The Van Buren press. [volume] (Van Buren, Ark.) 1859-1914, 1897-05-08


acquiring a knowledge of their inven-
tons. The doors were kept locked and
the operatives sworn TO secrecy. New
England tried in vain to buy the right
and could not compete with English
yarns.
But delverance was not far off. SAM
uel and John Slater, who had worked
for Arkwright in England for seven
years, saw large money on this side
of the water. They came and brought
with them full knowledge of all three
of the inventions, and how to use them
and how to build factory OF course
they met with a warm reception, and IN
1906 they erected a mill and plant
ed town and named it Skaters
Vile. They soon made fortune.
When John died he left his mil
lions to his son, and when John Jr got
ready to die he bequeathed a million to
our DR.. IIaygood in trust for the edn-
cation of the negroes of the south. 1t
was a gift fit to be made, for the fathers
and mothers of these negroes grew the
cotton that made the Skaters rich. The
Skaters not only spun their yarns, but
wove them, and the cloth was called
homespun, because it was woven at
home and not brought from England.
But, although cotton was now king
commercially, it was ranked socially
| by other fabrics 1t was not so beau
| tiful as silk nor SO strong as flax nor SO
warm as wool, and hence for years ID
was woven only into the common fab
RIGS for the common people. The calicoes
that were imported from Calicut in Tur-
| key were spun with the distaff and,
woven with the old-fashioned hand
| loom. The nankeen cloth that came
| from Nankin in China was made by a
similar process. l remember that my
| father, who was IA merchant, bought
some of that nankeen when | was
lad, and my mother made me pair of
pants and round jacket out of it, and
| was proud and yellow. 1t was not
until the 40's when the finer fabrics.
such as musins and lawns, were made
| of cotton. In 1912 a machine was inr
| vented of SO delicate nature that
single pound of cotton was spun to a
length of LOO miles, and in 1851 some
cloth of exquisite 1ineness was wovenI
expressly for a dress for the queen of
| England, and was exhibited at the
| Crystal Palace fair in London in that
year. But it is still asserted that no
machinery has ever surpassed the hand
work of the Hindoos, and that Montezu-
ma presented Cortez with robes of cot
ton interviewer with feather work that
rivaled the delicacy of the finest paint
ing.
| But Notwithstanding the inventions
of the spinning jenny and the power
loom, our country people continued for
years to spin and to weave their own
cloth, and the female slaves were made
TO do SO by their masters. The spin
ming wheel was the first to surrender,
and the factory yarn, or spun truck"
as it was called, came into general use
along in the 40's. In few years more
the homemade loom had to go, and
since the war the wheel and the loom
have ceased their music in the homes
Of our people.
1t was not until after the close of the
war of 1912 that even the northern peo-
pie bought amy cloth from England.
Until about 1916 England had none to
sell or export, but from that time until
1924 its expectation increased very rap
idly and almost paralyzed our New
England mills. But in that year and in
1928 and 1882 congress placed duty
of 25 per cent. ad valorem on all Eng
fish cotton goods, and this protection
greatly revived our own manufactures.
This tariff was reduced in 1916 and the
outside world given fairer chance to
compete.
But cotton is still lzipg-lSing in the
southern fields and in the factories and
in the carrying trade of the ocean and
in Liverpool and other great markets
of the world. Whether we make large
crops or small ones, it is still the great
est factor in the worlds comfort and
prosperity. Long live the king.-Bill
Arp, in Atlanta Constitution