FURNITURE INDUSTRY IN AMER ICA, The. The early cabinet-shops of America were like the second-hand repair-shops to be seen to-day in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and other large cities. A great many cabinet makers made furniture until late in the 1st cen tury of commercial independence on simile Chippendale lines. Gradually the Empire fashions, which were making themselves felt all over Europe, spread to America, and shapes became heavier and more pretentious, mahogany being used almost exclusively. Heads of ani mals were also used, and claw-feet became a general feature. Common furniture was heavy and unattractive. The general condition of things at this time was unfavorable to the de velopment of art industries. Little thought was given to progress in the manufacture of furni ture and for some years there was a decline. Upon a revival of commerce cabinet-makers changed their style, and began producing a de based rococo style, which did not have the elegance or character of the Louis XV, but was covered with a florid ornamentation in which the only consideration was display. The ex travagance of curves and lavish ornamentation brought about a reaction, and toward 1830, fol lowing the fashion in England and France, an attempt was made to construct furniture in the Gothic style, but with very unsatisfactory re sults. The lack of artistic training of the man ufacturers who were, as a rule, cabinet-makers or carvers by trade, made it very difficult for them to handle a method of decoration and construction so little appropriate in itself to the requirements of home comfort. This Gothic style of furniture, monumental in ap pearance, was made to a limited extent only, although its influence is to be noticed on other furniture placed on the market at this time and later. The making of rococo furniture was kept up by a large number of cabinet-makers, the cheaper furniture being for many years made in this style. It was also during this period that steam, applied to cabinet-makers' machinery for the first time in 1815, occasioned a revolution in the manufacture of furniture, bringing labor saving devices into more general use, and enabling the cabinet-maker to supply the rapidly increasing demand for his product. In 1825,
Richardson, of Philadelphia, introduced the cir cular saw, and Taylor, Rich & Company erected the first mahogany-mill in America, a number of these saws being used there. Ordinary furni ture, which until now had been very plain, was covered with endless scroll-work and moldings, produced so easily by the new machines. The manufacturers indulged for a time without re straint in this ornamentation. The use of ma chinery in shops, and the increased facilities for transportation, wrought a wonderful improve ment in the furniture trade; and the cabinet shop, which had until this time been of small importance and partially engaged in making ar ticles kindred to furniture, suddenly assumed large proportions, and confined itself to furni ture only, using in the making of it the new devices which were constantly being brought forth by ingenious inventors. 'The value of the furniture product in the year 1850 may be esti mated at about $15,000,000, and the industry gave employment to 37,000 people, out of a pop ulation of a little over 23,000,000. For a Joni time a great number of hand-shops survive making to order special high-grade work an they succeeded in impressing their patrons with the idea of the inferiority of machine-made furniture, which at this early stage in the in troduction of machinery was not entirely with out foundation. The extensive use of machinery i in shops had the immediate effect of again changing the style of furniture. Manufacturers looked for a fashion in which they could use their facilities to the best advantage, and at the same time retain the attractiveness of their earlier work. This they found in the Renais sance, which for a number of years superseded all other styles in the best class of furniture.