The tendency to substitute the brilliant for the stable dyes prevails too much in our own manufacture. A very considerable cloth manufacturer replied to our inquiry as to the extent to which he used indigo: “I hardly use it at all; the dye of the indigo blue is not bright enough to be popular.” On the other hand, we have heard our leading manufacturer of carpets, whose cultivated taste has led him to partake of M. de Kæppelin’s views, deplore the introduction of aniline dyes, as a positive calamity to the textile industry. It is the influence of the trade, the immediate consumers of fabrics, rather than the judgment of manufacturers, which promotes the use of the modern fugacious dyes. The dealers desire not only to imitate the fashionable colors of European goods, but to secure the utmost cheapness. One of our largest manufacturers of woollen goods, who had made a special study of the best processes abroad, and was desirous of bringing better dyed goods into more general consumption, urged one of his largest customers, an extensive dealer, to allow him to dye the waterproof cloakings which he was furnishing for his house, in fast indigo colors, assuring him that he would charge simply the additional cost of the indigo, without profit. The offer, which involved the cost of only a few cents a yard, which would have been gladly paid by the last consumer if the difference of value had been made known, was declined. It is not improbable that the inferior goods which the manufacturer was compelled to furnish were sold to the public as fast dyed. Our manufacturers, therefore, may not have been responsible for the predicament in which the most enthusiastic defender of our protective policy found himself, as we have it from his own lips. Being about to make a speech in Congress in defence of American industries, he put on, for the first time, a coat declared to have been made of American cloth. Sitting down, heated and perspiring from the excitement of his effort, he found that beneath the arms whose gestures had enforced his eulogies of American industry, the pretended fast blue of his coat had become _red_, literally _blushing_ for its unmerited praise. That fast-dyed goods of the highest excellence can be and are furnished by American manufacturers, is shown by our army cloths. The government specifications, copies of which are published elsewhere in this number, require that all the blue woollen cloth, cap cloth, and flannels furnished for the army shall be “pure indigo dyed.” The requisition is strictly enforced. The admirable effect of this regulation may be witnessed at any dress parade of a battalion of United States soldiers. The persistency and uniformity of the hue under constant wear—the cloth of the common soldier in its superior dye often favorably contrasting with the finer but fancy dyed cloth of the officer—is one of the circumstances which justify the assertion, that our army is the best clothed in the world. The contrast is more