Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1861-01-29
Che Ohio 6tatfs1lran
, 95l.s., rs, .,,TERMs
Q p The Cotton States. 4.
from The Boston Courier. /

| we are apOut 10 pEIb vViuPhuy Win 60ut
Carolina and Georgia. We have been boup,
70 those States, ever since their existence n
States. BY associations and sympathies Of yari.
Gus sorts--by mutual struggles and victories
and by mutual adversity and prosperity; but b,
no practical ties etronge than those Of cotton
Our relations In this respect have not been me.
rely commercial. We had an agency in crea-
ting these ties which gave them a force beyond
their pecuniary value, and which ofitself mi oh
have constituted bond Of enduring fellowship
Our State had the honor, not to initiate the
culture Of cotton in. that region. but to furnisL
the means, without which the culture neye,
could have been successfully conducted. With
out the cotton gin Of Whitney, che cotton plant
even in that congenial soil, would have yielded
S1s soansy Tstasrs, and the present prospsr;,;
and wealth, and social and political and com
mercial importance of what, are now dstin-
guished as the Cotton States, would never have
been realized.
IL will be Interesting, II not profitable, on
the present occasion, TO revive the history al
the cotton gin, and of Ito wonderful effects up-
on the agricultural prosperity of the Southern
portion Of our country, the commerce and in
dustry OF the North, and the man ufacturing in.
tsrests Of the world, We propose to do this
briefly. Our limits would not allow US even to
touch upon all the bearings Of a subject OF such
extended Importance. We have no purpose Of
self laudation or local pride in view, nor of dis
paragement toward those, or any Of those, who
have more than ourselves been benefited bv
the great invention of which we have spoken.
Massachusetts has derived great advantage, as
well as great honor from this invention, The
greater advantage, however, has accrued to
South Carolina and Georgia, and to those States,
their children, as 1t were, which have followed
them in the successful culture of what now con-
stitutes their great staple. We cannot be In
sensible to theee advantages, although those
States have failed to recognize or to appreciate
the true source from which they were derived.
The cotton gin was invented IN 1893. The
culture of cotton In this country was commenced
In 1850. In l7e4, the year after the close of the
Revolutionary War, o vessel that carried eight
bales Of cotton TO Liverpool from the United
States was seized In that port, on the ground
that so large quantity Of cotton could not be
the product of the United States In 1891 the
whole amount Of cotton exported from the Uni-
ted States was 189, ,3l4 pounds. In 1872, the
year preceding the invention OF the cotton Gin.
the amount exported was less by $4,000 pounds
than that of the year before, There was. In
fact, from ITO to 1893, the yssr of the lnycr,
tion, no indication OF any tendency TO an inc ease
In the production. s-s1 r, .,-...sr.,I -
The great difficulty and the extremely slow
process OF cleaning the greeDrseed cotton, or
separating 1t from the seed, was regarded as an
insuperable objection to an attempt to raise ID
for the market. The green seed cotton Is that
which Is now commonly known as the bowed
Georgia or upland cotton, to distinguish 1t from
the produce of the Islands aud low districes
near the shores, called sea island or blsck. .aeed
cotton. The latter IL the finest kind, and e.
rives its name from the circumstance of its hav.
ing been first cultivated in this country on the
low sandy islands on the coast of South Caro-
lima. II will not flourish at o distance from the
sea, and Its quality gradually deteriorates In pro.
portion as it Is removed from "the salutary ac-
tion Of the oceans spra5.n Il has q. longer n
Der than other oottons, and Is of an even and
silky texture, Hhioh qualities give 1t its peculiar
value. $50 I'd --l-.
The expression 'bowed," which is applied to
the upland cotton, is descriptive of the means
which were employed for cleaning it, or loosen
ing the flaments from the seed, before the
invention of the cotton gin. The process was
similar to that employed by hatters for beating
up wool to the proper consistency for their felts'
strings attached to bow were brought in
contact with heap Of unoleaned cotton, and
struck 80 as to cause violent vibrations. and
thus to open the locks Of cotton and permit the
easy separation of the seed from the ilamepts,
The work OF cleaning was also done by hand. -
In either case the process was tedious aud SLOW,
Whitney's cotton gin overcame all this diff.
Guilty, and furnished the means of separating
the seed and cleaning the Gotten with sucb
economy OF labor and time as at once to rive a
spring to the agriculture of the South and an
impetus to what In few years comparstyely
became one Of the most important branches
Of the commerce and the manufacture of the |
world. y. ,s.,,1, |cs,,s n, rr.. = : II
The fret year Of the invention ef the gin the
cotton crop Increased TO 5000, 900 pounds. and
the expectation to about SOC. 900 pounds. The
next year (l794l the crop was S,OOOO 900, and
the export l,6OO. .0CO pounds. In 1900, when
the machine bad been thrown open to the peo-
pie, without limitation, from regard to the legal
rights OF the pateptee, the total production |
amounted to 35.000.0OO pounds, of which about
ls,0V0 ,VUu were exported, In 1880 the crop !
tion, 800, ,000. 900. In iS45 the crop was SOC.
1000 pounds, and the expectation, s62, $50.
600, the domestic consumption being l67 ,27O,.
600 pounds. We have not on hand the means |
Of stating precisely what the cotton crop was
last year, but the expectation was not far from
l I,5OO, 600, 900 pounds of upland aud $4,000, 900
pounds of sea island-the value of the amount
exported being $l6l, ,434, ,923 7se-a 4 90 i
In 1881, the total production ofcottou In the
world was A90. .000, 900 pounds of which the Uni
ted Statesproduced only 1900 600, India l5O.-
100000, other parts of Asia, 100 O0O, 900, Mex-
leo and South America exclusive of BrsxiD
65 000,0 ,000, Africa 46.0O0,0O0. Bezail $4,000
600, and the West Indies IL ,000, ,0O0 In 1884,
the total production was 9U0,000,000 pounds,
the quantities grown in the countries mention ed
above being as follows; United States 46O. .OO0..
600, India 1856 600 900, other parts of Asia IIO.
100000, Mexico, &c /, 5000, 900, Africa 3l,-
600. 900, Brazil 30 1000. 600, and the West In
dies 6, 100000. IL will thus be seen that the
course of forty years from the time of Whit
ney's invention, the production of cotton In the
United States increased till Il equaled, very |
nearly, the production Of the whole world In |
1871; while the quantities grown In other coun-
tries diminished or very slightly increased. 'rsl
This remarkable fact Is attributable mainly |
to the improvement made In cleaning cotton by |
means Of Whitney's machine. The results Of |
this wonderful machine, as affecting not merely
the interests Of the Southern States, but the
prosperity of the country at large, of the whole
world indeed, are such as 10 entitle the inventor
to very high rank among the bensfactors of
mankind. And yet, as we all know, he waa des.
tined to expehence the grossest neglect and
wrong and injustice at the hands Of those who
were more immediately and materially bene--
6ted by his labors. r9iglg1i Oh aCi W., ~ c3.l
81 ---~----------.------------. ia gsii'-ael