It proved a long, proud pull—but the glovers of Grenoble were not to be daunted. At last that city’s ancient prestige was restored. The War of 1870, instead of being a set-back, was really a help; for the remoteness of Grenoble from the seat of war permitted her to continue working, and orders from England and America—which, ordinarily, might have sought other channels—she filled in her factories and home shops. In 1872, to be sure, Grenoble, and all the French glovers, suddenly found themselves up against tremendous, and totally unexpected, competition with Saxony, Austria, Luxembourg and Belgium. These countries had devised a means of placing on the market remarkably handsome lambskin gloves, which rivalled in appearance the fine French kid product and sold for far less. But a few years of obstinately insisting upon the high prices they always had exacted for their goods, soon taught the French manufacturers the necessity of finding a less expensive kid; and with the development of new mechanical inventions for cheaper cutting and sewing, Grenoble presently regained her firm footing.
If the seventeenth century must be considered little short of marvellous as regards glove-making in Grenoble—and it may be compared, indeed, to the first five years of a child’s life, in which he makes, proportionately, his most astonishing progress—the achievements of the industry in the nineteenth century, if possible, have been even greater. Apart from the facts of the vicissitudes the trade had had to face, the battles it had waged—and won—all the vast accoutrements of modern machinery and scientific appliances now come into play. Also, a great, inventive genius has arisen, destined to revolutionize the art of glove-making.
“There is nothing impossible to industry.”—_Clio, one of the Seven Wise Men of Greece._
Until now we have been dealing with revolutionary movements in the political sense, and, indirectly, their effects upon the glove trade. We presently have to consider the great revolution within the industry itself, which came with the introduction of machinery in the nineteenth century, whereby productive labor was completely transformed and glove-making permanently modernized.