THE SEWING MACHINE 349 



The cases and cabinets for export are usually forwarded 

 in a rough or unfinished state for greater convenience in 

 shipping, and for the further reason that the labor required 

 to complete them can be secured much cheaper abroad than 

 in this country. 



A great deal of attention has been given by inventors 

 to the production of a suitable means of propulsion for the 

 sewing machine, thus doing away with the labor of operating 

 it by the ordinary foot treadle. A great number of experi- 

 ments have been tried with water motors, air engines, steam 

 engines, and springs and weights, but no effective motor 

 was produced until the introduction of electricity for power. 

 Electric sewing motors are now produced which are very 

 effective in their operation and can be readily used in their 

 smallest form in connection with the ordinary household 

 machines, while larger sizes are available for the larger ma- 

 chines used for manufacturing purposes. Steam power 

 is also extensively used in connection with the larger machines 

 in factories, this power usually being applied by means of 

 shafting under the long rows of tables bearing the machines, 

 one row of shafting operating two rows of machines. 



The introduction of the sewing machine has had a ten- 

 dency to concentrate certain industries into large establish- 

 ments, thus reducing the cost of production. This is espe- 

 cially true in the case of clothing manufacture, and in that 

 of the manufacture of boots and shoes. Where formerly 

 the manufacture of clothing was carried on in small shops 

 employing hand labor, and in the household, it is now fre- 

 quently done in immense establishments employing a great 

 number of operatives and using hundreds of machines. 



In recent years American sewing machine manufacturers, 

 finding it impossible, on account of the difference in the rates 

 of wages, to compete by home manufacture with the manu- 

 facturers of Europe in the markets of the other continents, 

 were forced to extend their manufacturing operations to 

 foreign countries. Some of the leading American manufac- 

 turers now have branch establishments in Europe and else- 

 where, where labor can be secured more cheaply than at home, 

 and have them equipped with American machinery and tools 



