ABSTRACT
In 1876 the country as a whole passed under the cloud of depression which persisted, with a short period of activity in 1880–1882 until 1886. Powerful contributory causes were doubtless to be found in the rise in the value of gold, in the depreciation of silver, and in the decline in agriculture. The falling prices and the foreign competition, which became a real menace to the local hardware trades after 1875, caused the more enterprising manufacturers to seek for ways of reducing their costs. In the brassfoundry trade, the change took the form of the substitution of stamping or pressing for casting, and in 1887 it was reported that in some branches the introduction of machinery had effected a revolution in methods. The more extensive employment of power-machinery was partly responsible for the increase in the size of the typical producing units within many trades.
