Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 09.djvu/197

* GREAT BRITAIN. 171 GKEAT BRITAIN. successful, as is indicated by the increase in the number of allotments (for rent), one acre and less in size, from 3.57,795 in 1888 to o7!t.l3.3 in 1895. The prospects of the agricultural laborer are, therefore, becoming somewhat better. MANlTFACTrRES. Great Britain is known pre- eminently as a manufacturing country. In no other land is either the percentage or the abso- lute number of the population engaged in the industiy so large, and until the recent industrial development in the United States, no nther na- tion had for more than a centuiy approached Great Britain in the amount of manufactured products. ^lanuf.acturing had been for a much longer period one of the most vital and dominat- ing industries of the Kingdom; but in the earlier periods of the nation's history the industry was of minor importance, and did not begin to equal that of the Dutch, the Flemish, or the French. Chief among the factors which have brought England up from industrial insignificance to so great a prominence are: (1) Its comparative freedom from the turbulence and destruction of vars; (2) its early superiority as .a wool pro- ducer; (3) the favorable climate; (4) the great abundance of the coal and iron suppl.v; (5) its success through the preeminence of shipping in- terests and the acc(uisition of territorial posses- sions in extending markets: and (0) the remark- able series of improved methods and labor-saving inventions which have been the product of British genius. From a very early period Great Britain far excelled other northern European countries in the production of wool. The ruder and more primitive methods of manufacture were known, and coarse woolens were manufactired by each family as its requirements demanded, but not for the market. Jlost of the wool was exported to Flanders. Flanders depended for its supply almost wholly upon Great Britain, and Great Britain depended upon Flanders for the better and finer grades of manufactured woolens. The idea of retaining the product and securing its manufacture at home early occurred to the Eng- lish, and as far back as 1258 a law- prohibited its exportation. It remained, however, for Edward III., near the middle of the fourteenth century, to take advantage of internal troubles in Flan- ders and secure the migration of a considerable number of Flemish artisans to England. He thus accomplished the first great change in manu- facturing processes. But the cloth had still to be sent to the Netherlands for dyeing, the mad- der plant from which the dyes were obtained and the processes of its preparation being almost wholly unknown elsewhere. During this period the guilds were prominent, and the industry centred mainly in the cities of east England. The woolen industry grew apace, but it was not until the Elizabethan reign that its complete supremacy was established. The wars and per- secutions on the Continent, and the welcome by the English authorities, resulted at this time in a great influx of Flemings, who not only gave a great impetus to the old industry, but intro- duced new ones, such as silk-weaving, the manu- facture of cutlery, cloak-making, and the manu- facture of hats and potters'. A century later the revocation of the Edict of Xantes led to the emigration to England of a large nmnber of French Huguenots, representing the most skilled artisans of Fiance. They gave new vigor Vol. IX.— 12. to British industry, especially to the manufac- turing of silk, glass, and paper. During this epoch the industrial system changed, and the guild system, with the master worknum and journeymen, gave way to the domestic or hoiise industry, inider which system the workmen were scattered through the country districts, and in addition to their mechanical trades, gen<'rally cultivated a .small plot of land. In the hitler part of this period another change was initiated which was attributable to the comparatively pi-osperous condition of the nation. The manu- facturing industry had early spread well over the cast and west of England, but not until now did it develop extensively in the long-desolated re- gion of the north. The excess of moisture which characterizes the English climate was recognized as being di'eidedly advantageous in the manufac- ture of textiles, and this feature is especially marked in the north. Then came the great industrial revolution be- ginning in the latter half of the eiglitcenth een- turv', which increased the industrial lead of the nation at an unprecedented rate, and was so pregnant with social and political significance. The initiatory and fundamental f .actors in the revolution were the remarkable series of mechan- ical inventions produced during this period of English history, and which affected practically every branch of the manufacturing industry. In connection with the textile industry, the fly- shuttle was invented as early as 17-33. but did not for some time come into general use. This was followed about 1770 by the almost simul- taneous inventions of Hargreaves and Arkwright. The spinning jenny of Hargreaves spun fibre into a plurality of threads instead of a single one. Arkwright's water frame (so called from its being run by water) brought about the new system of spinning by rollers. A decade later Crompton combined the principles of both in one machine, known as the 'mule.' After a few j-ears (1785) Cartwright followed with a machine — the power loom — which wove the yarn into cloth. Great improvements were made during the same period in the manufacture of iron, but the limit- ed fuel-supply prevented the extensive develop- ment of the industry-. The relief for this situa- tion came after 1770 through the invention of James Watt, who rendered the steam-engine available as a great motive power of easy ap- plication. Coal production was thereby greatly increased (see Minerals and Mining), and conse- quently the manufacture of iron. The use of ma- chinery, and especially its necessary installation in a single plant under the application of steam- power, led to the factory system and the almost complete overthrow of the old domestic system. Very significant, too. were the resulting changes in the location of the weaving industry. The tex- tile machines were at first generally propelled by water-power. The north region — Yorkshire and Lancashire — afforded superior facilities of this kind, and consequently enjoyed a remarkable in- crease in textile manufacturing at the expense of the old centres farther south. Similarly, the coal resources of the same region drew the iron manu- facturing away from Suffolk and Norfolk when coal supplanted wood as a fuel. Birmingham, which had formerly depended upon the neighbor- ing forests of Arden for the fuel used in its smelting industry, was fortunately near enough to the new coal-fields to place it at a great