222 



DICKSON ON THE MANUFACTURE 



months with 100 power-looms and £2,000 capital, than we 

 conld get in twelve months from 1,000 hand-loom weavers 

 and a capital of £6,000 employed. Having determined on 

 making a trial, I brought prepared linen and drill- warps and 

 wefts with me to Leeds, and had one of the best put to work. 

 I superintended the alterations and improvements that we 

 found requisite, until we had the loom perfect, and in three 

 w r eeks I returned to Belfast with a linen-drill and a linen-web, 

 both being perfect in selvage and centre ; they were not as 

 eye-sweet* as the hand-made cloth, because of the want of 

 tallow and potatoes, and flour-dressing that weavers rub into 

 linens and drills, consequently the slubs and imperfections in 

 the yarns were not hid, as is the case in hand-weaving, but 

 the yarns were driven evenly by the same constant force, and 

 when bleached and finished, the drill in particular, was 

 superior to the same made by hand. Being satisfied with the 

 loom, I ordered 100, and commenced the erection of a factory 

 on the BlackstafT riverside, the shell of which cost £1,100 and 

 upwards, and had not the storm on the 6th of January, 1839, 

 levelled the entire premises, we must have been successful 

 in adopting the power-looms, as we had no difficulty to 

 overcome. 



"Your correspondent appears alarmed at the supposed 

 misery and starvation which he thinks must follow the intro- 

 duction of power-looms, forgetting that skilled hands must 

 attend them, and that the weaver's children will also have 

 employment. He overlooks the fact that if 10s. can be taken 

 off the price of weaving a 20° linen, which I calculate is now 

 made for £2 9s. lid., or 13}d. per yard in the brown state, 

 and the boiling and bleaching dispensed with, which will 

 reduce it to lid. per yard, and equal reduction on 14 co linen, 

 which appears to cost £1 12s. 8d., such goods will only cost 



* Not so clear of slubs, or knots, as the hand-woven cloth. 



