The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1904-05-29
Progress Of Manufacturing thai
Product in South Has Been I
Slow, But Shows Gains.
NORTH CAROLINA ALMOST
THE BIGGEST CONSUMER
Department Of Agriculture De-
votes Considerable Space Ii,
Year Book, Which.Wil1 Soon
Appear, to Discussing .
Consumptionaof Cotton .,5sH
in Southern States.
y
from Our Regular Correspondent

tFrom Our Regular Correspondent.)
WASHINGTON. D. g., May 2e.-,Th6$
old days Of homespnn arc In the past.
There are few sections OF tho country ii, s$
which one may see the bntternut and M
brown Jeans Of even a quarter OF a cen-s
$tury ago. Home knit socks are never
seen and the beautiful picture OF tliel4
silver haired grandmother knitting before III
the cleaning fire on winter evenings and
recalling events of the early days OF the B3
Republic hang on the wall OF memory
only, and now grandmother is employed IN
In doing fancy work, ao-called. beautiful
,she thinks and useful II doyles. and #
centerpieoes are really necessities in6sl
these latter days, Just as sock and stock s
.ings are useful AMI necessities. But to
my mind there Is not so muclt OF beauty 81
sinsthe picture OF the Old lady doing fancy Il
work as there was In the cleaning knit #
ting needles. sdartlng in and out fashion-
Ing the 1,onlely, durable yarn SOCK one ss
pair of which vas worth six pairs ot 81
the handsome, nln,y# creations one II pwSsS
has to Slo,iy,iin the furnishing stores
lFsThe' department Of e q Sri lture.@ Ia the
year hook which will soon be issued, Will
devote considerable space to discussing
cloth for the slaves before war tines
ana the chapter on r..:.consumption Of cot
ton In the cotton States will be perhaps
the most interesting In the volume. lt4
is from the pen of Mr.. j. +. Watkins, the
cotton expert OF the department.. and i
things pertaining to cotton In this coiin- -''5
TRY or any country for that matter.
Cotton in Virginia.
Considerable space is devoted to tho
domestic manufacture OF cotton In Viz
rinia, and the present condition of tho
Industry 1t is to be regretted that the
volume does not contain figures showing
the amount OF fax grown and transmitted Z
into cloth on rne Virginia plantations In
the days of slavery. but that subject
was outside the scope OF the article Writ
ten by Mr.. Watkins
The most valuable feature OF the arr
ticle Is that which deals with the de-
velopment OF cotton manufacturing In the 88
States of the South. The figures which u
Indicate the tremendous revolution which n
has taken place since the war between
the States, whereby the centre OF cotton, S
manufacture has been almost transferred
from New England to the Carollnas
The title OF the work does not fairly
Indicate It's scope. While every line Of
cotton production and manufacture nan 2, iss
presented In statistics. comparative ana
otherwise, there is also groat deal OF
historical matter In the pamphlet. some
OF which will prove new to the average
reader For instance, 1t Is generally be-&SSS
leved that the f1rst cotton mill. that is.
the first factory for the manufacture OF
cotton goods was operated at Beverly
Massachusetts. Mr.. Watkins says that d
the historical records of South Carolina {
show that In the same year cotton mill
was erected on James Island. near
Charleston. Three years lateraa mill was
put In operation near Statesburg, s. C..
equipped with ginning. cardfng and oth-
er machines, driven by water, and also
spinning machInes with "a lspindles eacl1.
with every necessary article for mallu- n
featuring cotton. Although South Caro- -51
lima was the first State, or one OF the
first two States to undertake the mann
facture OF cotton goods, 1t did not rank
high IN the list OF manufacturing States
until some years after the war. when the II
mills OF New England began to remove
to tho Sorth attracted by the raw ma
terial, the proximity to fuel. the excel
lence OF water power. the plenty OF lanor
and the salnbrity OF climate South caro-
lima now claims to have the largest cor,
ton mill In the United States. and Is Wei
! on towards tho head OF the list OF cot
ton manufacturing States
Homespun.
Prior to the year in which the nrst
| cotton mill was established IN this coun-
| try the domestic manufacture OF cotton
was carried on extensively among the 4