SMALL INDUSTRIES AND INDUSTRIAL VILLAGES. l6l 



and, if it must, would such a transformation be a pro- 

 gress, as so many economists who have only studied 

 figures and not human beings are ready to maintain ? 



At any rate, it is quite certain that even if the ab- 

 sorption of the French petty trades by the big factories 

 were possible which seems extremely doubtful the ab- 

 sorption would not be accomplished so soon as that. 

 The small industry of Paris fights hard for its mainten- 

 ance, and it shows its vitality by the numberless 

 machine-tools which are continually invented by the 

 workers for improving and cheapening the produce. 



The numbers of motors which were exhibited at 

 the last exhibitions in the Galerie du travail bear a 

 testimony to the fact that a cheap motor, for the small 

 industry, is one of the leading problems of the day. 

 Motors weighing only forty-five lb., including the boiler, 

 were invented to answer that want Small two-horse- 

 power engines, now fabricated by the engineers of the 

 Jura (formerly watch-makers) in their small workshops, 

 are another attempt to solve the problem to say nothing 

 of the water, gas and electrical motors. The trans- 

 mission of steam-power to 230 small workshops which 

 was made by the Societe des Immeubles industriels was 

 another attempt in the same direction, and the increasing 

 efforts of the French engineers for finding out the best 

 means of transmitting and subdividing power by means 

 of compressed air, " tele-dynamic cables," and electricity 

 are indicative of the endeavours of the small industry to 

 retain its ground in the face of the competition of the 

 factories. (See Appendix P.) 



if 



