RUINED TRADES.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "serscrA.Ton..] SIR,—In his letter which you published in the Spectator of September 12th Mr. W. E. Dowding evades the point alto- gether. My statement was explicit : that the women's branch of the leather glove industry had been ruined by Free-trade. Your correspondent replies that it is not true that the glove industry has been ruined. I did not say that it was.. The men's branch of the industry, as I explained, still exists (though this also has been attacked) ; but my assertion that the women's branch, which is by far the larger portion of the trade, had been ruined is absolutely and entirely true. Mr. Dowding remarks that I offer no proof of my statement. Within the limits which you could possibly assign to me of your valuable apace, it would be impossible to prove all the facts.
I may refer those of your readers who are interested in the matter to the letters which I have recently published in the Western Gazette (Yeovil) for full information on this subject. In order, however, to show a primillacie case, I may state the following facts. Between the years 1838 and 1848 there were in Yeovil at least thirty-three glove manufacturers, of whom four- teen were in a large way of business. All these produced princi- pally women's gloves. Now there are only thirteen glove manu- facturers in the town, only two of whom can be said to be in a large way of business, and neither of whom turns out so many pairs annually as the largest of those existing sixty years ago. Not one of these turns out any appreciable quantity of women's gloves. If we take, as a contrast, Prague, one of the many towns of Europe which send us the modern equivalent of the glove pro- duced in Yeovil sixty years ago, we find that from a mere hand- ful in 1840 the list of leather glove manufacturers has swelled until it now occupies sixteen pages in the Directory.
Previous page
