ESSAYS-1 [29]
IMPOSSIBLE for them to escape detection.
Not only the clerk of the spinners examines the yarn when he receives it, and counts the threads in any of the knots which appear to be too small, but the name of the spinner, with a note of the quantity of knots, accompanies the yarn into the store-room, as was before observed, and from thence to the spooler, by whom it is wound off; any frauds committed in reeling cannot fail to be brought home to the spinner.
The bundles of carded wool delivered to the spinners, though they are called pounds, are not exact pounds. They contain each as much more than a pound, as is necessary, allowing for wastage in spinning, in order that the yarn when spun may weigh a pound. If the yarn is found to be wanting in weight, a proportional deduction is made from the wages of the spinner; which deduction, to prevent frauds, amounts to a trifle more than the value of the yarn which is wanting.
Frauds in weaving are prevented by delivering the yarn to the weavers by weight, and receiving the cloth by weight from the loom. In the other operations of the manufactures, such as fulling, shearing, pressing, etc. no frauds are to be apprehended.
Similar precautions are taken to prevent frauds in the linen;-- cotton;--and other manufactures carried on in the house; and so effectual are the means adopted, that during more than five years since the establishment was instituted, no one fraud of the least consequence has been discovered; the evident impossibility of escaping detection in those practices, having prevented the attempt.
Through the above-mentioned details may be sufficient to give some idea of the general order which reigns in every part of this extensive establishment; yet, as success in an undertaking of this kind depends essentially on carrying on the business in all its various branches in the most methodical manner, and rendering one operation a check upon the other, as well as in making the persons employed absolutely responsible for all frauds and neglects committed in their various departments, I shall either add in the Appendix, or publish separately, a full account of the internal details of the various trades and manufactures carried on in the Military Work-house, and copies of all the different tickets,--returns,--tables,--accounts, etc. made use of in carrying on the business of this establishment.
Though these accounts will render this work more voluminous than I could have wished, yet, as such details can hardly fail to be very useful to those, who, either upon a larger, or smaller scale, may engage in similar undertakings, I have determined to publish them.
To show that the regulations observed in carrying on the various trades and manufactures in the Military Work-house are good, it will, I flatter myself, be quite sufficient to refer to the flourishing state of the establishment;--to its growing reputation;--to its extensive connections, which reach even to foreign countries;--to the punctuality with which all its engagements are fulfilled;-- to its unimpeached credit;--and to its growing wealth.
Notwithstanding all the disadvantages under which it laboured in its infant state, the net profits arising from it during the six years it has existed, amount to above 100,000 florins; after the expences of every kind,--salaries,--wages,--repairs, etc. have been deducted; in consequence of the augmentation of the amount of the orders received and executed the last year, did not fall much short of HALF A MILLION of florins.
It may be proper to observe, that, not the whole army of the Elector, but only the fifteen Bavarian regiments, are furnished with clothing from the Military Work-house at Munich. The troops of the Palatinate, and those of the Duchies of Juliers and Bergen, receive their clothing from a similar establishment at Manheim.
The Military Work-house at Manheim was indeed erected several months before that at Munich; but as it is not immediately connected with any institution for the poor,--as the poor are not fed in it,--and as it was my first
Not only the clerk of the spinners examines the yarn when he receives it, and counts the threads in any of the knots which appear to be too small, but the name of the spinner, with a note of the quantity of knots, accompanies the yarn into the store-room, as was before observed, and from thence to the spooler, by whom it is wound off; any frauds committed in reeling cannot fail to be brought home to the spinner.
The bundles of carded wool delivered to the spinners, though they are called pounds, are not exact pounds. They contain each as much more than a pound, as is necessary, allowing for wastage in spinning, in order that the yarn when spun may weigh a pound. If the yarn is found to be wanting in weight, a proportional deduction is made from the wages of the spinner; which deduction, to prevent frauds, amounts to a trifle more than the value of the yarn which is wanting.
Frauds in weaving are prevented by delivering the yarn to the weavers by weight, and receiving the cloth by weight from the loom. In the other operations of the manufactures, such as fulling, shearing, pressing, etc. no frauds are to be apprehended.
Similar precautions are taken to prevent frauds in the linen;-- cotton;--and other manufactures carried on in the house; and so effectual are the means adopted, that during more than five years since the establishment was instituted, no one fraud of the least consequence has been discovered; the evident impossibility of escaping detection in those practices, having prevented the attempt.
Through the above-mentioned details may be sufficient to give some idea of the general order which reigns in every part of this extensive establishment; yet, as success in an undertaking of this kind depends essentially on carrying on the business in all its various branches in the most methodical manner, and rendering one operation a check upon the other, as well as in making the persons employed absolutely responsible for all frauds and neglects committed in their various departments, I shall either add in the Appendix, or publish separately, a full account of the internal details of the various trades and manufactures carried on in the Military Work-house, and copies of all the different tickets,--returns,--tables,--accounts, etc. made use of in carrying on the business of this establishment.
Though these accounts will render this work more voluminous than I could have wished, yet, as such details can hardly fail to be very useful to those, who, either upon a larger, or smaller scale, may engage in similar undertakings, I have determined to publish them.
To show that the regulations observed in carrying on the various trades and manufactures in the Military Work-house are good, it will, I flatter myself, be quite sufficient to refer to the flourishing state of the establishment;--to its growing reputation;--to its extensive connections, which reach even to foreign countries;--to the punctuality with which all its engagements are fulfilled;-- to its unimpeached credit;--and to its growing wealth.
Notwithstanding all the disadvantages under which it laboured in its infant state, the net profits arising from it during the six years it has existed, amount to above 100,000 florins; after the expences of every kind,--salaries,--wages,--repairs, etc. have been deducted; in consequence of the augmentation of the amount of the orders received and executed the last year, did not fall much short of HALF A MILLION of florins.
It may be proper to observe, that, not the whole army of the Elector, but only the fifteen Bavarian regiments, are furnished with clothing from the Military Work-house at Munich. The troops of the Palatinate, and those of the Duchies of Juliers and Bergen, receive their clothing from a similar establishment at Manheim.
The Military Work-house at Manheim was indeed erected several months before that at Munich; but as it is not immediately connected with any institution for the poor,--as the poor are not fed in it,--and as it was my first