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DAYS

AT THE

FACTORIES;

OR,

THE MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY OF GREAT

BRITAIN DESCRIBED,

AND

ILLUSTRATED BY NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS OF MACHINES

AND PROCESSES.

SERIES I.-LONDON.

BY GEORGE DODD.

LONDON:

CHARLES KNIGHT & CO., 22, LUDGATE STREET.

1843.

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DAYS AT THE FACTORIES.

I. INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER ON THE TRADES OF LONDON.

THE bulk of the inhabitants of a great city, such as London, have very indistinct notions of the means whereby the necessaries, the comforts, or the luxuries of life are furnished. The simple fact, that he who has money can command every variety of exchangeable produce, seems to act as a veil which hides the producer from the consumer. The coined piece of gold is the general agent, the factor, the broker, through whose medium the labours of all become available to all; and, like as in the case of other agencies, the principals have but a vague knowledge of the sources whence the supply is obtained. Who, if he were to catalogue the articles of food, or of clothing, or of furniture, or other commodities which contribute to his daily comfort, could enumerate the sources whence they are obtained, and the general character of the processes by which they are manufactured? The number of such is probably very small. And yet the inquiry is an interesting and a valuable one: for the social features of a city or town are largely dependent on these two questions,-whether manufactures are carried on therein to a notable extent, and whether the mode of production partakes more of the factory or of the handicraft character. Again, the means of transit from one town to another depend in a striking degree on the relative positions of the two towns with respect to manufactures: if each consumes largely the produce of the other, their mutual wants will not fail to lead to the construction of roads, of canals, of railroads, of shipping, and other facilities for transit; and these again give activity to various departments of commercial industry.

Selecting London-the busy centre of the commercial world—as the scene of inquiry, it may not be impracticable to take a rapid view of the chief departments of industry exhibited therein, so far as they come under the denomination of manufactures.' Among many different classifications of productive industry one might be adopted

B

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