For history here is a letter written by Didier Drevet to the local Saint-Etienne Newspaper on Nov 28, 1878 apparently on the regulation and excellence of Stephanois barrel makers and apparently advocating tariff protection. I cannot get access to page 2 to read the whole letter...this is page 3...but it's evident he was a prominent artisan at the time..and a member of the board of the proof house. The response by the editor was solicitous.
http://www.memoireetactualite.org/presse/42LEREPUBLIC/PDF/1878/42LEREPUBLIC-18781128-P-0003.pdf
Here is a rough translation...very rough...don't feel like making it a finished product, you'll get the idea:
.....Government so that the law will apply everywhere. And in closing I recall, in conclusion, that the Americans and the English do not have special expositions for barrel makers, that the Belgians don’t produce anything but mediocre products and that Paris and Saint-Etienne alone are left standing
.....Our production of die cast tooling involves every facet of barrel production and in the near future, will surely be top ranked.
.....I have the honor, sir editor, to be your devoted constituent.
Didier Drevet
Master barrel maker, member of the com-
mission for oversight of the proof-
house of Saint-Etienne.
.....We roundly congratulate M. Didier-Drevet for the report so complete and instructive that we’ve just read.
....The gun making community Stephanoise will not fail to profit from the opinions which he has given to reform our toolmaking/diecasting such that his advice regarding the law on barrel making and the methods are applied in Paris. We also are happy to congratulate M. Diider-Drevet on being chosen as delegate in the workers’ meetings and that a better choice could not be found.
.....He is in effect, one of the master barrel makers the most honored of our city. He is credited with a number of inventions and of reforms in the craft of barrel making such as the substitution of barrel lump "souped" for barrel lump "vise" and the creation of several types of damascus steel, such as those that were designed per a preceding report under the name “damas mirlitou” and which were noted in the written report of M. Jussie.
.....One can see that there is nothing to lose in letting the interested parties take care of their affairs. They will reap the benefits of the success that will come from protection, such as the ones they had from preceding governments.
