CHAPTER X.

JURIES, ETC.

A clear statement of the _principles_ on which each jury is to award prizes, should be placed before them. These principles ought to be well discussed, and in that discussion manufacturers should be invited to take a part.

The first object of the jury should be to lay down rules by which these principles are to be carried out. Each class of the subjects to be rewarded will have its own rules. They will generally be few in number, and capable of being expressed in few words: some of these are suggested below, but merely by way of example.

One of the most general rules will indicate the means by which the jury can ascertain the fact, that the material of the manufacture under consideration is truly the substance it is represented to be.

For instance: some woven fabric is examined, professing to be made either entirely of wool, or wholly of flax. It may be quite true that experienced manufacturers and dealers, are able to detect any adulteration of either material by admixture with the other. But statements of facts made on authority, never possess the same weight with the public as those which are accompanied by information enabling any individual among that public to verify the fact for himself.

The form of the fibre as shown by the microscope is one test. A more simple one is to burn some fibres in the flame of a candle. Every fibre which, when thus treated, produces the smell of burnt feathers, is animal matter of some kind, as wool, silk, horse-hair, &c. The burnt fibres of hemp, flax, cotton, and other vegetable matters have a totally different scent; a fact of which any one may readily assure himself by making the experiment.

It may perhaps be necessary in some cases to wash the fabric under examination, lest in what is termed the “getting up for the market,” some animal matter or size might mislead. But the jury ought to be acquainted with all such difficulties, and they should state the method they took for investigating them.

The microscope is of great use in the detection of adulterations in most vegetable substances.

§ Every object produced is subject to certain defects, and possessed of certain excellences: these should be clearly enumerated. Whenever such statements are expressed by numbers, the information will be more satisfactory.

Thus, in cutting tools, as applied to various metals, it is very important that the angle at which the tool is applied, should be stated: it is also necessary to state the angle which the edge of the tool receiving the shaving cut off, makes with the surface cut. The velocity of the tool in cutting should be stated, also the names of the fluids, if any, used in cutting.

The durability of woven fabrics, as well as of a great variety of other manufactured articles, is a most essential quality, on which, combined with the price, their chief value to the customer depends.

It is very desirable that the jury should find satisfactory means of testing this most important character, which is not discernible, even by the most curious and instructed spectator.

The knowledge of the weight required for tearing asunder any woven fabric, as a ribbon, a stay-lace, tape, &c., together with the breaking weight of their individual threads, and the number of these threads in an inch, may in some cases be very valuable, especially in coarse articles, such as sailcloth, sacking, &c.

In other cases, the articles may be submitted to twenty or thirty washings and dryings, during which it may repeatedly be examined. The greatest change will most frequently occur on the first washing, which removes the dressing.

§ In many articles the durability of different parts varies considerably. In some cases one part will wear out, if replaced, many times before the remainder of the article is at all injured by use. In all such cases the jury should adopt such rules as the following:—

Examine the durability of each part, and also the difficulty and the expense of replacing it when injured.

Examine also, for the same purpose, what parts are most exposed to injury or destruction by accident.

Examine also the _relative_ expense of putting the article in a working state when first purchased and brought home.

These rules will be best understood by an illustration. Let us suppose a jury to be examining the relative merits of several cottage stoves for cooking. Of course the first inquiry will be as to which admits of the best performance of the operations of—

Boiling, Baking, Stewing, Supply of hot water, Roasting, Ironing, Broiling, &c.

The cost of the fuel must not only be given, but also its weight, because the price of fuel varies in different localities. The capability of using different sorts of fuel in the several stoves, and the amount of fuel so consumed for its equivalent of coal, should also be stated.

These and other comparative inquiries having been made, the durability of that part of the stove which is subjected to the direct action of the burning fuel, must be examined. It will be made either of iron or of earthenware; and the relative merit of the various stoves will, as far as this point is concerned, consist in the facility and economy with which such parts can be removed, and the corresponding new parts be purchased and replaced in their proper position. It is always desirable for the consumer that the vendors of such articles should keep a stock of the parts liable to wear out, and that the latter should undertake to replace them at a fixed price.

Those parts of the stove which project so as to be liable to accidental blows, and those which from their more constant use are much exposed to accident, as the hinges and the latches of doors, should then be examined. These, if of cast-iron or other brittle material, and constituting part of the substance of the door, should be sufficiently strong to resist fracture: if they are attached to it by rivets or otherwise, they will be lighter and stronger when made of wrought-iron.

The last inquiry is into the expense of fixing the stove for use. It may be set in brickwork, within the chimney, in which case it will require a bricklayer and a large mass of materials in the shape of bricks and mortar, and possibly of stone. Or it may stand on its own base containing its own ash-pit, and by means of a small iron pipe the smoke may be conveyed into a flue. In this case almost any workman with hammer and chisel and a small quantity of mortar or cement, can fix it ready for use.

Again, the stop-cock for the water-cistern may be either hard-soldered, riveted, or screwed in. If the latter, it can easily be unscrewed or reground when necessary. The same remark applies to the leaden supply-pipe; it may be connected by soldering, or by a union joint. In the former case these parts will require the aid not only of the tinman or coppersmith, but also of the plumber.

§ The expense of repairing a machine does not in all cases depend on the cost of the part replaced, or even on the actual cost of replacing that part alone. It often happened in the earlier days of locomotive engines, that the expense of some small reparation necessary to keep the machine in good working order, did not amount to ten shillings; whilst the expense of removing and replacing other parts, without which the workman could not get at the defective part, amounted to fifty or eighty shillings, or even to a still larger sum.

Thus facility of getting at all the parts of an engine for the purposes of repair, or even of examination, is one of the advantages which the broad possesses over the narrow gauge.

§ In many articles exposed to great or sudden force, and to much wear and tear, it is very desirable that if any breakage occur, it should happen at that point where the consequences would be the least dangerous to the persons using it, and the reparation of it least expensive.

During a series of experiments made by the author in 1839, on the Great Western Railway, it was necessary, amongst a variety of other curves, to cause a pen to draw upon long rolls of paper the curve described by the centre of a carriage, projected on the plane of the road. When everything is in proper order, this line ought to be parallel to, and in the middle between, the two rails. But it is well known that instead of answering these conditions, it often describes a _serpentine_ curve, arising from that snake-like motion of a train which the carriages acquire by rolling alternately towards each rail, until they are checked by the flanges pressing against it.

To accomplish the drawing of the line above-mentioned, it was necessary to have depending from the carriage, a very stout jointed wooden arm, terminating in an iron _shoe_ with a steel projection. This _shoe_ was, by a powerful spring, pressed close to the rail in the middle point between the two side wheels of the carriage, and by a communication with the pen the required curve was described.

But such an apparatus was exposed to very rough work, and, in fact, was generally broken three or four times during each experimental journey. If the broken part had fallen between the wheel and the rail, it might have caused a serious accident. To prevent this the following precautions were taken—

The wooden arm was strengthened with thin strips of iron, except at one part about an inch long. At this part of the wood a small notch was cut with a saw. The lower portion had a strong iron eye fixed into it, which was connected loosely to a hook by a rope passing through a hole in the middle of the carriage.

Whenever the apparatus broke, it was always at the notch. The position of the loose rope holding the broken part was such, that the tendency was immediately to drag it into the middle of the road under the centre of the carriage. This at once removed it from interference with the wheels. The pen describing the curve soon gave notice by ceasing to move laterally, that the arm was broken; on which one of the assistants immediately took hold of the loose rope, and pulling the broken fragment close up to the bottom of the carriage, prevented the possibility of any further danger.

§ If each jury were to explain concisely the means employed by them to examine the qualities of each class of objects submitted to them, much valuable information would result. A collection of these rules for the judgment or verification of articles, if reduced into order, and published in a small compass, by a competent person, at the close of the Exposition, would be invaluable to the public. The result would be beneficial to all _honest_ tradesmen, and injurious only to the _fraudulent_. Such means when put into the hands of the public would soon enable it to distinguish the genuine from the sophisticated articles, and to select those which in point of excellence and durability are best suited to the means or wants of the purchaser.[10] The increased knowledge of the public would be felt by the retail dealers, and would make them more anxious to obtain excellent and durable goods from the manufacturer.

§ Several of the papers issued by the Commission bear honourable testimony to the sagacity of those who composed them. They treat the persons addressed as reasoning men, explaining to them the results contemplated: thus whilst offering their own most strenuous exertions, they admit that these would scarcely prove effective without the co-operation of the public in a plan devised for the common advantage of all.

In former days had there been water-fowl in our parks, some such notice as this would have been placarded:—

“Whoever throws stones at, or frightens these birds, shall be prosecuted with the utmost severity of the law.”

In the present day we read the much more effective address,

“These birds are recommended to the protection of the public.”

However ragged the coat of the passer-by, his feelings not his fears are addressed, and his pride is gratified by being appointed as it were a temporary trustee for the safety of his feathered friends. The advantage of acting upon this principle is not confined merely to its direct efficiency for its purpose. A still more important benefit remains latent, one which never ought to be lost sight of in the enactment or the administration of laws.

_It enlists public opinion in favour of law and of order._[11]

Thus aiding the prevention, the detection, and the punishment of offenders, it renders the interference of the police far less necessary, and when called for, more effective.

§ This principle might perhaps be applied with advantage to the admission under regulations of certain classes of _skilled_ workmen by means of tickets, for a limited number of days.

Most effective assistance might be rendered both to the police and to the attendants at the Exposition by the following plan:—Allow a certain number of persons, in whom the executive can repose confidence,—generally master manufacturers or employers,—the privilege of recommending a small number of their best and most regular workmen or assistants, to whom should be granted tickets of admission, subject to the following conditions:—

1. Tickets of admission shall be granted for periods of from three to any greater number of days. Some tickets being for the first three days of each week, or otherwise, as may be convenient.

2. They shall either be gratuitous or obtainable by a small payment.

3. Each ticket-holder shall wear the ticket by a string from the button of his coat, or as may be arranged.

4. He shall, when required by the police or attendants, assist in any duty they may desire for the safety or general convenience of the expositors.

5. Whenever he observes any irregularity, or has reason to believe that thieves or improper persons have obtained admission, he is to inform the nearest policeman.

6. Whenever he observes any machine or any object exhibited, to be out of order, or in danger of being injured, or its parts misplaced, he is to communicate the fact to the nearest attendant, who will refer him to the proper superintendent of that department. He will explain the defect he has pointed out, and if asked by the superintendent, he is to put it in order, or suggest to him some other person then present, who may be better able to complete the reparation.

7. Each master should be required to pledge his word that he will only recommend trustworthy persons. Each workman admitted might simply be required to give his word of honour that he would assist.

These regulations ought to be printed and stuck up in various parts of the building.

It would, indeed, be desirable to have a certain number of boards placed in the most public parts of the Exposition, on which should be fixed and properly classified all rules, and other information useful to the public. Also notices as to prices and hours of visiting the Exposition might from time to time be affixed. Each board ought also to have a plan of the ground-floor and galleries of the building, on which the names of the different subjects and countries occupying the various parts, might be readily ascertained by the visitors.

[10] Several valuable papers containing rules of this kind have lately appeared in the _Lancet_.

[11] The ancient law of rendering the hundred responsible for damages done by a mob, is founded on this principle. It is so important, that the reader will, perhaps, pardon another illustration.

Amongst boys as amongst men, a degree of pugnacity exists, to the annoyance of the more quiet portion. This was checked at a certain school by giving full permission to the boys to fight whenever they liked, and at the same time prescribing certain simple rules for the combat, as follows:—

1. When two boys wish to fight, they must inform the chief usher of their wish.

2. He must appoint a time for the combat, not sooner than three, nor more than six hours, after the notice.

3. At the appointed time, if the lads are still desirous of the contest, the chief usher must take the pugnacious ones to an enclosure, where they cannot be seen by their comrades. He then desires them to fight until they are tired, he standing by to see fair play.

4. Any boy present or assisting at an illegal fight will be punished.

The consequence is that their honour or their ill-humour is soon satisfied. No party is made, to back them; no friends call out to them, “Give it him, Tom!” “At him, Jack!” Their pugnacity is not, as it has been in some instances at public schools, unnaturally excited by the stimulus either of betting or of brandy.

After long experience, it was found that quarrels rarely arrived at a fight. It was the _interest_ of all the rest of the school to make some just and amicable arrangement.