The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1897-04-09

girl who had made herself eligible and
httcn to be married by spinning and
weaving enough cloth for her own trous-
seau, and sheets and coverlets for the
bed and table cloths and napkins for
the table. This was the dowry she
brought her husband. But these in
ventors went to Nottingham and put
up their mills and made monopoly of
the business. They and their associ-
ates grew rich SO fast that they deter
mined to exclude all mankind from
acquiring knowledge of their inven-
tions. 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 Eng
lish yarns.
But deliverance was not far off.
Samuel 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
20 use them and how to build factory.
OF course they met with warm re-
ception, and in 1906 they erected II
mill and planted town and named it
Statewide. They soon made II fortune.
When John died he left his millions to
his son and when John, Jr., got ready
to die he bequeathed a million to our
DR.. Haygood in trust for the education
of the negroes of the south. 1t was n
gift fit to be made, for the fathers and
mothers of these negroes grew the cot
ton 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
beautiful as silk nor so strong as flax
nor so warm us wool, and hence for
years it WAS woven only into the com
mon fabrics for the common people.
The calicoS that were imported f'om
. Cnlirut in Turkey were spun with II
distaif and woven in the old-fuShioned
hand loom. The naukrcu cloth that
came from Nankiu in China was made
hy Il similar process. | remember
| that my father, who was II merchant,
| bought some of that nankeen when /
was II lad and my mother made me
| pair of pants and Il round Jacket out of
| it and was proud and yellow. 1t was
| not until the iO's when the finer fab
| rics, such as MUslins and lawns, We're
made of cotton. In 1912 machine
was invented of SO delicate nature
| that single pound of cotton was spun
| to length of |, 100 miles, and i'll 1851
some cloth of exquisite tineness was
woven expressly for II dress for the
queen of England and was exhibited
Mt 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 Hindus and that
MonteZuma presented Cortez with
robes of cotton interviewer with feather
work that rivGIed the dclicacy of the
| finest painting.
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 We're
made to do SO by their masters. The
| spinning wheel was the first to Surrcn-
der, and the factory yarn, or 'Spun
truck, as it was called, came into
general use along in the 4O'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 q
the war of 1912 that even the northern
people bought any 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 IL
duty OF % per cent al valorem on all
English cotton goods, and this pro-
lection greatly revived our own manu-
factures. This tariff was reduced in
1876 and the outside world given II
fairer chance to compete.
But cotton is still king-king 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 tie
greatest factor in the worlds comfort
and prosperity. Long live the king!
BILL ARP, in Atlanta Constitution.
|
Armour's Frugal Habits.
Philip ID. Armour, the Chicago mil