| 1830 | 400,000 |
| 1850 | 950,000 |
| 1876 | 1,854,000 |
| 1883 | 1,809,000 |
| 1898 | 1,704,000 |
| 1909 (estimated) | 1,500,000 |
The falling off is occasioned mainly by (a) the developing industrialism of the rest of Europe, notably Germany, and (b) the diminishing importance of the natural advantage of water-power with the improvement of steam-engines. Swiss yarns have been kept out of continental markets in the interests of home spinning. Now fancy cotton goods, laces and trimmings are the leading specialities of the Swiss textile workers. About half the Swiss spindles are in the canton of Zürich, between a quarter and a third in Glarus, about the same in St Gall and 9% in Aargau. Figures show that the average size of the Swiss mill is small. The average spindles to a mill were 22,000, and very few mills held more than 50,000 spindles. Some 9000 of the power-looms are in Zürich, some 4500 in Glarus and 4000 in St Gall. Wald in the south-east of the canton of Zürich is an important centre of the muslin manufacture.
Austria.—Austria contains about 4,200,000 spindles and more yarn is consumed than it produces, as on balance there is an excess of imports of yarn. Bohemia, lower Austria, Tirol and Vorarlberg account for the mass of Austrian spinning. The following details relating to these districts recently are of interest:—
| Mills. | Spindles. | Average spindles to a mill. | |
| Bohemia | 82 | 1,870,000 | 22,800 |
| Lower Austria | 23 | 460,000 | 20,000 |
| Tirol and Vorarlberg | 20 | 435,000 | 21,700 |
Reichenberg and the surrounding district is the chief manufacturing place: here are more than 80,000 looms, nearly a half of which are hand-looms.
Italy.—Recent industrial growth in Italy is remarkable: statistics of spindles since 1870 are as follows, but the percentage of error is probably high:—
| 1870 | 500,000 |
| 1888 | 900,000 |
| 1898 | 2,100,000 |
| 1909 | 4,000,000 |
The distribution of spindles is roughly as follows:—
| Lombardy | 1,850,000 |
| Piedmont | 1,000,000 |
| Venetia | 550,000 |
| Campania | 250,000 |
| Liguria | 250,000 |
| Tuscany | 100,000 |
The distribution of spindles and power-looms in the chief manufacturing towns in Italy is shown in the following table:—