Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1900-03-02
SOUTHERN DEVELOPMENT.

cotton mill building which bids fair TO con-
tinue uninterruptedly for many years 10
come. While the o ganization Oh new mills
may possibly, at least, not be so active as ~
present, yet the industry is now on suon
solid foundation, and is causing sucn wlue
attention on the part Of outside as well as
local capital, that the future pre-eminen'
position Of the southern states as the cotton
manufacturing centre, not only Oh tnis
country. but doubtless OF the world, may Do
accepted as an assured fact. In view OF the
progress already made, and OF the success
which has attended the development OF the
textile interests OF the South, 1t seems recs-
onably safe to calculate that the building OF
new mills and the enlargement OF estao-
Iished plants will add an average OF Id O,Ooo
to 2,00O,f 90 spendlss year to the South ior
the next few years. and after that sui
greater increase A very conservative au-
thority has estimated that the aggregate
addition OF spindles during the next ten
years will be at least 2 ,0c0, 900, which, added
to the 5,774ss1 spindles now in the South,
will give total OF 25,774S6l spindles ten
years hence.
SO long as the South, which Is the ac-
knowedged natural site for cotton manu-
featuring, is compelled to find market out
side OF its own borders for large proper
ton OF its cotton crop, so long will there DO
profitable openings in the South Tor the
establishment OF cotton mills. In reshd
figures, there are about 10000 go spindiss
In the world. The South furnishes about
three-fourths OF the worlds cotton supply,
or sufficient. say, expressed in another way,
to run rs, 900, 900 OF the worlds spindles. and
yet has, including the mills now building,
less than 100000 spindIes. Even at the
rate OF adding 100000 spindles a year,
which would mean 100 mills with an average
OF 1000 spindles, 1t would take more than
thirty years for the South to reach the point
where 1t could consume its present cotton
crop, and by.that time the world will be de-
handing Of the South not simply O,0OO,OOC
or IL, 900, 900 bales OF cotton, but probably ut
least 10000. COO to 10000, 0O0 bales. The
field, therefore, for expansion OF the cotton
mill industry is practically unlimited so far
as the South is concerned. With due care
in the organization Of mills that abundance
OF capital and the best management shall be
secured and good locations selected, the
cotton mill business ought to offer one OF
the most inviting fields for investment which
the world can present.
The Manufacturers Record by direct cor
respondence has secured from the cotton
mills Of the South the number of spindles
and looms in each, from the mills already In
operation and those actually under con
struction. The growth Of this business since
1890 is indicated by the following table:
1890 1892. 1897 1860
June 1. Dec 1. Dee. l. Feb.
Mills. 454 376 4S4 54t
spindes1, 712 $50 1852, 25S 4, 1856 5,774, 1851
Looms, 1921 $3.50 103,29S 17,70
The list includes all the cotton-spnhine
and weaving mills, but not the knitting
mills. 1t may be WELL however, to add that
in this latter department Of textile manufac-
ture there has been a decided forward move
ment in 1899. According to the list as care.
fully compiled by the Manufacturers Rec.
ord there are now seventy-three new mills
actually under construction. Those will lie
equipped with total Of TAG, $40 spindles and
1880 looms.
The more important industrial enterprises
reported by the Manufacturers Record fol
the week were: 100000 iron-miniDg com.
pany in Alabama; $4,000 mining company,
$50, 900 cotton oil company, 5O-bbl. flour
mill and S. 900 coal-mining plant in Arkan-
sas; 25-ton ice factory in Florida; 800, OeC
eotton-mill, 800 900 cotton and knitting mill
and 800, 900 cotton factory in Georgia; $780,
600 water works in Kentucky; 1200-barrel
rice mill, 400-barrel rice mill and $4,000
lumber company in Louisiana: $50, 900 water
works, $1,000, 900 electric light and power
company and $40, 900 electric power com.
pany in Maryland $4,000 cotton mill &c.
600 chair factory, $4,000 manufacturing
company, cotton ice factory, $4,000 cotton
mill, $4,000 telephone company, $4,000
foundry and S15 900 chair factory in North
Carolina; $50, 600 sewerage system, 1000
handle factory and $4,000 lumber company
in South Carolina; 25-ton ice factory and
S1S, 900 lumber company in Tennessee; $l0,.
600 lumber company, $50, 900 rice mills, 100
barrel -four mill and 125-barrel -four mill In
Texas; $40, 900 furniture factory, 25-balrel
flour mill and 100000 lumber company In
Virginia; 100000 coal company, $4,000
eleetriclight and power company, $500, 600
lumber company and $4,000 mining COM
pany in West Virginia.