The Savannah morning news., 1902-04-28
THREAD MILLS ron THE souTH.


South could never be a cotton textile
manufacturing section. The many
and prosperous cotton cloth mills dot
ting the map of the South have proved
the fallacy of that opinion. Until re-
1 Gently there had been abroad the be-
lief that the South couldn't manufac-
ture fine spool thread. Within the
next few years we may see that belief
disproved, quite as easily as the other
one was.
Some weeks ago the Cotton Trade
Journal of this city began the agita-
ton of the question of building spool
/ thread mills in the South. Its articles
/ have attracted remarkable attention,
7 in all sections of the country. News
! papers and individuals, both North and
/ South, have joined in the discussion of
| the feasibility of the idea of planting
mills where the sea island cotton
grows, and with almost unanimty they
have reached the conclusion that it
would be a good thing. The strongest
argument against the movement that
we have seen is that the spool cotton
industry is now controlled by trust.
and the trust would make a vigorous
fight against any new industry of the
kind.
Meanwhile these important facts are
to be taken into consideration: The
sea island cotton crop of the world is
grown in three states, South Carolina,
Georgia and Florida, the first state
producing about 5000 bales Cor bags).
the second about $4,000 bales and the
third about $4,000 bales. There is no
cotton produced elsewhere in the world
that can compare with the sea island
in length, fineness and strength of sta
pie. 1t is especially and peculiarly
adapted to the making of fine
sewing thread. The Egyptian cot
ton is not even a close rival of the
sea island in thread making. At pres
ent it is necessary to transport the
raw material hundreds of miles to the
mills. The items of freight and insur-
ance on these shipments would be
saved if the cotton were manufactured
at home. Again, Southern thread mills
established in the sea island territory
would be able to select the pick of each
crop, and thus put out a superior
product. AS the Southern demand in
creased, the sea island supply would
be absorbed, and other manufacturers
would have to fall back on an inferior
staple for their raw material.
In the spinning and finishing of fine
threads there are two essentials aside
from the proper sort of fiber. One is
a humid atmosphere. and the other is
a supply of intelligent labor. In New
England mills where cotton laces and
other fine counts" are made it is nee
essary to employ apparatus to impart
an artificial humidity to the atmos-
phere. In the South the climate is such
that the atmosphere at practically all
times holds sufficient moisture to make
fine threads soft and plant. With re-
spect to the labor question, the cotton
mills of the Carolinas, Georgia and
Alabama have had no difficulty in Sc
curing all the intelligent white labor
they have use for. Fuel is cheap and
plentiful, and water supplies are prac-
tically unlimited.
From the foregoing, which barely
touches upon the reasons that might
be advanced in favor of establishing
thread mills in the South, it will be
seen that about all lacking to set up
the new enterprise are initiative and
capital. Several of the leading sea ISL
and cotton firms of this section have
expressed themselves as being favora-
BILE to the scheme and willing to do
what they can to further 1t. Messrs
Butler, Stevens & Co. of this city, writ
ing to the Cotton Trade Journal, say:
I'VE would assist any movement look
ing to the building of thread mill in
the South. especially if erected near
our city; and handling as we do such
a large part of the crop. we could help
materially in furnishing supplies