No. 211.

SEVERAL chemists have thought that the yolk of wool (suint) is a fat matter; others, finding that it dissolves in water, have not adopted the same opinion. Chemical analysis can alone decide this question, which is the object of the present paper. 1st,Water discharges much color from wool; and this liquid acquires color, odor, and taste. 2nd, The water with which wool has been washed is milky, like an emulsion of gum-resin, and it passes with difficulty through the paper. 3rd, It suffers to be deposited by rest a mixture of sand, carbonate of lime, and several other foreign bodies; it froths by agitation and heat like a solution of soap. 4th, Water with which wool has been washed, when filtered and evaporated furnishes a brown extract, thick like syrup, of an acrid, salt, and bitter taste: in this state it still retains the odor peculiar to it. 5th, Alchohol applied to this extract dissolves a part which communicates to it a reddish brown color. If the alcohol be separated by evaporation from this substance, it exhibits the appearance of thick, viscous, and transparent honey. The other properties which appeared to me in this substance were as follows: -1st, It dissolves readily in water, and the solution is immediately coagulated by acids, which separate from it grease insoluble in water. This matter, when thus separated by acids collects itself very slowly, and has a yellowish color. Acids, as will be seen hereafter, hold a great quantity of it in solution, which gives them a reddish brown color. By evaporation the greater part of this substance dissolves by acids, deposits itself under the form of black bitumen; and salts, with a base of potash and lime, are obtained from it. These salts cannot be obtained in a state of purity and whiteness till after several calcinations and solutions, as the fat matter is very adhesive.

At the same time that the acids precipitate this fat matter, they expel a certain quantity of acetous acid, very perceptible by its odor. Concentrated sulphuric acid blackens the thickened yolk, and disengages from it some vapors of muriatic acid. 2nd, Lime water renders the solution of yolk turbid and milky; but it forms in it no coagulum, as in a solution of common soap. 3rd, Neither caustic alkalies nor quicklime show the presence of ammonia, 4th, Nitrate of silver produces in it a yellow precipitate, which adheres to the sides of the vessel in the manner of a greasy substance. This precipitate dissolves in a great part in nitric acid. The part of yolk insoluble in alchohol has still a salt taste, but fainter than the portion soluble in that reagent. After being thus treated with alcohol, it does not redissolve entirely in water; there remains a glutinous matter of gray color which effervesces with acids: this announces the presence of an alkaline carbonate. The portion which retains its solubility in water, communicates to it a reddish color and salt savor: its solution is not rendered turbid by acids, as it was before being treated with alcohol. Caustic alkalies do not disengage from it ammonia; muriate of barytes

Vol. IX.

forms in it a very abundant depot, the greater part of which dissolves in water; nitrate of silver occasions in it also a precipitate which partly dissolves in nitric acid. Alcohol precipitates this matter under the form of mucilage, which is speedily deposited. Nitrate of iron mixed with the solution of this substance formed in it a brown precipitate, and the liquor at the end of some days furnished a pretty large quantity of the nitrate of potash. The filtered liquor of yolk decomposed by dilute nitric acid blackens by evaporation, exhales vapors of sulphuric acid, and becomes carbonaceous in proportion as the concentration of the sulphuric acid takes place. The residuum being then washed with water, and the solution properly evaporated, furnishes crystals of neutral sulphate of potash; but there remains a great deal in solution in consequence of the superabundant acid, which reduces it to the state of acidulous salt; by longer evaporation this state crystallizes in needles, and into laminæ of a white pearly color. During the course of these successive evaporations, another kind of salt presents itself under the form of flattened needles of a satin white color and without any taste. This salt, when carefully examined, appeared to me to be nothing but sulphate of lime. It differs, however, from it in several respects: for example, it fuses much sooner in the flame of the blow-pipe into a globule transparent while in a state of fusion, but which becomes opaque when fired: it is also much more soluble in water, and yet does not contain acid in excess, as I fully assured myself. A solution of it in water precipitates abundantly muriate of barytes and oxalate of ammonia: one of these precipitates is sulphate of barytes, and the other oxalate of lime. The solution is rendered turbid neither by lime nor by ammonia. It appears then that it is a modification of the sulphate of lime, which is probably produced by the proportion of the elements. It is possible, therefore, that this salt may still contain some proportion of fat matter, which, by decomposing the sulphate of lime and forming a little sulphuret, might facilitate the fusion. I regret that I had not a sufficient quantity of this salt to examine its properties more in detail.

The yolk of wool dissolved in water, when filtered, thickened, and distilled with weak sulphuric acid, furnished a liquor in which I readily distinguished the presence of the acetic acid by its odor, its savor, and the properties of the salt which it formed with different bases, and particularly with lime and potash. This matter, therefore, contains acetic acid, which, no doubt, is in part combined in it with the potash. It contains also a little muriate of potash; for it forms with the solution of silver an abundant precipitate which is not entirely soluble in nitric acid, and it gives by distillation of sulphuric acid sensible traces of muriatic acid, which is found mixed with acetic acid. Yolk, when evaporated to dryness and strongly heated in a silver crucible, swells up, becomes charred, and exhales some foetid ammoniacal vapors; oily fumes then arise, which inflame, and when the greater part of the oil is dissipated it becomes red and calmly fuses. At this period, if it be poured on marble, a matter is obtained which becomes fixed in cooling, has a

grayish color, and a very caustic alkaline taste: if this substance be then dissolved in water, nothing remains but an infinitely small quantity of carbonaceous matter, and the liquor, by evaporation, gives real potash slightly carbonated. It results from these experiments that the oil or grease, the presence of which in yolk has been proved by acids, is combined with pc tash in the state of a real animal soap; that, besides, there is a portion of carbonate of potash in excess, since the acids produce in the solution of yolk, when concentrated, a pretty strong spumous effervesence. Besides the substances already mentioned, yolk contains a certain quantity of animal matter: for it gives by distillation very sensible traces of ammonia, and an oil, the foetid odor of which has a considerable resemblance to that furnished by animal matters. Yolk then is composed, 1st, of soap with a base of potash, which forms the greater part of it: 2nd, a small quantity of the carbonate of potash : 3rd, a considerable quantity of acetite of potash : 4th, lime, with the state of the combination of which I am unacquainted: 5th, a small portion of muriate of potash : 6th, a peculiar animal matter, to which I ascribe the particular odor of yolk. In my opinion, all these matters, which are essential to the nature of yolk, are not found in it accidentally, for I have always found them in a great number of the different kinds of wool both of Spain and and of France. I shall not speak here of the other matters insoluble in water, which are found also on wool, such as the carbonate of lime, sand, filth of every kind, -these being evidently accidental.

It still remains to determine whether all the matters which assist in yolk are the product of cutaneous perspiration accumulated and thickened on the wool, or whether they are contracted in cots or rther places where sheep reside. It is very certain that all the elements proper for the formation of the matters contained in yok are found in the excrements of these animals, and in the vegetables which serve them as litter. I cannot, however, believe that the whole is the effect of beds of dung; on the contrary, I am of opinion that the perspired humor is the principal source. The analysis of dunghills would give us no certain information on this subject, because the matters found in them may have been deposited by the sheep themselves. But even if we suppose, what appears to be very probable, that the principles of yolk arise from the humor of perspiration, do these matters issue in this manner from the body of the animal, and do they not experience any change during their remaining on the wool? This is a question to which it would be difficult to give a decisive answer. We can only presume that in wool, as in all very compound substances deprived of movement, there are effected changes, of which, in the present case, we know neither the mode nor the cause. Yolk being, as already seen, a real soap soluble in water and in alcohol, it appears that there can be no better method of scouring wool than to wash it in running water. But I must observe that there is on wool a small quantity of greasy matter not in combination with the alkali, and which adhering to the wool makes it retain something pitchy, notwithstanding the most careful washing. But if wool be put into tubs, and the quantity of water necessary for moistening it be poured over it; and if it be suffered to remain in that bath for some time, often treading it down, it will be much better scoured, and become whiter by washing it afterwards in running water. Scourers are accustomed to macerate their woo in putrefied urine, and it is generally believed that the ammonia which is thus developed effects the scouring; but I have some reasons for thinking that this alkali is of no use. This effect is owing rather to the yolk itself, or to some other principle of the urine, to uree for example; and my opinion is founded on the following circumstances;-I put washed wool into a current of water in a mixture of salammoniac acid and common potash. This mixture had a strong odor of ammonia; and yet the wool was not scoured, because this alkali does not form, or forms only with difficulty, a saponaceous compound with the greasy matter of wool. I am of opinion then, from these observations, that putrid urine is almost useless in scouring wool, at least so far as ammonia is concerned. If the utility of putrid urine be at least doubtful, it is on the other hand very certain that fresh urine would be very prejudicial in regard to the proposed end; for the soap contained in yolk would incontestably experience a decomposition by the acid of urine, which would precipitate the grease on the wool. I suspect that the same effect would be produced by washing wool in water containing earthy salts, which, as is well known, decompose alkaline soaps. For this (CONCLUDED ON PAGE 21.)

THE COTTON FACTORY.

EARLY PAINTED COTTON FABRICS.

THE Indian printed, or rather painted, fabrics were known a long time in Europe before any attempt was made to imitate them. The exact date is not known when the art was introseveral countries at the same time, judging by the records and duced into Europe, but it is not unlikely that it was tried in the specimens in the different museums. At the beginning it was really painting rather than printing, and, in fact, in the French language, the name of L'Industrie des toiles peintes, or stated that painted cloth was produced in London in 1410, des Indiennes, preceded that of L'impression des Tissus. It is but it is probable that it was linen cloth. The printing of linen and other fabrics, especially silk, was known in Eur pe previous to that epoch, as is proved by specimens of printed fabrics in the South Kensington Museum, among which is a specimen block produced in Sicily in the 13th century; but the production of printed cotton cloth was a later achievement. It is difficult, however, to be precise in the exact date or the count.y where it was first attempted. -Dry Goods Chronicle.

COTTON IMITATION OF CHAMOIS.

A COTTON fabric which has been the subject of a patent in England which has the appearance and soft feel of chamois leather, and which is guaranteed not to lose its special qualities when washed. In making the cloth cotton yarns form the warps, these being dyed a fast color, a chrome yellow tint being preferable, they are sized and dressed in the usual manner. The weft is spun soft, and is used in the undyed state. The fabric is woven from these yarns, and then is passed several times through cylinder teasing or raising machines, whereby the surface is broken and a good ground nap is produced on one side or both sides thereof. The fabric is then "soap" finished, to impart to it the desired appearance and soft, cold feel of chamois leather. It is applicable for either wet or dry cleaning purposes, and also as a polishing cloth, and especially suitable for underclothing, and for linings of the same, and for general use as a substitute for the cha nois leather now used for these and for analogous purposes. Being, moreover, of a wo ven texture and ab-orbent, it is more healthy for use in garments than chamois leather, and does not require to be perforated. Unlike leather, also, which goes stiff after washing, this improved material so produced is capable of being repeatedly washed without stiffening, and is found to retain its softness perpetually. - Canadian Journal of Fabrics.

SINGLE CARDING.

WHILE reviewing the subject of single and double carding, it may be said in advance that there is a difference of opinion existing among practical men as to the quality of the produce resulting therefrom. There are cards made and running at the present time which produce very superior single work and large quantities of it. But there are other appliances closely associated, which are instrumental in helping these results. Although picking machinery is not adapted to work on separated fibres, yet the improvements in these, advancing along with single carding, adapt them to separate and clean the stock in a manner hitherto unknown, and double carding has not, as a general thing, had the full advantages of these. It would seem that to make single carding a success, the machines had to be widened so as to render the old picking machinery useless, and so make an entire new plant in that department necessary. There can be no question but these pickers had to go in when, or before, the new cards were put in. The former being so much improved in the line of freeing the fibre from the obnoxious mote and leaf, as the latter are when compared in capacity with an old-style single machine. Besides, there are great quantities of cotton soft and c'ean, and well adapted for spinning yarns up to 40s, which are not improved by too much carding, and this kind of stock is becoming more plentiful every year. The advantages of selecting this description of raw material, together with the improved preparatory machinery, are all important for good single carding. Then, again, the cylinders adapted to single work are greatly enlarged in diameter, and have therefore a much higher peripheric velocity so that other carding points, foreign to the common card, can be introduced with efficiency. For instance, the lickerin, which has never been found to be of any great use on a small cylinder on account of the slow rate it must be driven at, has been given

such velocity on these cards as to render it an effective straightener of fibre, as well as an indispensable dirt and m te extractor. Nothing of this kind could be accomplished with a corresponding degree of effect on a small cylinder. The point of peripheric velocity has been carried so high on front feed cards that it has been deemed expedient to introduce a second lickerin or "carrier," between the feed and the main cylinder. This arrangement not only increases the straightening and purifying agency to the extent of the doffing and draught requisite for an additional roller, but it also gives the main cylinder the advantage of stricking the body of fibre off the carrier downward, thus securing the benefits derived from a blow in this direction, as well as affording convenience for other accessories to assist in removing the heavier filth before the fleece is given to the flats, or rolls, as the case may be. These extracting attachments are both mechanical and effective-mechanical in their adaptability to place and purpose, in the way they are adjusted, and the rigidity they have when paced in position. These are the necessary qualities for a knife, or edged plate to have, because the position in which it stands is so critical and full of jeopardy, that a shift or vibration, however slight, is sure to injure the edge of the wire, destroy the usefulness of the plate, or cause a "smash," and damage the clothing so that every attempt to make it as effectual again will be fruitless. There are no gimcracks about the manner in which these appliances are fitted, nor anything left to chance that mechanical skill can prevent. Effective in the positive way they assist the cylinders to which they are adjusted to throw off the objectionable matter the teeth of the clothing refuse to take in. The length of draught given at the place where the dirt and broken seeds which have escaped the beaters, come first in contact with the teeth, affords these a desirable opportunity to pitch the stock fibre by fibre from the feed. The broken shells are stripped and separated, and have but a loose grip on the teeth, and when they strike the edge of the knife or plate are easily extracted. Without the intervention of these appliances they have grip enough to be carried around to the next cylinder, which, on account of revolving in a different direction, has not the same facilities to get rid of them. If we examine a handful of cotton after it has been made ready for carding, on the lappers, we will find numerous particles of shell, attached by downy filaments to the prime staple. Hence the necessity for an effective combing and extracting operation where the material receives the first process of carding, in order to thoroughly remove these impurities and free the fibres from one another. Cards adapted to single work have also the advantage of a double quantity of flats, either stationary or revolving, or they may be of the old well-tried roller and clearer type, which has given as steady satisfaction as any, both in respect to quality and production, in coarse and medium counts. These extra carding points, along with improved clothing, especially on the lickerin and carrier cylinders, give the machines operated on single carding a high standard of excellence. But if we desire good single carding we must not fal into the common error of demanding the maximum quantity the machines are advertised to produce. If we begin at a medium standard of production, we shall be better pleased as the years roll on.

UNEVEN YARN QUESTION.

-John Lindsay.

THIS difficulty, much as it is talked about, and though so many ways are pointed out (by those who are right in the midst of it and have to bear the blame frequently), by which, to a great extent it may be avoided, yet like Banquo's ghost, it will not down. Carders have talked and written about it, and with them, it is either the atmosphere, different grades of cotton, or uneven laps from the picker. Boss pickers tell us some cotton is given to them quite wet, while other cotton is very

dry This, with the lack of space to make proper mixings, makes it utterly impossible for them to make even laps. All this seems very plausible, and I know in many instances it is only too true but it sounds much like what the tailor said, "No fault te coat, te boy's too shlim." Then, when the spinner is called in question, it is remarkable how much he knows about mixing, picking, carding, and how conversant he is with methods used by the carder, whereby uneven sliver is made, both on card, railway head, first and second drawing, first and second speeder, until it comes down to him in such a state as to defy any man to make an even yarn from it, and so he harps a tune on the carder's old fiddle-"No fault te coat." Then, the spoolers, warpers, slashers, all show how much they

know of the departm nt which gives them the work, and can show how the yarn is chattered by gears being set too deep on the mule or ring frame, some not deepnough, and produce a like effect. Rulls set too close or too open, bands of irregular tension, pi cings of roving careles-ly made, travelers too heavy or too light, too little or too much twist: mule cutting yarn by carriage banging in too hard, being out of square, faller unlocking too late, jumping out on account of extra tight belts; back and middle rolls need ng picking and oiling, badly worn, and uneven front rolls. "Belung motions" being attended to care lessly at the bott m of the cop some times being too tight, sometimes too slack, some stretches, the yarn is cut, while at other times it is full of small kinks; rolls not properly adjusted by the weight lever, and so many other things he knows, you almost feel it a pity he was not in charge of such a room. Then the weaver, who is expected to make good cloth. no matter what kind of warps he gets, he, too, has made a special study of the faults of the previous departments, and all he would need to make things right would be a few blank pay bills, a few wrenches, and he would soon have all perf ct cloth. Then there is the cloth room boss, who may have been a graduate from some great place of learning, and after being a few weeks in each department, learning in that time all that it is possible to know, he can locate the trouble at every place as soon as he sees the fault in the cloth, and of course he gives his version of it to the superintendent, and off he goes to get things righted. Now, admitting that at best some uneven yarn must be made, and will find its way into the cloth, who ought to know better than the superintendent where, and how these things have become so bad? that is, if he is a man who can superintend. But if he is a man who has gained his position by favoritism, or because his father was some great man, and no through ability, then such scenes as pictured above will be of frequent occurrence; But if he is a man who understands his business, he will be able to see for himself, and that more readily, than any man confined to one department. He will be on hand when the cotton is being mixed, and will be able to tell the different grades, and if they are fit to mix together; he will know if the cotton varies too much ir length of fibre, or in coarseness, or, if the cotton is too damp, (judging from the circumstances of the plant) to be put through the picker today, or in a week hence; he will be able to see that the carder pays personal attention to watching the first of each new mix properly through his department, and give him instructions as to how he wishes it handled at the several processes, and about how to twist it as it proceeds through the card room: he will also be able to tell both carder and spinners how to adjust the distances between their rolls, and how the spinners shall twist the different kinds of yarn according to its purpose, and if he is a thoroughly practical man, he will have an assistant whose duties will be to go through the different rooms, taking samples from each process, for testing, numbers and other tests required, having no boss but the superintendent; and thus, and only thus, can he expect to obtain a real, true statement of how the work is throughout the mill; in fact, instead of waiting to have this or that overseer complain, he will be the first to detect any cause for bad work, as his eag e eye glances at the running of the different machines, as he passes through the different rooms, and call the overseers' attention to it, in actual operation; and in no case will he allow an overseer to spend the time making out pay rolls etc., that ought to be spent going about person lly examining the work of the various machines in his department, or to spend his time gossipping through the mill with other overseers to the great detriment of his own -Critic.

room.

A COTTON manufacturing stock company has been formed at Milan with a capital of 3,000, oo francs, under the firm name of Cotonificio Bergamasco, the Banca Generale of that city being the moving spirit in the enterprise, in which besides leading Italian manufacturers will be interested.-Economist.

E. H. KING, boss knitter at H rbert Bailey's mill, Claremont, N. H., mar ied, March 5, Miss Florence D. Brown. The ceremony was performed at the residence of N. W. Brown, Esq. Rev. D. C. Babcock officiated. -C.A. K.

THE firm of Newberry & Callaghan of Newberry Mills, Wythe Co. Va., have engaged Mr. Lyman Miller, as manager. They are about to add new machinery and make other improvements and will manufacture fine flannels and fancy tweeds.

WEEKLY.-$60.00 per inch, per annum, 52 times. EVERY OTHER WEEK.-$40.00 per inch, per annum, 26 times. MONTHLY.-One full page every fourth week, 13 insertions per annum, $400.00. Half page $225.00. Quarter page, $125.00. Payments to be made at the end of each quarter.

For shorter time than 3 months $1.25 per inch, each insertion. Cash in advance, or on presentation of bill.

Trade advertisements can be changed monthly.

Mills for Sale, Mills Wanted, Second-hand Machinery, &c., $1.00. per inch, each insertion. Cash in advance or on presentation of bill.

If addressed care Wade's Fibre and Fabric and forwarded, 81.25 per inch will be charged.

HELP WANTED, or Positions Wanted, 25 cents when replies are addressed to advertiser, and cash sent with ad. If addressed care of Wade's Fibre and Fabric, and forwarded, 50 cents will be charged for each insertion and to defray postage for forwarding.

WADE'S FIBRE AND FABRIC is published EVERY Saturday by JOS. M. WADE & CO.,

185 SUMMER STREET, BOSTON, MASS.

Entered at the Boston post-office as second-class matter.
PROTECTION AND TEMPERANCE.

WE desire to call the attention of our readers to the advertisement of the Boston Finishing Works, which appears for the first time in this issue. The works are located in South Boston, convenient for receiving and shipping goods, and being within ten minutes' ride of the post-office, manufacturers visiting Boston can easily see their sample pieces finished. These works are fully equipped with the Grosselin-Moser Patent French raising machines, which enables them to produce any degree of nap on cotton or woolen goods, from the lightest to the heaviest, without injury to the fabric. These machines are extensively used in Europe, and have completely revolutionized the system of finishing goods requiring a nap, and have brought into the market a class of light cotton goods in imitation of woolen flannels which it was impossible to nap before. We were very kindly shown through the works, and were surprised to see a considerable nap produced on a very light class of cotton goods, which gave them the appearance of a woolen flannel. Manufacturers will do well to communicate with this firm, who will be pleased to send them samples of the class of work they are doing, and give them any other information desired, on application to the Boston Finishing Works, Room 42, No. 612 Atlantic avenue, Boston, Mass.

THE FINING QUESTION.

In another part of this issue appears a long letter from an old weaver on the subject of fining weavers. We do not publish the letter because we agree with its contents, but simply because every man who works for a living is entitled to a hearing. It is evident that the writer of that letter is laboring under the mistake that a large number of operatives labor under which is the cause of most of the troubles of the employes, and discontent in the mills. The wage question is as follows, and no amount of statute law could change it: The man who employs labor makes an offer of the price that he can pay for it; operatives agree to work for that man at

the price named, and on the specified conditions, which is purely voluntary on their part. This whole matter is as simple as can be. The laborer has a right to sell his time in any market he

for a firm that he believes to be unjust, he has a perfect right to quit with due notice. Our contributor takes the untenable ground that the employer is compelled to employ the laborer, that the employe has a right to the position, and that the employer has no right in the matter. To look at this impartially, it places the employe on a very low plane of intelligence, and without independence. An educated man cannct be led by a professional agitator who has no interest in the welfare of the laborer, or by the honest agitator who misleads him self, It is the duty of every employe, no matter how humble his position may be, to improve his ability to do good work, making himself worth more money, and then to see that he gets every dollar he is worth. No amount of labor organizing can make a dime worth a dollar. It was tried on the C. B. & Q. Road, and the result is evident. It has been tried in hundreds of places throughout the United States, and in every instance it has failed, to the bitter cost of the laborer. Even the success of such a case would be worse than a failure. We are speaking now from the operative's standpoint alone. Laborers who work from a correct basis are continually improving their condition, and ever going upward and onward, and for such there are always good positions and high salaries.

THE ramie fibre question is one that should interest all cotton manufacturers, for the reason that the supply before many years will be very great, and the price will no doubt be very much reduced when the crop becomes a permanent one in the Southern States and the West Indies. The question of its adaptability to present and new fabrics should be of great interest, especially to cotton manufacturers and those who make upholstery goods. If this should reach the eye of any who are interested, who desire further information, we will place them in communication with the growers of this fibre, who are now straining every nerve to invent and perfect machinery for its rapid decortication and also to de-gum and bleach it, when it will be placed on the market in large quantities. Those who first enter into its manufacture will probably reap the best harvest from it. It is a fibre that comes between silk and linen.

When spun or woven it is very lustrous, and devoid of friction when used, for instance, as sleeve linings. For this and similar purposes it is probably as good as silk, and more durable. It is also very valuable for window curtains, not requiring to be laundered so often as cotton fabrics.

THE town of Tupelo, Miss., is becoming quite a cotton centre. A large cotton warehouse is to be built by Clark, Hood & Co. Mr. Boling, a buyer for the Liverpool, Eng., market, has decided to make it his headquarters, and has rented a warehouse. cotton factory will probably be built in the near future.

HONESTY, PURITY AND FIDELITY. DEAR SIR: In your issue of March 2, I was very much surprised on reading an article over the signature of "Iconoclast," which means a breaker of images; and I should judge by the make-up of the article that "Iconoclast" is more qualified to number of times he has worked for the manufacturing company break stone or images than he is to weave, judging by the referred to in his article. Now if imagination is the forming of mental images, and "Iconoclast" to be the breaker, he might possibly perform that duty very well, but as a weaver he is called "no good." Again, it was because of his inability to do his work satisfactorily for his overseer that he was informed that his skill in breaking stone was far ahead of his skill in weaving, and thus was told to decamp; he seeks revenge through the columns of your paper, attacking the management. First, "Iconoclast," in speaking of the bath-houses of the Valley Falls rules and regulations of the bath-house have already appeared Mfg. Co., makes statements that conflict with the truth, for the in your paper, written by an able, trusty and worthy lady, with veracity in every word. Again, "Iconoclast" thinks the com

pany unsuccessful, as they still continue to employ inferior overseers. Now I claim this to be a false charge and a base attack upon the managers, as they have men in their employ who are second to none in this country, and it requires but a short investigation to demonstrate that fact. I may say right here, that many good practical overseers have graduated from this company's mill, who now hold positions in some of the first class mills of this country. These mills are ably managed, and are today turning out a better and larger product than ever before. The writer of this article cannot say he has no interest in the company, as his best wishes are always for the success of those who try to do right. Now, Mr. Editor, to conclude, I would say, if "Iconoclast" will cast aside all prejudicial slurs, and confine his next to honesty, purity and fidelity, he will be doing justice to himself and to his fellow-beings. - Veritas.

THE FINING QUESTION.

THE agitation to stop the fine system in Woolen and Cotton Mills is deserving the careful consideration of every man and woman engaged in the weaving department. Experience clearly demonstrates to me that employers cannot be depended upon to act squarely at all times with weavers, hence the necessity of appealing to the Legislature to enable the weavers to get justice. I am not in support of a law that would give unfair advantage to the weaver, I am in favor of a stringent law for payment of wages without stoppages; and in order that manufacturers or employers should not be forced on all occasions to accept imperfect work and be obliged to pay the same amount as he would have to pay for good work, I would provide the following safeguards: each district should have an Arbitratory Board to consist of an equal number of weavers and the employer to have an equal number of men known to understand weaving; let any Jus ice of the Peace in each district be eligible to be Arbitrator and after hearing the dispute or grievance his decision shall be final, the cost of each case not to exceed one dollar. Either side failing to appear at time and place, a verdict shall be given against him or them; any weaver shall have the right to buy at the market price all goods said to be imperfect, providing such imperfection is not wilful damage. The present system, in many places is only a system of barefaced robbery; very likely if the law was passed providing for payment of wages without stoppages a number would be obliged to run fewer looms, for a large number are running more looms than they are capable of running, but a change like the above is very much needed and would have a tendency to increase the profit of the employer; and those who cannot now get employment in the present crowded market would have a better chance to live. In cotton weaving the best of weavers are liable to have imperfect cloth from various causes, such as imperfect sizing, too soft or too hard; sometimes the loom may be so fixed that it is impossible to keep out bad places. Some years ago I was cloth looker over in a large mill, weaving heavy sheetings, the agent told me the weavers were in the habit of weaving with threads out, many of them being fined for it, but still the evil remained. The first large lot of cuts I inspected I called for the overseer and showed him a large number of pieces with threads out. He was indignant, and gave me to understand he was not at my beck and call; he further said he had fined several weavers for such defects. I told him he had robbed them. He complained to the agent ; I was sent for; the agent told me the other cloth looker always sent for the weavers, but I answered him it was not the weaver's fault, because I found nearly all the threads on the other side of the cloth, a clear proof that the fault was in the loom. After several hard words, looms, four in number, weaving imperfect cloth were selected, and I was allowed to change them. I did so, and the threads wove in. The overseer was running the shop with boys and unskilled fixers, at a few cents per day less, and the company was losing dollars, while weavers were uncomfortable besides being robbed in the name of the firm. I have not the least desire to encourage any system that would have the tendency to increase the quantity of imperfect cloth in a mill, but the shameful manner in which the fine system is carried on in some mills demands immediate action to defend the operative. The worst managed mills resort to fines; the most profitable mills to skilled workmen and reasonable management of help. Allow me to be, yours respectfully, Thomas Evans.

WADE'S FIBRE AND FABRIC wants all the news from every cotton and woolen factory for Facts Whittled Down.

(Concluded from page 18.) reason it is always prudent to employ for this purpose the purest water possible to be obtained. The case is not the same with soapy water; it perfectly completes the scouring of the wool, and at the same time gives them more whiteness. If the wool then, after being washed in running water till it gives no more filth, be suffered to macerate for some hours in a twentieth part only in its weight of soap, dissolved by a sufficient quantity of tepid water, often treading it down, it will be entirely. freed from the small portion of grease still adhering to it, and then exhibit a softness and a degree of whiteness which it would not have acquired without this operation. Yolk itself a little concentrated, as I have already announced, has an efficacious action on the portion of grease which is not in the saponaceous state; for I observed that by pouring over wool no more water than the quantity necessary to cover it completely, it was much better scoured, especially with a slight degree of heat, than when washed in running water. But I observed also that wool which had remained a long time in its own yolk swelled up, split, and lost its strength; effects which take place also in too strong soapy water.

If the water of yolk causes wool to swell and to split in this manner, may it not be possible that this accident often takes place on the backs of the animals, especially during warm damp weather, or when they are shut up in folds the litter of which is not often enough removed? It may not be impossible also that the acridity of yolk may occasion an irritation in their skin, and prove the cause of some of those maladies to which this organ is subject in these animals, and which must occur chiefly during dry warm weather: fortunately, at this season, they are occasionally exposed to rains, which wash them and carry off at least a part of this matter. In this respect I am inclined to adopt the opinion of those who think that the washing of sheep during dry warm weather may be useful to their health and to the quality of the wool. The loss which wool experiences by scouring is variable. The greatest I ever observed was 45 per cent, and the least 35. The wool, indeed, which I washed was exceedingly dry. This loss does not arise entirely from the yolk it contains: moisture, earth, and filth of every kind contribute to it also. I have made some attempts to bleach scoured wool; but I confess that I did not carry them so far as they deserved; I observed in general that wool that had been immersed in soapy water bleached much better, by every method, than that which had not been subjected to the same operation. The sulphurous acid dissolved in water bleaches it pretty well; but it does not remove the yellow color acquired by wool in the groin and under the shoulders of the sheep. Wool in liquid sulphurous acid acquires the property of making a noise between the fingers like sulphurated silk, and at the same time contracted a foetid odor extremely strong, which is not dissipated till a long time after. I have not tried the steam of burnt sulphur; but everybody knows that it whitens wool exceedingly well, and that it is employed by all manuwhiteness. Of all the means I tried for bleaching wool, I facturers of woolen stuffs to give them the last degree of found none better than that of exposing it on the grass, to the dew aud the sun, after being well scoured with weak soapy water, the yellow spots, however, observed in that of the flanks are not entirely destroyed; their intensity only de

creases,

FROM Maine to California the friends of labor will be glad to hear that Senator Bob Howard has been seated in his old place in the Massachusetts Senate, from which an attempt was made to debar him by a technicality. Referring to this the Labor Leader says that Othello without the Moor would be a lively sort of play compared to the Senate labor drama without Bob. -Paterson. N. J. Labor Standard.

Ar a meeting of the executive committee of the Philadelphia Wool Merchant's Association March 8th, it was unanimously agreed to send a letter to Secretary Windom, calling his attention to large and increasing importations of goods and wool, under schedule K of the tariff act of 1883, at such classification as defeat the intentions of the act, and respectfully asking such rulings as will prevent scoured wool from being imported under the name of "waste;" and will confirm the sixty-cent duty on wool tops, and that will classify so-called worsted cloths as woolen.

It is with regret that we announce the death of Leach Haggers, late loom fixer in the employ of Washington Co. Lawrence, Mass., which occurred on the 8th inst. Mr. Haggers formerly lived in Jamestown, N. J., where he leaves a widow.