170 [Assembly 



Of manufactured silk the specimens were not large, but some of 

 very superior quality. In sewings, the specimens were large and 

 very excellent. In the town of Mansfield, Conn., the quantity of 

 silk manufactured into sewings is about 500 lbs. per week. The 

 quantity grown in that neighborhood has been reduced, under the 

 operation of the present tariff, to a very small amount; the whole 

 not exceeding 100 lbs. per annum. Manufacturers concur in the 

 opinion that American silk, for strength of fibre and lustre, stands 

 unrivalled. The specimens of silk dyeing were extremely beautiful. 



CHANDELIERS, LAMPS, AND GAS FIXTURES. 

 . The exhibition in this department at our last Fair, was very full, 

 and the specimens of excellent workmaiiship. There have been com- 

 plaints previously made, and the same are repeated this year by the 

 judges, that there is a lack of originality in the designs ; the speci- 

 mens being generally copied from French or English patterns. It is 

 certainly much to be regretted that our artisans have not been induced 

 to turn their attention more particularly to this important part of their 

 profession. We are not by any means inclined to adopt a belief 

 that the artisans of our country are inferior in talent or taste, to those 

 of any other country. The misfortune has been, that for a succession 

 of periods, from an early date in the history of artisan labor in the 

 United States, just at the time when that labor began to be produc- 

 tive, and the dependent artist began to look up for superiority and 

 originality in the products of his toil, our laws have undergone 

 changes which have blighted his prospects, his hopes, and his aspira- 

 tions for fame. Let there be some stability in the laws which con- 

 trol the prospects and fortunes of the laboring mass, and there can 

 not be a doubt but that complaints, such as are above alluded to, will 

 soon cease to be heard. There is not a school of design in our 

 country calculated for the class to which we now refer, and there 

 never will be, until our legislators view in its proper light, the impor- 

 tance und great necessity of rendering stable those laws which con- 

 trol the reiuuneration and prosperity due to productive labor, instead 

 of considering the interest of factors and agents as of paramount 

 importance. 



