Слике страница
PDF
ePub

206. In villages and remote countries, where every separate branch could not meet with sufficient employment, the same person often pursues two or three branches; for example, the stone-mason, bricklayer, slater, and plasterer, are often united in one workman; so the carpenter and joiner; also the plumber, glazier, and painter; and the carpenter or bricklayer takes upon himself, to act also as architect and surveyor. See the Book of Trades.

207. In the arts connected with the furnishing of a house, there is the smith, the ironmonger, the joiner, the cabinet-maker, the looking-glass maker, the framemaker, the carpet-maker, the bedstead-maker, the feather-merchant, the blanket-manufacturer, the oilcloth-maker, the coppersmith, the venetian blind-maker, the tinman, the printseller, the bookseller, and the painter; all necessary for the house of a man of taste and fortune.

208. In branches of trade connected with the clothing of a man, we have the wool-man, the comber, the the spinner, the weaver, the fuller, the dyer, the presser, the packer, the woollen-draper.

For cottons, there is the planter, the merchant, the cotton spinner, the weaver, the bleacher, the dyer, the presser, the packer, the warehouseman, and the draper.

209. In the silk trade, there is the importer, the silk-throwster or spinner, the weaver, the dyer, the presser, and the mercer.

In the iron and metallic trades, called the hardware manufacture, there is the miner, the smelter, the ironmaster, the founder, the sythesmith, the button-maker, the gun-smith, the sword-blade manufacturer, the cutler, the polisher, the plater, the finisher, the sorter, the packer, the factor, and the hardwareman.

210. In connection with books and literature, there are the author, the designer, the publisher, the rag-merchant, the paper-maker, the stationer, the typefounder, the press-maker, the ink maker, the pelt-maker, the

chase-maker, the compositor, the pressman, the gatherer, the folder, the stitcher, the leather-seller, the binder, the coppersmith, the engraver, the wood-cutter, the copper-plate printer, and the bookseller: in all 25 trades, to produce the Universal Preceptor.

Obs. The author requires, too, his quill-merchant and his ink-maker; the designer, various branches of trade; as the pencil-maker, the colour-grinder, &c. &c. the rags require sorters; the paper-maker has his vatmen, his dryers, pickers, sorters, pressers, &c. &c. and so on in each department, extending the 25 even to 100.

THE LEVER PRINTING PRESS.

INVENTED BY JOHN I. WELLS.

[ocr errors]
[graphic]

In the early part of 1821, the much lamented Professor FISHER, of New Haven, Con. published a lengthy and specific description of this press, in the "Journal of Arts and Sciences;" demonstrating its excellence, from experiment and mathematical calculations. After some introductory remarks, and a brief account of other presses, we notice the following paragraph:

"But of all the presses which act on the principle of compound leverage, the one recently invented by Mr. Wells, of Hartford, in this State, appears to possess the highest recommendations. It has now been in operation in various parts of the country more than two years—a period sufficiently long to furnish an experimental test of its excellence; and it seems due no less to the interests of the mechanical arts in this country, than to the ingenious and worthy inventor, that a more particular account of it than has hitherto appeared should be given to the public."

Further extracts would be made, if our limits permitted; he showed clearly, however, that its power was immense.

211. A pack of wool, weighing 240 pounds, employs 200 persons before it is ready for sale in the form of stuffs, cloths, &c. to. be made into stockings, it will оссиру 184 persons for a week; as 10 combers, 100 spinners, winders, &c. 60 weavers or stocking-makers, beside dyers, pressers, &c.

A sword made of steel, the original metal of which was not worth a shilling, is sometimes sold for 300 guineas; and a watch-chain has produced 50 guineas; the metal of which, before it was wrought, was not worth three pence.

In like manner, a yard of Mechlin lace will fetch 20 guineas; the flax in which was originally not worth three pence.

So likewise, a painting, not two yards square, has been valued at £25,000; and a shawl, which contains

but a few ounces of wool, and may be drawn through a curtain ring, sells for 60 or 80 guineas.

212. As it is with individuals, so it is with nations: what one nation possesses in superfluity, it is desirous to exchange for some article it wants with any other nation which possesses a superfluity of that article.Anciently, England had tin, wool and coals, which it exchanged for wines and manufactures.

Obs. A people who have no superfluities desirable among other nations, can have no trađe, nor can they enjoy any foreign commodities; but if they had such superfluities, they can exchange, them and trade. Gold or silver are superfluities which command trade, and pay the balance of trade, when the goods received exceed the goods delivered. Hence arises the wealth in gold and silver of all fruitful and industrious countries.

213. Such was the origin, and such is the principle of foreign commerce. Formerly, Great Britain supplied the whole world with her manufactures, and received raw materials in exchange, and in some cases, manufactured produce, which was consumed at home, or re-exported. The United States have, within a few years, become a successful competitor of England, in cotton fabrics, and many other manufactured articles, which were formerly exclusively supplied by Britain.

214. The Phoenicians or Philistines were the first people on record who employed ships to carry the produce and manufactures of one nation to another.

They were followed by the Carthagenians: and these, by the Venitians, Genoese, and Hanse Towns.

During the two last centuries, the Portuguese and
Dutch divided the trade of the world with the English.
Thou, gracious Commerce, from his cheerless cave,
In horrid rocks, and solitary woods,

The helpless wand'rer, man, forlorn and wild,
Didst charm to sweet society; didst cast
The deep foundations, where the future pride
Of mightiest cities rose, and o'er the main
Before the wond'ring Nereids didst present

The surge-dividing keel, and stately mast,
Whose canvass wings, distending with the gale,
The bold Phoenician, thro' Alcides' straits
To northern Albion's tin-embowell'd fields,
And oft beneath the sea-observing brow
Of cloud-envelop'd Teneriff convey'd.

GLOVER.

215. Within the last twenty years, preceding 1815, the British monopolized the trade of the whole world. They were not only the greatest manufacturers, but also the greatest carriers of desirable produce; and they have had three times as many merchant vessels on the seas, as all other nations put together.

216. Besides trading with the remotest nations, the British have established considerable settlements or colonies in Asia, Africa, and America; by which means they enjoy the profits of cultivation, in addition to those of monopoly.

217. In Asia, the British colonies are Bengal, all the countries on the Ganges, the coasts of Coromandel and Malabar, and the large islands of Ceylon and Su

matra.

From these and neighbouring countries, they bring to Europe spices, silk, rice, tea, muslins, coffee, drugs, perfumes, and precious stones.

218. In Africa the colonies of Britain are the Cape of Good Hope, Goree, Sierra Leone, and parts on the coast of Guinea.

From these, they bring to Europe gold dust, ivory, gums and drugs.

219. In America, the British provinces of Upper and Lower Canada and Nova Scotia, produce furs, corn and fish. In the West Indies, Great Britain occupies Jamaica, Barbadoes, and a dozen other islands, besides Demarara, &c.; all which supply sugar, rum, cotton, coffee, spices, drugs, mahogany, sweetmeats, &c.

220. These luxuries serve at once to gratify ourselves, and become desirable mediums of exchange for the produce and manufactures of all other countries

« ПретходнаНастави »