The speaker of the evening, Mr. Rowland Hazard, of Providence, confined his remarks to that branch of industry which employs wools as its raw material. The distaff and spindle and the hand card were first used in wool manufacturing, and these were improved from time to time through the various changes until quite recently, when James Hargraves used the first cylinder cards and the spinning jenny. Now a couple of boys at the end of a spinning mule can do the work of five or six hundred women with the old-fashioned wheel. The speaker reviewed the introduction and increase of the woolen industry in this country, and said that the woolen industry of the country may be said to have begun with this century. Mr. Hazard described very minutely the process of woolen manufacturing, and illustrated his remarks by various objects used in woolen making. There are three kinds of woolen cloths, those made by the processes called card, worsted and felting. The labor in the woolen mills is about evenly divided between the sexes. The English are by far the best laborers in this industry.

Although the number of woolen workers in this country is relatively quite small, the woolen industry supplies a want that is second only to that of food. The lecturer referred to the present tariff regulations and asserted that he did not consider them necessary to the welfare of the woolen industry. He argued at some length against the protection tariff, and claimed that the general competition of the world will find where a staple can be manufactured cheapest before mere local competition and experience show that the tariff is prejudicial to the woolen industry. The speaker glanced at the labor and capital problem and said that great danger lurked in a breach between employee and employer. Mr. Hazard evidently spoke in sympathy with the feeling of his audience, and the close of his lecture was followed by prolonged applause. There was a good attendance and great interest was manifested.