The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-07-03
WHERE COTTON IS KING
SOUTH MANUFACTURES As
 WELL AS RAISES STAPLE.
A Squirt in the Last Decade-Census Bulletin Sets Forth Clearly the Extent of Industrial Expansion
 in the South Since 1880.

phaSt5 laid upon the deVeiopmenI oI eot- ton manufacturing in the Southern States, the home of the great American staple, and the effect of these Southern mills upon the industry of New England. Scrutiny of the returns by States shows that the whole increase in the South has been in the four States of North Caro- lima South Carolina, Georgia and Ala bama. The number of establishments in these States in 1880 was 1l9; in 1890. i9l' and 1900. 355.
 Tt would be revealing but a part or the truth" says the bulletin, which was prepared under the direction of Mir. Ed ward Standwood of Boston. "to rest the statement of Southern industrial expan- sion upon the number of establishments; for in the decade tSS0-1s99 the number or spindies in the four leading Southern States increased almost twofold. from 422, ,s07 to 1,195,256; and the average num- Der of spindles to a mill increased om 3.55a to 625S. In the decade from lss0 to 1900 the progress has been at an even greater ratio, although the basis of the calculation is larger. for the total num- Der of spindles is 3,79i,654 the numerical increase 2.596.seS. the percentage of in- crease 2iT, and the average number Of spindles to a mill has become 10,651." Growth in Exports.
 | Almost 60 per cent of the total value of cotton exported represented the product | of Southern mills and nearly 7 per cent | the goods of New England. Commenting upon this. Mir Standwood says:
 Tt is an interesting fact that South l Carolina, which was historically and po- liticaliy, during the years preceding the Civil War, the most conspicuous cham pion of a policy favorable to the expor- tation of raw cotton, upon which the planters most relied, and opposed to the fostering of manufactures of cotton. spun in it's own mills in 1900 quantity of cotton exceeding the half of it's own crop, and exported close upon one-half of all the cotton cloth reported to the census as having been dispatched to foreign countries The exact percentage of South Carolina of the total exported reported was 45.b.'
 Continuing, Mir standwood says: | Speaking broadly, the cotton manufac- turing industry did not exist in the South before the Civil War, and it existed only on the most restricted scale before 1880 There are now single establishments in Massachusetts which pay annually a larger sum in wages than the entire cost of labor in Southern cotton mills in 1880 The mills were small, equipped with an. tiquated machinery, engaged in spinning the coarsest numbers only, and fin pro- ducing from cotton grown fin the neigh borhood the. stout fabrics used for cloth ing by the negroes. It is probably not ar | exaggeration to say that prior to 1SS' there was not a mill South of the latitude of Washington that would be classed a: an efficient modern cotton factory, ever
 according to the standard of that time Before the Civil War the people of tht
 South were almost exclusively engaged ii agricultural pursuits. The ruling classe, | wit
 and discouraged the introduction of thu industrial arts save as they were neces sary to meet local wants.
 Exposition Gave It Impetus. After the war closed it was some year. , before the people had recovered sufficient Iy from the disaster to undertak manu : featuring There had been attempts 1T
 the direction cotton spinning ant
 weaving before 1880, but the cotton expo [ sition in Atlanta. in 1881. gave the indus try an impetus which it mas never sine,
 lost. The possibilities of the region were shown when the Governor of Georgia ap
 peared at the fair dressed in a suit o
 clothes made of cottonade manufactured
 on the grounds from cotton which hat been picked from the stalk on the morn. ing of the same day, in the sight of ths
 V tors to the fair That the local pro
 duct of cotton could be worked up into | ClOLn without transportation IC distant manufacturing town, together with the fact that he region had abund ance of unemployed labor of class simi. lar to that which in the early days ope. rated the mills of Waltham, Lowell ant Il Manchester, brought before the people the vision of new source of individua and public wealth to which they had pre-. viously been blind.
 l First Factory of Its Kind.
 'The first factory operated wholly b, electricity, without shafting or belts, wal located in the South and until near tht time of the writing of this report 1t wal the only factory SO equipped.
 "The growth of the manufacturing In dustry in the South has been fairly con tinuous during the past ten years. Fol the most part the product of the regior has been coarse or medium goods, as ls usually the case in the early stages oi o4Ie industry. But not q few mills have been constructed to make yarns of the higher medium numbers and cloth which approaches the lower limit of those class. ed as fine. 4 considerable part of the product of the region Is exported The industry is now important enough in the four States of North Carolina, South Carolina. Georgia and Alabama to con. sume nearly one-third of the crop of cot. ton grown fin thse States; and both North Carolina and South Carolina spin more than half the cotton grown within their limits
 Drawn from Other States.
 "It appears" says the bulletin. "that the crop of South Carolina needed to be supplemented by almost exactly 1000 O00.. 900 pounds, drawn from other States, tc supply it's spinnenrs; that the North Carolina crop was deficient more than 900 pounds; that Alabama made use at home of two-thirds of it's crop: that the great cotton-growing State of Georgia consumed more than one-fifth of it's crop and that even Virginia. which had made less progress in the industry than the States farther South. consumed more than one-tweIfth of it's crop. At the present rate of progress it will not be long before the entire cotton supply of the States on the Atlantic seaboard will be taken at home. More than half of it was taken during the census year here reported; for of the 1,260OOO.O00 pounds raised by the five States mentioned. their own mills took 651, ,OOO0OO pounds"
 Comparative Figures.
 The following is a summary of the cot ton manufacturing industry in 1900 com pared with the industry in 1890:
 No. of establishments. 973 9O5 Capital S480, ,S42 TIP