Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-07-17
Must Work More and For Far Less
Wages.
,Es oLD-FAsHIoNED TOOLS
Labor Not Cheap as Compared With
That of the Whites, Although
Paid Much Less

forced out OF existence by the power loom
and the wonderful cotton fabrics which
made India famous in the old days are no
longer produced. He shows also the inter-
esting fact that while labor is plentiful and
low-priced in India. 1t is not cheap when Ii
comes to the production of cotton goods,
and 1t is only the fact that India has raw
cotton In abundance at the very door of the
mill and that the shipping charges in the
country are low that prevents the cotton
from being shipped raw to England, made
UP into cloth and sent back to be sold in
competition with the native product.
History of the Industry
Speaking of the history of the industry,
Mr. Fee says
THE manufacture of cotton in India
dates back 80 its earliest history. There
are illusions to 1t connected with India In
the Bible. In old Sanskrit records mem
ton Is made of 1t being used in India
nearly 1900 years ago. AT the time of AL
exander's invasion of India the dress of
the Hindoos was described as consisting
largely of calcoes. pure white or having
figures. Among the imports into Europe
during the first century. enumerated by the
Elder Pliny, muslins and calicoes from In
dia are described as of superior quality.
Perhaps the earliest notice Of cotton is
by Herodotus about $50 b. c., who speaks
of the trees of India bearing as their fruit
fieeces more delicate and beautiful than
those of sheep, and of the Indians using
them for the manufacture of cloth. From
India cotton cloth was gradually intro
duced into Greece, Rome and Sicily before
the Christian era. Cotton awnings were
used in the theater at the Apollinarian
games and Caesar afterward covered the
Roman forum with them, also the sacred
way from his own house to the Capitoline
hill, which is said to have appeared more
wonderful than the gladiatorial exhibition
itself
'aThe cotton fabrics of the Hindoos have
been excelled in fineness and excellence
only by the productions of the most perfect
machines of modern times. By these people
were made the fine mIsiins known to the
Greeks by a name which referred to their
coming from the borders of the Ganges.
Early Calcutta Fabrics
1.-The city of Calicut. on the Malabar
coast. which with Surat was an ancient cot
ton mart for the supply of the more west
ern nations of Asia gave its name to the
variety of the fabric known as calico
Some qualities of these were so fine that
one could hardly feel them in the hand. and
the thread when spun is scarcely discern
ible.' a single pound of thread WAS spun
out to a length of 113 miles. Dacca, once
considerable and wealthy city. lying to the
northeast of Calcutta. sent out from is
looms in the early centuries these wonder
staple too short to be woven by any ma
chinery, named, on account of their fine
ness 'Abrawan.' or flowing water and
'Shabnam,' or evening dew
Even after the advent of the English in
India there is an instance recorded regard
ing the fineness of a piece of muslin OF
twenty yards long and one and quarter
wide, weighing only fourteen ounces. With
the rudest of implements the Hindoo wo-
men spun those almost impalpable threads
and wove fabrics that for fineness of quail
ity have never been successfully initiated
elsewhere. With the decay of the native
Hindoo courts the chief customers tire de-
mand ceased. and the manufacture has
ti:eIy stopped Dacca today exhibits little
more than a. ruin.
Millions Depend on the Handloono.
Weaving in India divides itself into two
branches-hand-loom and power-loom weav-
ing. The proportion of hand-loom made
cloth to power loom is fully to /. That
is, there is about twice as much hand-loom
cloth made in India there is power-loOm
made cloth. Hand-loom weaving Is the
most important Indigenous industry in In
dia today. According to the census of 1901
there were 100000 hand-Ioom weavers,
and something more than that number OF
dependents, or somewhere like 6,0OO,000 of
people are dependent upon the hand-loom
industry for their livelihood.
This ancient industry has suffered great
ly from the introduction of machine-made
goods. and yet it is still possessed of con-
siderable vitality, as the above figures show.
and does not remain as but "a shadow of
its former SELF Is seems to be the fashion
to talk of this industry. 1t is very doubtful
indeed If at any former time much larger
number of people were engaged IN it. The
population of India has more than doubled
during the past century The general in
crease in wealth and Improvement in the
standard of living will probably account for
the enormous Importation of cotton goods
rather than to credit it to corresponding
lessenfng in the products of the Indian
looms.
This village industry of the hand loom
gives means OF livelihood not only to an
immense number of the weaving class but
affords means of experimenting the in
comes of agrfcultufists, the backbone of
India, who usually employ themselves on
hand looms when field work is unnecessary.
and also when, owing to famine, drought
or excessive rains agricultural operations
are not possible.
To Meet the Competition.
'.The hand weavers of India have already
greatly suffered by the competition with
the power looms and by the change in the
taste of the people, and doubtless the pres
ent is only a mild forecast OF what is yet
to come. To meet the ever-in creasing
stress Of competition they only offer to
work at less wages and for longer hours.
"By enlisting the services of their wives
and children and by leading lives of mo-
notonous. arduous toll. they have managed
to survive. 1t has only been in late years
that any effort has been attempted to better
their surroundings. and. as far as I am
able to inform myself. the efforts made on
behalf of the weaver to improve his condi-
ton or the hand loom have, as yet, re-
suited in nothing material.
1.-THE native hand loom is of an archaic
pattern. the apparatus and methods used
by the hand weavers are centuries old. II
is claimed that in preparing the warp the
hand-loom weavers are incapable OF wind
ing more than two threads at time.
though the simplest improved mechanical
devices would enable them to increase tileir
abilities by fftyfold.
Indian and English Weaver Compared
1.-THE Lancaster weaver attends four and
six looms. while the Indian works only one
and tries to make good by long hours and
less wages. 1t Is not question of ma
chinery. because the mill machinery at
Bombay Is as good as at Lancaster. both
being substantially all English make.
1T Is common saying that labor In