first to have acted rashly. However this may be, the South
enjoyed the important advantage that its industry began just after
a great technical advance had been made. When Northern mill-owners
were anxiously deliberating about the destruction of good
machinery merely because it was antiquated in design, the
fortunate Southern mill-proprietor was getting to work with
appliances up to date in every particular. It will be easier to
balance comparative advantages as between North and South
when undertakers in the newer district are confronted by
problems concerning replacements and alterations. The
rapidity of Southern growth need not astonish those who have
watched the operations by which new mills are frequently set up
in Lancashire and remember that the American business man is
more daring than his British cousin. Company promotion in the
great financial centres, payment for machinery and other plant
in shares, or partially in shares, a general diffusion of risks and
pledging of credit, would explain even more rapid growth of
industries of even greater magnitude.
Broad generalizations are difficult to frame, hard to establish
and liable to be misleading; some generalizations relating
to the features of the American cotton industry taken
as a whole the author is tempted to venture nevertheless.
Character
of the American Industry.
The characteristics of labour have already
been incidentally commented upon. We have also
noticed that the bulk of the work done is of a rough and
simple character. In spite of American nationalism and
the prevalence of protective sentiments it is said that there
is still a prejudice in the United States against home-made
fine cotton goods.[1] “The product of the American system is a
cloth which is, on the whole, distinctly inferior in appearance,
’feel’ and finish to that produced by the Lancashire system.
To equal a Lancashire cloth in these respects an American cloth
must not only be made of better cotton, but must contain more of
it—perhaps 5% more. To this rule of inferiority there are, it is
needless to say, exceptions, notably some of the American drills
made for the China market. But the American home market,
which absorbs nearly the whole of the product of American
looms, is less exacting in these matters than the markets in which
Lancashire cloths are sold.”[2] It follows that the average counts
spun in the United States are lower than in England, though they
have been rising somewhat. Another feature of American
spinning as compared with English is the high proportion of
ring-frames to mules. In New England between 1890 and 1900
mule-spindles advanced by 100,000 and ring-spindles by nearly
2,000,000: in the South mule-spindles increased only from
108,500 to 180,500, while to the ring-frames 2,700,000 were
added. To the general rule Rhode Island is the sole exception;
here mule-spindles have increased and ring-spindles decreased;
but in Rhode Island much of the fine spinning—for instance that
for hosiery—is congregated.[3] One explanation of the preponderance
of ring-spinning is to be found in the character of American
fabrics. Again most of the operatives are not of a kind likely to
acquire great excellence at mule-spinning. To the Americans
we largely owe the ring-frame, because their encouragement
helped it through the difficult period when its defects were
serious, though it appears to have been discovered independently
in both countries.
American organization display intense specialism, but of a type different from that in England, where businesses are specialized by processes; in America they are specialized by products but hardly at all by processes. Independent spinning, independent manufacturing, independent bleaching, dyeing and finishing are the significant features of English industry to the bird’s-eye view; in the United States the typical firm will spin, make up its own yarn, and perhaps complete its fabrics for the market; but the mills, it must be remembered, are intensely specialized as to the range of their product, so that the statement that American mills are less specialized than English mills must be received with caution. For some reasons we should expect to find the American method applied even in England for fabrics of the highest qualities, because in their case the adaptation of the yarn to the fabric, and finishing to the fabric, are of great importance, and actually where the American plan is followed in England the explanation is frequently the speciality of the product which is associated with the particular firm producing it. When a firm manufactures a speciality of this kind it cannot always trust bought yarn, or the finishing applied to fabrics in the ton. But for other reasons specialized processes might be looked for where qualities were highest, as by specialism alone can the greatest excellence be attained. The final selection of method depends upon the relative importance for high qualities in the finished product of the connectedness of processes and the perfection of parts; and to these considerations must be added cost of transport between the works devoted to distinct processes, and the development of the commercial functions by which specialized process businesses are kept functioning as a whole. Probably it is the high development of British industry on the commercial side which chiefly explains the arrangements found in England. Attention should also be directed to the huge magnitude of American businesses. This is partly a consequence of American ambition in business, and partly a consequence of the undeveloped commercial ligaments by which producing businesses are brought into union. American producers in both North and South are too widely scattered for one town, like Manchester in the English cotton district, to be visited frequently by them for the purpose of making purchases and effecting sales. Even if the Americans did possess a convenient commercial centre, the high cost of transport between works distributed over a very wide area would prevent much specialism of businesses by processes from appearing. Writing capital letters for industrial processes and small letters and Greek letters for commercial functions, the possible arrangements in the cotton industry may be represented broadly as follows, brackets indicating the scope of businesses:[4]
| I. | (a,A,B,C,d) |
| II. | (a)(A,B,C)(d). |
| III. | (aAα)(bBβ)(cCγ). |
| IV. | (a)(A)(α,b)(B)(β,c)(C)(γ). |
The American industry approximates to the first type, while the English approximates rather to the last. Differences in respect of specialism by range of product are not shown in the formulae.
Other Parts of America.—Little need be said of the cotton industry in other parts of the New World. In Canada in 1909 there were, approximately, 855,000 Spindles, and in Mexico in 1906, where the first factory was established in 1834, 450,000 Spindles. In Brazil also there is an appreciable number of spindles, distributed (in 1895) among 134 factories, which are located chiefly in Rio de Janeiro and Minas Geraes, and are run for the most part by turbines and water-wheels.
Germany.—In Germany the cotton industry is by no means so intensely localized as in England, but three large districts may be distinguished:—
1. The north-west district, which consists of the Rhine Province and Westphalia and contained 1¾ million spindles in 1901.
2. The country north of the mountain ranges of northern Bohemia comprises the middle district, which contained 2½ million spindles in 1901. In Saxony the industry has been carried on for four centuries.
3. Alsace, Baden, Württemberg and Bavarian Swabia make up the south-west district, to which some 3½ million spindles were assigned. It is in close proximity to the cotton districts of east France, Switzerland and Vorarlberg.
According to Oppel (1902) the German spinning industry is chiefly localized in—
| Prussia with 2020 thousand spindles |
The spindles of Württemberg, which stands next, do not much exceed half a million. Only sixteen places in Germany (shown in tabular form on p. 169) contained as many as 100,000 spindles in 1901.
The history of the hand industry in Germany runs back some centuries. At the time when it flourished in the Netherlands we may be sure that it was prosecuted to some extent farther north and east. The start with the machine industry was not long
