Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1869-01-07

into foreign parts, where The first material may be
more easily had for that manufacture =, - '' !
AT this time, and Tor more than century after,
the weaver bought his own yam, took It home fo
his cottage, and Roye e into cloth, 50 that eaSh
weager's house Vas 8 LITTLE factory He bcneht
the yarn fof the warp; che wool for the woof vas
earded and spun By his wife and daughters, while
the weaving was performed BY himself add ,sons,
It waslopg before any attempt was made id Eng
hnd to make cloth .oholy Of cotton, although hb.
rics Of this nature had been Known id India fof
centuries, and Were Beginning 70 be imported into
England in considerable quantities before the year
100 -'t'77'I ~ 7s7casa :'''' Ls~T's'''' n
tis curious TO notice how uniformly every great
step in the progress q man has been dreaded and
opposed, Dr. Ure saysi:' INV 80 ~ %'f3"'
'The silk and WOODEN weayers of England fnani.'
tested the. kespaa Hostility 81 the, nse Of printed
calicoes, whether brought from the East or made
at home. N the year 1850 they ;mobbed the In,
dia House, in revenge for some large importations
then made of the chintses Of Malabar: They next
induced the government, By incassant clamors, To-
exclude altogether the. beautiful robes Of Cslcut
from the English market. But the plintsd foods
found their way into the count insphe oftte ex-
cessive penalties annexed to s1nn8ainG and faised
q new alarm among the manlffa ttoosing population
The apient Legislators Of that day, ipimidstsd by
the London mob, enacted in 1720s an absurd law
prohibiting the, wearing Of all. pnnted csicoes
whatsoever, either Of foreign or domestic origin
This disgraceful enactment, worthy Of Cairo dr Al
giers, proved not only q death blow 70 rising in
dustrryI but prevented thu ladies' hom atthiiing
themselves in the becoming drapery of Hindo doostan
This law, it appears, remained IN force for 4en 4hn
years, and was then replaced BY an act somewhat
less oppressive, People were allowed TO make
what was called British cahcoess,. progided the
warp was made Of linen, and Only thA 8oof Of cot
ton and provided also, that every yard such
calico the maker should pay duty Of six;pence to
the government. Even while staggering under
this burden the cotton manufacturing made some
progress 80 that more than fifty thousand pieces
of mixed fabrics were made in England in the year
l75O. ....'.,...
This restrictive legislation, as Dr.. Ure remarks,
grew out of the ignorance and terror Of the wea-
vers themselves. A curious anecdote has been
related, which most strikingly illustrates the fact
A man was about to be executed at Cork, for
stealing. Onsthe appointed dsy, the weavers,
who were short Of work, aud attributed the. hard
times 10 cotton, gathered about the ganows and
dressed both the criminal and the executioner 10
cotton cloth, to mark their contempt and abhor:-
renee Of it, and to make the wearing Of It dsgrace
fuL The criminal, ympathiEing with the object
delivered the following address just before being
turned of: =. ,,,..., =, r.;sG a..
"Give ear, oh good people, to the words of q
dying sinner. Iconfess avebeen guilty OF what
necessity compelled me to commit; which starving
condition was in, am well assured, was occa-
stoned by the scarcity Of money, that has proceed
ed from the great Encouragement of our woolen
manufactures Therefore, good Christians, con-
slider that, If you go to suppress your own goods,
by wearing such cotton as am dow clothed 10,
you will bring your country into misery, which viii
consequently swarm with speh, unhappy malefac-
tors as your present subject is and the blood Of
every miserable fslon that will hang; after this
warning. viii lay at your doors. -.
Thus has it ever been. Man has always hated
and warred against his best benefactors, and de-
nounced in one age what he was honored tor In the
next Wonderful to relate, it was not until the
year l774, that the law was repealed which requr-
ed the warp of calico to be made of linen, and for
many years after that duty Of three pence per
yard was exacted. Nor are we who live in q more
enlightened day exempt from similar folly. I
have heard, lately, arguments In favor Of protec-
tive tariff and against an international copyright,
which were just as short-sighted as the English
cotton legislation of the last century. - ...,.'.|
But to come to our subject. About the year
1850, change was introduced into the cotton
manufacture which proved to be Of importance in
leading to the great inventions Of later day. The
Manchester dealers, instead of buying calicoes and
other fabrics from the weayers, now, began to fur
nish the weayers With the materials, and to pay
certain price for doing the work. They gave out
a quantity Of linen thread, and with certain pro-
portion Of cotton which the weaver had to convert
into woof Now arose the difficulty, which led
Dr.. Franklin to make the remark quoted above.
As there was no machine in existence for spinning,
except the old fashioned spinning wheel, which
spun but a thread at time, the weavers were
constantly troubled to get their cottonwood spun
fast enough. The business was seEimited. Even
if there had been no restraining laws the cotton
manufacture could never have attained grand pro-
portions unless method had been contriyed of
spinning with greater rapitty. 10, ii IL
James Hargeaves, poor, iiterate weaver Of
Lancashire, in England, was the man who began
those improvements in the methods of spinning,
which have made England the cotton manufactu-
rer for the world. While Dr.. Franklin was utter
ing the wordsattributed to him, James Hargreayes,
if he wasawake at the moment, was probably brood
ing over the same subject. Nothing is recorded
of the early life of this man. We simply know,
that about the year 1762, the weavers OF Lanca-
shire, and he among them, were serely troubled to
get their cotton wool spun fast enough, and that
being a man of an inventive turn, he began to|
mediate improvements @a
he turned his attention, first, to devlslng more
rapid way Of carding cotton. Before his time,
carding was done by hand. He invented mode
of doing the work which enabled the carder to
double bis product, and to it with greater, ease
This contrivance, however, was coon suppressed
BY the weIl-known carding machine, which is still
in use. The inventor of this is unknown It is
known, however, that one Of the first persons tol