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HOB-NAILED BOOTS IN THE LOWLANDS
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be
assigned to the larger stones would still be getting the high wages
enjoyed today. That is the reason for the differential, allowing for
the usual difference between the best of European wages and the best of
American wages.
If
you think that is a far-fetched statement, let's go back a bit. Almost
all of the small melee stones (1-10 of a carat or less, the little
stones that decorate the sides of engagement rings, or that adorn
brooches and breast-pins and bracelets) were cut in Antwerp and
Amsterdam. When the war closed in on the Lowlands, further production
stopped. The Belgians and the Dutch alone concentrated on the tiresome
task of putting the necessary fifty-eight facets on the tiny stones.
Americans couldn't be bothered.
Now, with the crisis, Americans had to
be bothered. People were demanding melee stones in their rings and
brooches and bracelets the same as ever, but dealers weren't able to
supply them. One great diamond importing house moaned that if melee
weren't supplied soon it would have to go out of business. The great
firms weren't importing because there wasn't anything of considerable
amount and value to import. But various cutting firms, as well as some
of the importers, perhaps, saw that the cutting of melee in the United
States must be encouraged. They knew they couldn't depend upon England.
It soon became apparent there that the number of cutters fleeing from
the Low Countries could do little to fill the demand. The
establishment of a large industry became obviously unlikely since
young men who might serve as apprentices were scarcely available
because of the war.
The
same was true in South Africa, where young men were being called to the
colors. As an alternative, the possibility of training white women and
colored people to cut
(107)
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