Evening journal., 1903-01-03
COTTON MILLS
MOVE SOUTH
Factories Can Be Operated
Six Per Cent. Cheaper
There Than Here
BUSINESS is GROWING RAPIDLY

Spinning Plants IN Wilmington and
Vicinity But. One Is Now in
Operation
In the early eighties Wilmington
could boast of six cotton spinning mills,
including the one in New Castle, while
today there Is only one mill where cot
ton spindles are in motion.
The same is very largely true OF Chez
ter and the county of Delaware. A
large number Of the mills there have
closed down, in some cases the ma
chinery being moved south, and many
persons wonder why the business has
fallen off so much.
Ilrom 1881 to 1897 the Barlow &
Thatcher Spinning Company operated
a factory az Henry Clay. which manu-
factmed cotton yarn for the weaving
trade. In 1891 this company stalited a
mill in Piedmont, Ala. and six years
later removed the Wilmington business
to that place. The company now oper-
ates a mill of $1,000 spindles, which de-
notes a thriving business.
Albert G. Thatcher, member of the
firm, lives at No. 1903 Delaware ave
nue., this city, and spends some OF his
| time here. In an interview with ne
porter fOr the Evening Journal several
days ago. Mr.. Thatcher stated that
Southern competition was the cause Of
| the mills closing down in this vicinity.
Twenty years ago he said there We're
six cotton spinning mills in Whining
Iton and today the Bancroft Mills are
the only ones in the State that do their
own spinning
The Southern firm of which Mr..
Thatcher is a member is known as the
Coosa Manufacturing Company.
Mr.. Thatcher explained that 1t is an
advantage in having mill In the Vi
lcin.ty where the cotton grows, and
THAT a plant can be operated cheaper
lin the South than in this section of the
lcountry. Mr.. Thatcher says that there
lis a large white population around
Piedmont, and that all of the employees
in the mills are white people.
Many of the men employed by the
Coosa Manufacturing Company at Pied
mont, were formerly small farmers.
The wages paid in Southern mills is
generally about 20 per cent. less than
the North, but is probably on the whole
Inc per sent less efficient, which is
. largely on account of lost time due tc
poor health, which Is traceable to less
suitable food.
The South has many OF the best
water powers in this country, and in
Alabama coal is quite cheap. These
with cheap freight rates are some Of
the cheap advantages.
There were but few cotton spin
/ ming plants in the South before the
war, and the most of them were de-
stroyed. II was not until about 1881
that much headway was made in this
line OF business in the South, but since
then It has been growing rapidly.
But few years since the Southern
mills turned out nothing but coarse
yarns and goods such as brown sheet
ings, drills and denims. but now mrot
attention is given to a better grade oi
yarn and woven fabrics. The cottor
used for these goods is that grown II
the vicinity of the mills.
The price of cotton depends largely
upon the length of staple and its clean
liness. Cotton one inch long in staple
now sells for Sh cents per pound South
lWult tollOu Mllu btdlltl "a " l18 III
long is in good demand at 12 cents PEI
pound. The longest stapled cotton il
the "Sea Island" grown on the islands
off the coast of South Carolina ant
Georgia This is used for fine sewing
thread, laces and handkerchiefs. etc.
The New England States years agI
= nearly monopolized the business of cot
: ton spinning. The manufacture of th'
commoner kinds of goods in the Soutl
/ has not killed thei industry in the East
, ern States, as many people predicted
| would. but il has checked its growth
. Many Eastern mills have establshe,
branches in the South and have pros
> pered by so doing. Such large mills al
the Dwight Manufacturing Company
at Alabama City, near Gadsden, Ala.
the Massachusetts, Mills, near Rome
Ca, and The Whittier Mills near Atlanti
are ceases in point Most of the New
Englanders, however, saw the drift o
thines early enough and started /,
manufacture finer goods than had beer
their custom. The mills in the New
England States, excepting those max
ing print cloths, largely use Peeler'.
Egyptians and Sea Island cottons.
Ladies' dress goods are largely mad,