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the production of black armures, of all kind of pongees, of surahs, and similar goods has been less than in 1897. There has been an excess in the manufacture of foulards, stuffs of pure silk, marcelines, and goods used for the furniture of churches. A decline is observable in the production of linings, serges, lustrine armures, and striped satin pekins. The production of mixed goods in 1898 rose to $24,000,000, an increase of $1,100,000 over 1895 and a decrease of about the same figure as compared to 1897. A large number of looms were occupied during the year 1898 in making plush for hats and modes, liberty satin, turquoises, cotton-back armures for modes and linings, mixed stuffs for collars and cravats, carriage trimmings, and figured and bordered velvets for the Orient and the Indies. Demands from the two latter quarters have been steadily increasing for the last three years, especially for the two species of goods named. Stuffs worked in gold and silver have also found a largely increased demand in the Orient and the East Indies. The output in this line aggregated about $1,000,000 during the year 1898, the largest of any year. The manufacture of crepes is reported as assuming largely increased proportions, the production for 1898 being nearly double that of 1895. Crepes de chine augmented during the same period from $200,000 to $400,000; the production of muslins increased sixfold; that of grenadines nearly doubled; gilded stuffs used for military uniforms rose from $160,000 to $200,000; and silk, cotton, and woolen passementeries from $200,000 to $300,000.

While Lyons continues to stand at the head of other cities in the production of all fine silks, satins, velvets, and kindred goods, Milan seems to have definitely wrested from her the trade in "thrown" silk. In 1878, the sales of thrown silk-that is to say, of silk yarn in Milan amounted to 2,475,280 kilograms (5,457,000 pounds), against 4,244,141 kilograms (9,356,600 pounds) in Lyons. In 1888, the sales of Milan had risen to 4,538, 305 kilograms (10,005,100 pounds), while Lyons had advanced to only 5,183,520 kilograms (11,427,500 pounds). Milan continued steadily diminishing the gap until 1898, when she took her place in the lead with a business of 7,549,395 kilograms (16,643, 400 pounds), against 6,462,639 kilograms (14,247,500 pounds) for Lyons.

Several reasons may be cited for this change of business in the interest of Milan. The Lyons dealers attribute it to the new means of transportation and to the French duty on raw silk. Some years ago, before the balance of this trade began to turn to the side of Milan, the great bulk of the transportation from the Orient was in English and French ships, which made Marseilles the principal stopping place in the Mediterranean. The German line, which now does a great deal of the business between the Peninsula and the Orient,

made Genoa its principal stopping point in the Mediterranean; and as a consequence, the raw silk brought from the Orient goes into Italy and on to Milan, where it is thrown, and by means of the St. Gothard Tunnel forwarded to Switzerland, Germany, and Russia. It is estimated that about 11,000 bales of raw silk are annually landed at Genoa which were formerly put down at Marseilles.

JOHN C. COVERT,

LYONS, June 21, 1899.

Consul.

FRENCH MARKET FOR AMERICAN IRON.

Consul Brittain writes from Nantes, July 10, 1899:

There have recently been many inquiries for the names of the leading firms in the United States that manufacture various kinds of machinery. A number of sales of American machinery have been made during the past year. Heretofore, considerable machinery used by the shipbuilders of Nantes has been purchased in England. English manufacturers have two advantages over those of the United States-first, their nearness to this market; second, the advantages accruing from the minimum tariff rate. For machine tools weighing over 1,000 kilograms (2,204 pounds), the maximum duty is 15 francs ($2.89), the minimum 10 francs ($1.93), per 100 kilograms (220.46 pounds); weighing from 250 to 1,000 kilograms (550 to 2, 204 pounds), maximum 20 francs ($3.86), minimum 16 francs ($3.08); small tools, weighing less than 250 kilograms, maximum 70 francs ($13.50) and the minimum 50 francs ($9.65) per 100 kilograms. The difference on structural iron or that used for shipbuilding is not so great, the maximum being 6 francs ($1.15) and the minimum 5 francs (96 cents). The recent augmentation in prices and the scarcity of a visible supply of structural iron in this part of France makes this an opportune time for the American manufacturer to invade this market. nearness of the English manufacturer has given him an easy victory in the past, but the shipbuilders of the Loire have come to the conclusion that if the American iron manufacturers can sell iron in England and in English colonies, it is at least worth while to get our prices.

The

I believe if the American manufacturer were on the ground with prices and terms he could capture some orders. There are three shipyards at Nantes, where there were constructed last year fortytwo iron vessels, varying in tonnage from 3,000 downward. At St. Nazaire, 30 miles west of Nantes, there are extensive shipyards, where some of the largest vessels in the service of the Compagnie

Générale Transatlantique were built. About two weeks since, a large war vessel for the Government of Japan was launched at St. Nazaire. American manufacturers of structural iron would do well to correspond with Julun Lanoé, of Nantes, an extensive dealer, who is anxious to obtain American prices on bar, structural, and plate steel and iron.

COMPETITION WITH AMERICAN COPPER.

Consul Marshal Halstead sends the following from Birmingham, July 13, 1899:

Many people believe that to those engaged in wheat-cornering operations in the United States we owe the competitive opening up of vast areas of wheat land in Russia, India, South America, and Egypt. Judging from the following article from Engineering, the present corner in copper, which has caused prices to go nearly sky high, may result in injury to the copper-mining interests in the United States parallel to the loss caused America by the corners in wheat.

Engineering, under the caption "When will the copper corner collapse?" says:

Everything depends upon the ability of the combine to hold accumulated stocks. There is a lot of money at the back of the movement, and it has become useless to speculate upon the length of time that will elapse before those concerned find it expedient to unload. It was generally thought that they would not have held on so long as they have. But the almost universal opinion of the trade now is that this continuous buying at absurdly inflated prices can not be profitable, seeing that when the smash does come it will come rapidly and will mean that copper accumulated at £76 or so a ton will be thrown onto a demoralized market and sold at £10 to £20 per ton lower. One good effect of this boom has been to attract more attention to copper mining in various parts of the world outside the United States. In our colonies the gold fever takes almost everyone concerned with mining, and it is only in times like the present that men turn from a pursuit which promises a few plums to the lucky to another line of activity, which, if it has fewer plums, offers the assurance of a good profit on a well and long sustained basis. As a result, we find in our colonies an enormous number of copper mines now being reopened and much virgin soil developed. Mining men in Australia hope, as a matter of course, that £76 copper will continue for a long time to come; but, in the meantime, realizing that it will not, they are producing all they can, in order that they may obtain as much solid advantage as possible. While they realize the certainty of a fall in quotations, they have come to recognize that even on a £50 basis there is a satisfactory return on the metal, provided only that they adopt proper machinery and improve their methods generally. If, they argue, Americans can secure fabulous dividends over a lengthy series of years out of ground that yields from 1 to 3 per cent of metal, surely they can do as well out of ground that averages from 10 up to 30 per cent. It is as a consequence of this somewhat tardy conviction that we have witnessed the revival of copper mining in South Australia, New South Wales, Tasmania, and Queensland.

ALUMINIUM IN GREAT BRITAIN.

Consul McFarland, of Nottingham, under date of July 19, 1899, sends a printed report of a recent meeting of the British Aluminium Company, showing present conditions of manufacture and demand for the finished product in shipbuilding and for other purposes. Extracts from the report are given below:

[From London Times, July 19, 1899.]

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The fourth ordinary general meeting of the British Aluminium Company, Limited, was held yesterday. Mr. R. W. Wallace, Q. C., presided, and, in moving the adoption of the report, said that all the company's factories were working satisfactorily. At Larne they had succeeded in reducing largely the cost of the production of alumina, and, as the result of recent experiments, they saw their way to making a still further reduction. At Milton the factory had been extended, and was now working almost night and day; while at Foyers the storage works had answered their expectations. The works at Greenock had also given satisfactory results in regard to the manufacture of carbons. As to the demand for aluminium, it was making steady, if only comparatively slow, progress. During the last six months of 1898 their sales increased by 48%1⁄2 per cent, as compared with the figures in the corresponding period of the preceding year. So far, the Government had rendered them very little assistance. No doubt, the Government would soon have completed the trials which were now being made, and then they might hope to hear from them. The German army was more or less equipped with aluminium utensils, and German ships of war had internal fittings made almost entirely of the same metal. In reference to the general trade, he had to tell them on a former occasion that the demand was stopped on account of a strike; but now the ground of complaint was that nearly every workshop in the country was fully occupied with other classes of goods. A good deal had been said with regard to the injurious action of sea water on aluminium, but the board knew by long experience that aluminium did not deteriorate in salt water to the extent that had been alleged. The yacht Defender, which won the last international race, was built very largely of aluminium, and, after four and a half years, she was found to have deteriorated so little that very few repairs were necessary to put her into a condition to compete with the Columbia at the recent trials. Torpedo boats and other ships, moreover, had been built in France partly of aluminium. With regard to the use of aluminium for electrical purposes, that had been going on very fast in America, but it had not made so much headway in this country. According to Lord Kelvin's recent investigations, the electrical conductivity of aluminium was 60 per cent of the conductivity of copper, bulk for bulk. As, however, aluminium was only one-third of the weight of copper, it was apparent that about one-half the quantity of aluminium gave a corresponding amount of electrical conductivity to that given by copper. Therefore, at the present price of copper aluminium was much cheaper to use for that purpose, besides having the great advantage of lighter weight in connection with telegraph poles. Lord Kelvin said that in the fittings of ships aluminium had proved valuable, convenient, and of great practical utility. As to the actual construction of ships with aluminium, that was a matter which would have to be settled by the experience of engineers. He did not believe that the question of the efficiency of protecting aluminium by paint had yet been gone into sufficiently. If they compared an unprotected aluminium plate with steel or iron, he thought that it would be found that the former did not rust away so quickly as the latter.

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MANUFACTURE AND USE OF WOOD FLOUR IN GERMANY.*

In compliance with special instructions from the Department, I have to report that wood flour (in German, Holzmehl) is made by grinding sawdust to a fine powder, and is used for two general purposes, viz, the manufacture of explosives, especially dynamite and nitroglycerin, and (2) the manufacture of linoleum and papyrolite, or artificial flooring.

There is no manufacturer of dynamite in Berlin, but from the representative of a firm in Saxony, it has been ascertained that wood flour has been used in the manufacture of dynamite as a cheap substitute for infusorial earth, which is the standard material for that purpose. The entire German supply of infusorial earth comes from one source at Lüneburg, between Hamburg and Hanover, and when that material became scarce and expensive by reason of increased demand, experiments were made with wood flour as a substitute. From the best information that can be obtained, it is regarded distinctly inferior to infusorial earth for making explosives, and is only used when extreme cheapness of product is desirable or the infusorial earth can not be obtained.

Wood flour has also been somewhat extensively used in the manufacture of linoleum, a kind of floor cloth made by laying a coating. of hardened linseed oil mixed with ground cork on a canvas net or backing; but here again it was found to be hard, inelastic, and for that reason inferior to cork meal, so that its use has been, so far as can be ascertained, abandoned by most German makers of linoleum. If used at all for this purpose, it is done secretly and would be regarded as an adulteration.

The third and by far the most important use of wood flour in Germany is for the manufacture of papyrolite or xylolite, a kind of artificial flooring, which is extensively produced by several large firms and companies in Germany, notably the Papyrolite Werke, Paul Becker, in Loebtau, near Dresden; by Hermann Jaritz & Co., of Bremen; and by Paul Karnasch, at Frankenstein, Silesia.

Papyrolite is extensively used as flooring for kitchens, halls, corridors, and for public rooms, such as cafés and restaurants. It is a substance between wood and stone, practically fireproof, impervious to water, and, being a nonconductor of heat, is warm in winter. It is also used as flooring on German war vessels, because it has

*This and the following report were made at the request of a Washington press association, to which advance copy has been sent.

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