Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1910-08-14
D.S. Tatd- Head Of The
Steel Works.

100000 there who wear cottons There is q
big market in Farther India, and 40 tho
west OF us as well as i'm AfrieaeV Indeed
the markets for the cotton mills of this part
of the world are so great that we do not
need those of either Europe or America"
Your father established some Of the first
spinning mills did he not?"
Not the first. There was a cotton mill
at Calcutta in 1915 and the first at Bonn
bay was established in 1851. My father
established his original mill much later
He was one of the first to start mills in the
interior He founded one at Nagpur in
1874, and, when he died, he was inter
ested in many, not only here, but in other
parts of the country. He was then en-
ploying altogether in his cotton mills alone
about 5000 hands. These mills are still
working and are doing well. My father was
the first to introduce ring spinning into
India, and in this he revolutionized tho
industry"
Tell me something about your labor ele-
ment, Mr. Tata. Can the Hlndoos handle
machinery"
Yes, They are excellent factory hands.
Our boys are especially good. We have
many little children of 10 or II in the mills
whose supple fingers can do quite as we'll
as those of the full-grown women employed
at Manchester. Indeed, l think they do
better"
what are the wages paid in the mills?'
The average is 10 rupees month
that means about s., or over Is cents a day.
Ihat is good wages for India. A uaAA6ye
can live on less than So a month, any ali
ne makes over that is clear profit. our
chlet trouble is that the hands will stop
work II they get money ahead They will
lapor FOR two or three months and then
lay or and spend what they have saved
II man has 100 rupees (SS3) ahead. he will.
IKE as not, leave the mills and go back
10 ms native village and spend a year or
more in riotous living. When he has spent
all he has and all he can borrow. he will
come back half starving. and ask for n
place. we do what we can to keep our
Hahus and to educate them for their work
we nave pension fund and also a saw
lhss FUND, to which the men can CON
tribute certain percentage of their An
comes the company paying them dividdnds
upon their savings"
coming back from my interview WITH Mr..
rata to the Tai Mahal hotel l passed
long lines OF bullock carts carrying cotton
through the city. A continuous procession
" A'ASSN may NC seen mere at all hours
of the day throughout the year. Bombay's
prosperity is founded upon cotton 1t has
an enormous market, and its shipments of
raw cottons and cotton goods approximate
SoOOOV,OOO year. Ii has cotton mills here
and there throughout the city and their
smokestacks are to be seen everywhere
rms province is one of the largest of the
cotton producers, and IL does more spin
ming and weaving than any other. There
are about ninety mills in Bombay alone or
more than one-third of all the cotton mills
of the country. The largest mill owners
are the Tatas, the Sassoons and other mill
lonaire Parsees. The capital invested in
the business all told amounts 10 5000 co.,
or more.
The cotton industry Of India was made
by our civil war They were growing coz
ton long before that, but the exports never
averaged more than $l5,OO0,OOO a year. When
the war began and our cottons were shut
out Of England, those OF India leaped 10
the front and the year the war closed they
had reached the enormous total of $lSj,-
O0OOC That was the booming time for
Bombay. The people thought there would
be no end to their prosperity Land went
up several hundred per cent. and every
one thought that this would be the great
port of the world. Then came the sur
render Of Lee, and cottOn dropped like d
shot, II was 20 cents a pound, and II
went down to y ana continued to drop.
This made panic in bombay. The Parsee
banks failed for mIlIOns and thousands
were bankrupt The cotton exports steadily
fen, ana in 1910 they amour ed to only $40
OjJO,@ since that time most OF the present
mihs nave been built, ana the exports
Of raw cotton have risen. The latter are
now running al something like $s5,OOJ,o0J u
year whle the exports OF manufactured
goods are S35Oy0,COJ.
what the Industry needs II protective
tdriif and especially SO against England
The Manchester mill men, however will
not allow Parliament TO grant this, and BY
50 doing they arc keeping India back. II
the British would give the country the
same rights that We OF the United states
have as TO such matters, India could noI
only make all the cotton goods used 20
her 300 900, but could export goods 10
China and the other countries OF Asia.
protective tariff would turn Hndustan into
a beehive and would make II one Of the
richest Instead Of, as Il Is now, one OF the
poorest OF lands.
FRANK G.. CARPENTER