The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1884-09-03
CONCERNING KING COTTON.
INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT A
GREAT INDUSTRY.

The Sacred shrub of India-PrOduc-
/ NtiOn of Cotton I'm Oriental Conn
tries-Primitive Machinery.
The traveller in the far East sees grow
ing about the temples of India purple
/ blossomed shrub, over which the Hindu
priests watch reverently. 1t is the sacred
cotton tree from whose ripe bolis is made
the tripartite thread the Brahmin symbol
OF the Trinity Although in no other
/ cline and by no other race is this plant
held In such peculiar and reverent regard,
all the civilized world pay homage and
tribute to the king whose throne is in
the sunny cotton fields And so they must
from necessity. This king clothes fully
one-half of the human race in his own fab
rics, and large share of the remainder
are indebted to him for an essential part
of their raiment. In his employ q thou
sand ''heavy-laden argosies" pass to and
fro across the seas; at his bidding cities
rise vocal with the sound of whir-
ring spindles and throbbing looms;
Merrimacs and Willimantics do
his will; and all around the
world from the Himalaya slopes to
J the Carolinas, millions of human beings
toll their lives away in his servitude.
The time is not known in history when
cotton did not form part of the cloth
ing of mankind. 1t is said that the
"blue hangings fastened with cords of
fine linen and purple to silver rings and
pillars of marble" in the palace of
Ahasuerns, at Shushan, described in the
Book of Esther, were made of this ma
terial. Herodotus put it on record, 400
B. G. "The wild trees of that country
(meaning India) bear tleeces as their fruit
passing those of sheep in beauty and ex
cellence, and the Indians use cloth made
from these trees" The Institutes of
Menu, written some 400 years earlier,
contain many illusions to cotton and cot
ton cloth under various names. The
cultivation of the cotton plant in India
is traced back more than l 900 years be-
fore the Christian era. The calicoes and
muslins of that country have been famous
for centuries. All the inventions and
mechanical skill of the present day have
not been able to produce such fine and
durable fabrics as are woven on the rude
and clumsy machines used in Oriental
countries.
A French traveller, writing of the cali
Goes of Surat, says they are = so fine that
you could hardly feel them in your hand,
and the thread when spun is hardly dis
cernible." Muslin has been made in
Bengal so extremely thin that when
spread upon the grass and moistened
with dew it is almost invisible. A single
pound of this thread has been spun out
to the length of a hundred and fifteen
miles, Clotn made of these delicate
threads has been POLITICALLY described as
''webs of the woven wind"
In China and Egypt the production Of
cotton began at remote period, although
it was not until recent times that it as
sumed commercial Importance. 1t was
considered worthy of record by Chinese
annalists that the Emperor Quit, who
assembled the throne in 502 A. D., wore
a robe of cotton on that occasion.
The early explorers of America found
the Cotton king already established here.
Cortez received cotton garments as pres
ents from the natives of Yucatan; and
Spanish historians describe it as forming 9
the chief article of clothing among the
sub bjects of MonteZuma. Garments made
of this material were found in exploring
the most ancient Peruvian tombs. and
there is evidence that it was cultivated in
that country as early as 1882.
The process of weaving cloth seems to
have been one of the first arts practised
among mankind. 1t has been found to
exist among the rudest and most savage
people, long anterior to the dawn of civ
ilization. And although performed with
the simplest and rudest implements, the
same that are used to this day in many
Eastern countries, the product of these
primitive machines often surpassed, in
many respects, the textures now woven in
the mills of Manchester and Lowell
With the aid of a few sticks and the dex-
ferrous use of hdnds and feet, the native
of India constructs fabric of marvellous
fineness and beauty Down to the time
of the introduction of improved ma
chinery weaving was chiefly done in the
homes of the people, and the weavOr's
art descended as a heritage from genera
ton to generation. 1t was everywhere
held in high repute as a most useful and
honorable employment. The distaff it..
self became the sign of thrift and indus
try.
The first manufactures of cotton goods
in Europe were established in Italy,
chiefly at Venice and Milan, whose fus-
tians and dimities were highly valued IN
the households of early times. The
Netherlands was the \next country to
adopt the art, which from thence was
translated into Eng and by the Protestant
refugees from Flanders, after the capture
of Antwerp by the Duke of Parma in
15S5.-AeaO York Obser0sr.