616 



PAPER-HANGINGS AND WALL-PAPER. 



sus of 1870, perhaps to a greater degree than 

 its predecessors, was defective and almost 

 worthless in its manufacturing statistics. It 

 represented the number of establishments in 

 the whole country as but 19, employing only 

 869 hands, using $1,415,500 capital, and pro- 

 ducing goods of the value of $2,105,510. This 

 was not in any material respect an advance 

 on the report of 1860 ; but the importation of 

 paper-hangings had fallen off to a specie value 

 of about $600,000, equivalent to a currency 

 value of at least $1,000,000. Here was a gain, 

 for there could be no doubt that our manufac- 

 tures of wall-paper reached $2,500,000, or two 

 and a half times the value of the import. 



About this time there was a sudden and re- 

 markable improvement in the English wall- 

 papers, which was initiated by William Morris 

 and his friend W. M. Rossetti, both poets and 

 artists. The designs of Morris were at first 

 (in 1863) confined to furniture and decorations 

 of dwellings, in which he manifested great 

 artistic ability and originality. He soon pro- 

 ceeded from this to designs for wall-papers, 

 which, though they at first excited much op- 

 position from their startling character, soon 

 became popular, and after a time the English 

 manufacturers surpassed the French in the 

 beauty of their designs. These goods, a little 

 later, were imported here in very considerable 

 quantities ; and in 1873 or 1874 leading manu- 

 facturers began to compete with them. In the 

 Centennial Exposition, the display of both 

 English and French paper-hangings was of 

 very great beauty, but one or two of our 

 American manufacturers ventured to compete 

 with them, and acquitted themselves creditably. 



From that time the progress of the American 

 wall-paper manufacture has been exceedingly 

 rapid. Processes of cylinder-printing have 

 been invented and improved, by which it is 

 possible to print papers in a greater variety of 

 colors, and with greater accuracy and perfec- 

 tion, than is done by any of the European man- 

 ufacturers. At first, our manufacturers copied, 

 with some changes, the European designs, but 

 now the largest have encouraged native talent, 

 and find that the designs received from our own 

 artists, many of them trained solely in Amer- 

 ican art-schools, are more tasteful and elegant 

 than the best of the foreign designs. 



The result of these improvements, which 

 raised the production of decorative wall-papers 

 to a high rank among the fine arts, has been 

 such an increase of production as has hardly 

 been witnessed in any other industry in the 

 same period. The census statistics of 1880 

 were remarkably accurate for that time, as the 

 number of manufacturers was not large, and 

 they were associated and made their quarterly 

 reports. They were as follow : Number of 

 establishments, 25 ; capital, $3,560,500 ; num- 

 ber of hands, 2,487; wages paid, $874,921; 

 material used, $3,629,222 ; amount of annual 

 product, $6,267,303, or double the whole pro- 

 duction and importation of 1870. Meanwhile 



the importation had fallen off to $100,134 in 

 1877, and $130,948 in 1880. Five sixths in 

 value of these manufactured goods were made 

 in the State of New York. 



But, rapid as was the growth of this indus- 

 try between 1870 and 1880, it has been greatly 

 accelerated since 1880. The whole number of 

 establishments is now 27 one having been 

 added in Brooklyn, one in Elizabeth, and one 

 in Buffalo ; but one has failed. The cities of 

 Brooklyn and New York produce five sixths 

 in value, and more than four fifths in quantity, 

 of the total production of the United States. 

 The entire production in the United States 

 is very nearly of the value of $12,000,000, al- 

 though prices have been materially reduced. 

 Of this amount a little more than $6,000,000 

 are produced in New York city, an increase of 

 more than $2,500,000 since 1880; and $3,995,- 

 000 in Brooklyn, about three times the amount 

 reported in the census of 1880. The import 

 is still insignificant only about $150,000 in 

 1883, and this including glazed and fancy pa- 

 pers while our manufacturers are exporting 

 their papers to Canada and Australia. 



Under the general title of paper-hangings are 

 included four distinct classes of goods, viz. : 

 1. Wall-papers proper, which are put up in 

 pieces or rolls of eight yards each, and with 

 which are also reckoned borders of various 

 widths, also in pieces of eight yards. 2. Da- 

 does and hall fresco-papers, of varying widths 

 and lengths. 3. Ceiling-papers, also of various 

 sizes, and usually with borders; these are of 

 elaborate designs, and represent with great 

 fidelity the finest fresco-paintings. 4. Window- 

 curtains, of various widths, and either plain or 

 bordered. These four classes of goods are not 

 all manufactured by any one house, but the 

 largest make two or three of them. The 

 largest of the Brooklyn houses manufactures 

 wall-papers and borders, and curtains ; the 

 largest New York house, and one of the great 

 Brooklyn houses, make wall-papers and bor- 

 ders, dadoes, hall-frescoes, and ceiling-papers. 



The paper used is not, so far as we can learn, 

 manufactured by the paper-hanging houses 

 themselves. The greater part of it comes from 

 Massachusetts and Connecticut, and Washing- 

 ton, Essex, arid Rensselaer counties of New 

 York. There is one paper-mill for these pa- 

 pers in Kings county, producing about four 

 tons a day, which is but a small portion of the 

 amount used in that county. The paper is 

 made mostly from old newspaper stock, though 

 the fresco and ceiling papers are usually of 

 better and heavier materials. For wall-papers, 

 they are generally furnished in rolls of about 

 100 pounds, the width of the paper being about 

 twenty inches; for fresco and ceiling papers 

 the sizes vary. The curtain-paper is from five 

 to eight feet in width, and of heavy stock. 



Most of the better class of papers are now 

 satined, i. e., coated with a surface of very fine 

 clay, tinted of any color required, and applied 

 by passing the paper between rollers and pol- 



