FOR MERCHANTS AND MANUFACTURERS OF TEXTILES
[Sidenote: Practical Men Among the Contributors]
The Course of Reading outlined in this chapter will help anyone who has
to do with the making or with the buying and selling of textiles, in
three ways, at least, each of the greatest importance to him—and
possibly in many more. Taking up these three:—In the first place, it
will teach him many facts about manufacturing and merchandizing in
general, and about dry goods in particular, that he could learn nowhere
else, because the scope of the Britannica is broader than that of any
other book—or, for that matter, than the scope of any collegiate course
can well be. In the second place, the number of distinguished men who
have devoted their exclusive attention to the subjects upon which they
write, and have given to the Britannica the results of their research
and of their experience as practical experts—in many cases, indeed, as
successful business men—is far greater than the number of men who form
the faculty of any university in the world. The fifteen hundred
contributors in fact include no less than 704 connected with the staffs
of 151 different universities, technological and commercial institutes
and colleges in twenty countries. The reader thus gets the benefit of
contact with the thought of many, of varied, and always of
authoritative, personalities. In the third place, the _textile trade is
peculiarly an international trade_, the raw materials often traveling
from one end of the world to the other before manufacture, and making as
long a journey in the finished form, before they reach the consumer, and
the international character of the Britannica gives equal weight to the
articles which deal with the textiles and with the markets of all
countries—a statement which it would certainly not be safe to make about
any other book.
[Sidenote: Textile Fibres and their Treatment]
The article FIBERS (Vol. 10, p. 309), by C. F. Cross, whose name has
been much before the public in connection with the recent scientific
investigation of the subject, compares the fibres yielded by all the
vegetable and animal substances used in textiles. The 18 microscopic
photographs on the full page plates (facing pp. 310 and 311) and the
table of vegetable fibres (p. 311) should be carefully studied.
CELLULOSE (Vol. 5, p. 606) deals with the “body” of cotton, flax, hemp
and jute fibres. CARDING (Vol. 5, p. 324) deals with the brushing and
combing of fibres. SPINNING (Vol. 25, p. 685) covers both cotton and
linen, and it is curious to note from this article that in preparing
yarns for the exquisite Dacca muslins one pound of cotton has been spun
into a thread 252 miles long; while the article DACCA says that a piece
15 feet by 3 was once woven that weighed only 900 grains. YARN (Vol. 28,
p. 906) deals with cotton, woollen and silk yarns. WEAVING (Vol. 28, p.
440), by Prof. T. W. Fox, author of _Mechanics of Weaving_, and Alan
Cole, is the first article you should read in a group dealing with
processes applied to more than one material. The first section is on the
various combinations of warp and weft, and contains 23 illustrations
showing the chief weaving “schemes.” A section on weaving machinery
follows, and then one on weaving as an art, illustrated with a number of
reproductions of famous specimens of hand-loom work. The whole article
is full of practical every-day information of the kind the merchant and
manufacturer wants to know. BLEACHING (Vol. 4, p. 49) describes the
chemical processes which have expedited the bleaching of cotton, wool,
linen and silk, which it used to take all summer to complete. DYEING
(Vol. 8, p. 744), by Prof. Hummel, author of _The Dyeing of Textile
Fabrics_, and Prof. Knecht, author of _A Manual of Dyeing_, is another
of the thorough articles which entitle the Britannica to rank as a great
original work on textiles. Every dye is separately treated, and the
latest models of dyeing machinery are carefully described. FINISHING
(Vol. 10, p. 378) deals with the processes used for cotton, woollens,
worsteds, pile fabrics, silks and yarns. TEXTILE-PRINTING (Vol. 26, p.
694) is by Prof. Knecht and Alan Cole, author of _Ornament in European
Silks_, and not only describes all the styles of printing, but gives
sixty recipes for various shades of colour. The full page plates
reproduce fine specimens of early printing. The art of textile-printing
“is very ancient, probably originating in the East. It has been
practised in China and India from time immemorial, and the Chinese, at
least, are known to have made use of engraved wood-blocks many centuries
before any kind of printing was known in Europe.”
[Sidenote: Cotton and Cotton Fabrics]
The elaborate article COTTON (Vol. 7, p. 256) begins by discussing the
peculiar twist of the hairs on the cotton seed which by facilitating
spinning gives cotton its predominant position as a textile material.
The section on cultivation, by W. G. Freeman, deals with the soils,
bedding, planting, hoeing and picking, then with ginning and baling. A
section on diseases and pests of the cotton plant follows, then a
discussion of the improvement of yield by seed selection. The section on
marketing and supply is by Prof. Chapman, and his practical study of
“futures,” “options,” and “straddles” shows how greatly the movement of
prices is affected by speculation and often by artificial manipulation.
COTTON MANUFACTURING (Vol. 7, p. 281) describes the industry in England,
that of the United States, with a special section on the recent
developments in the two Carolinas, Georgia and Alabama, and also the
mills in Germany, France, Russia, Switzerland, Italy and in other
countries, including India, China and Japan. It is interesting to note
(p. 293) that “Americans were making vast strides in industrial
efficiency even before the period when American theories and American
enterprise were monopolizing in a wonderful degree the attention of the
business world” abroad. As far back as 1875 progress in the United
States was so rapid that the production for each operative had increased
during the ten years 1865–75, by 100% in Massachusetts as against only
23% in England. One explanation of American success is that the American
employer “tries to save in labour but not in wages, if a generalization
may be ventured. The good workman gets high pay, but he is kept at tasks
requiring his powers and is not suffered to waste his time doing the
work of unskilled or boy labour.”
COTTON SPINNING MACHINERY (Vol. 7, p. 301) describes all the machines in
great detail and contains a number of full-page plates and other
illustrations. MERCERIZING (Vol. 18, p. 150) is another important
article.
[Sidenote: Wool, Linen and Silk]
WOOL, WORSTED AND WOOLLEN MANUFACTURES (Vol. 28, p. 805) is by Prof.
Aldred F. Barker. The development in wool production of various
countries is first described and then the wool fibre is studied and
microscopic photographs reproduced to show the structure of different
varieties. A diagram of a fleece shows the qualities obtained from
various parts of the animal, ranging from the shoulders, where the
finest is found, to the hind quarters. Lamb, hogg and wether wools are
compared and the article discusses shearing, classing, sorting,
scouring, drying, teasing, burring, mule spinning, combing, drawing and
spinning. The centres of the industry are then compared, with details as
to the special products of each. The article contains illustrations of a
number of machines. Articles dealing with certain sources of wool or of
the wool-like hair used in textiles, and with the finished products,
are: ALPACA (Vol. 1, p. 721), the history of its manufacture being “one
of the romances of commerce;” MOHAIR (Vol. 18, p. 647), which deals with
the hair of the Angora goat, familiar from discussions of the Underwood
Tariff bill, and dealing with its weaving and the imitations of the
cloth; LLAMA (Vol. 16, p. 827); and the articles GUANACO (Vol. 12, p.
649) and VICUGNA (Vol. 28, p. 47), on the two wild animals from whose
hair high priced materials, extraordinarily warm and light, are woven.
FLAX (Vol. 10, p. 484) describes the cultivation of the crops which are
harvested by being “pulled,” roots and all, instead of being cut, the
process of separating the capsules from the branches, and the subsequent
stages of preparation. LINEN AND LINEN MANUFACTURES (Vol. 16, p. 724),
by Thomas Woodhouse, takes up the story where the flax fibre is ready
for market and carries it to the point where the yarn is delivered for
weaving. The winding, warping, dressing and beaming, and the looms
employed, are virtually the same processes and machines that are used
for cotton. The article states that the finest linen threads used for
lace are produced by Belgian hand spinners who can only get the desired
results by working in damp cellars, the spinner being guided by touch
alone, as the filament is too fine for him to see. This thread is said
to have been sold for as much as $72 an ounce.
JUTE (Vol. 15, p. 603) deals with the vegetable fibre which ranks, in
its industrial importance, next after cotton and flax and with the
processes employed in its manufacture.
SILK (Vol. 25, p. 96) contains illustrations of cocoons and worms,
microscopic photographs of fibre, and pictures of the moths which
produce wild silk. The section on the fibre and its production and
preparation is by Frank Warner, president of the Silk Association of
Great Britain and Ireland; and that on the silk trade by Arthur Mellor,
a well known manufacturer of Macclesfield, the great British center. The
degree of fineness to which silk thread can be spun is stated (Vol. 28,
p. 906) to be such that 450,000 yards of thread have been produced from
one pound of silk, and this is slightly in excess of the fineness of the
Dacca cotton thread already mentioned as producing 252 miles for a
pound. But at Cambrai the lace maker’s linen thread already described
has been made as fine as 272 miles to the pound, and the drawing of
platinum wire to the fifty-thousandth part of an inch in thickness (Vol.
28, p. 738) seems hardly more wonderful than this. Spider silk is as
valuable as the best qualities of the silkworm product, but spiders are
such fierce cannibals that it is necessary to keep each one in a
separate cage, and the cost of doing this has prevented the fibre from
being generally used (Vol. 25, p. 664). Artificial or “viscose” silk is
described in the article CELLULOSE (Vol. 5, p. 609), and is a textile of
which the importance is rapidly increasing.
Felting is an even older textile process than weaving, just as weaving,
which no doubt originated in basket making (Vol. 3, p. 481) is older
than spinning. The article FELT (Vol. 10, p. 245) deals with asphalted
felts used for roofing as well as with the hat felts; and the article
HAT (Vol. 13, p. 60) gives further details as to both woollen and fur
felts and describes the machinery for hatmaking, which originated in the
United States.
Save that gold, silver and other metals are occasionally used in cloth
or gauze, ASBESTOS (Vol. 2, p. 714) is the only mineral employed in
textiles, and its value for jacketing steam pipes and boilers and for
insulating fabrics and fireproofing gives it great importance. RAMIE
(Vol. 22, p. 875) is not so largely used in textiles, but experiments in
the production of better fibre are being made.
SHODDY (Vol. 24, p. 992) is an article which shows how unfair it is to
treat the re-manufacture of “devilled” fabric as an illegitimate if not
absolutely fraudulent branch of the textile industry, for really
serviceable cloths are woven from it, and masses of poor people who
would otherwise be in rags are thus comfortably clad. “Mungo,” another
re-manufactured cloth, is described (Vol. 28, p. 906) in the article
YARN. Pine-apple fibre is described (Vol. 10, p. 311) as of exceptional
fineness and is used in yarn cloths of the best quality. The article
PINE-APPLE (Vol. 21, p. 625) describes its culture. SISAL HEMP (Vol. 25,
p. 158) is used in bagging as well as cordage, and the same is true of
PHORMIUM (Vol. 21, p. 471), sometimes called New Zealand flax. Paper
pulp yields a yarn which is used in some cheap fabrics as described
(Vol. 5, p. 609) in the article CELLULOSE already mentioned.
[Sidenote: Textile Merchandise]
The many varieties of woven cloths are described in the articles already
mentioned in the manufacture of cotton, linen, wool, and silk, and in
articles on special fabrics. HOSIERY (Vol. 13, p. 788) covers the
textiles that are produced by knitting or looping, and gives an account,
with illustrations, of the machinery employed. NET (Vol. 19, p. 412)
covers the textiles of which the mesh is knotted.
LACE (Vol. 16, p. 37), by Alan Cole, contains some of the most beautiful
full-page plates and other illustrations to be found in the Britannica,
and is a very full treatise on the history and the present state of the
lacemaking art.
FLANNEL (Vol. 10, p. 480) describes the true flannels made from wool,
and FLANNELETTE (Vol. 10, p. 481) the cotton imitations and the new
fire-resisting fabrics of this class. DRILL (Vol. 8, p. 580) covers both
the cotton and linen tissues sold under this name. CREPE (Vol. 7, p.
379) mentions the curious fact that the Chinese and Japanese makers of
soft crepe guard their secret processes, which are still unknown to
western manufacturers, so carefully that the different stages of their
production are carried on in towns far distant from one another.
CARPET (Vol. 5, p. 392) contains full-page plates of rare specimens and
describes pile carpets, flat-surfaced carpets and the printed
carpetings.
TAPESTRY (Vol. 26, p. 403) deals with another luxurious branch of the
textile industry, and is illustrated with photographs of the finest
specimens and with pictures showing the methods of weaving. BROCADE
(Vol. 4, p. 620) describes and illustrates this stately class of
fabrics. EMBROIDERY (Vol. 9, p. 309) with six full-page plates and SHAWL
(Vol. 24, p. 814) deal with other art textiles.
TARTAN (Vol. 26, p. 431) describes the colours and patterns of all
Scottish clan tartans. DAMASK (Vol. 7, p. 785) discusses this fine class
of fabrics, the weaving of which is the subject of a special section
(Vol. 28, p. 454) of the article WEAVING. The enormous consumption of
coarse bags for the packing of raw cotton and of sugar gives importance
to the articles BAGGING (Vol. 3, p. 200) and SACKING AND SACK
MANUFACTURE (Vol. 23, p. 975). CANVAS (Vol. 5, p. 223) discusses sail
cloth and artists’ canvas, and TARPAULIN (Vol. 26, p. 430) deals with
waterproof covers.
[Sidenote: The Seventy Articles on Special Fabrics]
It is unnecessary to describe one by one the seventy articles on other
fabrics and tissues, ranging through the alphabet from Alpaca to
Velveteen; but they are all included in the list at the end of this
chapter, and all are fully described in the Britannica. COSTUME (Vol. 7,
p. 224) is a long and important article, with a full page plate and many
other illustrations. The section on dress in general is by T. A. Joyce,
of the British Museum staff, that on ancient costumes by H. S. Jones,
director of the British School at Rome, and that on modern costume by
Oswald Barron, editor of _The Ancestor_. The account of underclothing is
of especial interest, as most books on costume altogether neglect this
branch of the subject. Another section of this article is on national
and official costumes by W. Alison Phillips, principal assistant editor
of the Britannica. The study of ceremonial robes is carried into further
detail by the article ROBE (Vol. 23, p. 408), with its five richly
colored plates, in one of which the judicial robes of the U. S. Supreme
Court Justices are shown. Liturgical vestments are dealt with in
VESTMENTS (Vol. 28, p. 27) and in a series of articles such as DALMATIC
(Vol. 7, p. 776) and ALB (Vol. 1, p. 497).
[Sidenote: Inventors of Textile Machinery and Great Textile Merchants]
Among the biographies which are of interest in connection with textiles
are those of ARKWRIGHT, RICHARD (Vol. 2, p. 556), the barber who
invented the spinning frame; CARTWRIGHT, EDMUND, (Vol. 5, p. 425),
inventor of the power loom; CROMPTON, SAMUEL (Vol. 7, p. 486), inventor
of the spinning mule; SALT, TITUS (Vol. 23, p. 87), who created the
alpaca industry; STRUTT, JEDEDIAH (Vol. 25, p. 1044), who did much to
perfect the manufacture of cotton; and of WHITNEY, ELI (Vol. 28, p.
611), who went from Yale to Savannah to secure a position as school
teacher and then, being disappointed, turned his attention to a device
for separating the cotton fibre from the seeds and refuse, and invented
the gin which has “profoundly influenced American industrial economic
and social history.” Another name of a great American inventor who
individually rendered great services to the textile industry is that of
HOWE, ELIAS (Vol. 13, p. 835), who invented the sewing machine. You will
also be interested in the lives of successful merchants such as
CANYNGES, WILLIAM (Vol. 5, p. 223), the great 15th Century cloth
manufacturer who became a clergyman after making a large fortune;
MACKINTOSH, CHARLES (Vol. 17, p. 250), who introduced lightweight
waterproof garments; WANAMAKER, JOHN (Vol. 28, p. 302), who began life
as an errand boy in a book store; FIELD, MARSHALL (Vol. 10, p. 322), who
when Chicago was a comparatively unimportant city founded there what has
become the finest dry goods store in the world; STEWART, A. T. (Vol. 25,
p. 912), who after studying for the ministry in Dublin, immigrated to
New York and gradually built up the largest retail store in the city;
PEASE, EDWARD (Vol. 21, p. 31), founder of a famous Quaker family of
textile manufacturers in England; and CLAFLIN, H. B. (Vol. 6, p. 418),
who came from Worcester, Mass., to New York where he for years
controlled “the greatest mercantile business in the world.” If you turn
to the Article WORCESTER (Vol. 28, p. 823) you will note the
associations of the locality with Elias Howe, Eli Whitney, Samuel
Crompton, already mentioned, L. J. Knowles, another inventor who helped
to perfect the power loom, and Erastus Bigelow, who invented the
carpet-weaving machine (Vol. 6, p. 530) and was one of the incorporators
of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Other lives of successful
textile makers and dealers are those of RYLANDS, JOHN (Vol. 23, p. 950),
founder of the largest cotton mills in Lancashire; DEXTER, TIMOTHY (Vol.
8, p. 141), the eccentric New England merchant of the 18th Century who
beat his wife for not weeping heartily enough at the rehearsal of his
funeral; HORROCKS, JOHN (Vol. 13, p. 712), the great English cotton
manufacturer who was far ahead of his time and died of brain fever
produced by overwork in 1804; WORTH, C. F. (Vol. 28, p. 834), the famous
Paris dressmaker who began life as a London draper’s apprentice;
WHITELY, WILLIAM (Vol. 28, p. 605), “the Universal Provider,” of London;
and TATA, J. N. (Vol. 26, p. 448), the great Parsee textile
manufacturer.
A LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL ARTICLES IN THE BRITANNICA OF SPECIAL INTEREST
TO MERCHANTS AND MANUFACTURERS OF TEXTILE GOODS
Alb
Alpaca
Apprenticeship
Arkwright, Richard
Artel
Asbestos
Bagging
Baize
Bleaching
Bombazine or Bombasine
Book-keeping
Bounty
Brocade
Buckram
Bunting
Calender
Calico
Cambric
Camel
Canvas
Canynges, William
Carding
Carpet
Cartwright, Edmund
Cellulose
Chasuble
Cheese Cloth
Chenille
Chintz
Claflin, H. B.
Cloth
Clouting
Codilla
Coir
Commerce
Corduroy
Costume
Cotton
Cotton Manufacture
Cotton Spinning Machinery
Crash
Cravat
Crepe
Cretonne
Crompton, Samuel
Dalmatic
Damask
Denim
Dexter, Timothy
Demurrage
Diaper
Die
Dimity
Dowlas
Drill
Duck
Dyeing
Embroidery
Felt
Fibres
Field, Marshall
Finishing
Flannel
Flannelette
Flax
Flock
Floorcloth
Frock
Fustian
Gante
Gauze
Gimp
Gingham
Girdle
Glass Cloth
Guanaco
Gunny
Haberdasher
Hat
Hessian
Holland
Honeycomb
Horrocks, John
Hosiery
Hose-pipe
Howe, Elias,
Huckaback
Jute
Knitting
Lace
Lawn
Linen
Llama
Longcloth
Manila Hemp
Macintosh, Charles
Maniple
Mantle
Matting
Mercantile System
Mercerizing
Merchant
Mohair
Moleskin
Mull
Muslin
Nankeen
Net
Osnaburg
Padding
Pease, Edward
Petticoat
Phormium
Pine-apple
Plaid
Plush
Poplin or Tabinet
Protection
Ramie
Rep
Ribbons
Ring
Robes
Rylands, John
Sacking
Salt, Titus
Salvage
Scarf
Scrim
Shawl
Sheet
Shoddy
Silk
Sisal Hemp
Sleeve
Spinning
Stewart, A. T.
Stocking
Stole
Strutt, Jedediah
Tare and Tret
Tariff
Tarpaulin
Tartan
Tata, J. N.
Tapestry
Technical Education
Textile-printing
Ticking
Tow
Towel
Trousers
Tulle
Twill
Veil
Velvet
Velveteen
Vestments
Vicugna
Wanamaker, John
Weaving
Whiteley, William
Whitney, Eli
Wool, Worsted and Woollen Manufactures
Worth, C. F.
Yarn