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SILK MANUFACTURES AT BASLE.

123

but it did not present the active scene which I saw at Lyons. There was a large supply of cattle at market, and also of calves. The Swiss prefer veal to mutton, and more attention is paid to calves than to sheep. I noticed in Switzerland that which I did not see in France-a considerable cattle traffic on the railways. The calves, pigs, and some of the cows, were brought to market at Basle in low waggons, drawn by horses, and covered with canvas. The poultry were very nicely arranged; instead of being tied together by the legs, and put on a cart or into boxes, they were placed in round baskets, to the sides of which a net is attached, which was about two feet high, and closed with a running string like a bag; thus any of them could be taken out at a moment. The bridge at Basle consists of timber flooring; half of the length is supported by stone piers, the other half by timber piles. On ascending from it to the Munster Plaz, in which the Cathedral stands, I was quite surprised to see the number of tall chimneys, each giving signs of fire below. I learned that Basle possesses many manufactories, and is particularly famous for her ribbons. Her manu

facturers purchase raw silk in London and send back their ribbons for sale there, thus beating the English manufacturers, though loaded with a double carriage.. In 1846, the silk manufactures of Basle were estimated at 20,000,000 francs annually. The total value of the silk manufactures of Switzerland are about 35,000,000 francs. The Swiss have to compete with the French in this branch of manufactures. The superior education of the Swiss operatives gives them every chance of perfecting themselves afterwards. 'While the French workman,' writes Mr. Burnley, ‘is lighter and nimbler, conceives and executes new things

quicker, the Swiss is slower and heavier, but the more solid, steady, and reliable. The Swiss manufacturer has the advantage of a larger capital, and greater skill and practice in mercantile business.' The aptitude and energy of the Swiss for manufacturing is astonishing. We have long been familiar with the delicacy of the Geneva watches, which are mostly made by the peasantry of a particular district during the winter. But in textile fabrics the Swiss are beating both the English and the Belgians, each of which countries has, what Switzerland has not, a seaboard and large supplies of coals. The English and Belgians can receive the raw fibre, and export the manufactured article, at much less cost for carriage than the Swiss, who have no seaboard, and must receive their supplies either through Italy from Genoa, or through France. I understand the Swiss manufacturers content themselves with second-hand machinery, taken out of English mills to make room for more improved machines—that is, implements which will either do more work or do it better. These facts present a curious problem to political economists. Here is a country without coals, without seaports, and using inferior machines, beating two countries which possess all these advantages. Let us look at the cause, because nothing happens without one. What have the Swiss to compensate for these disadvantages? They have food grown by themselves, and they have water-power. As to food, England has to pay a large sum for it. This sum is partly the cost of the corn, partly the cost of carriage. The actual cost of wheat upon grounds of equal fertility is the same all over the world, it is only the seed and labour. If it be removed from Russia or

WATER-POWER OF SWITZERLAND.

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America to England, then England must pay the carriage, and all the commissions or profits incident to collecting it from the farmers, in addition to the cost. Corn consumed where it is raised is, therefore, cheaper than it can be when imported. Switzerland has an almost unlimited supply of waterpower. I think the river Aar alone would drive all the mills of Lancashire. It falls nearly 1,500 feet between Brienz and the sea, and the volume of water which pours along is surprising. I descended from a char-a-banc at a very beautiful bridge, which spans this river, in order to admire the structure, which consists of three arches rising 150 feet above the level of the stream. I was astonished at the enormous flow of water which poured against the abutments.

In driving from Lake Zurich to Lake Zug, in a rather out of the way part of the country, I came upon a cotton factory. In front of it was a large, nicely laid out, flower garden. It consisted of two wings, and opposite each a fountain was playing. I should have been glad, had time allowed, to have stayed to inspect this mill; but as I drove away, I could not help feeling impressed with the happy union between utility and beauty. The French and the Swiss try to take away from manufactories that stiff business look which they bear in England. I noticed at Dijon, in France, two tall chimneys: the builder tried to relieve the monotony by running spiral lines of black bricks from the base to the summit, thus giving each the appearance of an enormous sugar-stick placed on the end. The same fancy is noticed in the curious intermixture of slates and tiles on the roofs of some of the houses: one, on the banks of Lake Thun, is very striking, and looks at a distance like a piece of

oil-cloth. Nor is this fancy of recent date. The roof of the Cathedral at Basle is done in the same style. It is a fine old building, and Baedecker, who likes to use superlatives, says 'it is now one of the finest Protestant churches in existence.' I return to the subject of Swiss manufactures. The value of the textile fibres imported, and the manufactured articles exported, in 1862, was as follows:

Imports
Exports

Commerce General 42,421,160

20,354,860

Commerce

Special 10,628,038

8,595,575

I was not at all prepared for a statement, made in a recently published statistical work, that the exports and imports of Switzerland were greater per head than any country in Europe, except the Netherlands.

Mr. Jenny states that the canton of Glaris has at present 206,000 spindles, and 2,500 power-looms, that there are from 9,000 to 10,000 workmen, and the capital is 40,000,000 to 50,000,000 francs (about 2,000,000l. sterling). Switzerland has to stand a com

The latest volume of Swiss statistics contains an interesting table, from which I take the following extract :

Population, Importation, and Exportation of the following

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* Articles of colonial and foreign produce imported into the United Kingdom and re-exported, are excluded.

MANUFACTURES OF SWITZERLAND.

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petition with the rest of the world, and she is not able at once to procure new inventions in machinery, but has to work with her old machines, until she can procure better. A mill in England can be erected at 25 francs per spindle; in Switzerland, it costs 50 francs per spindle. The carriage of cotton places the Swiss manufacturer at a cost of 6 to 10 per cent. more than the English. Contrasted with England's cheap iron and coal,' says he, ‘even our water-power can hardly be looked upon as an advantage, inasmuch as the first cost of steam-power does not amount to one-half, scarcely to one-third, of that of water-power. One advantage, then, as regards England, lies principally in the longer working time, in the moderate wages, in the economical habits of the manufacturers, and in the tool with which we conduct our mercantile operations.'

Mr. S. Hume Burnley, secretary to the British Legation in Switzerland, in his report of July 1st, 1863, wrote: 'Having had occasion to proceed to Zurich myself, for the purposes of this report, the following remarks were made to me by a large cotton-spinner, and part owner of one of the largest mills in Switzerland-one with 60,000 spindles-at Boar on the Lorre, on the margin of the Lake Zug, where the Surat cotton is now profitably worked up: that the position of the master and the man was on a better footing here than in England; that the former sought to attach his operative to him by making pecuniary sacrifices when he might not require his services; that the English operative, for the sake of a penny more wages, would leave the owner and go somewhere else; the master, on his side, would not consider himself bound to keep his workman longer than might

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