JOURNAL OF THE COUNTY DONEGAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY cially opened by the late C'ardinal O'Donnell in 1912. This building fulfilled all the requirements of that visualised by the C.D.IB. as· far back as 1'893; it was used for measuring and inspecting, for btoring and selling. MACHINE-SPUN YARN But a decline had already set in through no faul·t of the small cottage worker or the · material he produced, 1but through the greed and short-sightedne'ss of certain merchants and others who imported from English mills large quantities ·Of machine-spun yarns (often mi~ed with shoddy) which they got woven in.to imitation Donegal Homespun. Outside the area of manufacture few knew the difference, and the market was glutted with this inferior material, 'and prices feU. The late Canon McDyer, P.P., Gortahork, then eurate at Ardara, consulted the Irish IndustrieSI Association with -the object of having le.gal proo·eedings instiituted against those marketing 1an article whtch was ruining the industry. Enquiries 'elicited the fact that the new f:abric was being marketed not as· "Donegal Homespun," but as ''IDonegal Hand-woven Tweed." Consequently 'no action lay against the manufacturers. Thedistinction meantmuch at home, lbut little abroad where all such tweeds are known as "Donegals." WAR OF 1914-18 Gradually the cottage producers started using machine-spun warp which they crossed with homespun weft. Owing to Jack of demand prices and production fel.l in l!912, '13, "14. But the following year the Orea.it War began to have its effect and :a temporary demand was created which gradually increased until it ended in a crash in the early days of June, l920. In that year approximately £70,000 were paid !tlo 1ootta1g€ iprodlu!c:ers :Dor tweed sold in the Ardara Mart alone. The hum of the spinning wheel and the steady throlb of the loom no longer enlivened the hill-side oQtta:~e. :al!l !bad been lbrollig:h t to a sudden sto1>, and thousands of people thrown idle. During the boom years money was• earned quickly and spent readily and, when the slump came, not a · few had all their savings invested in rolls of tweed and bales of wool, which were now practically unsalea.:bl·e at any price. The result was that many families found themselves worse off at the end than they were a-t the beginning. Five years later the iGaeltacht Commission reported as follows:- "Evidence put ·before the Commission goes to show that, for some years past, very few handlooms have !been worked !n Donegal, ·and that ·the industry is now approaching extinction. There are upwards of 600 looms and 1,500' spinning wheels in the South Donegal area alone, and almost an of ·them are at present idle." "ROUND '!iOWiER" TW1EFA> As a r.esult of the Cbmmtsslon's recommendfutions and local appeals a fresh start ·. was made in the autumn of 1928 under the direction of a sub-department of Lands .and Fisheries, late1" known as Gaeltarra Eireann. Gaeltarra took up its local headqua:M.ers in the Ardara Mart. Specialised instruction.· was given in desi,gn.ing and weaving, and within a f,ew months "Round Tower'' tweed was horn. OWing to the fact that it was made from mill-spun yarns it was never quite popular with many of the old producers who·:would like to see the spinning-wheels at work :as· well as the looms. A few familes here and there still made' home-spun but only in ·small quantities. WORLD WAR II T'hs situaotion remained unchanged until the second year of World War rr, when the scarcity of clothing materials lbrought aibout a resumption of work on an unprecedented scale. All the available spinning-wheels were re-harnessed and wheel-Wrights worked nigh1t and day trying to keep pace with the demand for new ones. Homespun fetched prices treble that of the previous boom period, and South-1West Donegal became a verita1ble El Dorado wLth its 2,00() fam.iilles ·employed in :tl'hie· 1ndusitcy.
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