The Magnolia gazette. [volume] (Magnolia, Miss.) 1872-current, 1899-08-16
CENTER or THE WORLD S
TEXTILE INDUSTRY.

A special staff correspondent Of
the Manufacturer 3 Record, who
Is in England investigating the
textile and iron interests, writes
to that paper about the cotton
manufacturing business of Man
chester as follows:
Within an area of fifty miles
around this city are located 1890
cotton manufacturers, controlling
AZ, 19i, 900 spindles and 63S, 900
looms. Manchester has indeed
the right to be called the great
textile manufacturing center Of
the world.
In and near it are numerous
other industries, but the manu-
facture of cotton fabrics is so ex-
tensive that all of the other work
is insignificant in comparison.
The famous ship canal which con-
meets il with the ocean owes its
inception principally 10 the efforts
OF the spinners 10 cheaper the
cost Of transporting the raw ma
terial and finished products, al
though Liverpool, which is still
the principal seaport for receiv-
ing the cotton, is but thirty miles
distant, and connected with il by
several lines Of railway. But
Liverpool s cotton commerce will
steadily decline. This is the pre-
diction Of those best in a position
to know, as they show by statis-
tics how the American, Egyptian
and Indian cotton is being re-
ceived more and moreat the Man
eiles,er @Harves, where il is dis-
tributed to the mills, some OF
which arc built directly on It's
banks.
OF all these plants, not one is
operated by water power. Such
streams as are to be found in the
Carolinas and Georgia, for ex-
ample, are unknown in this part
OF Great Britain, where most of
the cotton goods are finished.
Neither has this district any spe-
clal advantages in the way Of fuel,
for the coal, although mined in
the west Of England, costs from
2.50 70 SO. 81 per ton; and is
much poorer for steam producing
than the Georges Creek, Poca-
hontas or Alabama coal, as it
contains a large percentage of
slate ana other impurities. It
comes by rail and canal, and is
used almost entirely to the exclu-
sion OF other grades. Lancanshirs
however, has an abundance of
pure water, and the population OF
this part Of the Queen 8 domain
seems especially adapted To ham
ding the loom and spindle, in.
heriting the trade from ancestors
from as far back as 150
years. Yet they are extremely
ignorant and much lower than the
mill hands of the Carolinas, for
example. in natural intelligence.
These factors have played an
lmportantpart in the development
of the cotton industry hereabouts,
Tor the water supply and quality
allow the goods 10 be bleached
where manufactured, and not sent
to another part of the kingdom to
be whitened at an extra expense.
The hands work for very low
scale OF wages, and though many
of the plants are in small towns, |
where the employees have some Of |
the advantages OF rural life, even
in the hamlets land is so high in |
this crowded country that they
are huddled together in blocks Of |
.enements and have no concep-
ton OF manner in which southern |
mill hands are favored when COM
pared with them.
The ship canal, although re-
Gently completed, has had a mogt |
beneficial effect on the Manches-
ter factories. Although six plants
representing 90, 600 spindles and
1000 looms, discontinued busi-
ness in 1898, thirty-one new en-
Serprises were established, so that |
an actual gain for the present
year is recorded of 395, 900 spin
dies and 5000 looms, in spite OF
the number Iceasing operations. |
Several plants now being erected
will further increase these figures
by January l next. And the