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Alsatian Report on the Centennial.--MM. Steinlen and Zuber presented to the Industrial Society of Mulhouse, a report in which they described the Philadelphia Exposition as more interesting and better organized than any that preceded it. Special thanks are given to the Franklin Institute and the American Association of Mining Engineers, for various courtesies; the calico factory of Joseph Lea and his associate, M. Eberhardt, is described as resembling a true Alsatian colony; the mechanical puddler of Messrs. W. Sellers & Co., their proposed continuous system of iron working, their establishment at Edge Moor, and their Philadelphia workshops, are all highly commended ; the Corliss engine is praised for its general effect, in spite of some deficiencies of detail; tile quality, finish, efficiency and moderate cost of tile various steam engines, as well as of most of the machines, are extolled. Special notice is taken of the commercial iron and steel ; sheet iron and steel ; numerous samples of hammered work, showing the extreme density of the iron and steel, as well as the great skill of the smiths; imitation Russia iron ; iron and steel rails ; soft and tenacious castings, equal to the best Swedish; superior Bessemer fabrics, with particular encomiums on the rails, horse-shoes and wood-screws; hardware, including locks, padlocks, nails, saws, wrought and cast iron and enameled household utensils, edge tools, files, surgical instruments, cutlery, firearms; the general iron trade, second in importance only to that of England, a success which they attribute, in part, to the immense natural resources of the country in coal and minerals of excellent quality, partly to protective tariffs. They say : "We hold the American hardware as the most perfect in the world; free from the mannerisms as well as from the irrational and ungraceful forms which have been imposed upon us, by makers who are dealers rather than artisans."
In other departments they commend the fine displays of gold and silver ware, often displaying originality and grace, America ranking next after France, Austria and Russia, in taste and execution ; superior telegraphic apparatus, and its common use in workshops, hotels, offices and private houses; excellent watches for ordinary use, the workmanship being such as soon to control the American market, and compete formidably with the European trade in other markets; furniture, of good shapes, solidly and well made, but of general bad 12 ~
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