The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1921-05-30
HELM SPEAKS AT
SILVER JUBILEE OF
COTTON ASSOCIATION
Was Orator of the Day and
Handled History of the Sta
pie for Past Three Thou
sand Years
by HUGH w. ROBERTS
Washington Bureau The Age-HeraId
500 Davidson Building

washington, May ZS,-(Speclal.) -Ihe
address of Senator Heflin delivered in
the silver jubilee convention of the
American Cotton Manufacturers' asso-
citation, Philadelphia, Friday evening
rs released in Washington today as fol-
lows:
More than three thousand years ago
cotton was found growing in India, and
Herodotus tells us that the natives
called it tree wool and that clothes
made of 1t exceeded In beauty and good
came to America in 1907. and Pickett in
his history of Alabama tells us that as
early as 1T2S 1t flourished In Louisiana,
Mississippi and Alabama. How to sep
arate the lint from the seed was a seri-
Gus problem with our people. Tor a
long time this tedious task was per-
formed with the fingers. Under this
slow process four pounds of lint per
week was as much as ono person could
produce. In 1888 man in Philadelphia
invented machine for separating the
lint from the seed, but so pounds of lint
per week was all that his machine
would produce. This problem was not
satisfactorily solved until 1898, when
Ely whitney of Georgia invented the
saw cotton gin. This character of gin
was operated by hand until 1895, when
James Kincaid of Fairfield, S. c., sue
ceeded in operating one by water, and
now we have gins that produce several
hundred pounds of lint per day.
First Spinning md Weaving
At first spinning and weaving were
done by individuals and families in
their homes. They used the littls hand
carder the one thread spinning wheel
and a wooden loom. Then came the in
vention of Cartwright, Watt and others,
the cardng engine, the spinning Jenny
and the power loom. Thus step by ster
the cotton sr\cning industry has devel-
oped until today it is the marvel OF
mans inventive genius, and the hum
of its whirling spindles is the dominat-
ing note in the nations industrial prog
ress.
The first cotton mill ever built in the
United States we.s In the south on
James Island, near Charleston, S. c., in
1887. Later on, in 1890, another cotton
mill was built In Massachusetts, and In
the same year one at Stateburg, S. c.
No less marvellous has been the reve-
lations, the growth and development of
the cotton producing industry. In 1885,
James Madison the author OF the con-
stitution of the United States in a
speech at Annapolis, Md, said: 1.-The
United States will one day become a
great cotton producing country" We
were then producing, all told, only 5000
bales, and we exported that year to
Great Britain eight bales of American
cotton. Mr.. Madison's prediction has
come true. In normal times we produce
about two thirds of the worlds cotton
crop.
The cotton belt of the United States
Is 1,400 miles long from east to west
and 500 miles wide, and has in it 448.-
100000 acres of land. Nowhere in al
the world are sunshine and shower sc
mingled and measured out to the cot
ton plant as in the cotton belt of the
United States. Charles j. Haden OF
Georgia. splendid expert on all mat
tiers pertaining to the cotton plant
said: Cotton is a child of climate more
than of soil. This plant requires a GER
tain average temperature during thu
young and tender period--a certain av-
erage temperature during the days OF
its development, and certain other
higher average temperature during the
days of its fruition." Coupled with
these conditions he says: There must
be certain degree of moisture in the
air. The hot winds from the south At
1antic crossing the gulf stream and
meeting the colder air currents from
the Appalachian chain, produce this de-
been proven, he says, "by a century Of
experiment and scientific research
Climatic conditions make the south the
greatest cotton producing country in
the world. An inexhaustible storehouse
of fuel and water power makes the
south the ideal cotton manufacturing
section OF the country.
Need Expansion in Trade
What we need for our raw cotton and
..ttt ~ ic
psnded foreign trade. want to see
my country lead not only In the produc-
ton of the worlds cotton supply, but
also in the cotton goods trade of the
world. 7 want to see the cotton pro-
ducing industry and the manufacturing
industry enjoy abundant prosperity.
~ l do not know to what extent the
period of depression through which we
are now passing has injuriously affect
ed the cotton spinner, but I do know
that the business of the cotton pro-
Queer has been seriously injured and
that the price paid for cotton today
does notGustify him in trying to pro-
duce any cotton at all this year.
In the early days of the spinning In
dustry only cloth of coarse texture
was produced. but today cloth of the
finest and most attractive texture is
produced in abundance by the cotton
spindles of the twentieth century. Cot
ton cloth, coarse and fine, constitutes
the raiment of the rich and the poor. II
is substituted for wool, silk and linen
but aside from this. and In Its own
right 1t is the most popular wearing APP
parel in the world. 1t Is the only fabric
in all the world of which 1t can be said
It renders service to every home upon
the habitable globe. And yet conditions
obtain today that deny to those who
produce the raw cotton price that will
cover the cost Of production.
Should Have Joined Allies
Our failure to join with the allied ma
lions in setting up some kind of an in
ternationa1 peace tribunal Is RESPONSE
BILE for the present demoralized condi-
ton of our foreign trade. 1t has cost
the people of the United States espe-
cially those in the south and west. bill
lions of dollars. The big bankers OF
our country were making ready to ex-
tend credits to foreign countries, sc
that they could buy American products
but when we decided to stand aloof and
withhold the steadying, stabilizing In