties Of the
modern manufacturing jeweler.
These makers Of hand-wrought jew
e1ry truly have behind them a great
artistic tradition. The making Of jew
elry has always been recognized as
high art, and in the Italian rennais-
sance it attained its highest dignity.
Jewelers. in the Italian cities of that
period were often sculptors and paint
ers as well, and were often quite as
famous for their work in jewelry as
for that in other arts. Botticelli heads
group Of such artists. Benvenuto
Cellini is another celebrated Italian
of the sixteenth century who was a
jeweler and goldsmith and made beau
tiful ornaments for the gorgeous po-
tentates Of that day.
Fine Handicraft Formerly
Until the introduction of machinery
the making of jewelry remained fine
handicraft In colonial days in this
country, and in the early days of the
republic. there were many goldsmiths,
some of whom enjoyed considerable
reputation, although they were not to
be compared with the great artists o.!
Renaissance Italy. The making of
cheap iewclry by machinery was blow
to fine work by hand, just az machine
work was to the making Of pottery,
fabrics and many other things. Il Is
true. the designer still was necessary,
hut long series of articles were made
on a single design, and both the ex-
ecution of designs and the materials to
be used were limited by machine
processes.
Modern designers of jewelry do not
seem to achieve regulations outside Of
their own trade 1t is characteristic
Of modern industrialism that the artists
are buried under the business, SO that
an especially beautiful piece Of work is
known ~ by the name Of the firm that
sold it but never by that Of the man
who created it.
Furthermore. the designer. and the
vorkmen are now distinct, where once
they were the same person. Sometmes
tha ieweIry manufacturer himself IS
the designer, while he employs the
highly skilled workmen to carry out his
IDEAS The designer is an artist pos
sessed with a thorough knowledge OF
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