Sentence:  To oppress one's own workmen, and provide for the workmen of a neighbor — to skin those in charge of one's own interests while <WSD>cottoning</WSD> and oiling the residuary product of another's skinnery — that is not very good benevolence, nor very good sense, but it serves in place of both. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  To rub or burnish with cotton.