New-York tribune., 1900-01-08
A COTTON MILL CRUSADE
pFVaRKABLE INDUSTRIAL MOVE
NENT IN THE SOUTH.
,cTTATToN IN PRESS AND ON PLATFORM
RECENT RAPID GROWTH.

Z han 81
eald according to the orthodox, scientific laws
sofer 70 trust than human wisdom. Argu-
- axbortation. entreaty. industrial revival
o..inas are as far away from laissez falre
.e ANYTHING can be; they violate as mucp as
,,oeeibie the divine right of industry to Le let
.ror,e TO develop as it will but that is the
,,otbod bv which the South is taking its steps
toward manufacturing.
7, is a true crusade. Every crossroads town
hears its preachers. Every CROSSROADS news
- contains the true gospel of cotton. Speak
ere ike H. H. Hargrove, Of Louisiana; Presi-
80, -Tonapkins Of the Agricultural College in
,-,~.h carolina. and many other writers and
.fi,op-rers 20 everywhere and rally the people
sr,,, aoricutural Indifference to industrial en-
,A,,eias-, With marked effect too, for the
.,Iovy South is stalking its hope on the cotton
MIL small agricultural towns either already
hove their mills or building them, or have
,--f,les of incorporation for them The money
is NJ local subscription, farmers and working
-,e, Of the neighborhoods supplying most of
!, f,r the Capitalization is small and the par
value of shares low
There Is strong sectional feeling too in the
,,-,,,er,t not in the old sense, but realization
.bat all is being done for the South. to raise it
-. i,s more prosperous neighbors, to restore
:. II i+s ante -bellum strength and Importance.
7-,,a sense Of sectionalism is stronger here than
=. the North When q Northerner uses the
word North he does so for geographical con-
,.ariAnce and explictness. When a Southerner
ssve tbe South there are for him within the
co7tert Of that name common interests, COM
,r,on feelings and common memory. that make
something larger than local pride and short of
the sentiment Of nationality. All this sectional
r-ide is aroused in the recent rapid development
here. and there is rejoicing in each State not
by1rO hat n
section. .,-- ,-, o,-,o,,,,-,,
me cotton mill is not a new thing in the
South but with the Industrial expansion of the
country since the Spanish war its development
has been marvellous Up to 1860 the Southern
States were strictly agricultural as the forests
could not be felled for lack of transportation IA
cities. while the iron and coal mines were
unavailable for the same reason. The cotton
manufacturing industry was Insignificant, there
being 71-3 per cent of that industry in the
United States located here. In 1870 the capital
IN this industry in the South had increased to
s6OO0o and there were hundred cotton mills
in these eight cotton growing States as fol-
lows:
Alabama -............-. 1S North Carolina $S
5gis g'2lsaS a. Texas exss
Mississippi Il Total
ital.
In 1897 and 1898 the plants by States were:
Alabama 40 Mississippi :....... 10
AIksnsas NoTth Caroline ca[oIns- .lse
ie5jsians Texas
or 426. against 100 in 1870. The progress was
gradual during that period, but a rapid jump
has been made in the last year.
YEARS ACHIEVEMENTS.
Up TO September, 1899. the increased number
Of new mills in actual operation over those of
September, 1SeS were:
4.8Ps3a 4Is9s5aa u z9gsa Te4a: Carolina o:::
North Carolina. IS
This makes hfty-nine in actual operation in
eight months, and, If the ratio contin-
ued for the other four months, a total OF ninety
new mills actually put into operation in
year. One of the leading textile journals makes
the figures ninety mine new mills in the South
while there were hut nineteen in the North last
year. A fair average of the estimated capital
iZatiOn IS 100000 each, and this would repre-
sent from January to January S9OO0,000 put
into new mills actually running, with many
more new mills organized, chartered and to be
in course Of construction in the nearby future
besides a large addition in capital and spindles
IN established mills.
The strongest test of the growth of cotton
mills will be found in the consumption Of cot
ton. In 1880 there were 233 S86 bales used in
1.042, 81, and in 1898, 231 S41 bales. and in
the season up TO September. 1899. the aggregate
years, it had enlarged 500 per cent. The con-
sumption Of 1899 to September exceeded the
whole consumption in 1898 by 10000 bales,
while the 113 days Of this season to December
% exceeded the same period Of last year by
50 600 bales
Colonel Hester, secretary of the New-OrIeans
Cotton Exchange, authority cotton, who
receives returns from all American cotton mills
in his last September report says More than
3lS9O5 spindes have been added in established
mills, and S23,5;4 being put in old idle and
new mills. representing in a year an aggregate
increase of /, AZ, ,239 spindles. Those in in
complete mills by States were as follows:
Aa6aa M 59s ass S0Tth tb CaTGIna 2$o les
Louisiana Tennessee
Mississippi ........ 51si Texas ..-.......... 8s44
This makes a total in new mills of S23. .354,
against 251,345 the year previous, and 2S7, 40
in 1897. This does not represent mills which
had ordered machinery. He says spin
dies operated in 1898 were 3999,646, against
1920 up TO September /, 1899 If the same
ratio had been continued and it is known to
have been exceeded since September, there
would be in round numbers by January l, 1900
5,J0OOO0 spindles in operation. This would not
include any Of the twenty-five mills in course
Of organization in Mississippi, the twenty-five
IN Texas. the three in Arkansas and three in
Louisiana, with possibly fifty in the Carolinas,
Georgia Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky.
DEVELOPMENT IN PROGRESS
II is difficult TO obtain absolutely accurate
data regarding mills being constructed, but the
best obtainable indicates that about twenty-five
mills are in course Of organization in Texas. In
Arkansas there is less life than in any other Of
the cotton States with the probability Of or
ganizing those successful mill movements. In
Louisiana one new mill viii begin to run by
1900. with 900 spindles, while two other COM
panies have organized and ordered 5000 spindIes
and will begin TO run by next September. In
Mississippi there are about five mills under
contract, with ten others about organized, and
seven others in course Of organization. These
viii represent average of 100000 capital
nd