The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1908-05-22

luVO, or approximately 50 per cent. OF
plantations. Are there naked backs
enough to utilize our great cotton
reserve?
Far be it that we, as humane
American citizens, should rejoice In
the case. Our mission and purpose
Is to cover the worlds nakedness--to
bear clothing material to the uncloth-
ed. We would make two coats grow
where one grew before. and plant two
Ishirts where perhaps there was no
faction to know there Is great and
ample opportunity for our mission OF
clothing the world, and that II will
not be case OF loves labor lost.
1,5o0,ooo,o0o. only 5oo,ooo,oO0, or about
third OF the human race, wear
.clothes after the approved standards
OF modern civilization. one-half or
f5o,00O,0OO backs, go partially clothed,
cotton goods; while 25o.oo0.oo0. or one
sixth OF the human race. have had
no Introduction whatever to the great
American textile, and are habitually
attlred In little more than the garb
tire the race in 500 pounds OF Amer
lean cotton year would require
cotton crop three and one-halS times
our greatest crop TO date. No other
SVu!ItIS mas aUeeIl HDle 10 produce Inc
goods. The worlds natural Increase
IN population and the yearly increas-
Ing use of clothes with the devel-
opment Of civilization, Will do the rest.
In brief the market Tor Americas cot
ton staple and the field OF our cloth
ing mission are bounded only by our
productive energy and benevolent en-
terprise. The harvest Is ripe for the
tsickle The backs are ready for the
goods. In short, inexhausuble resources
nj eyr ,fv,rr
limited demand for the cotton product.
and the logical result is an era OF
Industrial prosperity for the cotton
producing South and for the manufac-
sent limited only by your ambition and
breadth of vision. by the sound and
solid foundation which you lay. and
by the light OF the standards which
you hold before you.
Clothing the World, Not All.
But the mission OF America in
lclothing the world is not fulfilled by
the export of raw cotton. Your pres
ence here to-day is testimony TO shat.
The world wants the finished article.
American labor in the mill and fac
| tory must supplement that in the field.
Gagged in the business OF exporting Its
soil fertility to furnish European mills
I; with the best and cheapest raw mate
trials on the globe. and thereby at
l the tlile american
lbor and capital of a foreign market
| for the American finished product. But
| that period Is passing. To-day the
American mill looms large on the
horizon OF international commerce.
| Turning TO the industrial census o;
1895 we find that the American cotton
| mill OF three years ago represented
| an invested capital of over $500 ,000,000,
(which was an increase of 81 per cent.
over even the great record of the
| OF cotton was 3.740.0oo bales, or 100000
greater than that OF our greatest world
competitor. Great Britain. The pro-
duct included over 5,000,000,000 square
yards OF woven goods, worth upwards
iof s3eo,ooo.ooo. Surely these colossal
sage the day when the American cot
ton mill will occupy as large a COM
parative plane in the worlds market
lapd field of Industrial competition as
occupied for two generations-namely
1.-THE position Of dominant producer
among the nations.
Why Mills Come South.
"The law OF industrial development
points the goal; and that law is, that
the mill for the most successful and
profitable production of the finished
goods Is that which is located in clos
| est proximity to the raw material.
Equality of material cheapness OF ma
terial. the highest economy in the util-
iity Of material. the economy OF trans
iportation cost, the adaptation of the
milling industry to the conditions OF
economical production, all commend the
| mill to move to the gate of the plan
tation which produces the material.
This Is why the cotton mills of the
United states are going South; and
why the cotton industry Of Europe is
coming to America. It is In accord
with the universal law of the highest
ECONOMY of Industrial production. Long
SINCE the Touring mills of Amertca.
Northwest. To-day the iron and steel
mills are going to Duluth at the foot
tof the Great Mesaba iron range. Over
Iono-half of the cotton mills of Amer
the majority of the spindles will be
there Ten years ago the cotton con-
sumption of the United States caught
up and passed that OF Great Britain.
Last season the e mills s. Of Of the United
Great Britain's 100000: we beat the
Is per cent. and the day is within the
vision of you here met in industrial
convention, when the value OF the
your great European competitor, as to-
day you stand first in bales of mate
Trial produced and in yards OF product
| sold
Message From the West.
Coming to you from State which
never grew crop of cotton or built
a cotton mill, it little becomes me to
ladVise a congress of cotton mill eY-
lperts how. to achieve the success Of
1.-THE American cotton industry. And yet
There are certain industrial factors SO
|large, and conditions so general and
elemental, that he who runs may read
| though he never saw a cotton bolll
1 "In twenty years you have doubled
1.-THE American cotton product, both Of