In speaking of the small industries in Germany, W. Sombart writes
in the article, “Verlagssystem (Hausindustrie),” in Conrad’s
_Handwörterbuch_: “It results from the census of 1907 that the losses
in the small industries are almost exclusively limited to those
home industries which are usually described as the _old ones_; while
the increases belong to the home industries of modern origin.” The
statistical data thus confirm that “at the present time a sort of
rejuvenation is going on in the home industries; instead of those
of them which are dying out, new ones, almost equal in numbers, are
growing up” (p. 242). Prof. Sombart points out that the same is going
on in Switzerland, and refers to some new works on this subject.[216]
Dr. J. Grunzel comes to a similar conclusion: “Life experience shows
that the home industries are not a form of industrial organisation
which has had its time,” he writes in his afore-mentioned work. “On
the contrary, it proves to be possessed of a great life force in
certain branches. It is spread in all branches in which handwork
offers advantages above the work of the machine” (p. 46). It is also
retained wherever the value of labour exceeds very much the value of
the raw produce; and finally, in all the branches devoted to articles
which are rapidly changing with the seasons or the vagaries of
fashion. And he shows (pp. 46 and 149) how the home industries have
been increasing in Germany from 1882 to 1895, and how they are widely
spread in Austria, France, Switzerland, Italy, Belgium, and England.
The conclusions of R. van der Borght are quite similar.
“It is true,” Dr. van der Borght says, “that the numbers of artisans
working single-handed have diminished in numbers in most industries;
but they still represent two-fifths of all industrial establishments,
and even more than one-half in several industries. At the same time,
the small establishments (having from one to five workers) have
increased in numbers, and they contain nearly one-half of all the
industrial establishments, and even more than that in several groups.”
As for Koch’s work, _Die Deutsche Hausindustrie_, it deserves special
mention for the discussion it contains of the measures advocated,
on the one side, for the weeding out of the domestic industries,
and, on the other side, for improving the condition of the workers
and the industries themselves by the means of co-operation, credit,
workshops’ inspection, and the like.
Y.--THE DOMESTIC INDUSTRIES IN SWITZERLAND.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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