The Houma courier. (Houma, La.) 1878-1939, 1897-05-29

acquiring a klowledge Of their inven-
lions. 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 deliverance was not far of. 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 a full knowledge Of all three
of the inventions, and how to use them
and how to build a factory. OF course
they met with a warm reception, and in
1906 they erected q mill and plant
ed q town and named it Slaters-
vile. They soon made a fortune.
When John died he Left his mill
lions to his son, and when John Jr. got
ready to die he bequeathed a million to
our DR.. Haygood in trust for the edu-
cation Of the negroes Of the south. It
was a gift fit to be made, forthe 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 o at
home and not brought from England.
But, although cotton was now king
commercially, it was ranked socially
by other fabrics. It was not so beau
tiful as silk nor so strong as flax nor so
warm as wool, and hence for years III
vas woven only into the common fab
RIGS for the common people. The calicoea
that were imported from Calicut in Tur
key were spun with the distaR and
woven with the ~old-fashioned hand
loom. The nankeen cloth that came
from Nankin in China was made by a
similar process. / remember that my
father, who was a merchant, bought
some of that nankeen when I was a
lad, and my mother made me a pair of
pants and a round jacket out of it, and
I was proud and yellow. 1t was not
until the 40s when the finer fabrics,
such as musins and lawns, were made
of cotton. In 1912 a machine was i'm
vented of so delicate a nature that a
single pound of cotton was spun to a
length of 1,100 miles, and in 1851 some
cloth of exquisite ineness was
expressly for o 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, If 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 a few years more
: the homemade loom had to go, ant
; since the war the wheel and the loon
, have ceased their music in the home:
l OF our people.
It was not until after the close of thu
war of 1912 that even the northern PEG
pie bought amy cloth from England
Until about 1916 England had none t.
sell or export, but from that time unit
1924 its expectation increased very rap
idly and almost paralyzed our New
England mills. But in that year and II
1925 and 1882 congress placed a duty
of 25 per cent. all valorem on all Eng
| lish cotton goods, and this protection
1 greatly revived u own manufactures
: This tariff was reduced in 1916 and the
: outside world given a fairer chance ii
compete.
e But cotton is still king-king in tht
I southern fields and in the factories anC
4 in the carrying trade of the ocean ant
e in Liverpool and other great market.
e Of the world: Whether we make larg,
t crops or small ones, it is still the great
t est factor in the worlds comfort anS
e prosperity. Long live the king.-Bil
a Arp, in Atlanta Constitution.