Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume V.djvu/419

Rh shrivelled, while that of the linen fibre is round and straight with occasional cross knots or joints. Linen yarn also becomes yellow in a strong and hot solution in water of caustic potash, while cotton remains white, or is colored very slightly yellow. The two fibres may also be distinguished by the different effects produced upon them by concentrated sulphuric acid. The stuff to be tested must first be thoroughly cleaned by boiling and repeated washing in pure water. When well dried it is dipped in the acid and left from half a minute to two minutes. The cotton threads become immediately transparent, the linen remaining white. It is then taken out and put into water to wash out the gummy matter produced by the cotton. On being dried, if the experiment has been well conducted, the yarns of cotton will have disappeared; but if the immersion in acid has been too long, the linen also becomes transparent and eaten by the acid. Another method by which cotton is detected in unbleached linen is to place the stuff, after it is well washed in boiling water and dried, in a mixture of two parts of dried nitrate of potash and three parts of sulphuric acid, and leave it for eight or ten minutes. It is then washed and dried and treated with ether, to which a little alcohol is added. If cotton was present in the stuff, the ethereal liquid is thickened by the production of collodion. This may be separated, leaving the residue pure linen. When the fibre of cotton is thoroughly consumed, the remaining ash is found to be about 1 per cent. of the original weight.—The number of cotton factories in the United States in 1810 was reported to be 241, and the number of spindles estimated at 96,400, an average of 400 for each mill. According to a report of a committee of congress in 1815, $40,000,000 was then invested in cotton manufactures, and 100,000 persons were employed; 27,000,000 lbs. of cotton were consumed, producing 81,000,000 yards of cloth, valued at $24,300,000. In Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut were 165 mills, with 119,310 spindles; and it has been estimated that the total number of spindles at that time was 350,000. Power looms soon afterward coming into general use, as already stated, the number of spindles increased to 1,500,000 in 1830, and 1,750,000 in 1835. Complete and trustworthy statistics of cotton manufactures seem to have been first reported by the census of 1840. There were then in the United States 1,240 mills, with 2,284,631 spindles, and 129 dyeing and printing establishments. These establishments employed 72,119 hands, and produced goods valued at $46,350,430. The amount of capital invested was $51,102,359. The leading cotton manufacturing states were Massachusetts, having 278 mills with 665,095 spindles; Rhode Island, 209 mills with 518,817 spindles; New York, 117 mills with 211,659 spindles; and Connecticut, 116 mills with 181,319 spindles. There were no cotton mills in Illinois,

Missouri, Michigan, Florida, Wisconsin, Iowa, or the District of Columbia. The following totals for the United States, from the federal census, will afford a comparison of this most important industry with its condition prior to the civil war:

A comparison of the figures of 1870 with those of 1860 presents several notable circumstances, chief among which is a falling off in the number of establishments in 1870 of about 12⅜ per cent. This may be attributed to the natural tendency of industries of this nature to concentrate in great establishments; and also to the fact that at the beginning of the war many cotton factories were transformed into woollen mills. This view is strengthened by the fact that the number of looms was 24½ per cent., and the number of spindles more than 28 per cent., greater in 1870 than in 1860. The increase in the amount of capital employed was about 30 per cent., which has been attributed to the increased value of land, buildings, and machinery, while the increase in the wages paid amounted to nearly 43 per cent. There was a decrease in the quantity of raw cotton consumed amounting to 24,402,718 lbs., or nearly 6 per cent., while there was an increase in the value amounting for all materials to $54,451,402, or more than 94 per cent. The increase in the total cost of labor and raw materials amounted to $69,557,296, or about 85 per cent. The value of the goods produced in 1870 was $61,807,965, or 53 per cent. greater than in 1860. Direct comparison cannot be made between the quantities produced in 1870 and 1860, owing to the paucity of the details in the returns of the latter year; but the following statement shows that in 1870 a greater quantity of goods was produced from a smaller amount of raw material, which is explained by the average lighter weight of the fabrics:

In 1870, 13,341 more hands were employed to manufacture into goods 24,400,000 lbs. less cotton than in 1860. The average annual wages was $288 per capita in 1870, and $196 in 1860, showing an increase of $92 per head per annum, or 47 per cent. In 1870 the value of the product per head of operatives was $1,341, and in 1860 $948, showing an increase in value