The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1895-05-18
MILLS IN THE SOUTH.
AB0UT THE DEVELOPMENT or THE
INDUSTRIES.
Rapid Growth Of Cotton Manufactures In
Georgia, Alabams and the Caroi'n"s
Expenses Much Less.

when was in Atlanta a month ago MI
,,,o.n tho leading merchant Of the place.
told me there were moro Spinaics d.
Grecrvilic :. G.. and the villages aiou"u
q. than In the manufacturing dlstric. OF
Foil River. Mass. which inciudes an eNeh
larger number Of suburbs. / ma th&t 10
be true. and the general freight agent OF
the Southern railway tells me that tnere
are seventy-nine cotton factories on lne
line Of mis- road In South Carolina. The
dcvcicpment has been even greater III
North Carolina. which now leads inc
South in the number OF mills, the number
Of spsndles and the amount OF capital IN
vested. although South Carolina has a
larger number OF looms. Norm CaToiiha
alone has more spindles and looms thah
existed IN the entire South fourteen years
ago. as reported BY the census OF lSo' am
the spindles II Alabama. Georgia, uud
the Carolinas combined exceed by JoVv'
the number reported In the census Of 1917
for the whole sixteen Southern states
In 1880 one-nf,eenth Of all he spindles
In the United States were in the Southern
states. On December 3lst. one-nitn "ero
there.
Cotton manufacturing had already be-
gun TO attract attention in the south
when the war broke out. and nearly S~,-
Op1OO0 of capital had been invested III
eia the industry was especially THRIVING,
and during the period between 1850 and
1850 the amount of capital invested and
fhs output OF the cotton mills IN thal
gtate nearly doubled. While most OF
these manufacturing enterprises were
small. they compared very well with
these Of New England in their early
stages But the war. which mace the
mills Of New England enormously profit
al
industry I'm the South.
In 1860. however, manufacturing was
only a trife compared with what IL Is
to-day. There were only .29l spindles
and 5.6l5 looms. and only 1882 bales OF
cotton were consumed in that year, which
was one Of the most prosperous In his
tory. BY the census OF 1880 we ind that
the number OF mills in the South had
increased 10 $50. the number OF spindles 10
6S7,7h and the number Of looms TO l4,SZ5.
The capital invested in the cotton indus
try south of the Potomac and Ohio rivers
by the census OF that year was $2l,9l6.-
7IB and the value Of the product $2l,O5S,-
There was an enormous jump in the
next decade The activity in mill con-
siruction and the extension and enlarge
Jnent Of old establishments was almost
phenomenal compared with the slow de-
velopment OF other manufacturing enter
prises. so that the census of 1890 was able
10 show % cotton mills In the South,
l,T2.930 spindes, 1921 looms. SOL ,096
capital invested and 1851 503 as the val
ne OF the product. In 1880 2S3.Ss6 bales
OF cotton were consumed, and in 1890
573 A4 bales.
Then came another jump equally great
In the next four years. with the mills
working night and day. 1t was the al
most universal practice to have two shifts
OF operatives laboring twelve hours each.
one during the night and the other during
the day. and in 1898. 743.SSS bales of cot
ton were consumed The full returns are
not available for 1894 but so far as re-
ceived they show a total of 7lS,5l5 bales,
and will probably reach 10000 bales.
on December 81, 1894, there were 40
cotton mills in the South. with 3.023 $50
splndles and 6S2D5 looms, representing
a capital OF slO7. 800 600. The full returns
OF the value Of the product for last year
are not yet in. but ii doubtless exceeds
that Of 1890 by % or 80 per cent.
Ii Is estimated that 100000 spindles
would be required TO consume the en-
tire cotton crop of the South, which would
mean an investment of over $1,000, 0O0. 900
very interesting table has been
made by the Manufacturers Record OF
Baltimore TO show the increase in mills
and looms and spndles throughout the
Southern States during the last fourteen
years-from the official returns OF the
census of 1880. The following contains the
figures