No. 149.] . " 141 



The Waterville Manufacturing Company, Waterbury, Conn., 

 (to which one gold medal has been awarded for two successive- 

 seasons,) have by years of persevering industry, brought the 

 manufacture of pen and pocket cutlery to a degree of perfection 

 unsurpassed by any manufacture of these goods in the world. 

 Eight years since, the president of the company, and its origi- 

 nator, (G. Kendrick, Esq.,) conceived the possibility of estab- 

 lishing the business on a permanent basis in this country. The 

 dilficulties of the experiment may not be understood by those 

 who are unfamiliar with the business, but when realizing the 

 great disparity between the rates of manual labor in Europe and 

 in our own country, and further realizing the great difficulty of 

 applying machinery to any portion of this manufacture, the 

 obstacles to the profitable prosecution of the business seem al- 

 most insurmountable. They were dependent, in the first place, 

 upon foreign laborers, who alone had the requisite experience 

 for the production of these goods. This class of mechanics were 

 few in number in this country, and, consequently, commanded 

 wages far above the rates received in England. For several 

 years their workmen were tliose who had earned their experience 

 in English shops. During the first four years they employed 

 about fifty men, but within the past four, they have increased 

 the number to two hundred, of whom about one-half are Ameri- 

 cans. 



This manufacture is peculiarly dependent upon hand labor. 

 Every department, from the forging of blades out of the bar of 

 steel, to the shaping of the handles from the various materials, 

 requires the careful guidance of the hand, governed by the ex- 

 pert eye of experienced workmen. Every knife passes through 

 the hands of about fifteen diiTerent workmen before it is com- 

 plete. In each, experience and great care are indispensable, 

 especially in receiving a temper which shall be of the finest 

 quality, a point of excellence which this company have reached 

 most suscessfully. In this dependence upon hand labor lies the 

 greatest obstacle to the success of the manufacture in this coun- 

 try, though the difficulties of this interest did not end here. 

 The market was firmly held by foreign makers, whose years of 

 profitable trade had given them strength for successful competi- 



