The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1897-02-26
Providence is Noted the
World Over.
Leads the Country in WOrsted
Goods.
Conspicuous Also for Cotton Manu-
factures, Hosiery, Knitting, etc.

The invention Of labor-saving machin-
cry has made the "new woman" possible.
In primitive timfs man was the producer
OF the raw material while woman was the
skilled workman. The cotton, wool and
max were carded. spun and woven by her,
AMI then made into clothing. Such labor
was held in high honor. Homer tells us
that the wife Of Hector piled her loom
surrounded by her maids. Circe ousied
herself at the loom when she was not
affecting men with her enchantments.
Even the goddess Minerva is said to have
contendsd at the loom with Arscbne,
whose dexterity with the spindle was
such that,
son to admire the niceness Of her skill
The nymphs forsook their fountain shade
or hill" )HF
Butths ancient distaff and spindle were
too slow for oer. New England fore
pothers. They used the spinning wheel,
and so we'll did they spin and weave that
before the termination of the seventeenth
century the British Parliament deemed it
necessary for the protection of English
manufacturers, to forbid the expectation
of colonial wooden products or even their
trsnsbipment from colony to colony.
This prohioition,h however, did not affect
the. from fax and hemp and
in 1722 We find the Assembly of Rhode
Island granting William Borden q bounty
of twenty shillings for each boltIof duck
manufactured by him of hemp grown in
the province, and "equal in quality to
good Holland duck" From q report
made by the British Board of Trace to
the House of Commons in 1871, We learn
that the people of Rhode Island and other
colonies shave fallen into the imanufac-
ture Of woolen cloth and linen cloth for
the use of their own families only" and
that they found that the "coarse sort of
cloth. bags, traces, and bslters for their |
horses" which they made "did more
service than those they had from. any part |
of Europe.
About twenty years afterwsrd IN Eng
lish writer complains that the people of |
these Northern colonies, "notwithstand-
ing the extravagsnt price of labor, almost |
entirely clothed themselves in their own |
woolens, and that generally. the people
are sliding into the manufactures proper
to the mother country"
The INTRODUCTION of the spinning |
jenny and other machines in England
gave English cotton manufacturers an
advantage over colonial rivals, and 90
Ieslously did they guard the secret Of
heir manufactures that it was several
years before they were reproduced in
America. The story OF the introduction
II the Arkwright machines by Samuel
Slater, st Pawtucket has often been told.
'ut previous 10 their iptroduction1spin-
ling jennies, spinning frames, carding
nd csiendering machines had already
'een introduced in Providence. In Prov
dsnce and vicinity, in 1890, 80, 600 ysras
4 wooien cloth were made, land 25, 1855
ards of linen. besides cotton goods, car
'eting, stockings, gloves and fringe.
me hrst calico printing in Providence
Fas com menced in 1874, in q chocolate
all on the site Of the Franklin foundry.
be printing was done from wooden
lock- worked by hand, and the print {
10th was Imported from Calcutta.
In 1903, when there were but four cot
On factories Ia the United Ststes, all
ut one were In or near Providence. BY
'13 the cotton mills within its business
'dius we're running 100, 600 spindles and s
'aking 1000 pounds of yarn weekly. In
20 Rhode Island contained nearly 40
amy cotton spindles 90 Gil tho rest of
ew England combined. A msnufactory .
vestinss, worsted and silk cloth At !
rovidence, about this time, is said to | T
ave been the only establishment OF the 4
Ind In the United States.
From the drst this city has been one OF o
70 greatest centres OF stextils msnufac- Il
re In the country. IL leads all others
worsted goods, 1t is third In the diving 81
ID fnishing of textiles is one of the "
rgest producers of shoddy, hosiery and 2,
at goods, and is surpassed by but few 81
cotton manufacture. c'