CHAPTER IV.

MANUFACTURES.

IRON-STEEL-BRASS-COPPER-PLATED Wares-GLASS-HARDWARES.

Increase of population of Birmingham-Fall in cost of goods-Quantities exported, and value of the same-British iron exported-Quantity and value of brass and copper goods exported-System of manufactures pursued in Birmingham-Increase of population of Sheffield-Conversion of iron into steel-Quantity of steel exported-Value of plated goods exported-Glass manufacture Causes which have prevented its extensionQuantity retained for consumption-Effect of high duties in limiting consumptionIllicit manufacture.

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THERE are many branches of manufacturing industry in this country which are of considerable importance from the number of hands to whom they give employment, but as to the amount or progress of which it is not possible to form any other than a conjectural or at best an approximative opinion.

Among the manufactures thus circumstanced may be mentioned those of hardware, plated goods, and earthenware. The materials of which these articles are made are for the most part produced at home; and as the goods manufactured have never been subjected to duty, no means exist whereby to judge of the increase or otherwise of their quantity. It was at one time thought practicable to estimate the progress of the manufacture carried on at the Potteries in Staffordshire, by ascertaining the quantity of raw material conveyed into the district on the canals; but attempts which have been made to procure a statement of the tonnage so conveyed, have not hitherto met with any success, owing probably to a misconception on the part of the managers of the canals as to the motive which has prompted the inquiry. In proportion as the value of such information to the community becomes better known, we may hope that the avenues to it will be less jealously guarded, and that a general willingness to communicate information will ere long take the place of that feeling which seeks advantage from concealment.

With regard to the manufacture of hardwares, we can have no doubt as to its extension if we compare the population of Birmingham as given at each census.

So that the number has been increased by nearly 150 per cent. in forty years. It will be observed that the increase which occurred during the ten years, from 1821 to 1831, amounted to upwards of 54 per cent. upon the population as it existed at the beginning of the century.

The increase of buildings in the town of Birmingham during the ten years between 1821 and 1831, amounted to 38 per cent., and the greater number that were being built in 1831, as compared with 1821, showed that the increase was still progressive, as fully appeared in 1841.

The extension of the manufacture of which this growth of population exhibits indubitable proof, has been accompanied-or, perhaps, to speak more correctly, has been occasioned-by improvements in the methods. of production, which have lowered the prices of goods in a manner calculated to insure a continuance of prosperity to those engaged in the manufacture, by extending the number of consumers. This fact is shown by Mr. Babbage, who has given the following table “extracted from the books of a highly respectable house at Birmingham.'

The interval that occurred between the dates here contrasted was twenty years, and it will be seen that during that time, in a pretty extensive list of articles, the reduction in price on some was 40 per cent., while on others it went to the almost incredible extent of 80 to 85 per cent. The cost of the material employed had, it is true, fallen very

considerably in the interval, but this can have had but little influence in reducing prices, when, as is the case with nearly all the articles comprised in the list, the first cost of the material forms only a minute portion of the value of the finished article.

The degree in which this reduction in their cost has occasioned an increase in the number of foreign customers, may be gathered from the amount of hardware and cutlery exported at different periods during the present century: viz.

The value of these exports since 1820, as declared by the merchants

A much more striking progress has been made in the exportation of British iron in an unmanufactured state. The quantities supplied to other countries by Great Britain in each year of the present century

have been:

The quantity and value of brass and copper manufactures exported in each year from 1805, the earliest year of which we have any record, are as under. It is only in this branch that any estimate can be formed of the progress of these manufactures, but there is no reason to doubt that the home demand has at least kept pace with that from foreign countries. The value previous to 1814 is given according to the official rates, but on and after that year the real or declared value is stated.

The largest shipments of these manufactures are made to India; the markets of Hindustan, in 1844, took from us 141,237 cwt., valued at 611,1097., a quantity nearly double the amount of the shipments to all parts of the world in 1814. France is our next most considerable customer, having, in 1844, taken 103,214 cwt., valued at 453,4057.; to the whole of our colonies and dependencies, exclusive of India, we sent only 18,739 cwt., valued at 80,2321. The United States took 43,811 cwt., valued at 197,2897.; leaving 81,881 cwt., valued at 394,5107. for the supply of the rest of the world.

The greater part of the articles most commonly manufactured at Birmingham are not produced in extensive factories in which large capitals must be employed for the erection of machinery. Almost all the small wares of the district are made by workmen who undertake, each one in his particular line, to execute orders received by the merchants and agents settled in the town. The profitable performance of their contracts, however, calls for the employment of a cheaper kind of power than is at the command of men who, like these workmen, have little or no capital; and this course of business has opened a channel for the employment of money in the town, in a manner which is found to be profitable to those who engage in it, and advantageous to the small manufacturer. The plan alluded to is this. A building containing a great number of rooms of various sizes, is furnished with a steam-engine, working shafts from which are placed in each apartment or workshop, which is likewise furnished with a lathe, benches, and such other conveniences as are suited to the various branches of manufacture for which the rooms are likely to be needed. When a workman has received an order for the supply of such a quantity of goods as will occupy him a week, or a month, or any other given time for their completion, he hires one or more of these rooms, of sizes and with conveniences suited to his particular wants, stipulating for the use of a certain amount of steampower. He thus realizes all the advantage that would accompany the possession of a steam-engine; and as the buildings thus fitted up are numerous, competition on the part of their owners has brought down the charge for the accommodation they offer to the lowest rate that will ensure to them the ordinary rate of profit on the capital employed.

Before the introduction of this system, the trade of Birmingham was for the most part carried on by men of large capital, who employed journeymen, and gave a considerable credit to the merchants who dealt with them. At present those merchants themselves employ the workmen, who can give no credit, but receive payment in ready money at the end of every week for such part of their goods as they can then deliver in a finished state.

In this way the profit of the intermediate dealer is saved, and this circumstance will, in part, account for the great diminution that has