Cosmopolitan Networks in Commerce and Society 1660–1914

German Entrepreneurs and the Industrialization of Milan
design that Schüle had disseminated in Augsburg. ‘At the moment,
Augsburg is much more advanced than other places in preparing the
necessary colours’, Paul von Stetten wrote in 1779 in his historical
account of the Reichsstadt. 45 This craftsmanship, too, was successfully
transferred by means of the international relationships set up by
Adam Kramer and his younger partner. The migration of entrepreneurial
and human capital was how technology was disseminated
under the guidance of mercantile networks.
Providing the best specialized workers by migration ensured
innovation, but also secured profitability and reduced risks. Kramer
e Compagni was designed as a profitable venture, and its capital was
as foreign as its managers and its specialized workforce. Sixty per
cent of the capital of 100,000 florins came from Salomon Traxler, Frey,
and Pestalozzi, Zurich merchant houses which had previously
engaged in Verlagssystem production and the silk trade, and had connections
with Adam Kramer himself. Another 30 per cent was provided
by one of Augsburg’s three Catholic banks, Carli & Compagni,
the one alluded to by Bellerio. Only the remaining 10 per cent came
from Kramer and Hartmann. Yet the form of limited partnership,
typical of most of these international ventures, valued human and
entrepreneurial as much as financial capital, and profits were divided
accordingly: 25 per cent went to Adam Kramer, 15 per cent to
Hartmann, and 20 per cent to each limited partner. Such profit distribution
was, in fact, the greatest incentive behind most entrepreneurial
migrations of the time. Young men equipped with no more
than their technical ability obtained credit from former employers
and established their own ventures abroad. If they were successful,
they gained wealth and independence.
As predicted by Bellerio, Kramer e Compagni was indeed successful,
both in the printing activity directed by Hartmann and in the
vertical integration designed by Kramer. In 1789, more than 9,600 of
the 16,613 cotton pieces printed in Rho e Compagni’s old location in
Milan (called Cavalchina) were spun and woven in the new manufactories
set up outside the city. One of these, a spinning mill in
Monza, was completely mechanized, the first in Lombardy success-
45 Paul von Stetten, Kunst- Gewerb- und Handwerks-Geschichte der Reichs-Stadt
Augsburg, 2 vols. (Augsburg, 1779), i. 253.
263