THE TECHNOLOGIST. [Jan. 1 1865. 



272 PAST AND PRESENT STATE OF 



amount of wages, but it leaves all this to himself, for every one is the 

 best judge of what conduces most to his profit and to honourable 

 dealing. At the same time, former governments ought not to be 

 unjustly censured for measures which may be attributed to the interest 

 of a few influential persons. The great object of the government of 

 that day, when principles of free trade were not so well understood as 

 at j)resent, was to keep up the reputation of its merchandise and the 

 good name of its manufacturer. We thus see that they took great care 

 to preserve to Bale the secrets of the ribbon industry ; to prohibit the 

 export of ribbon-looms, because the Bale looms were considered the 

 best ; to prohibit the manufacture of new looms in the country and the 

 removal of old looms from one place to another without especial 

 formalities, and to prevent the emigration of the operatives. With the 

 exception of four firms, foreign manufacturers were not permitted to 

 have their work done in the canton. These were the firms of Hans 

 Adam Senn at Zofingen (Argovy), Sachser at Schbnenwerth (Soleure), 

 Bothpletz in Aarau, and Jenny in Trubschachen (Berne), who owned, 

 throughout the whole of the last century, neither more nor less than 

 sixty-four ribbon-looms in this place. The operative worked upon his 

 loom, which either was his own, or, for the most part, the manufac- 

 turer's property ; he was not permitted to change employer without the 

 consent of the latter. If, however, the employer unjustly withheld his 

 consent, he applied to the " Fabrik Commission." Larger localities 

 where many operatives could find room for working in common were 

 not to be found ; and, as in the case of Hummel, the Government had 

 once refused such a request. The operative could, beside his ribbon- 

 weaving, till his little piece of land, or get it tilled by his family, which 

 was a support to him in hard times, and not to be under-estimated, 

 irrespectively that it enables him to enjoy the ties of the family circle. 

 The advantages of this system are very generally acknowledged abroad 

 by philanthropists and political economists. It is true the quality and 

 excellence of the work is perhaps not so high as it is where the " Haus- 

 betrich " (the working at home, not in the factory) does not exist, but 

 at the same time this disadvantage is counterbalanced by the greater 

 cheapness of the merchandise, and by the healthy and independent 

 spirit it engenders among the people. Of the 7,250 ribbon-looms, 5,000 

 are in the private dwellings of the operatives in the country or in town, 

 and 2,000 only in manufactories, independently of the 250 looms upon 

 which the ribbon patterns are woven under the eyes of the manufacturer. 

 In the manufacture of silk the favourable circumstance exists that the 

 localities destined for it must be light, airy, and dry, and must not 

 contain any vapours injurious to the lungs, which deprive cotton 

 operatives of life, strength, and health. A great progress has been 

 made in the employment of mechanical power for the working of the 

 looms, remunerative to the manufacturer from the greater cheapness of 

 the work, and beneficial to the operative, as it protects him against too 



