Page:Guide to the Bohemian section and to the Kingdom of Bohemia - 1906.djvu/133

107 tainous districts where nature herself forces her children to adapt themselves to new conditions of life.

And so by force of circumstances the country-folk whose original occupation was chiefly field-labour, have taken to home-work and factory employment.

In some trades, they are occasionally affected by the vagaries of fashion, and have to meet a sudden demand for an article which enjoys but a butter-fly life. However, our people are always able to deal with such passing fashions with due promptitude.

So is Lomnice nad Popelkou (Lomnice on the Popelka) in the North East of Bohemia, a typical example of the transformation of a small hill-town into a purely industrial centre. This is owing to the initiative of the inhabitants themselves. Here are many small weavers who make the material, dyes it and passes the fabric on to the needle-woman who fashions it into a variety of articles, some plain, and others most elaborately embroidered.

While the production of articles for outward adornment is the special work of so many, there are those in this district who give their attention to supplying some of the wants of „the inner man“, in the form of crackers and quite a variety of nice biscuits.

But in addition to the articles already mentioned this busy part produces in the neighbourhood of Lomnice, such things as garnet ornaments, coffee-mills and organs.

While the people are kept fairly busy, their earnings are small. Here the law of supply and demand operates so far as the labour-market is concerned. We have a superabundance of labour,—consequently is cheap. We are seeking to improve matters by extending our over-sea trade and opening new markets, to that end we hope that the Exhibition at Earl’s Court will assist us to find the best of all remedies, an increased demand for the productions of our home and factory industries.

Certain societies connected with museums; such as those of Chrudim, Králové Hradec (Königgrätz) and Hořice, have made special efforts to organise the labour and improve the commercial side of the business, and in this way promote the interests of all concerned, by pushing the sales of the people’s work.