Up: Glassmaking
Reminiscences
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We have expressed the opinion that the manufacture
of glass is as yet but in its infancy. The experience of every day confirms
the assertion, and illustrates the maxim that "life is short, art is long."
The time is not far distant when this country
will become, we think, the largest exporter of glass, and the manufacture
compose a most important item in every assorted export cargo. In this
connection a hint to ship-owners may not be amiss. It is well known that
in England, when a ship is put up for a foreign port, it is the custom to
rate the freight according to the value of the merchandise,-- dry goods
paying the highest freight, hardware the next highest, earthen and glass
ware the lowest. If our merchants would adopt this plan, very many of
our bulky manufactures would find a market abroad; when, however, the same
rate is required for a cask of glass ware as for a case of silks or prints,
it taxes the latter a small percentage, but practically vetoes the export
of the glass.
Our task is now ended; our object has been to
give a simple and succinct outline of the characteristics and progress
of the Glass Manufacture, to suggest such hints as might bear upon the
further advance of the art, and the
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