ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. INTRODUCTORY. Why have commerce and the arts an indirect influence upon industry? Because it signifies nothing as to the main purposes of trade, how superfluous the articles which it furnishes are;-whether the want of them be real or imaginary : -whether it be founded in nature or in opinion, in fashion, habit, or emulation;-it is enough that they be actually desired and sought after. Flourishing cities are raised and supported by trading in tobacco; populous towns subsist by the manufactory of ribands. A watch may be a very unnecessary appendage to the dress of a peasant, yet if the peasant will till the ground in order to obtain the watch, the true design of trade is answered; and the watchmaker, while he polishes the case, or files the wheel of his machine, is contributing to the production of corn as effectually, though not so directly, as if he handled the spade or held the plough. Tobacco is an acknowledged superfluity, and affords a remarkable instance of the caprice of human appetite; yet, if the fisherman will ply his net, or the mariner fetch rice from other countries, in order to procure to himself this indulgence, the market is supplied with two important articles of provision, by the instrumentality of a merchandise which has no other apparent use than the gratification of a vitiated palate.*-Paley. * We should here remark however, that where false refinement, or a corrupted taste, engages that time and ingenuity of the laborer or the artist, which might otherwise have produced articles that contribute to rational enjoyment, it is an evident misapplication of indusry. Why does commerce at the same time supply an endless variety of new productions, and multiply and cheapen those that are peculiar to every country? Because it enables each separate people to employ themselves in preference in those departments in which they enjoy some natural or acquired advantage, while it opens the markets of the world to their productions. When the demand for a commodity is confined to a particular country, as soon as it is supplied, improvement is at a stand. The subdivision and combination of employments are, in fact, always dependent upon, and regulated by, the extent of the market. Dr. Smith has shown, that by making a proper distribution of labour among ten workmen, in a pin manufactory, 48,000 pins might be produced in a day; and since his time the number has been nearly doubled. Before pins were manufactured in England, £60,000 annually is said to have been paid for them to foreigners in the early years of Queen Elizabeth; but, long before the end of her reign, they were manufactured in this country in great quantities. The subdivision of the mechanism of a watch into 150 branches has already been cursorily mentioned.* The fifteen principal branches are: 1. The movement maker, who divides it into various branches; viz. pillarmaker, stop stud-maker, frame-mounter, screw-maker, cock and potence-maker, verge-maker, pinion-maker, balance-wheel-maker, wheel-cutter, fusee-maker, and other small branches. 2. Dial-maker; who employs a copper-maker, an enameller, painter, &c. 3. Casemaker; who makes the case to the frame, employs box-maker, outside case-niaker, and joint-finishers. 4. Pendant-maker; (both case and pendant are sent to the Goldsmiths' Hall to be marked.) 5. Secretspringer and spring-liner; the spring and liner are divided into other branches; viz. the spring-maker, *See DOMESTIC SCIENCE page 71. button-maker, &c. 6. Cap-maker, who employs the springer, &c. 7. Jeweller, which comprises the diamond-cutting, setting, making ruby-holes, &c. 8. Motion-maker, and other branches, viz. slide-maker, edge-maker, and bolt-maker. 9. Spring-maker, (i. e. main-spring) consisting of wire-drawer, &c. hammerer, polisher, and temperer. 10. Chain-maker; this comprises several branches, wire-drawer, linkmaker and rivetter, hook-maker, &c. 11. Engraver; who also employs a piercer and name-cutter. 12. Finisher, who employs a wheel and fusee-cutter, and other workers in smaller branches. 13. Gilder is divided into two, viz. gilder and brusher. 14. Glass and hands; the glass employs two, viz. blower and maker: hand-maker employs die-sinker, finisher, &c. 15. Fitter-in, who overlooks the whole, fits hands on, &c. The above fifteen branches are subdivided again and again. The manufacture of watch-springs also affords an instance of an article raised in price from one halfpenny to the amount of 35,000 guineas. Thus, a pound of crude iron costs one halfpenny; it is converted into steel, that steel into watch-springs, every one of which is sold for half-a-guinea, and weighs only one-tenth of a grain. After deducting for waste, there are, in a pound weight, 7,000 grains; it therefore affords steel for 70,000 watch-springs, the value of which, at half-a-guinea each, is 35,000 guineas. Why may our cotton manufacture be considered entirely the result of commerce? Because, had cotton-wool been a native production, we could never have made such astonishing advances in the manufacture had we been denied access to foreign markets. Notwithstanding the splendid discoveries in the machinery, and the perfection to which every department of the trade has been brought, the vast extent of the market has prevented its being glutted; and has stimulated our manufacturers in their improvements. Our cotton-mills have been constructed, not that they might supply the limited demand of Great Britain, but that they might supply the demand of the whole world. The subdivision of labour, and the scope given to the employment of machinery, by the unlimited extent of the market, has reduced the price of cottons to less, probably, than a fourth part of what it would have been, had they met with no outlet in foreign countries.* The hardware, woollen, leather, and other manufactures, exhibit similar results. Why is steam said to add to the power of our population? Because the steam-engines in England represent the power of 320,000 horses, equal to 1,920,000 men ; and being in fact managed by only 36,000 men, they consequently add to the power of our population 1,884,000 men. Steam navigation, a powerful aid to our commercial prosperity, has been thus eloquently illustrated by one of the most accomplished orators of our times. Steamboats-"these new and wonderful machines walk the water, like a giant rejoicing in his course; stemming alike the tempest and the tide; accelerating intercourse; shortening distances; creating, as it were, unexpected neighbourhoods, and new combinations of social and commercial relations; and giving to the fickleness of winds and the faithlessness of waves, the certainty and steadiness of a highway upon the land." -Canning's Speeches at Liverpool. According to M. Dupin, the human force of Great Britain employed in commerce and manufactures, is *The price of calico 55 years since has been found thus registered in a bible, in the possession of a family near Blackburn:-"15 September, 1776. Thomas Dixbury, of Rishton, near Blackburn, sold to Messrs. Peels, Yates, and Co. Church Bank, two common fine calico pieces for 51. 9s. 8d. These were the first calico pieces ever manufactured in this kingdom." Pieces of the same description are now so for 5s. 6d. or 6s. each.-Mechanics Magazine, equivalent to 4,264,000,893 effective men; to this power there must also be added the power of 250,000 animals, employed in divers works of industry. These will raise the animate force of England and Scotland to 6,014,893; to which there must be superadded the approximating value of 1,260,604 effective men for Ireland: so that the commercial and manufacturing animate power of the United Kingdom must be computed at 7,275,497 labouring men. To this must be added the force supplied by water, wind, and steam: thus: In comparison with France, M. Dupin estimates these numbers as follows:-The total of the inanimate force applied to the arts, of all descriptions, in France, scarcely exceeds the fourth of the same power applied to the same purposes in Great Britain; and the whole animate and inanimate power of Great Britain, applied to manufactures and commerce, is nearly triple the amount of that so applied in France. Why is foreign trade so beneficial to each party engaged in it? Because each enjoys the peculiar advantages of the respective countries. Thus, when we send cloth or hardware to Portugal for wine, or to Brazil for sugar, we give what is as valuable as that which we receive; and yet both parties gain largely by the transaction; for we get the wine and sugar for what it took to produce them in countries that are peculiarly fitted |