THE TECHNOLOGIST. [Ja.x. 1, 1865. 



270 PAST AND PRESENT STATE OP 



pursued him by the police, declared his right of citizenship to be for- 

 feited, and ordered his property to be attached. Nevertheless, Hummel 

 succeeded in establishing himself in Paris, with several looms and 

 operatives. What became of him afterwards seems unknown. 



From 1750 the manufacture of ribbon increased considerably, and 

 the Government bestowed upon it its greatest care and attention ; new 

 enactments were framed, regulating the length of the pieces and the rate 

 of wages. In February, 1764, it was decreed : — 



1. The cabinet and loom-makers shall manufacture no looms, except 

 for citizens of this place. The sale of looms to country people and to 

 foreigners is strictly prohibited. 



2. Looms can only be transported from one place to another on the 

 production of a certificate given by a manufacturer, and that only on 

 Bale territory. 



3. It is forbidden to keep foreign workmen. 



4. The operatives are enjoined to abide by their regulations. 



5. Persons emigrating clandestinely forfeit their civil rights and 

 property. 



6. Any attempt to inveigle operatives involves a fine of fifty 

 thalers. 



In 1756, the importation of foreign looms into Bale territory was 

 totally forbidden, uuder penalty of their destruction. In contravention 

 of this prohibition, eight ribbon-looms were sent from Miilhausen to 

 Bale in 1762 by Dollfuss, Father, and Co., for sale, which caused great 

 annoyance. As the Miilhausen firm, however, only possessed this number 

 of looms, and intended definitively to give up the manufacture of ribbons, 

 the sale of them to manufacturers in Bale was at last allowed. 



A number of similar decrees, partly in favour of the munufacturers, 

 and partly in favour of the operatives, were issued during that century. 

 In times of distress, also, when the market was dull, the Government 

 took energetic measures, as, for instance, in 1712, 1732, and 1770. On 

 the 31st of December, 1788, an ordinance was issued relative to the 

 establishment of a poor relief fund in favour of the lace-makers in the 

 country, towards the maintenance of which one rappen (one centime) 

 for every livre of wages for simple ferret ribbons had to be contributed, 

 and two rappen for every other kind of ribbon. At a later period this 

 fund was the cause of great annoyance. In 1798, the year of the French 

 Revolution, it had increased to 90,000 livres, and was handed over to the 

 representatives of the country. They found, however, the, sum too small 

 and demanded that the books of all the manufacturers should be 

 examined. They stood the test in a most honourable manner, one 

 account agreeing entirely with the other. 



In consequence of the Revolution of 1798, the ancient customs and 

 factory regidations were only partly or not all observed. The silk dyers, 

 for instance, who until then were not allowed to keep more than ten 

 hands, were, at the request of the manufacturers, released from this 



