DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1311#0092
OF THE WORLD'S INDUSTRY. 65
bordered by beautiful waters; and their more artistic character is more in unison with
their destination, and with French habits. I shall never forget, as one of the noblest
specimens of the kind, the beautiful factory of Messrs. Zuber at ttixheim, near Mul-
house, with its large spacious courts, shaded by magnificent sycamore trees, looking more
like an Italian villa than a manufactory of paper-hangings. More not less remarkable
instances might be quoted at Thann and Cemay. It is, therefore, always by means of
art and taste that we distinguish ourselves, and that we compete with our rivals. They
shine with the compass—we with the pencil. They derive their profit from fuel, from
iron, from the mass of the products manufactured, from the greater facilities of credit
amongst them; our profits are derived from our designs, from our inventions in matter
of colour and form. They force the buyers by lowness of price—we seduce them by
novelty. The prosperity of an English factory depends more on its master; that of a
French factory more on its workmen-
It is evident that everywhere, where it is only necessary that machinery, almost perfect,
such as those English looms of 1,200 spindles—monster machines, which move by
themselves, which go, come, I might almost say, which reason—should work regularly,
the capitalist and the mechanician alone suffice; but when the success of the manufactory
depends upon the designers, the chemists, the finishers, the wealth of the master can
do nothing; the genius of the workmen can do nearly everything. It is this value of
the workmen which political economists have called their moral capital—infinitely greater
in France than anywhere else. Thus, the magnificent sideboard executed by Four-
dinoisj and which has produced such a great sensation at the London Exhibition, has
sprung from the brain of an able designer, M. Protat, whose name does not even appear
in the catalogue. The London Exhibition, and the study of the French and English
factories, point out in a very significant manner the difference in the industrial genius of
the two nations. We have just described the difference in the construction, in the site,
and in the objects surrounding the factories; but it is still more striking, when you enter
the workshops, to study the distinctive character of the two races. The English factory
operative is cold, silent, absorbed by his task; he possesses a peculiar characteristic of
patient and severe firmness, which distinguishes him from other workmen even in his
own country. The French workman, on the other hand, more lively, more sprightly, more
open, likes to chat, and indulges in it willingly whenever the din of machinery does
not drown his voice. The English workman lives more isolated, he is more fond of
privacy; he prefers domestic life when he has a family. The Frenchman is more fond of
living in public, of noise, and of political discussions. The English workman does not
seek after the public journals with the same eagerness as the French artisan. The
influences by which both races are surrounded must also be accounted for in their cha-
racters. The French, accustomed from early life to the study of arts, of design, and the
sight of monuments of art; the English more accustomed to the management of
machinery and its various applications. Whatever degree of superiority the severe habits
of the English may impart to their manufactures, the Alsatian, more than any other
branch of French industry, tends to deprive them of it, because it unites with the
advantages of internal economical order, the merits of numerous arts which add value
without enhancing the price of the products. It is not the richness of the material
which constitutes the price of printed calicoes—it is the taste, the originality of the
design, the happy combination of colours; all superiorities of French genius, which
compensate, by a species of natural favour, for the elements of inferiority which we may
The same contrast is found in a very different branch of industry now in process of
undergoing a complete revolution, and split into two very different camps. I allude to
VOL. II. s
bordered by beautiful waters; and their more artistic character is more in unison with
their destination, and with French habits. I shall never forget, as one of the noblest
specimens of the kind, the beautiful factory of Messrs. Zuber at ttixheim, near Mul-
house, with its large spacious courts, shaded by magnificent sycamore trees, looking more
like an Italian villa than a manufactory of paper-hangings. More not less remarkable
instances might be quoted at Thann and Cemay. It is, therefore, always by means of
art and taste that we distinguish ourselves, and that we compete with our rivals. They
shine with the compass—we with the pencil. They derive their profit from fuel, from
iron, from the mass of the products manufactured, from the greater facilities of credit
amongst them; our profits are derived from our designs, from our inventions in matter
of colour and form. They force the buyers by lowness of price—we seduce them by
novelty. The prosperity of an English factory depends more on its master; that of a
French factory more on its workmen-
It is evident that everywhere, where it is only necessary that machinery, almost perfect,
such as those English looms of 1,200 spindles—monster machines, which move by
themselves, which go, come, I might almost say, which reason—should work regularly,
the capitalist and the mechanician alone suffice; but when the success of the manufactory
depends upon the designers, the chemists, the finishers, the wealth of the master can
do nothing; the genius of the workmen can do nearly everything. It is this value of
the workmen which political economists have called their moral capital—infinitely greater
in France than anywhere else. Thus, the magnificent sideboard executed by Four-
dinoisj and which has produced such a great sensation at the London Exhibition, has
sprung from the brain of an able designer, M. Protat, whose name does not even appear
in the catalogue. The London Exhibition, and the study of the French and English
factories, point out in a very significant manner the difference in the industrial genius of
the two nations. We have just described the difference in the construction, in the site,
and in the objects surrounding the factories; but it is still more striking, when you enter
the workshops, to study the distinctive character of the two races. The English factory
operative is cold, silent, absorbed by his task; he possesses a peculiar characteristic of
patient and severe firmness, which distinguishes him from other workmen even in his
own country. The French workman, on the other hand, more lively, more sprightly, more
open, likes to chat, and indulges in it willingly whenever the din of machinery does
not drown his voice. The English workman lives more isolated, he is more fond of
privacy; he prefers domestic life when he has a family. The Frenchman is more fond of
living in public, of noise, and of political discussions. The English workman does not
seek after the public journals with the same eagerness as the French artisan. The
influences by which both races are surrounded must also be accounted for in their cha-
racters. The French, accustomed from early life to the study of arts, of design, and the
sight of monuments of art; the English more accustomed to the management of
machinery and its various applications. Whatever degree of superiority the severe habits
of the English may impart to their manufactures, the Alsatian, more than any other
branch of French industry, tends to deprive them of it, because it unites with the
advantages of internal economical order, the merits of numerous arts which add value
without enhancing the price of the products. It is not the richness of the material
which constitutes the price of printed calicoes—it is the taste, the originality of the
design, the happy combination of colours; all superiorities of French genius, which
compensate, by a species of natural favour, for the elements of inferiority which we may
The same contrast is found in a very different branch of industry now in process of
undergoing a complete revolution, and split into two very different camps. I allude to
VOL. II. s