The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1897-05-29
BILL APPS WEEKLY LETTER.
A Brief HIsluy Of c,tt n and rs EaIy
Manipulation.
re FLEEcY STAPLE IS STILL KIAs.
The Lint Was First Picked From Seed,
Then Came the Gin and Spinning
Jenny, and Afterwards the Modern
Loom.

"Cotton is king!' Idon't know who
first said that, but it is fact. 1t is the
most useful and most important pro-
duct in the world, and has the most
influence ON its commerce. / was
Eliminating about this because Of some
letters of inquiry that from time to
time have received concerning cot
ton. The last one from an old friend,
Colonel Saxon, avs he cannot learn
from the department at Washington
when cotton cloth was first imported
to this country.
And SO I will venture o few remarks
or this subject in general, for it is full
of remarkable facts and illustrates the
kindness Of providence to His Great
ures. Providence is always kind and
whenever we need anything He unlocks
another door OF His treasury and says
here it is.
There is no doubt of oil that the cot
ton plant was created Sin the begin
ming" and with q design for the use
and benefit of mankind when it should
be needed. Attention was attracted
to it away back in the centuries. Four
hundred and fifty years before the
Christian era Herodotus wrote about
it as plant bearing feeces more deli
cate and beautiful than those of sheep
and of the Indians 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 reception and the king said,
$50 home-go home my child-you
are not decently clad"-and she re-
piled, ssFather / have seven suits on, ;"
but they were of cotton mualin so thin
and delicate that the king could see
through them. The famous muslins
of Decca, in Calcutta, were called
"webs of woven wind" and when a
piece was laid upon the dew covered
grass it was not discernible.
Imagine the wonder of these fabrics
when there was not spindle, but the
distaf and only loom that the weaver
carried about with him setting it mp
under a tree and digging hole in the
ground for his feet to work the treadle.
But the manufacture of cotton for the
common people was smothered DUR
ing all these centuries, and only
wool and fax were used for
clothing. The ancient Egyptians
used it to some extent, spinning
it with the distaff and weaving it with
the primitive looms, but the plant was
not cultivated. 1t was Indigenous to
that country and the fleece was gath
cred from the wild stocks. 1t was not
until the tenth century that the culti-
.yation began, and that was by the
Moors in Spain. The yenetians en-
gagged in it in the fourteenth century
and the English in the carly part of
the eighteenth. But its use was very
limited, for the seed were in the way.
But now comes the evolution of cot
ton; the revolution that in few years
made it king. Nothing SO wonderful
has ever transpired in commerce aid
manufacture. There was coniunc-
ton of the three things that were nee
essary to bring about this revolution:
The cotton gin by Whitney in 1898;
the spinning jenny by Arkwright in
1887, and the power loom by Cart
wright in 1889, all startled the world
about the same time and gave an i'm
pulse to the growth and use and man
ufacture of cotton that was pregnant
with great results. One of these re-
suits was the fixing of slavery as an
institution upon the southern states.
Up to that time it was not considered
eIIner saIe or prontaDle to encourage
their importation 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 1878 she used to
spend most of the winter evenings
picking the seed from the cotton by
hand-with half 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 seed
ed. 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 staple cotton
was not in general use for many year.
| after it was invented. My father put
up the first gin in Gwinnett county il
1928, and seed cotton was hauled to i
from all the adjacent country. Pre-
vious to the use of the gin it was con
sidered fair days work to sseet
enough to make pound OF lint. Blu
the gin with two attendants picket
400 pounds in day. At that tim
the old-fashioned spinning wheel wa
in general use and a days work TO
the spinner was six cuts--a cut beinI
40 rounds on the reel, but the frs
girl who had made herself eligible an
fitten to be married by spinning an
weaving enough cloth for her own troui
seau, aud sheets and coverlets for th
bed and table cloths and napkins fc
the table. This was the dowry sh
brought her husband. But these il
ventors went to Nottingham and pr
up their mills and made monopoly 4
the business. They and their assoc
ntes grew rich 60 fast that they defel