APPENDIX. 243 



towns, such as St. Chamond, one finds numbers of big fac- 

 tories in which thousands of women are employed in the 

 fabrication of passementerie. But side by side with the great 

 industry the petty trades also maintain a high development. 

 Thus we have first the fabrication of silk ribbons, in which 

 no less than 50,000 men and women were employed in the 

 year 1885. Only 3000 or 4000 looms were located then in 

 the factories; while the remainder that is, from 1200 to 

 1400 looms belonged to the workers themselves, both at 

 St. Etienne and in the surrounding country.* As a rule the 

 women and the girls spin the silk or make the winding off, 

 while the father with his sons weave the ribbons. I saw 

 these small workshops in the suburbs of St. Etienne, where 

 complicated ribbons (with interwoven addresses of the manu- 

 facture), as well as ribbons of high artistic finish, were woven 

 in three to four looms, while in the next room the wife pre- 

 pared the dinner and attended to household work. 



There was a time when the wages were high in the ribbon 

 trade (reaching over ten francs a day), and M. Euvert wrote 

 me that half of the suburban houses of St. Etienne had been 

 built by the passementicrs themselves. But the affairs took a 

 very gloomy aspect when a crisis broke out in 1884. No 

 orders were forthcoming, and the ribbon weavers had to live 

 on casual earnings. All their economies were soon spent. 

 * How many," M. Euvert wrote, " have been compelled to 

 sell for a few hundred francs the loom for which they had 

 paid as many thousand francs." What an effect this crisis 

 has had on the trade I could not say, as I have no recent 

 information about this region. Very probably a great 

 number of the ribbon weavers have emigrated to St. Etienne, 

 where artistic weaving is continued, while the cheapest sorts 

 of ribbon must be made in factories. 



The manufacture of arms occupies from 5000 to 6000 

 workers, half of whom are in St. Etienne, and the remainder 



* I am indebted for these figures and the following information to M. 

 V. Euvert, President of the Chamber of Commerce of St. Etienne, who 

 sent me, while I was in the Clairvaux prison, in April, 1885, a most 

 valuable sketch of the various industries of the region, in reply to a letter 

 of mine. I avail myself of the opportunity for expressing to M. Euvert 

 my bet thanks for his courtesy. 



