The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1924-06-24
co17ON BIG ITEM
IN COUNTRYS TRADE
ATT FOUNDATION OF VAST
PLA T AFFECTING MORE
VISIONS THAN ANY OTHER.

,ybv Is cotton king! g.
WI WI. human being that walks. the
EE'l ,,.es cotton, by day, by night
n p war and peace. : ,,o,,r cloth
Inc ,.o,,r household, in thousands OF
ing ~ nv and large the most import
ways '; -5 thing in the world, says the
ant 80, :."S SIM. 1t is the most import
BAUM ; al known fiber plants. 1t at
su' .s ~ more directly the comfort and
lf. .',o,,ience OF modern peoples than
.teel or rubber. % ooo mn
oo IL ; - affecting directly the
VVV ,'G ~ millions of workers in this
md other industries IN the United
eau the most important OF cotton
o .ag,c;ra countries. Here is produced
. ,ou"N ,bsn half of the worlds crop,
mo Ao,e~;car output annually varying
.S,, 10 10 0000OO to 100000 bales of
soO pounds each.
Columbus Sought Cotton.
American raw cotton went overseas
lob in the value of $800,OOO,OO0,
sad in manufactures to the value OF
sS St' 000 000 without reference to cot
aY machinery, or hundreds of mil
Eoas ~ dollars worth of automobile
.. g,, ~s;ncoats. shoes, carpets, limo
,n rr and other exports in which cot
s0n is used.
Imoor-s OF cotton piece goods in
hos totaled 219,010,307 square yards,
lined at S47,188,033, likewise without
rsierence TO imported articles contain
cotton cloth was the first article of
ayrhanae in the New World. The first
lioreiga traders to cross the Atlantic
End leave records were the crews OF
sColrmbrs. some four and a quarter
Csntrr;.- ago. They wanted cotton.
Said Columbus to the natives OF the
sand, Of the West Indies. where cot
.ton grew and where it was woven:
EThcv also traded cotton and gold for
|oiece, Of bows. bottles, jugs and jars,
Fix persons without reason, which L
forbade because it was very wrong.
Natives Wore Cotton.
Columbus explained: Both sexes
b. naked except seine of the women,
[vho use a covering of leaf or some
Foliage. or cotton cloth which they
|nake themselves for that purpose"
While the United States is today
Ithe biz home of cotton, its original
home i, Unknown. Cotton was known
En India 500 years before Christ. Cot
ton cloth was a luxury among the Ro-
mans linen being their staple article
|for cloth
1t was nearly three centuries after
|this visit OF Columbus and only a
brief century and a quarter ago that
|the people OF the United States be-
|came traders in cotton.
New England traders sold the cot
|toa and cloth of the West Infies to
|Emopc in small quantities. 1t was
lwth the invention of the Arkwright
spinning gin, in England, and Eli
|Whmey'~ cotton gin here that cotton
lcloth began to assume its commercial
Importance.
Played KOle IN war.
The first American cotton goods
were manufactured in Rhode Island in
Poo By 1907 the cotton fields of the
south began 10 take on industrial inn
|portance far superior in value than
|any gold and diamond treasures Eu-
|ropeans once dreamed of finding in
|the New World
Cotton played an overwhelming role
in the war between the states, part
~ through the slave-labor question
|and partly over the tying up Of that
product by the blockades. England's
|nuge mill industry was impoverished
Through lack OF cotton
Were the fields of Texas, Georgia,
mississippi, Alabama or other states
10 cease producing cotton for a single
|year not only the domestic trade OF
tine United States but the foreign
|tTade OF the world receive an incon-
|celyabIe shock.
|. The textile, steel, rubber and other
industries would come to a standstill
through lack OF this snowy bloom,
used in possibly 10000 different ways
Thousands OF ships in the foreign
trade woold be laid up for lack of
freight