Les territoires de la laine: Histoire de l'industrie lainiere en France au XIXe siecle (review)

Based on his doctoral dissertation, Jean-Claude Daumas's book on the economics of nineteenth-century wool manufacture is a sound, workmanlike, and well-organized exposition. With many books already detailing various sectors of the industry, from the sheep's back to the consumer's closet, the question arises why another synthetic study was needed. Daumas's rationale is that while the general contours of the industry are well known, the variegated nature of individual wool centers has been glossed over. Like the industrial history of the Old Regime, nineteenth-century centers of wool production exhibited a variety of business patterns that influenced their particular fortunes.

An overview of French wool commerce shows that old wool carding centers like Elbeuf, supplying uniforms for Napoleon's army, entered the nineteenth century dynamically. With a temporary downturn in 1837, this success lasted through the 1860s, when a series of problems produced a slow decline, lasting until the turn of the century. Even in this general view, however, there were exceptions that changed the picture, and it is these examples that Daumas examines in order to present a more nuanced and detailed understanding of the woolen industry and the French economy in general.

The ills of French business have long been a subject for historians' analysis, and Daumas selects those most responsible for the fate of his selected industry. High on the list is the lack of a credit bank, keeping French merchants from extending long-term credit. This was especially damaging because domestic demand alone was too weak to sustain high production. A limited number of French consulates, a small, expensive merchant marine, and unfavorable tariffs combined with internal obstacles such as undercapitalized firms, slow industrialization, and scattered workshops to hobble business. In addition, long-term success also depended on spinners switching from carded wool, which was easily processed but made a limited number of fabrics, to combed wool, which required many treatments but could be used for a wide variety of cloth. But not every center had every problem, and the interest of this book is to show the individual characteristics of each wool manufactory.

Elbeuf and Sedan adapted themselves from royal manufactures to makers of combed wool to satisfy a mass market. Sedan's output of fine novelty fabric brought commercial success, but the high quality and flexible design changes depended on the large number of weavers working "à façon," as individuals for their own account, on hand looms, dispersed throughout the city and countryside. In 1870 weaving was essentially manual, and there were still some hand looms in 1904. A long strike in 1891 that resulted in a rise in hand loom weavers' wages precipitated some industrialization. But with no tradition of investing in new machines, industrialists continued with too many dispersed buildings and outmoded looms.

Elbeuf responded to the 1830s desire for new kinds of cloth with a burst of novelty fabrics using weft materials as diverse as cotton, silk, cashmere, vicuna, beaver, and rat. The Jacquard device made it possible to change new designs and colors for every season. But Elbeuf's reliance on the classic dark cloth for menswear, rather than emphasizing the popular goods, was a mistake in the long run. In addition, its entrepreneurs relied too long on the skilled, low-paid hand weavers living in the environs.

Vienne was a phenomenon in the wool business, rising from small beginnings to great success in 1837, when other centers were in decline. This city developed fabric of excellent quality and cheap price because its producers innovated in using wool combings and other waste wool products. Blessed with plenty of weavers à façon, groups of entrepre-neurs—who did not understand the processes—organized the largest ateliers into companies. Here, too, the advantage of skilled dispersed weavers kept them from mechanizing the...