The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1900-10-26
GREAT PROGRESS
MADE IN SOUTH
What the Ney England Cotton Man
ufacturers Saw on Their Trip.
THE INCREASE IN sP'NDLEs'
Iron and Coal Also Largely Developed
Since the last Trip Of the New
Eu.Ianders to the South-oIar-
bic, Building Stone, Lumber
Especial Dispatch to The Tines.)

especial DlSpdlCu 10 lUc 1iiu"Sj
BALTIMORE, October 25.-No better
winding up of the Washington meeting OF
the New England Cotton Manufacturers
Association could have been devised than
the trip of the manufacturers TO some OF
the important centres OF Southern in
dustry. Five years ago the Association
gathered at Atlanta for its first meeting
outside of New England. The travellers
through the South during the past week
had an opportunity to observe many evil
denceS OF the wonderful progress made
by that section since their last visit In
their own particular field they could note
an increase in the interval of the number
OF mills from 3d., with 100000 spindles
and 5000 looms, using $4,000 bales OF
cotton, to 663 mills, with 4S0o,Ooo active
spindles and $4,000 looms. using more
than 1,5G0,0O0 bales of cotton, while 100000
additional spindles are being installed in
new mills; the most notable increase in
mill building aud mill enlargement having
taken place in the past eighteen months.
FINER GRADES
OF special interest, perhaps, to them
were the facts Of the strong tendency on
the part OF the mills to advance to finer
grades of goods and to do more in the way
OF bleaching and dyeing, of many millions
of money that have been invested by New
England textile concerns in extending
their operations to the South, notably the
Dwight Company, at Alabama City, Ala;
the Massachusetts Mills, at Lindale, Ga;
the New York Mills, at Aragon, Ga, and
the Merrimac Manufacturing Company,
at Huntsville, Ala, and of the evidences
that Southern States, especially North
Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and
Mississippi, have become fully alive to
the necessity for careful training of the
, rising tpn n ha of al
vanced cotton-manufacturing.
IRON AND COAL
Five years have also done much for iron
and coal in the South, the largest develop
ment having been made in the virginias
Tennessee and Alabama; and the most
significant fact, perhaps. in this connec-
ton was the demonstration of the ability
of Alabama pig to underseli English iron
in the English markets. This meant more
than the mere selling of pig iron abroad
by the South. 1t pointed directly to the
erection, at Ensley, of steel plant with
a capacity of a thousand tons a day. and
the establishment nearby of a large wire
rod and wire-nail mill, limiting at the time
when the South is TO be busy with many
lines OF diversified industry dependent
upon the handling of iron and steel
LUMBER RESOURCES.
More and more the world has been turn
ing to the vast lumber resources of the
South. and spurs Of great railroad systems
or new lines have extended into the forests
as feeders for saw-mills. and mills of great
capacity have been erected. To Florida
and South Carolina as producers Of phos-
phates Tennessee has been added. and the
Mount Pleasant District in that State is
now turning out about 100000 tons OF rock
per annum. In connection with these pro-
ductS the New England visitors might
prontaoly study the development of the
marbles of Tennessee, Georgia and Texas
and the lead and zinc OF Missouri and Ar
kansas, the flour-spar Of Kentucky. the
rock-salt of Louisiana, the building stones
OF the Carolinas and other States, the pc
troleum of Texas and West Virginia. the
shipyards Of Maryland and Virginia the
car works of Alabama. the WOODWORKING
plants of North Carolina, the semi-troDicaI
fruits of Florida, Louisiana and Texas the
peaches OF Georgia, the apples of Virginia.
North Carolina, Missouri and Arkansas.
and the truck farms stretching from the
Virginia Capes TO the Rio Grande. and
then they could not fail to be impressed
with the marvellous Intervening in the
South of manufacturing and agricultural
activities, and with the Importance OF
cotton manufacturing as a motive power
NECESSITY FOR SHIPS.
NOR could they fall TO appreciate the WIS
dom of a Mississippi cotton-manufacturer.
who. writing TO the Manufacturers Record,
urging the necessity for regular lines OF
ships between the United States and South
American ports, says:
1t was only a few weeks ago when we
were talking with a New York agent, who
said that the United States were greatly
hampered and almost forced out OF the
South American markets because we have
no such means of transportation 1t strikes
us that the sooner we force recognition
for our goods among other people, the
better it will be for US. The longer we
are content with what we have at home.
the longer it will take to have export pos
sib;lities realized by all branches OF the
cotton line