Chapter IX: Part 9

It is the want of commercial development in Germany which accounts for
the more frequent combination of weaving and spinning there than in
England. But in Germany to-day economic enterprise is flourishing, and
commercial development may confidently be looked for together with
advance in other directions. It is not many years since the typical
German cotton factory was comparatively primitive; now mills can be
exhibited which might have been erected recently in Oldham. Between
the early 'eighties and the 'nineties the expansion of the German
industry was enormous--the imports of cotton-wool rose by nearly
70%--yet the number of spinning-mills was actually reduced from 6750
to 2450, while the number of weaving-sheds fell from 56,200 to 32,750.
At the same time the factories devoted to mixed goods declined from
25,200 to less than 16,350. From these figures we may gather how
rapidly the average size of mills and weaving-sheds enlarged in the
period. One cause, no doubt, was that improved economies in the new
businesses forced antiquated factories to shut down and make way for
still newer erections. There were recently about twice as many persons
engaged in weaving as in spinning, but the largest numbers of
all--slightly in excess of those in weaving-sheds--were the persons
occupied in the manufacture of cotton-lace, trimmings, &c. As we might
imagine, Germany's exports of cotton goods are not high. Including
yarns they amounted to L13.7 million per annum in 1899-1903. In order
of value their largest exports are (1) coloured goods, (2) hosiery,
(3) lace and embroidery, (4) yarns, and (5) trimmings, &c.

_France._--Into the industrial conditions of the two leading rivals of
England we have entered in some detail; the state of affairs in the
rest of the world must be dealt with more briefly. Of France more
ought to be said than we can find place for, though in respect of the
magnitude of her cotton industry, as measured by the quantity of
spindles, she stands now not fourth, but fifth, Russia taking
precedence. But the work of the French is incomparably superior to
anything that is turned out from Russia. France suffered a severe blow
when the industry of Alsace and Lorraine was lost to Germany, but the
inexhaustible originality of French _design_ will always secure for
her goods a place in the first rank. As regards _artistic_ results
France leads, but the real cost of her spinning and weaving cannot
approach in lowness that of Lancashire. After costly strikes the
French workmen have succeeded in shortening their hours to ten and a
half a day; and here it may be remarked that the International
Association of Textile Operatives tends to equate continental
industrial conditions to those of England. The French industry has
been fostered by tariffs. When the Board of Trade calculation was
made, French tariffs were found to bear upon British cotton goods with
about the same severity as those of Germany, except that the former
treated more hardly yarns and cotton thread for sewing. French
protectionism has kept down her exports; such as they are the majority
proceed now to her colonies. Normandy, the north and east, in order,
are the chief seats of the industry. In Normandy the leading city is
Rouen, and Darnetal, Maromme, Sotteville, Havre, Yvetot, Dieppe,
Evreux, Gisors, Falaise and Flers are important places. The north
contains the important towns of Lille, Tourcoing, Roubaix, St
Quentin, Amiens and Hellemmes. The Vosges is the chief district of the
east, and the leading towns are Epinal, St Die, Remiremont, Senones,
Val d'Ajol, Cornimont and La Bresse. The following towns which are not
included in any of the districts mentioned above are also
noteworthy:--Troyes, Nantes, Cholet, Laval, Tarare, Roanne, Thizy and
Villefranche upon the Saone. Cotton arrives at Havre and Marseilles;
at the latter chiefly the product of Egypt and the East. Havre used to
be the most important cotton port in continental Europe, but to-day
more spindles are fed from Bremen than from Havre. France's
consumption of cotton annually in the period 1899-1903 was 215,000
metric tons.

_Russia._--Power-spinning was carried into Russia by Ludwig Knoop, who
had learnt the trade in Manchester, and to his efforts its early
success was due. The growth, largely the result of very heavy
protectionism--according to the Board of Trade report, from 50 to more
than 100% more severe than that of Germany,--has been rapid, as the
following table bears witness:--

_Average yearly Importation of Cotton wool and Yarn into Russia._

+-----------+----------------+----------------+
| | Raw Cotton in | Cotton Yarn in |
| | thousand tons. | thousand tons. |
+-----------+----------------+----------------+
| 1824-1826 | .9 | 5.4 |
| 1836-1838 | 4.6 | 10.1 |
| 1842-1844 | 8.4 | 9.5 |
| 1848-1850 | 21.4 | 4.5 |
| 1889-1891 | 117.4 | 3.4 |
| 1899-1903 | 180.0 | 2.9 |
+-----------+----------------+----------------+

_Table showing approximately the Growth of Spindles and Looms in
Russia._

+---------+---------------+----------------+
| | Spindles. | Looms. |
+---------+---------------+----------------+
| 1857 | 1,000,000 | |
| 1877 | | 55,000 |
| 1887 | 4,000,000 | 85,000 |
| 1900 | 6,000,000 | 146,000 |
| 1909 | 7,800,000 | |
+---------+---------------+----------------+

The chief districts were the following in 1900:--

+---------------+------------+-----------------+-----------------+
| Government. | Factories. | Spindles | Looms |
| | | (in thousands). | (in thousands). |
+---------------+------------+-----------------+-----------------+
| Moscow | 56 | 1295 | 33 |
| Vladimir | 67 | 1224 | 42 |
| Piotrkov | 25 | 745 | 20 |
| St Petersburg | 24 | 1074 | 11 |
| Jaroslaw | 4 | 347 | 2 |
| Kostroma | 25 | 274 | 20 |
| Tver | 6 | 348 | 9 |
| Esthonia | 1 | 440 | 2 |
| Ryazan | 4 | 146 | 3 |
| Elsewhere | 15 | 198 | 4 |
| +------------+-----------------+-----------------+
| Total | 227 | 6091 | 146 |
+---------------+------------+-----------------+-----------------+

Fine spinning has been attempted only recently. Generally speaking
70's used to be the upper limit, but now counts up to 140's are tried,
though the bulk of the output is coarse yarn. The inefficiency of the
labour was made abundantly plain by Dr Schulze-Gaevernitz in his
economic study of Russia, and conditions have not greatly altered for
the better since. Roughly, 170,000 operatives worked 6,000,000
spindles in 1900, which means 35 spindles per head as compared with
more than 100 in Saxony and more than 200 in England. In weaving the
ratio of operatives to machinery worked out at about one loom to each
weaver, which is comparatively much less unfavourable to Russia. The
proportion in Saxony is about the same, but in England the average
approaches two looms to a weaver. The speed of machinery cannot be
compared, and we must remember that the above contrasts are rough
only, and made without regard to differences of product. Russia is
encouraging the growth of cotton at home. It is of very inferior
quality, but 100,000 tons from the provinces of central Asia and
Trans-Caucasia were used in 1900: her imports in the same year were
about 170,000 tons.

_Switzerland._--Swiss spindles advanced until the early "'seventies,"
but a decline followed. Details are:--

1830 400,000
1850 950,000
1876 1,854,000
1883 1,809,000
1898 1,704,000
1909 (estimated) 1,500,000

The falling off is occasioned mainly by (a) the developing
industrialism of the rest of Europe, notably Germany, and (b) the
diminishing importance of the natural advantage of water-power with
the improvement of steam-engines. Swiss yarns have been kept out of
continental markets in the interests of home spinning. Now fancy
cotton goods, laces and trimmings are the leading specialities of the
Swiss textile workers. About half the Swiss spindles are in the canton
of Zurich, between a quarter and a third in Glarus, about the same in
St Gall and 9% in Aargau. Figures show that the average size of the
Swiss mill is small. The average spindles to a mill were 22,000, and
very few mills held more than 50,000 spindles. Some 9000 of the
power-looms are in Zurich, some 4500 in Glarus and 4000 in St Gall.
Wald in the south-east of the canton of Zurich is an important centre
of the muslin manufacture.

_Austria._--Austria contains about 4,200,000 spindles and more yarn is
consumed than it produces, as on balance there is an excess of imports
of yarn. Bohemia, lower Austria, Tirol and Vorarlberg account for the
mass of Austrian spinning. The following details relating to these
districts recently are of interest:--

+-----------------------+--------+-----------+-----------+
| | | | Average |
| | Mills. | Spindles. | spindles |
| | | | to a mill.|
+-----------------------+--------+-----------+-----------+
| Bohemia | 82 | 1,870,000 | 22,800 |
| Lower Austria | 23 | 460,000 | 20,000 |
| Tirol and Vorarlberg | 20 | 435,000 | 21,700 |
+-----------------------+--------+-----------+-----------+

Reichenberg and the surrounding district is the chief manufacturing
place: here are more than 80,000 looms, nearly a half of which are
hand-looms.

_Italy._--Recent industrial growth in Italy is remarkable: statistics
of spindles since 1870 are as follows, but the percentage of error is
probably high:--

1870 500,000
1888 900,000
1898 2,100,000
1909 4,000,000

The distribution of spindles is roughly as follows:--

Lombardy 1,850,000
Piedmont 1,000,000
Venetia 550,000
Campania 250,000
Liguria 250,000
Tuscany 100,000

The distribution of spindles and power-looms in the chief
manufacturing towns in Italy is shown in the following table:--

+-------------+--------------++-------------+--------------+
| | Spindles. || | Spindles. |
| Turin | 470,000 || Genoa | 210,000 |
| Bergamo | 450,000 || Salerno | 150,000 |
| Como | 250,000 || Brescia | 310,000 |
| Milan | 660,000 || Naples | 100,000 |
| Novara | 410,000 || Udine | 240,000 |
+-------------+--------------++-------------+--------------+
| | Power-Looms. || | Power-Looms. |
| Milan | 40,000 || Pisa | 2,500 |
| Turin | 22,000 || Como | 6,000 |
| Novara | 13,000 || Bergamo | 13,000 |
| Genoa | 6,000 || Udine | 3,500 |
+-------------+--------------++-------------+--------------+

The district between Milan and Lago Maggiore contains numerous
villages devoted to the cotton industry. Many of the factories in the
province of Bergamo are situated in the Valle Seriana, which is
endowed with abundant water-power. In this district coarse and medium
yarns and grey cloth are the chief products. In the province of Milan
there are several small towns, notably Gallarate, Busto Arsizio and
Monza, in which the manufacture of coloured and fancy goods is
extensively carried on. The finest spinning in Italy is done in Turin.
The coarsest spinning is done in Venetia.

_The Netherlands._--In 1805 the cotton industry was reintroduced into
the Netherlands from England in its factory form. Seventeen mules
bearing 16,000 spindles are said to have been smuggled across the
channel, while forty Englishmen were enticed over to work them, in
spite of English legal prohibitions. Lievin Bauwens was the prime
mover of the achievement. Expansion rapidly followed, and in 1892
Belgian spindles numbered nearly a million. Since then a decline has
set in. Ghent, with about 600,000 spindles, is the only really
important place: no other place has as many as 50,000. Holland
possesses about 417,000 spindles: the leading district is Twente and
the leading town Enschede; Twente contains also about 20,000
power-looms. Rotterdam is the chief cotton port; Amsterdam, always a
far-away second, has lost place still further of late.

_Spain and Portugal._--The greatness of Spain in the cotton industry
lies buried in the remote past, but of late she has awakened somewhat,
with the result that her spindles now number about 1,853,000.
Catalonia is the chief province where the industry is carried on, and
Barcelona surpasses all other centres. Portugal possesses nearly half
a million spindles (the bulk in Lisbon and Oporto), many of which have
appeared since 1894.

_The Rest of Europe_.--Of Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Greece and
Macedonia no special mention need be made, nor of other parts where
the cotton industry may just exist. It may be mentioned here that
among the scattered rural populations of many parts of the continent,
even in such advanced countries as France and Germany, hand-looms are
still to be found in large numbers.

_India_.--The hand-cotton-industry has been carried on in India since
the earliest times, and for many years English fabrics were protected
against the all-cottons of India. Soon after the introduction of
spinning by rollers, English all-cottons began to rival the Indian in
quality as well as in cost. A large export trade to India has grown
up, but Indian hand-loom weavers still ply their craft. In 1851
power-spinning was started, and by 1876 there were in India 1,000,000
spindles. Since then they have nearly reached six millions and
importations of yarn have been significantly affected. The growth of
Indian power-spinning, which is almost entirely of the ring variety,
was attributed by some to the depreciation of the rupee after 1873,
but the fall in the value of the rupee was stopped in 1893 and the
competition continued. The real explanation, no doubt, is that at the
cost of Indian labour it is found cheaper to import machinery and coal
than to export or cease to grow cotton and import yarn. This was the
conclusion of the majority report of the committee of the Manchester
Chamber of Commerce, which made an inquiry into Bombay and Lancashire
spinning in 1888. Besides, as regards Indian exports to China, the
remission in 1875 of the 3% export duty on yarns must be borne in
mind. The efficiency of labour in India is only a small fraction of
that of Lancashire operatives. Recently complaint has been made that
Indian mills are being run inhumanely long hours with the same set of
labour, and that child-labour is being abused, both legally and
illegally--legally as regards children over fourteen who are classed
as adults. The working of heavy hours began with the electric lighting
of the mills; previously all shut down at sunset largely because of
the cost of illumination. The outcry which has been raised is,
perhaps, sufficient guarantee that the worst evils will be remedied.
Indian spinning, it must be remembered, is still very coarse as a
rule, though some fine work is attempted and the average of counts
spun is rising. Though there are about a ninth as many spindles in
India as in the United Kingdom, there are only about one-fifteenth as
many power-looms, 46,400 in all, to which figure they rose between
1891 and 1904 from 24,700. The reason for the paucity of power-looms
is probably two-fold, (1) the low cost of production of Lancashire
weavers, and (2) the habit of hand-loom weaving which is fixed in the
Indian people. A rapid increase of power-looms is, however,
observable. The hand-loom industry is gigantic, particularly in the
Madras Presidency and the Central Provinces; in the latter district
alone there were estimated to be 150,000 hand-looms in 1883. The
following details relating to the Indian cotton industry are supplied
officially:--

_Cotton Mills in India, including Mills in Native States and French
India_.

+-----------------------------------+------------+------------+
| Mills. | 1897-1898. | 1903-1904. |
+-----------------------------------+------------+------------+
|Mills (number) | 164 | 204 |
|Capital (thousand Ls) | 648 | 1,067 |
|Looms (number) | 36,946 | 46,421 |
|Spindles (thousands) | 4,219 | 5,213 |
|Persons employed (daily average) | 148,753 | 186,271 |
|Yarn produced:-- | | |
| Counts (1 to 20 thousand lb.) | 400,384 | 474,509 |
| Counts (above " " ") | 62,212 | 104,250 |
| +------------+------------+
| Total lb. | 462,596 | 578,759 |
| +------------+------------+
|Yarn produced:-- | | |
| Bombay (thousand lb.) | 324,649 | 414,932 |
| Bengal " " | 44,807 | 46,487 |
| Madras " " | 32,516 | 28,714 |
| United Provinces (including | | |
| Ajmere-Merwara)(thousand lb.) | 26,747 | 29,930 |
| Central Provinces (thousand lb.) | 18,334 | 24,549 |
| Punjab " " " | 6,607 | 11,578 |
| Elsewhere " " " | 8,936 | 22,569 |
| +------------+------------+
| Total lb. | 462,596 | 578,759 |
| +------------+------------+
|Woven Goods:-- | | |
| Grey (thousand lb.) | 83,136 | 111,494 |
| Others " " | 8,152 | 26,550 |
| +------------+------------+
| Total lb. | 91,288 | 138,044 |
+-----------------------------------+------------+------------+

_China_.--In China spinning has not met with the same success as
India, and power-manufacturing has not yet obtained a sure footing.
The ingrained conservatism of the Chinese temperament is no doubt a
leading cause. Of the spindles in China--about 600,000 in all--from a
half to three-fifths are in Shanghai. The following details relating
to the inception of the power-industry are quoted from a Diplomatic
and Consular Report of 1905:--

"The initial experiment on modern lines was made in 1891, when a
semi-official Chinese syndicate started at Shanghai--the Chinese
Cotton Cloth Mill and the Chinese Cotton Spinning Company. Its
originators claimed for themselves a quasi-monopoly, and prohibited
outsiders who were not prepared to pay a fixed royalty for the
privilege from engaging in similar undertakings. Although certain
Chinese accepted this onerous condition, foreigners resented it as an
undue interference with their treaty rights, and it was only when
Japan, in 1895, after her war with China, inserted in the treaty of
Shimonoseki an article providing for the freedom of Japanese subjects
to engage in all kinds of manufacturing industries in the open ports
of China, and permitting them to import machinery for such purposes,
that outsiders were afforded an opportunity of exploiting the rich
field for commercial development thereby thrown open. Accordingly, so
soon as the Japanese treaty came into force no time was lost in
turning this particular clause to account, and the erection of no less
than 11 mills--Chinese and foreign--was taken in hand. At that time
the pioneer mill, which was burnt to the ground in October 1893, but
subsequently rebuilt, and other Chinese-owned mills were together
working some 120,000 spindles and 850 looms."

By 1905 the mills increased to 17, the spindles to 620,000 and the
looms to 2250, but there is little inclination to expansion. Yarns for
the hand-looms are obtained primarily from India and secondarily from
Japan. The following are the recent figures relating to imported
yarns:--

_In million_ lb

+--------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
| | 1898. | 1899. | 1900. | 1901. | 1902. | 1903. |
+--------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
| | lb. | lb. | lb. | lb. | lb. | lb. |
| British | 9.1 | 7.8 | 4.1 | 7.0 | 4.3 | 2.2 |
| Indian | 186.7 | 254.2 | 131.5 | 228.9 | 251.6 | 250.8 |
| Japanese | 64.7 | 104.0 | 62.9 | 66.4 | 69.7 | 110.9 |
| Hong-Kong | | | | .7 | .8 | 1.2 |
| Tongkinese | | | | | | .01|
| +-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
| Total | 260.5 | 366.0 | 198.5 | 303.0 | 326.4 | 365.1 |
+--------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+

_Japan._--If in China the factory cotton industry reveals no prospects
as yet of a great future, the same cannot be said of Japan.

The chief centres of spinning with their outputs in value of yarn for
a year at the beginning of the 20th century are stated beneath:

+------------+------------++------------+------------+
| | Thousands. || | Thousands. |
+------------+------------++------------+------------+
| | L s. || | L s. |
| Osaka | 1226.5 || Nara | 111.5 |
| Hyogo | 495.5 || Hiroshima | 91.3 |
| Okayama | 374.4 || Kyoto | 82.2 |
| Miye | 238.1 || Wakayama | 79.2 |
| Tokyo | 227.9 || Ehime | 70.5 |
| Aichi | 224.3 || Kajawa | 36.4 |
| Fukuoka | 168.1 || | |
+------------+------------++------------+------------+

The following table gives other valuable information:--

+---------+----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+----------+----------+---------+-------+--------------+--------------+
| | | Average | Quantity | | Average | Average | | | Average | Average |
| | Gross | Number | of Raw | Total | Number | Number | Annual | Daily | Daily | Daily |
| Year | Amount | of | and | Production| of Male |of Female | Working |Working| Wage | Wage of |
| |of Capital| Spindles | Ginned | of Cotton |Operatives|Operatives| Days. | Hours.| of Male | Female |
| | invested.|used daily.| Cotton | Yarn. | daily | daily | | | Operatives. | Operatives. |
| | | | demanded. | | employed.| employed.| | | | |
+---------+----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+----------+----------+---------+-------+--------------+--------------+
| |Thousand L| Thousands.|Million lb.|Million lb.| | | | | | |
|1892-1894| 1123 | 420 | 112.9 | 97.9 | 6,916 | 21,695 | 290 | 22 |4d. to 4-1/4d.|2d. to 2-1/4d.|
|1900-1902| 3569 | 1209 | 335.3 | 288.0 | 13,373 | 50,271 | 312 | 19 | 7-1/2d.|4-1/2d. to 5d.|
| 1903 | 3441 | 1290 | 375.5 | 322.7 | 13,160 | 57,166 | 308 | 20 |7-1/2d. to 8d.|4-1/2d. to 5d.|
| 1904 | 3470 | 1306 | 332.1 | 285.9 | 10,967 | 52,115 | 309 | 20 | 8d.| 5d.|
+---------+----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+----------+----------+---------+-------+--------------+--------------+

With amazing adaptability the Japanese have assumed the methods of
Western civilization as a whole. But hand-weaving more than holds its
own, and power-weaving has as yet met with little success. The custom
already mentioned as a cause of the continued triumph of the hand-loom
in India and China is strong also in Japan, and the economy of the
factory system is greater relatively in spinning than in
manufacturing. In Japan it is ring-spinning which prevails: 95% of the
spindles are on ring-frames. Ring-spinning entails less skill on the
part of the operative, and ring-yarn is quite satisfactory for the
sort of fabrics used most largely in the Far East. The counts produced
are low as a rule. Generally mills run day and night with double
shifts, and the system seems to pay, though night-work is found to be
less economical than day-work there as elsewhere. More operatives are
placed on a given quantity of machinery in Japan than in
Lancashire--possibly more "labour" as well as more operatives, because
labour as well as operatives may be cheaper. On the same work the
output per spindle per hour is less in Japan than in England, even
when day-shifts only are taken into account. Japanese work has been
severely criticized, but the recency of the introduction of the cotton
industry must not be forgotten.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.--The literature relating to the cotton industry is
enormous. The most complete bibliographies will be found in Chapman's
_Lancashire Cotton Industry_ (where short descriptions of the several
works included, which relate only to the United Kingdom, are given);
Hammond's _Cotton Culture and Trade_; and Oppel's _Die Baumwolle_. The
list of books set forth here must be select only.

The development of the English industry can be traced through the
following:--Aikin, _A Description of the Country from Thirty to Forty
Miles round Manchester_ (1795); Andrew, _Fifty Years' Cotton Trade_
(1887); Baines, _History of the Cotton Manufacture in Great Britain_
(1835); Banks, _A Short Sketch of the Cotton Trade of Preston for the
last Sixty-Seven Years_ (1888); Butterworth, _Historical Sketches of
Oldham_ (1847 or 1848); Butterworth, _An Historical Account of the
Towns of Ashton-under-Lyne, Stalybridge and Dukinfield_ (1842);
Chapman, _The Lancashire Cotton Industry_ (1904); Cleland,
_Description of the City of Glasgow_ (1840); _A Complete History of
the Cotton Trade, &c._, by a person concerned in trade (1823);
Ellison, _The Cotton Trade of Great Britain including a History of the
Liverpool Cotton Market and of the Liverpool Cotton Brokers'
Association_ (1886); Leon Faucher, _Etudes sur Angleterre_ (1845);
French, _The Life and Times of Samuel Crompton_ (1859); Guest, _A
Compendious History of the Cotton-manufacture, with a Disproval of the
Claim of Sir Richard Arkwright to the Invention of its Ingenious
Machinery_ (1823); Guest, _The British Cotton Manufacture and a Reply
to the Article on Spinning Machinery, contained in a recent Number of
the Edinburgh Review_ (1828); Helm, _Chapters in the History of the
Manchester Chamber of Commerce_ (1902); Kennedy, _Miscellaneous Papers
on Subjects connected with the Manufactures of Lancashire_ (1849);
Ogden, _A Description of Manchester ... with a Succinct History of its
former original Manufactories, and their Gradual Advancement to the
Present State of Perfection at which they are arrived, by a Native of
the Town_ (1783); Radcliffe, _Origin of the New System of Manufacture,
commonly called "Power-Loom Weaving" and the Purposes for which this
System was invented and brought into use, fully explained in a
Narrative concerning William Radcliffe's Struggles through Life to
remove the Cause which has brought this Country to its Present Crisis_
(1828); Rees' _Cyclopaedia_, articles on Cotton (1808), Spinning
(1816) and Weaving (1818); Ure, _The Cotton Manufacture of Great
Britain, investigated and illustrated, with an Introductory View of
its Comparative State in Foreign Countries_ (2 vols.); Ure, _The
Philosophy of Manufacture; or An Exposition of the Scientific, Moral
and Commercial Economy of the Factory System of Great Britain_ (1835);
Watts, _Facts of the Cotton Famine_ (1866); Wheeler, _Manchester: its
Political, Social and Commercial History, Ancient and Modern_ (1836).

In addition there are many short papers in the Manchester public
library. Much valuable information may be obtained from parliamentary
papers; a list of relevant ones is printed as an appendix to Chapman's
_Lancashire Cotton Industry_, but it is too lengthy to repeat here.
The most important are the reports relating to the hand-loom weavers,
those on the employment of children in factories (of which a list will
be found in Hutching and Harrison's _History of the Factory
Legislation_), and the state of trade and the annual reports of the
factory inspectors. On labour questions there is a list of authorities
in Chapman's _Lancashire Cotton Industry_ and also of parliamentary
papers containing useful material. Printed copies of the "Wages Lists"
are issued by the trade unions. The Factory Acts are dealt with in
Hutchins and Harrison's _History_, mentioned above, as well as the
literature relating to them; while the handbooks by Redgrave and by
Abraham and Davies are specially useful.

On the industry abroad the following are the fullest
authorities:--Besso, _The Cotton Industry in Switzerland, Vorarlberg
and Italy_ (1910) (a report made as a Gartside Scholar of the
University of Manchester); Chapman's _Cotton Industry and Trade_
(1905); Hammond, _The Cotton Industry_; Hasbach's article, "Zur
Characteristik der englischen Industrie," in _Schmollers Jahrbuch_,
vol. ii. (1903); Leconte, _Le Coton_; Lochmuller, _Zur Entwicklung der
Baumwollindustrie in Deutschland_ (1906); Montgomery, _The Cotton
Manufacture of the United States of America contrasted and compared
with that of Great Britain_ (1840); Oppel, _Die Baumwolle_ (1902);
Schulze-Gaevernitz, _Der Grossbetrieb: ein wirtschaftlicher und
socialer Fortschritt: eine Studie auf dem Gebiete der
Baumwollindustrie_ (1892; translated as _The Cotton Trade in England
and on the Continent_); T. M. Young, _American Cotton Industry_
(1902); Uttley, _Cotton Spinning and Manufacturing in the United
States of North America_ (1905; a report of a tour as Gartside scholar
of the university of Manchester); and the Gartside reports on the
cotton industries of France and Germany by Forrester and Dehn
respectively. Information will also be found in Diplomatic and
Consular Reports, and fragments may be gathered from other books such
as G. Drage's _Russian Affairs_, Dyer's _Dai Nippon_, and Huber's
_Deutschland als Industriestaat_. Japan has published since 1901 a
very full financial and economical annual, and the British government
issues annually a good statistical abstract for India. The American
census contains much detailed information, and there are, in addition
to the statistics issued by the Federal government, those of
Massachusetts, the Bureau of Statistics of which has also reported the
results of an investigation into the industry in the Southern states.
Among official matter the semi-official Bombay and Lancashire cotton
spinning inquiry of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce may be
included. The census of production of the United Kingdom must be
mentioned, and the reports of the International Congresses of Cotton
Spinners and Manufacturers. As to labour, see the reports of the
International Textile Congresses.

The periodical literature is of good quality and much of it is filed
in the Patent Office library. We may notice particularly the _Cotton
Factory Times_; _Textile Journal_; _Textile Manufacturer_; _Textile
Mercury_; _Textile Recorder_; _Textile World Record_ (American); _Der
Leipzige Monatsschrift fur Textilindustrie_; and the French _Textile
Journal_. Shepperson's _Cotton Facts_ is an annual which relates
chiefly, though not entirely, to raw cotton, as does also _Cotton_,
the periodical of the Manchester Cotton Association. For technical
works we may refer here to the well-known treatises of Brooks, Guest,
Marsden, Nasmith and Walmsley, and to Johannsen's ponderous
two-volumed _Handbuch der Baumwollspinnerei, Rohweissweberei und
Fabrikanlagen_. (S. J. C.)

FOOTNOTES:

[1] See the extract from the books of Bolton Abbey, given by Baines
(p. 96) and dated 1298.

[2] Vol. ii. p. 206; Baines, pp. 96-97.

[3] Baines, pp. 93 and 94.

[4] Lancashire and Cheshire Record Society, vol. ii.

[5] _State Papers, Domestic_, lix. 5. See W. H. Price, _Quar. Jour.
Econ._, vol. xx.

[6] London Guildhall Library, vol. Beta, _Petitions and Parliamentary
Matters_ (1620-1621), No. 16 (old No. 25).

[7] The act referred to is 33 Henry VIII. c. xv., already mentioned.

[8] Cunningham, _Growth of English Industry and Commerce_ (1903),
vol. ii. p. 623.

[9] Original edition, pp. 32, 33.

[10] Aikin's _Description of the Country from Thirty to Forty Miles
round Manchester_, p. 154.

[11] _Tour_, vol. iii. p. 219.

[12] For instance Radcliffe p. 61. Ogden (author of _A Description of
Manchester_, &c., published in 1783), if Aikin's "accurate and
well-informed enquirer" by Ogden, says that the period of rapid
extension of the cotton industry began about 1770. See also
Butterworth's _History of Oldham_ and the passage quoted below in the
text.

[13] Account of Society for Promotion of Industry in Lindsey (1789),
Brit. Mus. 103, L. 56. Quoted from Cunningham's _English Industry and
Commerce_, vol. ii. p. 452, n. ed., 1892.

[14] In 1838 the only other county with more than 1000 was Gloucester
with 1500. 217,000 of the 219,100 operatives in England and Wales
were employed in the counties enumerated. Of the 2000 operatives
whose location is not given, about 1000 worked in Flintshire.

[15] W. Radcliffe's _Origin of the New System of Manufacturing_, p. 59.

[16] The term "fustian" had originally been used to designate certain
woollen or worsted goods made at Norwich and in Scotland. A reference
to Norwich fustians of as early a date as the 14th century is quoted
by Baines.

[17] E. Butterworth's _History of Oldham_, p. 101.

[18] _Parliamentary Reports, &c._ (1826-1827), v. p. 5. See for even
later examples Gardner's evidence to the committee on hand-loom
weavers in 1835.

[19] This is illustrated in one of the plates to Guest's _History of
the Cotton Manufacture_.

[20] Chapman's _Lancashire Cotton Industry_, pp. 15 and 16.

[21] Page 167.

[22] Mrs Crompton, wife of Samuel Crompton, we are told, used to
employ her son George shortly after he could walk, as a "dolly-peg"
to tread the cotton in the soapy water in which it was placed for
washing. See French's _Life of Crompton_, pp. 58-59 (3rd ed.).
Rowbotham in his diary gives two accounts of fires which were caused
by carelessness in drying cotton.

[23] On the difference between the two machines see Baines's
_History_, p. 138 et seq.

[24] Baines p. 183.

[25] Baines's _History of the Cotton Manufacture_, p. 86 n.

[26] These figures are quoted from a pamphlet published in 1788
entitled "An Important Crisis in the Calico and Muslin Manufactory in
Great Britain explained." Many of the estimates given in this
pamphlet are worthless, but there seems no reason why the figures
quoted here should not be at least approximately correct.

[27] See article on COTTON-SPINNING MACHINERY.

[28] Hargreaves' claim to this invention has been disputed, but no
satisfactory evidence has been brought forward to disprove his claim.
Hargreaves was a carpenter and weaver of Stand-hill near Blackburn,
and died in 1778.

[29] See Chapman's _Lancashire Cotton Industry_, pp. 59 et seq.

[30] See Baines p. 207.

[31] "Counts" are determined by the number of hanks to the lb. A hank
is 840 yds. The origin of the hank of 840 yds. is probably that
spinners used a winding-reel of 1-1/2 yds. in circumference, so that 80
threads (one "lea" or "rap" according to old phraseology) would
contain 120 yds., and seven leas (i.e. a hank) would contain 840 yds.
A hank of seven leas was the common measure in the woollen industry,
in which the reels were 1 yd. or 2 yds. in circumference. For details
see an article on the subject in the _Textile World Record_, vol.
xxxi. No. 1.

[32] The author of the memoir of Crompton (see bibliography).

[33] Specification 257.

[34] For further analysis of the arguments current see Chapman's
_Lancashire Cotton Industry_, pp. 66 et seq.

[35] Also in the 17th century a John Barkstead was granted a patent
for a method of manufacturing cotton goods, but the method is not
described. 1691, Specification 276.

[36] In the parliamentary reports (1840), xxiv. p. 611, the invention
of the swivel-loom is claimed for a "Van Anson." It is a plausible
supposition that by "Van Anson" is meant Vaucanson, as he appears to
have improved the swivel-loom. But he could not have been the
original inventor, since in 1724 (that is, when Vaucanson was at the
most fifteen years of age) they were being employed in Manchester.

[37] Aikin, pp. 175-176, and Guest, p. 44. An explanation of the
mechanism of the swivel-loom will be found in the _Encyclopedie
methodique, manufactures, arts et metiers_, pt. i. vol. ii. pp. 202,
208, and _Recueil de planches_, vol. vi. (1786), pp. 72-78.

[38] Figures for the years above up to 1838 will be found in
parliamentary reports (1840), xxiv. p. 611.

[39] This is the manuscript diary of a weaver of Oldham roughly
covering the period 1787 to 1830. It is now in the Oldham public
library. Mr S. Andrew edited extracts from it in a series of articles
in the _Standard_ (an Oldham paper), under the title _Annals of
Oldham_, beginning January 1, 1887.

[40] Printed in _British Industries_. Edited by W. J. Ashley.

[41] This is explained in the article COTTON: _Marketing and Supply_.

[42] See chapter on cotton in Bowley's _Wages in the United Kingdom_
and table there given.

[43] A detailed analysis of the whole labour question in the cotton
industry will be found in Chapman's _Lancashire Cotton Industry_.

[44] There are other permissible arrangements, namely from 7 to 7 and
from 8 to 8, but they are not used in the textile trades of
Lancashire.

[45] The figures for looms are based upon a number of returns and
estimates. Those for spindles are taken from the highly authoritative
estimates of the International Federation of Master Cotton Spinners.

[46] _Journal of Board of Trade_, April 28th, 1904.

[47] The early history of the industry in the United States is
summarized in one of the official bulletins of the state of
Massachusetts, dated 1798. See W. R. Bagnall, _Textile Industries of
the U. S._ (1893).

[48] See also the official report of J. P. Harris-Gastrell in 1873.

[49] Quoted by Schulze-Gaevernitz.

[50] _Memorandum_ on British and foreign trade and industrial
conditions.

[51] The method of calculating these percentages is discussed in the
blue-book mentioned.

[52] Upon the above see Uttley's report.

[53] The figures are those quoted by Mr T. M. Young and relate to the
year 1902.

[54] See e.g. some passages upon this point in Uttley's report.

[55] For an account of the numerous types of automatic looms see the
article on WEAVING: S Machinery.

[56] Of which special mention may be made of Uttley's report as a
Gartside scholar of the university of Manchester, already referred
to, and Pidgin's report for the Massachusetts Bureau of Labour
Statistics.

[57] _Textile Recorder_, August 15th, 1905.

[58] Young's _American Cotton Industry_, p. 13.

[59] Uttley's report, p. 4.

[60] Similar formulae have been used above, where a fuller
explanation is given.

[61] Deutschland als Industriestaat.

COTTON-SPINNING MACHINERY. The earliest inventors of spinning machinery (see SPINNING) directed their energies chiefly to the improvement of the final stage of the operation, but no sooner were these machines put to practical use than it became apparent that success depended upon mechanically conducting the operations preliminary to spinning. Later inventors were, therefore, called upon not only to improve the inventions of their predecessors, but to devise machinery for preparing the fibres to be spun. Arkwright quickly perceived the importance of this aspect of the problem, and he devoted even more energy to it than to the invention with which his name is more intimately associated. But, given a complete series of machines for preparing and spinning, the cotton industry (see COTTON MANUFACTURE) must have remained unprogressive without the co-operation of cotton growers, for by the then existing methods of separating cotton lint from seed it would have been impossible to provide an adequate supply of raw material. By inventing the saw gin, Eli Whitney, an American, in the year 1792, did for cotton planters what Paul, Arkwright, Crompton, Cartwright, Watt and others did for textile manufacturers, for he provided them with the means for increasing their output almost indefinitely.

PLATE I.

(_From Photographs taken in a Manchester Fine Cotton-spinning Mill, by R. Banks._)

Plate II.

(_From Photographs taken in a Manchester Fine Cotton-spinning Mill, by R. Banks._)

_Cotton-ginning_ is the process by which cotton seeds are separated
from the adhering fibres. The most primitive machine employed in India
and China for this purpose is the churka, which consists of two wooden
rollers fixed in a frame and revolving in contact. Seed cotton is fed
into these rollers and the fibres pass forward but the seeds remain
behind. It is a device which does not injure the fibres, but no
improvement has been found by which the churka can be converted into a
sufficiently productive machine for modern requirements. In a modified
form Whitney's saw gin is still used to clean a large portion of the
annual crop of short and medium stapled cottons. It consists of from
60 to 70 saws (A, fig. 1), which are mounted upon a shaft and revolve
between the interstices of an iron grid (B); against this grid the
seed cotton is held whilst the fibres are drawn through, the seeds
being left behind. The operation is as follows:--seed cotton is fed
into the hopper (C), and conveyed by a lattice (D) to a spiked roller
(E), which regulates the supply to the hopper (F). Whilst in (F) the
cotton is engaged by the teeth of the saws (A), and drawn through the
grid (B), but the bars are too close to permit the seeds to pass. A
brush (G) strips the cotton lint from the saws, after which it is
drawn through a flue (H) to the surface of a perforated roller (I) by
pneumatic action; it then passes between (I) and (J) out of the
machine. The Macarthy gin is the only other type in extensive use; it
is employed to clean both long and short stapled cottons. In this gin
the fibres are drawn by a leather-covered roller (A, fig. 2) over the
edge of a stationary blade (B) called a doctor, which is fixed
tangential to the roller. Two cranks (E) move two other blades (C, D)
up and down immediately behind, and parallel to, the fixed blade (B).
The cotton is thrown into the hopper (F) and the fibres are drawn by
the roller (A) until the seeds are against the edge of the doctor (B),
when the beaters (C, D) strike them off, but permit the fibres to go
forward with the roller. Attempts continue to be made so to improve
both machines, that production may be increased, and labour charges,
and the risks of injuring the fibres, reduced.

_Baling._--As cotton leaves the gin, it is in some cases rolled, under
compression, into cylindrical bales; but it is usually packed into
rectangular bales, that vary in weight from 160 lb. to 750 lb., by
steam or hydraulic presses. After pressing, the cotton is covered with
coarse jute bagging, and the whole secured by iron bands. In this form
it arrives at the spinning mills.

In the mill treatment of cotton it soon became an established practice
to divide the work into the following operations, namely (1) Mixing
the fibres into a homogeneous mass; (2) removing impurities; (3)
combing out entanglements in, and ranging the fibres in parallel
lines; (4) simultaneous combination and attenuation of groups of
parallel fibres; (5) completing the combination and attenuation, and
twisting the fibres into a thread; (6) compounding, finishing and
making-up of threads. These remain the essential conditions of
cotton-spinning. The principal machines used to carry out the
foregoing stages are: The bale breaker, opener and scutcher; the card
and comber; the drawing, slubbing, intermediate and roving frames;
ring and mule spinning; winding, doubling; clearing and gassing the
reel, and bundling press, together with several auxiliary machines.
All the operations included in this list are not necessarily employed
in the production of all kinds of yarn; low counts require fewer, and
high counts more processes.

A _bale breaker_ is used to disentangle fibres which have been, by
hydraulic or steam presses, converted into hard masses that resist
manual efforts to disentangle them. It may consist of three pairs of
spiked and one pair of fluted rollers. If so, the matted cotton is fed
into the first pair, seized by the second pair, which have a higher
surface velocity, and pulled, while the third pair reduce the whole to
a more or less fluffy mass, and the fluted rollers deliver it upon a
travelling lattice by which it is conveyed to, and deposited upon, the
floor of the mixing room. Instead of rollers, a _hopper breaker_ may
be used. In this machine the cotton is carried by a horizontal lattice
into contact with a sloping spiked one, whose spikes tear away small
tufts and deposit them upon a second lattice for removal to the mixing
room. A stack of pulled cotton is formed by superposing thin layers
from different bales, and when completed the cotton is drawn from top
to bottom of the stack. By this means a thorough mixing of fibres is
effected.

_The Opener._--Mixed cotton may be thrown upon a lattice and conveyed
to a spiked roller to be pulled, beaten, discharged into a trunk, and
drawn by pneumatic force to the opener. Or it may be spread (fig. 3)
upon a lattice (I), and carried between feed-rollers (E) to be
subjected to the action of a beater (A) whose teeth first seize tufts
of cotton and then fling them upon a grid (B), to be subsequently
seized by other teeth and again flung off until dirt and other
impurities pass between the grating. The beater may be cylindrical (as
at A) or in the form of a truncated cone: in either event, from four
to twelve rows of teeth project from its surface. It is from 18 in. to
upwards of 36 in. in diameter, approximately 40 in. wide, and the
largest cylindrical beaters make from 300 to 700 revolutions; whilst
conical beaters make about 1000, and small ones make from 1000 to 1500
revolutions per minute. The opened cotton is carried, in the direction
indicated by the arrows, upon a strong blast of air which is generated
by a fan (H), and this deposits it in patches upon the surfaces of two
perforated zinc or wire cylinders (C), but dust and foreign particles
pass through the interstices. As these cylinders revolve towards each
other the cotton passes between them in the form of a sheet to a pair
of feed-rollers (D), which may again deliver it to a beater with two
or three blades; if so, from this beater the cotton is next borne on
an air current to, and between, a second pair of perforated cylinders.
In either event, the final cages (C, C) deliver the cotton to
feed-rollers (D) and they pass it to calender-rollers (F), by which it
is compressed into a sheet, and finally coiled into a lap (G). Various
kinds of openers have been patented, all of which differ in some
important respects; for example, a hopper feed may be substituted for
the trunk or the lattice feed, in which event the cotton from the
mixing room is conveyed mechanically upon lattices, and deposited in a
hopper affixed to an opener. In this hopper a sloping spiked lattice
elevates the cotton to an evening roller, whose office is to sweep
back the surplus supply from the spikes, but allow the requisite
quantity to pass forward to the beater. A regular supply of cotton to
an opener is of great importance, and in order to insure it a table is
often formed by substituting for the lower roller (E) a series of
levers (A, fig. 4) all mounted upon a fulcrum (B), and having their
free arms weighted by wedge-shaped pendents (C), that are separated by
bowls (D). A fluted feed-roller (E) is fixed above this table and the
cotton is led over the lever but beneath the roller. If the cotton is
unequally distributed, thick places will press down the levers and
thin ones will permit them to rise (as at A', E'). The rise of one
pendent may be cancelled by the fall of another, but any balance of
their movements is transmitted to a belt fork which governs a belt
running upon a pair of inverted cones, and by this means the belt is
traversed to and fro to drive the feed-roller (E) at a superior speed
when the supply of cotton is insufficient, and at an inferior speed
when the supply is excessive.

_The Scutcher._--In many respects a scutcher resembles an opener; its
function is to continue the cleaning and form laps of uniform weight
and density for the carding engine. Occasionally the scutcher is the
first cleaning machine, in which event cotton, in a loose fleece, is
spread evenly upon a lattice. But in order to carry the combination of
fibres one stage further, three or four opener laps are generally
placed upon the feeder, so that, as the laps unroll, three or four
sheets of cotton will be superposed, and in this form are passed by
the lattice (F, fig. 4) and the feed-roller (E) to either one or two
beaters, which are furnished with two or three blades. The beater (G)
flings the cotton against the bars of a grid (H) to loosen, and cause
the dirt to pass between the bars, after which the cotton is carried
forward upon an air current, in the same manner as in an opener, and
formed into a lap. In case two scutchers are required, the laps from
the first are fed into the second, where they are similarly treated;
in both machines the lever and pendent mechanism furnishes the means
by which uniformity is attained. A beater may consist of a straight,
smooth blade (as at G), or of a blade provided with stout teeth; in
the latter event the operation resembles combing rather than beating.
Two-bladed beaters revolve from 1200 to 1500 times per minute; those
with three blades from 900 to 1000 times per minute.

_Carding Engine._--The functions of a card (see CARDING) are: to place
the fibres parallel; to remove remaining impurities and immature
fibres; and to form mature fibres into a porous band, called a sliver.
A carding engine consists of three cylinders which are covered with
cards; the first, or taker-in (see fig. 5), is the smallest; the
second and largest is the main cylinder; and the third is the doffer.
If the main cylinder is surmounted with a series of small ones (as at
A), the engine is called a roller and clearer card. If a series of
fixed strips of card are placed above the main cylinder, the engine is
known as a stationary flat card. But if the strips move forward (as at
B), it is a revolving flat card. In a roller and clearer card the
small cylinders (E) are also covered with cards, but their teeth are
bent to oppose those on the main cylinder, and they revolve with a
different velocity. The taker-in is covered with saw teeth cut in a
strip of steel which is fixed in the surface of that cylinder; it
receives the cotton (I) from a feed-roller (C) that turns above a
smooth iron table (D) called the feed plate, and strikes out the
heaviest particles of remaining dirt. In passing through the fringe of
lap, the teeth comb the attached fibres but deliver the loose ones to
the main cylinder. The latter carries them into contact with the teeth
on the rollers (E), by whose lower surface velocity combing is again
effected. Short fibres become fixed amongst the teeth of (A) and (E),
but those lying crosswise are transferred from (A) to (E) and from (E)
to the clearer, which again presents them to the cylinder.

When long fibres are turned to point in the direction of rotation they
advance upon the cylinder A to the doffer teeth, where the scattered
fibres on the surface of A are collected into a light fleece. In this
condition they are stripped by a vibrating comb (F), drawn together by
a funnel, formed into a sliver, and deposited in a can (G). This
machine is now chiefly used to card waste and low-class cotton. If
such a card is made with two main cylinders, a connecting cylinder
called a tummer collects the fibres from the first and passes them on
to a second main cylinder, where they are again treated as already
described. In a stationary flat card the teeth in the flats are bent
to oppose those on the main cylinder, and by this means the fibres are
combed and straightened. In a revolving flat card the flats (H) are
formed into an endless chain, and they travel slowly in the same
direction as the cylinder. In other respects both flat cards are
similar to a roller and clearer card. Formerly double carding, namely,
two passages of the fibres through separate cards, or one passage
through a double card, was general, but single carding is now employed
for most purposes.