The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-01-06


States raised over four and d half
million bales Of cotton and of that
quantity all but million bales was
exported. War ruined the cotton in
dustry 1t was twenty years before
another such cotton crop was pro-
duced in this country.
The United States should have been
| in 1898 where it is now. and should
be now where it will be twenty years
hence, for we lost twenty years by
that war. In twent wears a new
l generation had time to grow up. 1t
y. not Fireplace the men lost by
= 8l. it replenished the working
IS len began the new indus
trle.- Of the South. Then com
menceo the expansion Of the cotton
crop and the building Of the cotton
mill in earnest. Cotton milling had
started in the State almost century
j ago, and reached considerable pro-
| portions by the beginning of the
| war. But it made slow progress then
| for twenty yeaIs.
It was not that people did not need
| cotton goods. The world has never
| had enough clothing, and will not
| for a long time to come. The two
| big tasks Of mankind are to find en-
| ough to eat and enough to wear. The
| whole world has never been thor
| oughly fed and clothed. Except the
| human race the rest Of creation not
counting the Mexican hairless dog, the
snake, and q few of that kind of
| cattle, manage to grow hair or feath-
ers enough to cover them. Our first
! parents came with about as little
| baggage as the rest of u.s. and it
has been a struggle ever since to
| patch up something from the COW,
| the sheep, or the cotton plant to keep
the police from arresting for i'm
proper exposure. So the United
States is spinning now as much cot
ton as it raised thirty-two or three
years ago, and still sending abroad
| enough to run the spindles Of most
Of the old world
Nearly at the Top.
North Carolina is the second State
Of the Union in the manufacture of
cotton goods It is already in the
| lead in the production Of the weaves
| known as denims, and is making prog
| ress in knit goods and hosiery. This
is the base for a considerable amount
Of local pride. That the industry is
| | becoming so broadly esta ablished is
also a consolation to the State pock ct
/ book, but it is far more than all
these, for the uplifting influence of
, the cotton mill IN bringing the mill
people into the atmosphere of more
r progressive lives is infinitely of more
, | value than rank as a manufacturing 6
. State. or as a money producer.
These cotton mills are training men
and women, and boys and girls like
wise, in the lines Of work that open
a way for unlimited expansion. They
afford field for the graduates of the
! technical schools. and the schools in
turn recruit a small army of young
$ men who become leaders in mil
, | work. AS the available technica
I ! school graduates become more .nu-
I merous the skilled instructors and
n C11D ortp tYa adj of no.
s come more plentiful, which means
t that more workers will be brought
: into the thorough and competent
f fields Of action, and every step ahead
e will carry more operators along with
0 it.
When cotton mill has existed il
d town long enough to have trained
large number Of hands there is al
: ways a better place for a mill at tina
e point than at some place where mil
Ii work has never been done. A sort O
s familiarity with the work seems t.
Y permeate the air. Hands seem tt
e take to the work more readily. II
e a rush season extra hands can b'
d picked up. The general mass play i
# infinitely better.
: A sawmin located in a communit.
n where lumber has been MANUFACTURED
. for years can produce lumber cheap
er and better than in country wher
1
l. tie tricks Of the work are known t.
y the hands. A cotton mill in Manches
r ter, England. where the hands hav
e, been working for generations on tn
n dne weave, can make that class o
e goods better and cheaper than tn
r mill that has had no experience. AL
q kinds Of work become habitual. an,
3 that Is why the old mill town beat
n the one just starting.
,e Many Mill Towns in This State.
II North Carolina has its mill town
IL pretty we'll sprinkled now all owe
J. the State I am Of the opinion tina
re the North Carolina mill manager
y. in better shape to get results from
r his hands than the mill me nof TIL
l. North are, and the interest shown il
is his hands by Mr.. Seates is the reaso'
,e I think so. Contrary to genera
it opinion in the North the man of tn
South had trained into him lessor