Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎447v] (897/1814)

790
JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF ARTS.
October 6 , 1916,
ports will still be used for business originating
in and around Teheran, the capital of Persia,
but it will be unnecessary hereafter for any of
the business of Tabriz, the largest commercial
•city of Persia, to be conducted through Caspian
Sea ports or through Trebizond on the Black
Sea. The commercial importance of Tabriz,,
now the leading carpet market of the world,
should be greatly increased. It is understood
to have at present a population of about 200,000.
Its bazaars cover many miles of arcaded streets,
and its carpet bazaars are specially noted.
Besides the enormous trade in carpets, there is
an important trade in cotton, dried fruits,
tragacanth,etc.
• ' \. / ■" . '
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE
TEXTILE INDUSTRIES.
Mutual Accommodations. — The common
problem is that of satisfying the demand for
goods with a constantly dwindling number of
men, and its solution is necessarily one of
increasing difficulty. Hitherto the task has
consistently turned out a little easier than could
be expected. Circumstances adapt themselves
in a mysterious way to the troubled manu
facturer. Demand grows up for the sorts of
goods which can be produced rather than for
those which cannot, and by grace of small
accommodations industry is enabled to proceed
to good purpose. Cash turnovers receive the
assistance of higher prices, and the amount of
skilled work to be done in maintaining them is
reduced ' by the avoidance of changes in the
kind of work in hand. Carried beyond a certain
point the reduction of man-power inevitably
implies reduction of productive capacity, but
it has been shown that upon an emergency
unanticipated results are possible. There are
mills and works producing goods of more
total value than ever with the staff of
skilled men cut down by one-half or two-thirds.
As a fact of this kind is liable to misconstruc
tion, it is necessary to emphasise the distinction
between value and volume.
Restrictive Influences. —Manufacturers of goods
indispensable for war occupy the privileges of
their situation. They have first call upon the
supplies of fuel, and are permitted to extend
buildings while others are not ; they have less
difficulty in retaining the services of men of
military years, and their applications for new
machinery receive priority at the machine
works. They alone are allowed to receive raw
materials of particular sorts, but the privileges
are bought at a certain price. Contracts are
issued on terms which severely limit the charges
which may be made, and convert the contractor
virtually into an agent of the War Department.
Increasingly the war becomes the first business
of the industry, and the opportunities of
attending to any other market diminish. Export
cloths and home trade goods continue to be made
upon one scale or another, but manufacturers
have nothing like a free hand at present, and are
perhaps destined to have less before regaining
their liberty to go as they will. Doubtless'
it is widely recognised abroad that the situa
tion of our textile manufacturers is singularly
cramped, but -without a strong effort of the
imagination their exact position can scarcely
be realised. The pre-occupation with war
contracts removes the participants from their
old trades, and precludes them from embarking
upon the new ones that will have to be sought
later.
Work after the War. —The resolute opposition
to the proposal to apply the unemployment
provisions of the National Insurance Act to
workers in wool affords a test of opinion as to
the effect of the ending of the war. Were it
held seriously likely that large numbers of
workers would be brought to destitution, a
small weekly payment insuring a modest relief
in case of need need hardly be grudged in
present conditions. Virtually all the employers
and all the employed concerned vigorously
resisted the application of the Act, and were
not dismayed to learn that no other financial
assistance need be expected from the State.
The industry accepted full responsibility for
its own hardships gaily. The disbanding of the
forces will bring the woollen industry con
tracts for the civilian suits, overcoats and
cardigan jackets for which the King’s Regula
tions provide, and were the war to end to-morrow
it would catch the woollen warehousemen and
clothiers almost without a piece in stock.
While the war lasts the need for army clothing
must be continuous and heavy, and when peace
comes the call for goods will almost certainly
be great.
Discarded Uniforms. — Arrangements have
been made for firms of dry-cleaners in this
country to receive soiled service uniforms, and
to clean and repair them and send them out
in a condition not very different from new.
The bargain promises economies, and contracts
have been made for the renovation of tens of
thousands of uniforms weekly. Uniforms beyond
repair are being collected for dispatch to the
rag-wool district, where they are being bought
at about £80 a ton for conversion into new
cloth. Ordinary rag-picking is one of the
industries that has been seriously disorganised
by the war, and military rags, by virtue of the
size and systematisation of the supply, are
becoming the chief staple of the market. Except
in a limited way, second-hand official khaki
cannot be used to make standard khaki again,
although it may serve for inferior qualities.
Blended with rags of other colours, its fibres