Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-10-05
Capital Sidelights
BY WILL KENNEDY.

In these days when so much bust
ness is done on credit and where the
loaning of money has become one of
the biggest branches of big business, it
is interesting to note the fact that in
earlier days the charging OF interest on
such loans was considered crime.
This was emphasized here at the re-
cent convention of the bankers aSsocia-
ton and the meeting of the American
Association of Personal Finance Com
panies or small loan associations. In
welcoming the latter organization to the
Capital City, Robert v. Fleming, presi-,
dent of the Riggs National Bank and
nationally known in financial circles,
said:
cat the most recent convention of
The District of Columbia Bankers As
ISOLATION a distinguished banker and
former president of the American Bank
ers' Association, oscar Wells, called at
tention to the problems attached to
and the prejudices that existed against
interest charges for loans during the
early centuries Of our era. Mr.. Wells
told us that two Of the early popes OF
Rome issued DEGREES forbidding the
charging Of interest. One of them,
Gregory x, denied Christian burial to
those who were held to be guilty of
what was regarded as the crime of TAX
ing interest. Alfred the Great also
Issued a proclamation conhscating the
estates of money lenders, and ordered
that they should be denied burial in
consecrated ground.
This prejudice, in greater or less de-
gree, and in many countries, continued
for centuries, and Mr.. Wells advised
us that 1t was not until the middle Of
the eighteenth century that the collec-
ton OF interest became recognized as a
legitimate charge for the hiring of
credit"
The cotton crop and textile manufac-
turing, so much in public print these
days on account of the drought and in
dustrial depression, are taken as a text
by the War Department in its Manual
OF Citizenship training. 1t points out
how the history of development OF the
country Is linked in with the invention
OF the cotton gin by New England
school teacher, as follows:
Previous to the invention Of the cot
ton gin cotton yarns we're spun and
woven into cloth by hand In private
homes. Necessarily, by this slow method
of manufacture, but small quantities OF
cotton were used"
In describing the development Of
the cotton industry, this War Depart
ment text book says: $50 rapid was the
development of the industry, stimulated
by this new GIN that within the next
20 years exports Of cotton to Liverpool
increased tenfold.
las a result Of this invention a cot
ton factory was erected in Massachu-
sets to produce cloth like that made In
England. Here was constructed the first
loom operated by water power in Amer
lea. In 1914 there was built at WAL
than, Mass, the first cotton mill In
the world, in which the raw material
direct from a Whitney cotton gin was
spun into thread woven into cloth and
printed with colors, all under one roof"
Explaining the influence on the
country of this invention, the text book
on citizenship says: The production Of
cotton was stimulated and made one of
the leading industries of the country
Cotton exports enormously increased
allied industries developed, communities
grew rapidly into cities.
THE invention of the cotton gin Gre
ated unforeseen social, economic and
political conditions; it largely put a
stop to the discussion of slavery: the
Southern planters and Northern manu-
facturers Of cotton found it to their
mutual interest to keep the Negro in
bondage, since by his labor they were
rapidly growing rich.
Due to climatic conditions, the man
ufacture of cotton goods was carried to
New England, thus opening a channel
Of employment, causing in following
years a radical change in the national
ity of the citizens Of these Northern
States"
Pointing out the subsequent improve
ments through interchangeability of
mechanical parts. the treatise on citi-
zenship calls attention that while
Whitney was the inventor of the cotton
gin, because of the theft of his model
and tools from the shed in which he
conducted his experiments he was not
enabled to perfect his invention.
He instituted the interchangeability
of parts, which has greatly Influenced
modern industry. In 1893 he secured
a contract from the government for the
manufacture of firearms. being the
first to effect the division of labor by
which each part was made separately
It was from this invention that he made
bis fortune"