The Daily Texarkanian., 1895-02-26
SMALL COTTON MILLS.

in his address to the representatives
of cotton farmers in conference at
Jackson last month, took the ground
that a multiplicity of small cotton
mills to spin yarn near the gins was
necessary to the welfare of the
farmers, 1t seems that the cor
rectness of his view has been chal-
lenged, but in the current issue of
the Manufacturers Record Gov.
Stone defends himself from his crit
les in the course of his letter, say
ing;
Why should "spun truck" be
charged with the $4,000, 900 for
bagging and ties annually, the ex-
pense Of gin houses dotting the land
to make bales for middlemen to
grow rich out of the enormous
transportation charges, insurance
and the incalculable waste OF store
house and compress charges, pre-
pairing for shipment to Fall River
and Liverpool? For all this the
grower pays in the making of prices
of raw cotton in the spinning cen
ters of old and New England, That
spun cotton can not be made to
take the place of raw cotton in com
merce is fiction, as is also the asser-
ton that it can be done only in ia.
vored localities.
The farmer is entitled to the in
crement of value in spinning at his
door mot antliterallyof course)
He is entitled to have his children
given employment in creating the
increment The women, boys and
girls should not be compelled to do
nothing, or to labor in the fields to
make cotton, corn, hogs, hay, etc,
! can see no reason why every
cotton growing county in the South
should not have a spinning factory
with 10000 capital, and many Of
them larger, To these add the
cotton oil mills and the fertilizer
factory Deliver all cotton in the
seed to the mill and let it be ginned
as it is needed for spinning, Can
it be said that better yarn can not
be made from cotton thus treated
than after compressing, and at less
expense in labor and machinery,
and yet give the farmer better
price for his cotton than he gets
nowY 1t is economy in handling
cotton that is needed to give it a.
better price as much as anything
else. It is the Infamous list o.
charges upon cotton from gin to
spindle that so unnecessarily and
unjustly impoverishes the planter
1t can and will be cut of sooner or
later It must be done. Let it
come sooner by encouraging it.
Throughout the South capital
heretofore used in growing cotton
is now boarded up in seeking safe
investment, which, for want Of
other enterprises, it can not find,
This withdrawal of capital from
the cotton fields is driving the plan
ter to the "hog-and-hominy" refuge
so prayerfully urged by Messrs,
Black and lnman
Let the capital of the South, an
It finds itself in small communities,
being invested in manufactures
under competent, intelligent, busi-
ness eyes and 1t will pay This is
It's only field, as will be soon deter
mined.
Gov Stone is able to point TO the
Wesson cotton mills OF
his own state, which, beginning
in the piney woods with a
capital Of 100000, have 80 grown
that their present capital Is 81 2OO,-
900, afrording a pay roll of $4,000
monthly, On this fact Gov. Stone
has every reason to rely. He has
no objection to the organization Of
large plants, and the warmest Of
welcomes to give the splnners OF
New England who wish to erect
great mills and factories in the
South. But he insists that there 10
also profits and salvation in the
small mills set In the very heart Of
the fields. His logic Is quite unan.
swerable, and II Is grounded upon
commercial axiomS,
Embarrassing.
A rood lOlSe is related at the eX.