Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 05.djvu/567

COTTON. the requisite firmness and twist. Doubling is the combining of two or more threads into a single cord. Every step in the manufacture of cotton yarn has for its object (1) the removal of finer and finer impurities, (2) the attenuation and strengthening of the thread, (3) correcting the mistakes of the preceding process. The whole process is described in more detail in the general article on.

The thread may be subjected to the additional processes of gazing and polishing. The object of gazing is to singe off all the loose fibres and so produce a very smooth yarn. This is accomplished by passing the thread through a very fine jet of gas, as it is wound from one bobbin to another. The yarn is polished by applying a sizing made of starch, beeswax, or other materials. This not only gives the yarn a gloss, but increases its strength and weight. The process of weaving cotton into cloth does not differ materially from that of silk and wool, and is treated in the general article on.

The bulk of the world's cotton is shipped into foreign countries and often across the ocean twice, once to the factories to be transformed into yarn and cloth, and again, perhaps, back to the very region where it was first raised, in the form of cotton goods. The best example of this fact is offered by the United States, which raises nine-tenths of the world's cotton, yet exports less cotton goods than the republic of Switzerland, which raises not a pound of cotton and has not even a seaport. Of course the United States is an enormous consumer of cotton, and this fact must be remembered in considering the extent of her export trade. Obviously the amount of cotton goods imported, and the amount produced and consumed at home, are also important factors.

Table III. gives the value of the world's export trade in cotton, by countries, for 1897, 1898, and 1899. The table is taken from a pamphlet, entitled The World's Export Trade, published by the Philadelphia Commercial Museum, April, 1900. Of more value, however, as showing the actual extent of the cotton industry, including both home and foreign consumption, and its geographical tendencies as well, are the Tables IV. and V., showing the number of cotton-mills and spindles, the amount consumed, and the value of the output. By studying these tables, certain facts and tendencies in the cotton trade are apparent. Great Britain is and always has been at the head of the cotton trade, both in the amount

exported and in the actual amount produced. It is interesting to note that this enormous industry is concentrated about Lancashire, in a district whose area is about 50 per cent. greater than that of the State of Rhode Island. In the United States, the most marked development of the last decade of the nineteenth century is the relative importance of Southern factories, situated in the very locality where cotton is produced. In this period the number of spindles increased 245 per cent. and became nearly one-third of the whole number in the country. Other industrial conditions besides the nearness to the cotton crop produced this growth, chief of which has been the general industrial awakening experienced by the South. Capital, however, in this section, has shown greater progress than labor, so that the latter is still cheap; a working day is long, and there are comparatively few labor laws restricting the age, sex, and other conditions of labor.

During the closing years of the nineteenth century the manufacture of cotton was much advanced in China and Japan. In China cotton has been made into cloth since 1260, and for four centuries it usurped the place of silk. Steam-power was introduced into Chinese cotton-factories in 1865-67, and into Japan in 1889. Great difficulty has been experienced in both China and Japan in getting laborers. There is no factory legislation in either country limiting the hours of labor, and in China children begin to work at a very early age. The working day is eleven or more hours long, and the factories run seven days in the week. Labor is also very cheap, as estimated by the amount of money paid for a