The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1897-04-07
BILL ARP'S LETTER.
Sothern Cotton Cotinues TO be King.
atlanta Constitution.


| is the most useful and most important
| product in the world and has the most
influence on it's commerce. / was rumi
mating about this because of some let
ters Of inquiry that from time to time
I have received concerning cotton
The last from an old friend, Colonel
Saxon, says he cannot learn from the
department at Washington when cot
ton clothwas first imported to thiscoun
try.
And SO I will venture few remarks
on this subject in general, for it is
full of remarkable facts and illus,
trates the kindness Of Providence to
His creatures. Providence is always
kind and whenever we need anything
He unlocks another door of His treas
ury and says here it is.
There is no doubt at all that the
cotton plant was created lin the
beginning, and with a design for the
use and benefit of mankind when it
should be needed. Attention was at,
tracted to it away back in the
centuries. Four hundred and ff-
ty years before the christian era Her
ordotus wrote about it as a plant bear.
ing Aeeces more delicate and beautiful
than those Of sheep, and of the In,
dians using it for the manufacture OF
cloth. From India it was introduced
into Greece and Rome, and Caesar
used it for his army tents and covered
the forum with it. The cotton fabrics
of the Hindoos have been excelled
only by the most perfect machinery Of
modern times. We read Of Hindoo
princess who came into a court of re-
ception and the king said, "Go home
go home, my child-you are not de-
Gently covered" and she replied, "Fa-
there. I have seven suits on, but they
were of cotton muslin so thin and del
icate that the king could see through
them. The famous muslins Of Decca,
in Calcutta, were called " webs of wo.
ven wind" and when piece was laid
upon the dew covered grass, it was
not discernable.
Imagine the wonder of these fabrics
when there was not spindle, but the
distaff and only loom that the weay-
er carried about.with him setting it up
under tree and digging hole in the
ground for his feet to work the tred-
die. But the manufacture of cotton
for the common people was smothered
during all the centuries, and only wool
and fax were used for clothing. The
ancient Egyptians used it to some e1,
tent, spinning it with the distaff and
weaving it with the primitive looms,
but the plant was not cultivated. 1t
was not until the tenth century that
the cultivation began and that was by
the Moors in Spain. The Venitians
engaged in in the fourteenth century
and the English in the early part of
the eighteenth. But it's use was very
limited, for the seed were in the way.
But not comes the revolution OF cot
ton; the revolution that in a few years
made it king. Nothing SO wonderful
has ever transpired in commerce and
manufacture. There was coDjunc-
tion of the three things that were
necessary to bring about this revolu-
ton: The gino by Whitney in 1888;
the spinning jenny by Arkwright in
1889, and the power loom by Cart
wright in 1889, all startled the world
about the same time and gave impulse
to the growth and use and manufaet-
ure of cotton that was pregnant with
great results. One Of these results was
the ufxing Of slavery as an institution
upon the Southern States. Up to that
time it was not considered either safe
or profitable to encourage their impor-
tation from the Northern States. But
of course, it took several years for
these inventions to become generally
introduced. My mother told me that as
late as 1918 she used to spend most Of
the winter evenings picking the seed
from the cotton by hand-with half a
dozen or more of the family servants
sitting in circle around the fire. She
We'd with them in trying to excel in the
quantity seeded. This was in Liberty
county of this State, and the cotton
was probably the long staple variety.
Whitney became involved in inter-
minable law suits and his gin which
was for only the short cotton, was not
in use for many years after it was in
vented. My father put up the first
gin in Gwinnctt county in 1928, and
seed cotton was hauled to it from all
the adjacent country. Previous to
the use of the gin it was considered a
fair days work to make pound of
lint. But the gin with two attendants
picked 400 pounds in day. At that
time the old-fashioned spinning wheel
was in general use and a days work,for
the spinner was six cuts-a cut being
l4O rounds on the reel, but the first
spinning jenny with one attendant did
eighty times as much and did it bet
ter. Later on it did 1000 times as
much. The saving in weaving by the
power loom was in similar proportion
and hence it suddenly came about that
ten men could do the work of ten
thousand. No wonder that Hargraves
and Arkwright were driven from their
homes by the spinners and the spin
sters. Excuse me for telling the girls
Just here that spinster is the femi-
nine for spinner, and used to mean a
malriageable girl who had made her
self eligible and itten to be markedly
spinning and weaving enough cloth for
her own trousseau, and sheets and cov-
erlets for the bed and table cloths and
napkins for the table. This was the
dowry she brought her husband. But
these inventors went to Nottingham
and put up mills and made monopo-
" Of the business. They and their
associates grew rich SO fast that they
determined to exclude all mankind
from acquiring knowledg Of their
inventions. The doors were kept lock-
ed and the operatives sworn to secre-
cy. New England tried in vain to
buy the right and could not compete
with English yarns.
But the dcliyercncc was not far off.
Samuel and John Slater who had
worked for Arkwright in England for
seven years, saw large money on this
of the water. 0Thcy came and brought
with them a full knowledge of all
three of the inventions and how to
Il