THE TECHNOLOGIST. [Jan. 1, 1865. 



268 PAST AND PEESENT STATE OP 



woven by the gold and silver lace-makers on small one-shuttle weaving 

 looms, and the shuttles were thrown by hand. Silk ribbons were then 

 not very extensively used, wool and linen being worn for the most part, 

 and these stuffs, like all the stuffs of that period, were of a substantial 

 texture. The lace-makers, like the other artisans, then formed a par- 

 ticular guild, having their own laws, regulations, and customs. No one 

 could become a master before he had gone through an apprenticeship of 

 several years, and had been abroad as a working journeyman for at least 

 the legal term of three years. In the second half of the seventeenth 

 century, a considerable change took place in this manufacture. It was 

 about the time when in France the power-looms, then called ribbon- 

 mills (" bandelmuhlen "), were invented and worked with great success. 

 In these new looms, where the shuttle was set in motion by mechanical 

 means, several ribbons could be woven simultaneously. With the in- 

 creasing use of these machines, which economised the cost very con- 

 siderably to the manufacturer, the dearer products of the hand-looms 

 had, of course, to give way. Ribbon-mills, therefore, met with strong 

 opposition on the part of the lace-makers everywhere ; in several 

 places — in Cologne, for instance — they were burnt by the hangman as 

 the work of the devil. They nevertheless kept their ground, and several 

 ribbon-weavers of Bale began to buy ribbons woven upon such mills, and 

 to trade with them. They were, therefore, as far back as 1659, ranked 

 among the merchants' guild. Observing the success of the French 

 manufactories, several merchants attempted to procure such machines, 

 and to carry on themselves the manufacture of the ribbons without 

 restraint on the part of the guilds. These were the Bassier, Weiss, De 

 Lachenals, Fatios, Iselins, Hofmanns. 



The lace-makers, who in 1670 worked 359 shuttles, saw in all this 

 the ruin of their trade, opposed it, and induced the Government of the 

 day to prohibit such machines, leaving them the monopoly of the ribbon 

 manufacture. This took place by a decree of the City Council of 26th 

 February, 1681, which ran as follows : — " The High and Honourable 

 Council decrees the prohibition of the new ribbon-mills in this city." 

 In the next meeting of the Council, however, it was decided not to put 

 this order into execution, but to await the report of the thirteen alder- 

 men. These thirteen aldermen, the most prominent members of the 

 community, were a committee formed for deliberating beforehand on the 

 most important affairs of the state before they were handed over to the 

 executive. As the matter was a delicate one, there being already no in- 

 considerable number of ribbon-mills in Bale, and as it could not be 

 foreseen that, although by their abolition the lace-makers would be 

 protected (not, however, without inflicting great injury on the general 

 weal — the machines abroad, particularly in France, being tolerated), the 

 thirteen aldermen delivered their opinion in this sense only ten years 

 later. The ribbon-mills were accordingly officially allowed in 1691, 

 under certain conditions — namely, on the payment of a tax of £ per cent. 



