The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1899-06-29
SOUTHERN COTTON MILLS
Progress of the Great Revival In tho
Erection of Cotton Mills.

Progress of tho Great Revival In tho
Erection of Cotton Mills.
Atlanta Constitution.
Tho New York Journal of Commerce,
in q carefully prepared article, draws
attention to the great revival in the
erection OF cotton mills In the South,
The TACT that within the past five
months 100000 of new capital has
oeen Invested In cotton mills, and that
!,loO,oO0 new spindles will be adaed to
the plants OF Southern cotton spinninp,
shows better than anything else how
strong the movement is, and as to W hat
Id IN the future. Comprised in this
now work are fifty new mills now in
process OF construction, or the capital
Tor which has been raised, and which
VI VII involve an Investment of $ll ,5OO,-
ooo. Iheso new mills will contain
about 10000 spindlcs, and thirty nine
mills, which are now adding 1000.
OOO TO their capital, will call for 400
Ooo now spindles. 1t is based upon
these facts that The Journal of Com
merce says:
From 1890 to 1893 the increase in
the number Of spindles In Southern
mills was less than two million. Tho
greatest Increase In one year was 578,-
OOO sp1ndles in twelve months, ending
August, 1899. 1t is evident, therefore,
that even II changes OF plans or other
circumstances should materially curtail
the present apparent Increase since
the first of January, the Increase in
the number OF spindles in the past five
months will still be far greater than
In any preceding year and will euual
d large percentage OF the increase OF
eight years.
Ihese mills represent the produc-
tion OF fine as we'll as coarse goods, and
somo OF them are particularly designed
to produce for export. If the profits
OF Southern cotton mills re not what
they were at first, wher perhaps the
dividends included moneys that shou d
nave been set apart for depreciation
ana renewal, and II the mills around
6reenvllle, 5. O., whose profits we re-
lerred to recently, are more prosperous
than many others, it remains evident
that the profits OF Southern cotton mills
are tempting to capital, and that the
advantages OF spinning the cotton near
Inc held where 1t was picked have not
been exhausted. Most OF these cxten-
slons OF the cotton industry are In the
two Carolinas."
The opening up of new markets in
Cuba, Porto Rico and the PHILIPPINES
has had an effect in bringing about
these new results, but even If such out
side invitation had not existed, thcre
is no donbt that tho force OF CONNER
c1al circumstances would still have
compelled the removal of the cotton
mill to the cotton field. AS has been
shown by MIR. Hugh II. Inman, when
the low prico OF cotton, which seems to
nave become established, makes the |
freight Item 80 important part Of the |
cost, there Ia nothing. left to do but re-
move that Item and transfer It into |
profit by putting the mill in the field. |
The journal OF Commerce is candid |
enough to say that the South Is uc-
quiring capital. 1t boasts that it owns |
most OF Its cotton mills. 1t is acquiring |
railroads and furnaces and man ufac- !
lures" and 1T goes on to show tnat the |
South is engaging its own ports as well !
as large share of the business Of |
Northern ports. This, we take it, TO |
De the greatest compliment of all, that |
our enterprises should be handled by |
our own people. The building up of |
manufactures, with the dividends reg
ularly going out of the country, would |
present but small ground for congratu-
lation, but when we see the factory
standing by the riverside, with the |
home OF Its owner upon hilltop near
by, and the bank which guards it's
dividends in neighboring town, we
can feel then that we are making sub
stantial progress, and that our people
are roaping the whole benefit of it.