Rugs: chronicles

The duties of the male portion of the family are to tend the flocks, shear the sheep, separate the various qualities of the wool into bundles, dye it, and make the framework for the rug. With the extension of the in­dustry, a class of workers has arisen whose sole task is to manipulate and dye the wool for use. The reason why men do not usually weave is that the occupation, besides not being a paying one, requires an amount of patience not within the power of men accustomed to work out of doors. Nor is it a remunerative occupation. The reader, who is perhaps also a prospective rug-buyer, may be interested in the following calculation of the amount of labor bestowed upon a given piece of the best type, the cost of the materials, and its value when completed.

A square foot of the best Persian rug is worth about ten dollars, and it takes a single weaver twenty-three days to complete this portion. This allows the weaver about forty-four cents per day for her wool and her labor; but as three-fourths of this amount goes to pay for the wool, only eleven cents per day is left for her labor. The wages of the producer of the inferior article are somewhat better. A square foot of an in­ferior rug is sold for about sixty cents, and the time required for weaving it is but two days, thus allowing the weaver thirty cents per day for her wool and labor. She uses inferior wool, washes but little of it, and pays only a nominal sum for a cheap dye. The framework of her loom costs comparatively little, as the rug it produces is from twenty to thirty times the size of the superior rug. Thus it appears that, in the long run, the inferior weaver is better paid than the one who fatigues her brain with her efforts to produce a rug of the best quality. On the other hand; the weaver of the superior fabric has advantages which the other has not.

As a general rule, she weaves to order, and is paid for her work in advance. This prepayment is of great impor­tance, considering the poverty of the weaver. The situa­tion of the weaver of the inferior article differs in that she has to buy her wool, dye it, finish her rug, and then watch the market for buyers.