The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-09-01
COTTON TRADE THE FACTOR IN
DEVELOPING CASTOR COUNTY
IS That Is Rapidly Growing Greater So Will CASTOR
Gastonia With Its Group Of Mills a Chapter in the
History of Human Progress

tration of a budding CITY TO he fonnd
IN the South, n possibly in the
Whole country. for Gastonia is tack
llns a transformation problem in a
way do not ever remember to have
seen 1T taken up before.
with mills building, and the town
growing, and business expanding in
all directions the place has proun
until l would guess it has s~onXhore
IRON ten 20 fifteen thousand people
IN the c mn unity. They MAJ MT all
DC ia the municipal BOUNDARY. but
business Goes not follow boundary
mes OF a town. From a small village
tre city has grown up faster ,han
tne people have realized, ana they
finally discovered that the village
must be made over into a city.
Miles of New Sidewalk.
That means cCmmodious school
houses, new homes, streets, sidewalks,
n all those conveniences thai are
the eWaTd Of maSSing many people
at a common point. So all around this
town you see men building miles and
miles OF new sidewalks, new streets,
new curling. 1t is not a spotted Job.
with a bit of walk going down in one
place, and a bit in another. Castonia
has come to the place where the new
things have to come, and The town
has Jumped into the water from the
spring board instead of Wading slow
~ down, like sOme towns do.
This thing is costing a mint of
money! suggested to Mr.. Lloyd.
.Costing some money! he replied.
but the cheerful feature about it is
that the people want the work done,
and the prosperity and advancement
of the town enables the money to be
provided without imposing any hard
ships"
Noticeable are the many buildings
- n IN
ing a new public building in the heart
of the city. A new hotel is going up
not far distant, steel frame construc-
ton. A new high school and wv
graded school buildings are coming.
P~retentious residences in every direc-
ton show h prosperity that has
come with development. Gastonia has
become a city, and is now beginning
that forward step which will make one
Of the thrifty and attractive cities that
are characteristic of the prosperous
sections Of the new world. Gastonia
will be a modern city, with all the
new things, the water supply, electric
lights, electric cars connecting various
other towns, all the new features in
the homes. and the new ideas thai
serve best in the operation of a new
city.
Typical In Unusual Way.
AS a mere city, growing along like
every other city of it's size and class,
Gastonia. would have nothing out OF
the ordinary to attract attention But
!. Gastonia is not simply one of its kind
1t is one Of a kind that is peculiar &c
certain conditions, n those cOndi-
tons have combined just at this time
to exert an influence that make Gas
tonia an example Of what is liable tC
, come from other towns of the sort that
: Gastonia has been.
Primarily it is that increasing neeC
E for cotton products all over the world
t The certainty OF the OF mn
facilities leaves nc doubt that Gas.
= tonia is to push ahead much farther
1 than it has come.
q One Of the most suggestive shift:
to cotton milling is found in New BED
ford, Massachusetts,. For a centur!
, now New Bedford was the chief cen
= ter of the whaling industry. Whal'
0 fishing came to a practical finish abou
: the civil war and the old fishing tow
n was compelled to turn to something
e else. . Cotton manufacturing started
e and there on a spur Of the ocean, VIII
g no more natural ADVANTAGES than GU
n on the Canary Islands, has come vi
n one Of the big factory towns OF IN
d country. Whaling made a town Of
e few thousand people. When tn
" place changed to cotton milling !
changed it's gait, and in thirty years
has grown from 5000 to a hundre'
n thousand. Fall River is anothe
Massachusetts city a few miles fror
II New Bedford. and it has had a simila
experience in thriving on its cotto
< spindles.
d Manchester, England, has abou
q two-thirds of the cotton mills of tn
&c United Kingdom. The population c
20 the CITY. with its suburb OF Saifort
- runs close toward a million people.
% Mills Near Fields.
e Gastonia starts into the manu1af
,s ture of cotton goods right at the col
ton field. 1T has the tns
ut no point north Of North Caroilna ca
is ever have. the proximity 10 lne sul
- niv Of raw material. Civil war ono
i. cut off the supply of Manchester
st cotton. General European war NJ
az threatened that supply this year. "a
=. 4onia can not be cut off from It's SUI