Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 March 1892 — The Marseilles Soap Industry. [ARTICLE]

The Marseilles Soap Industry.

The manufacture of soap is one of the oldest industries of Marseilles. For a long time Venice and Genoa had the monopoly of this manufacture, but toward the sixteenth century two foremen from Toulon came to settle down at Marseilles. As they did not possess much capital, they installed themselves in an old house near the main road, and set up two boilers, in which they manufactured ■ from the oils of Provence a white soap which was used by the inhabitants of the town. They had to pay at that time a duty of fr. per quintal upon these oils. The industry did not extend much until, a number of years later, some merchants with capital developed it by building better works, providing more suitable implements, and bringing over workmen from Genoa who were adepts in the art of soapmaking. They were so successful that the manufacturers of Toulon and other places in Provence were obliged to have recourse to the use of a mixture of fat and butter in order to sell their goods at the same price as that of Marseilles. Thisidnd of adulteration gave rise to such complaints that Louis XIV. issued an edict, dated October sth, 1688, in which the factories "were placed under state supervision. This rigorous measure had the effect of increasing their number and improving their product, which now quite eclipsed that of Genoa. The deterioration of the olive trees which followed in 1709 was another source of advantage tp the Marseilles soapmakers,who monopolized the foreign oils which were in demand owing to the failure of the olive crop. Thus the only thing that remained was to counteract the competition of Spain, whose special brands enjoyed an excellent reputation and were much depended on. To accomplish this the manufacturers of Marseilles, taking advantage of a strike,, offered a high salary to a Spanish workman to come to Marseilles and manufacture soap according to the process In vogue at Alicante, w>hicb was a town of much repute in soapmaking. The foremen of Marseilles profited so much by the information gained from this foreigner that they were in a short time able to equal the products of Alicante, and also ihvented a new kind—a pale-blue soap which sold for £3 per quintal. Then it became the custom to buy at Marseilles, where there was a good market for blue, mottled, and white soaps, and in the year 1760 the town possessed twenty-eight factories, capable of producing 300,000 quintals ol soap. The usual consumption did not exceed 200,000 quintals, which represented the sum of £4,500,000, and that exported £200.000. Twelve hundred men were employed in the manufacture of soap, in which the porters of Piedmont had replaced convicts who were employed before the suppression of galleys.—Chemist and Druggist.