^ ooo'M, I n_ * 



I oooo ■ 



k 



2 |rr.cel-|i 



g 



Figure 17. — The Plan of a Tannery. Diderot, 1771. Diderot's 

 ground plan of a tannery indicates the raticnalizaticn of 

 the several stages of leather manufacture that proceeded 

 from washing and fleshing on the left to liming and bating, 

 thence to the tan pits in the open yard, and finally to the 

 drying lofts at the far right. Thomas Smith's tannery as 

 described in the Delaware Gazette in 1817 approximates 

 Diderot's plan. 



Starr continued his recollections of the years preceding and fol- 

 lowing the Revolution and, although doctrinaire, they are repre- 

 sentative of the viewpoint of the state's manufacturing interests: 



When peace came, things returned nearly to the old condition; a free trade 

 for the introduction of English manufactures; general paralization followed 

 . . . ; but since sufficient protection for leather has been given by our laws, 

 the manufactured article has become abundant. 



By 1791, out of a population of some 5000, there were forty-two 

 "Shoe and Boot Makers" in Wilmington. ^^ By 1804, a listing of 

 the industries of Christiana Hundred showed five tanners — John 

 Smith, Jonas Starr, Thomas Meredith, William Seal, and Joseph 

 Wilkinson — in business supplying leather to craftsmen in Wilming- 

 ton.^^ In a community dotted with mills and budding industries. 



^" "Return of Manufactures, Tradesmen &c in Wilmington, Delaware and its Vicinity - . . Novem- 

 ber 28th 1791," in Alexander Hamilton MSS., Library of Congress. 

 *** ScHARF, vol. 2, p. 885. 



39 



