280 SMALL INDUSTRIES AND 



of Great Britain, that the petty and domestic 

 trades, which are scattered on the Continent in 

 the villages, gather in this country in the cities. 



Exact figures as to the small industries are 

 wanting, but a simple walk through the suburbs 

 of London would do much to realise the variety 

 of petty trades which swarm in the metropolis, 

 and, in fact, in all chief urban agglomerations. 

 The evidence given before the " Sweating 

 System Committee " has shown how far the fur- 

 niture and ready-made clothing palaces and the 

 " Bonheur des Dames " bazaars of London are 

 mere exhibitions of samples, or markets for 

 the sale of the produce of the small industries. 

 Thousands of sweaters, some of them having 

 their own workshops, and others merely dis- 

 tributing work to sub-sweaters who distribute 

 it again amidst the destitute, supply those 

 palaces and bazaars with goods made in the 

 slums or in very small workshops. The com- 

 merce is centralised in those bazaars not the 

 industry. The furniture palaces and bazaars 

 are thus merely playing the part which the 

 feudal castle formerly played in agriculture : 

 they centralise the profits not the produc- 

 tion. 



In reality, the extension of the petty trades, 

 side by side with the great factories, is nothing 

 to be wondered at. It is an economic necessity. 



