The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1900-01-11
WHITNEY AND HIS COTTON GIN

Manufacturers Association.l
Foremost among inventors stands
the name of Eli Whitney, the ayowed
inventor of the cotton gin. Ills lnVen-
tiOn has wilhstood the criticisms 0t
practical manufacturers and theorists
for moro than q century, and it can be
said that today it practically prepares
the cotton crop for market, and IT bids
fair to be continued in use for consld
cradle time to come unless some in
ventive genius can bring out some
thing to take it's place which VIII per-
form the work as speedily and chcaply,
and retain The staple unbrokcn. The
manufacturer may grumblc and declare
that the saw gin Is the most destructive
process that cotton is subjected to
from the cotton field to the spinning
frame, yet he is compelled to accept
the situation from the fact that no in
vcntor has brought out any other pro
cess Of separating the lint from the seed
that finds favor with the cotton grower,
for he seems to be the man to please as
it is his business to raise the crop,
market the same and get his pay lol II.
Eli Whitney forcsaw what was want
cd in his day and went to work and
produced it. We say he ''built WISE
ly" or that he "built better than he
knew' for the test of a hundred years
shows him to be an inventor worthy
of appreciation. Born and educated
in New England, he carried with him
to Georgia that spirit of enterprise that
has distinguished him among mon of
genius. During the past winter the
writer visited the spot where Whitney
made his experiments with his cotton
gin. Upon II sluggish stream that is
flows into the Savannah River a few
miles below Augusta, Ga, stands de-
serted wooden mill building with its
crumbling wooden tub wheel III de-
caycd wheel pit. Near BY is 4 broken
dam and cane brake which borders
upon a swamp where the long flowing
moss hangs dropping from the trees.
The spot Is interesting only as u
place where Whitney made expert
ments and operated his first cotton gin.
Upon this spot the cotton growers and
the manufacturers should alike join in
erecting tablet to The memory Of Eli
Whitney. Only for the invention Of
the cotton gin has cotton manufacture
ing assumed the vast proportions that
it has throughout the world. For the
following bit Of history am indebted
to Charles G.. Jones, LII. d., author of
the "IIistory Of Georgia" and other his
tOrlcal works.
Eli Whitney was born in Wcstborough,
Mass, Dec. ), 1865, and after complet-
ing his education at Yale came to Geor-
gia with the view Of entering into the
legal profession. He made his home
with the widow of General Greene, the
Revolutionary hero, and as tradition
has it, bad his attention directed by
that lady to the subject of IL machine
for preparing cotton for the market.
In those times tho seed was laboriously
and impcrfcctly separated from The lint
by hand, and Mrs. Greene seemed to
have foresccn that important results
would follow specdier process.
Young Whitney worked out the idea
and in 1893 received patent for his
famous gin. His experiments were
made i'll and near Augusta, Ga, and
about four miles north of the city is
still 10 be seen the dam used by hin
to run his works. Sometimes it is said
that Whitney is not the real inventor
Of this device, but purloined the ides
from it's original author. The state
mcnt being that a citizen of Soutl
Carolina constructed n gin towards
the close Of the eighteenth cent ury
and that Whitney surreptiliously gam
od access 10 his workshop and carried
off the plan, and constructing a ma
chine, patented it Az his own. This
story is told with great circumstan
tiality, and the house in which th'
machine was originally constructed il
said to be still standing within sigh
Of Augusta in Hamburg, S. G., Oh tn
left hand sido of tho road, just acros
the Savannah River bridge. The con
tcmporaneous history of Whitney,
times, however, shows pretty clearl,
that he was really the inventor. Th
patent was issued to him in 1893, an'
by Act Of Dec. 10, 1901 6 statute
South Carolina, page 424), the Lcgisla
turc of South Carolina purchased fro1
him the right to use his patent in tina
State for the sum Of $50, 900. The Au
gusta, Ga, Herald, of Dec. 80, 1901
mentions the passage Of this Act, an
says, "In the coulse of the ncgotia
tions between the Legislature of Sout
Carolina and tho patentcc we under
stand that every satisfactory cvidcnc
of the originality of the invention wa
produced, and its principles 80 fun
explained by the ingenious invento
that little or no diversity of oplnio
existed as TO the propriety of maxim
contract" Now if Whitney ba
really robbed citizen of South Care
lima of the invention it is hardly like
ly that the Legislature OF that yer
permitted him as against one OF ii
State would but eight years after hav
own people TO profit by the wrong. ]
any question was raised before tn
Legislature of South Carolina as I
Whitncy's right every satisfactory ev
dcncc of the originality of the invcr
ton was produced 80 that there wa
| little or no diversity of opinion as
tho propriety Of making the contract
| Whitnev'a r,Uht TO the invention wa