Cottage Industry (FOTS)
| Cottage Industry (FOTS) | |
|---|---|
| File:Cottage Industry FOTS.png | |
| Chain | Industrial Type |
| Requires | - |
| Enables | Buildings: |
| Spawned Defence Forces | - |
| Basic Building Statistics | |
| Clan Effects | +1 to modernisation (clan development) |
| See main article; FotS Buildings | |
Description
The weaver, the potter, and the smith at his forge work for the good of all.
Cottage industry adds to the wealth of a province. The craftsmen use traditional methods, but do so very efficiently and in close cooperation with merchants and traders. Their goods can be sold in many places, even though each man may only make a few items.
History shows that cottage industries are the natural precursor to an industrial revolution. Each weaver, potter or smith may work in his own shop, but with many of them in a small area, they can produce large quantities of goods even though their machinery is not mechanised or modernised. Each family tends to specialise in one part of craft process, so that a potter will make pottery, which is then sold on to a decorator or painter, and in turn sold on when fired to a merchant. There is, in effect, a production line, but one split across small workshops. While this meant that craftsmen could make more goods and so more money, they were not in a position to compete against water or steam-powered factories and their enormous outputs. The same pattern of craftsmen being driven out of markets and overwhelmed by the relatively cheap goods from factories was repeated in Japan. As with the original Industrial Revolution, many craftsmen were forced to take work in the new factories, or face starvation.
