DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.25990#0032
INTRODUCTION.
This leads us to remark that there are certain fabrics which will probably always
be best and most cheaply manufactured by hand. It is found to be so even in
this country, where the powers of machinery have been pushed to their utmost.
The hand-loom weaver still exists amongst us, nor is it likely that he will ever
cease to do so. Less likely still is it that machinery will ever be able to drive
him from the field in India. The very fine and the richly decorated fabrics of
that country will probably always require the delicate manipulation of human
fingers for their production.
In such manufactures the foremost place will be taken by that country which
can most cheaply supply labour, intelligence, and refined taste—all three combined.
This being the case, it is not probable that England will ever be able to compete
successfully with the native manufacturer in the production of fabrics of this sort.
The reverse, indeed, is in every sense probable, and the native looms will continue
to yield the Embroideries, the Shawls, and the Carpets, for which they are already
so famous. They will continue to do this for the customer in India, and it is
quite possible, when the beauty of some of their productions is better known and
appreciated, that they will find profitable customers in the far West as well.
Such a hope is not without something to rest on, and it may be the sooner
realized now that these collections have been made.
In the meantime the British manufacturer must not look for his customers
to the upper ten millions of India, but to the hundreds of millions in the
lower grades. The plainer and cheaper stuffs of cotton, or of cotton and
wool together, are those which he has the best chance of selling, and those which
he would be able to sell largely, if in their manufacture he would keep well in
view the requirements and tastes of the people to whom he offers them.
This naturally brings us to the more special consideration of the manner
in which the interests of India are concerned in the matter.
We know India now-a-days as a country whose Raw Products we largely
receive. We pay for these partly in kind and partly in money; but India never
buys from us what will repay our purchases from her, and the consequence is
that we have always to send out the large difference in bullion, which never
comes back to us, disappearing there as if it had been dropped into the ocean.
This leads us to remark that there are certain fabrics which will probably always
be best and most cheaply manufactured by hand. It is found to be so even in
this country, where the powers of machinery have been pushed to their utmost.
The hand-loom weaver still exists amongst us, nor is it likely that he will ever
cease to do so. Less likely still is it that machinery will ever be able to drive
him from the field in India. The very fine and the richly decorated fabrics of
that country will probably always require the delicate manipulation of human
fingers for their production.
In such manufactures the foremost place will be taken by that country which
can most cheaply supply labour, intelligence, and refined taste—all three combined.
This being the case, it is not probable that England will ever be able to compete
successfully with the native manufacturer in the production of fabrics of this sort.
The reverse, indeed, is in every sense probable, and the native looms will continue
to yield the Embroideries, the Shawls, and the Carpets, for which they are already
so famous. They will continue to do this for the customer in India, and it is
quite possible, when the beauty of some of their productions is better known and
appreciated, that they will find profitable customers in the far West as well.
Such a hope is not without something to rest on, and it may be the sooner
realized now that these collections have been made.
In the meantime the British manufacturer must not look for his customers
to the upper ten millions of India, but to the hundreds of millions in the
lower grades. The plainer and cheaper stuffs of cotton, or of cotton and
wool together, are those which he has the best chance of selling, and those which
he would be able to sell largely, if in their manufacture he would keep well in
view the requirements and tastes of the people to whom he offers them.
This naturally brings us to the more special consideration of the manner
in which the interests of India are concerned in the matter.
We know India now-a-days as a country whose Raw Products we largely
receive. We pay for these partly in kind and partly in money; but India never
buys from us what will repay our purchases from her, and the consequence is
that we have always to send out the large difference in bullion, which never
comes back to us, disappearing there as if it had been dropped into the ocean.