Part 25

“It is therefore natural to expect that the blast furnace should be among the most thoroughly organized and most highly developed pieces of mechanism yet devised. It is certainly the most fearful of all man’s creations, and considering the character of the process which goes on within it and its unapproachable heat, it is under a wonderful degree of control. At the present time, the blast furnaces are a hundred feet high, consist of a great iron stack lined with some nonfusible material, and when in operation are filled from top to bottom with roaring fire. Into their 245 fiery throats are fed alternately small carloads of coke and iron and limestone, and from the bottom there flows away at intervals two molten streams--one the precious iron upon which our civilization rests; the other the useless slag, to be got rid of in the cheapest possible way…. The burning of this modern furnace takes place under a forced draught of air blast from eight to twenty pounds per square inch. This pressure serves to drive the air upward through the hundred-foot mass which burns within the furnace. Otherwise, the fire would smother. The gas which results from the imperfect combustion within the furnace is a most valuable by-product and serves a valuable purpose in promoting the furnace operation, and sometimes leaves a product to sell. A part of the gas is taken to the boilers, where it generates power for the blowing engines. Another part of it is used in the so-called stoves to heat the air blast on its way to the furnaces.”

The iron obtained by this Bessemer process, by which the carbon and other impurities are burned out, is, when it leaves the converter and cools, merely soft, malleable iron, and to transform it into steel there must be re-inserted a small but fixed and definitely determined amount of carbon. “Steel,” says J. Russell Smith, “is simply a mixture of iron with a small amount of carbon, very intimately and evenly associated in its mass. The carbon content of steel varies from .40 per cent to 1.50 per cent. Steel making is, therefore, a process of mixing carbon and iron in proper proportions. Inasmuch as it cannot be made satisfactorily in a puddling furnace, by reducing the carbon to a proper point and then stopping the furnace, it has been found necessary to burn the carbon all out, making wrought iron, and then working it back to steel by recarbonizing under such conditions that the carbon can be controlled. The iron, after having all of its carbon and other impurities burned out by the Bessemer process, is raised to steel by having thrown into it spiegel iron or ferro manganese. Both 246 are rich in manganese and carbon. As the iron content of the Bessemer converter is known and the content of the spiegel iron is known, the carbon in the steel is under perfect control. The workman watching the flames cuts off the blast at the moment when the changing color tells him the carbon is gone. The carbon of the added material makes steel, and the manganese gives to the steel a toughness needed to make it stand the strain of being rolled into desired shapes while red-hot, without breaking….

“The steel for the greater industries is shaped in a rolling mill. It comes from the Bessemer or open-hearth converter molded into a great billet like a piece of a large wooden beam, and this billet is carried red-hot to a so-called soaking pit, where the tongues of a flame from a gas-fire keep it heated until it is ready to start on its journey through the mills. This soaking pit is the starting point of many roads through the mill. It goes off in one direction, and successive rollers squeeze it, crush it, and lengthen it into steel rails, in which form it emerges a thousand feet away. Other sets of rolls make the billet into flat beams for bridges or elevated railways. A third set of rolls, also starting near the soaking pits, send the product out of the distant door of the steel mill in the form of great flat plates to make the boiler of a locomotive, or a marine engine, or the sides of a steamship, and yet other sets of rollers will make square rods which finally pass under heavy shears and are chopped into pieces called billets or blooms. These pieces of steel are the raw material for other mills which may make wire, nails, or manufacture steel of any other of a thousand forms. Some billets are as big as cord wood, some no larger than lead pencils--thus it passes out into the manifold world of manufacture.”

VII. THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY. 247

Cotton manufacturing is an important illustration of the growth in the textile industries of the world during the period in which the use of machinery has multiplied the producing power of man in the industrial lines. In all lines of textile manufacture the growth has been rapid, but especially so in cotton, which has made greater gains in the work of supplying man with the necessary requirements of life, in clothing for his body and the comforts of life, than other branches of the textile industries and than many other branches of manufacture. Mulhall estimates the consumption of cotton by all nations at 303 million pounds in 1800 and 5,900 million pounds in 1896; wool, 460 million pounds in 1800 and 2,400 million pounds in 1896; flax, 600 million pounds in 1800 and 200 million pounds in 1896; silk, 30 million pounds in 1800 and 50 million pounds in 1897. It will be seen from these estimates that the growth in consumption of cotton has been far in excess of that of any other of the important fibers. Cotton consumption in 1896 was, according to these figures, 5,900 million pounds, against 303 million in 1800, or practically 20 times as much in 1896 as in 1800, while wool consumption is set down at 2,400 million pounds in 1896, against 460 million in 1800, or only about 5 times as much in 1896 as in 1800; while in the other materials used in textile manufactures the growth has been much less than that of cotton.

Before entering upon a discussion of the growth in cotton manufacturing and the causes thereof, it is proper to say that the value of all textile manufactures in the principal countries of Europe has, according to Mulhall, grown from £96,000,000 in 1800 to £660,000,000 in 1896, and in the United States, from £3,000,000 in 1800 to £188,000,000 in 1896, the value of textile manufactures produced in Europe having thus increased about sixfold in the period in question, and in the United States about sixtyfold. It is apparent from these figures that the growth in the manufacture of cotton 248 during the last century has far outstripped that of any other of the textiles. It is also quite apparent that the capital invested in cotton manufacturing is much greater than that in other textiles. The United States Census reports the capital invested in the manufacture of cotton goods in 1880 at 320 million dollars; in 1905, 613 million; the value of the products of these manufacturing establishments in 1880, 211 million dollars, and in 1905, 450 million dollars. Even these figures of increased production--from 211 million dollars’ value in 1880 to 450 million in 1905--do not fully indicate the increase in quantity of products, since prices in 1905 were materially less than those of 1880. The average price of standard sheetings in the New York markets was quoted at 8½ cents per yard in 1880 and 7 cents per yard in 1905; of standard drillings, 8½ cents per yard in 1880 and 7 cents per yard in 1905; of New York mills bleached shirtings, 12¾ cents per yard in 1880 and 9 cents per yard in 1905; of standard prints, 7.4 cents per yard in 1880 and 4¾ cents per yard in 1905; and of 64 by 64 printing cloths, 4½ cents per yard in 1880 and 3.6 cents per yard 1905. This indicates that the increased valuation in cotton products from 211 million dollars in 1880 to 450 million dollars in 1905, fails to fully reflect the increased quantity produced in 1905, and suggests that the quantity produced in 1905 was probably approximately three times as great as in 1880.

The disposition to increase production through enlargements of existing factories rather than by the establishment of new ones, or the combination of existing factories as an offset to the establishment of new ones, is indicated by the fact that the total number of establishments, which was reported in 1880 at 1,005, was, in 1905, but 1,154, an increase of about 12 per cent in the number of establishments, while capital was increasing nearly 200 per cent, the value of product more than 100 per cent, and quantity of product 249 probably nearly 200 per cent.

Great Britain is in proportion to population the greatest cotton-manufacturing country of the world. She was earliest in the field as a manufacturer, developing that industry while the countries of continental Europe were engaged in wars and while the United States, now the leading producer of cotton, was developing her agricultural industries and had scarcely as yet entered upon the development of her manufacturing possibilities. The United States, by far the largest producer of raw cotton, ranks second as a manufacturer of cotton goods.

Accurate estimates of the relative standing of the various countries in the manufacture of cotton are difficult, almost impossible, especially in view of the fact that no country other than the United States takes a periodic census of its industries. There are, however, three ways by which the production of cotton manufactures in the various countries can be approximately measured: first, by the number of spindles in cotton mills; second, by the quantity of cotton used; and, third, a method which has been suggested in some quarters, a measurement of the quantity or value of cotton goods exported. This, however, would not give at all an accurate picture of the quantity produced, since the population of the cotton-manufacturing countries varies so greatly and, what is more important, the habits of life, the climatic conditions, and therefore the quantities of cotton cloths and cotton manufactures of various sorts used by their respective populations renders the third method of estimate of little value. Even the first and second methods mentioned--the determination of the number of spindles and the determination of the quantity of cotton used--do not, by any means, give an accurate picture of the relative quantity or value of cotton goods manufactured. In the United States, where cotton is plentiful, much larger quantities of cotton are used per spindle than in the European countries, and greater quantities 250 of cotton are also used for each 100 yards of cotton manufactured than is the case in other countries. This is due, in part, to the fact that the manufacturers of the United States are producing cotton goods for their home population, living in a temperate zone climate and requiring, therefore, heavy cottons; while many of the factories of Europe are manufacturing for exportation to tropical countries, where cottons of very light weight are required. As a consequence, the European manufacturers use a less quantity of cotton per spindle and a less quantity of cotton per square yard of product than is the case with the manufacturers of the United States. The number of spindles in cotton mills in Great Britain is estimated at 44½ million in the season 1896-7 and 52 million in 1906-7, an increase of 16¾ per cent; in continental Europe, 30⅓ million in 1896-7 and 35¾ million in 1906-7, an increase of 18 per cent; in the United States, 17¼ million in 1896-7 and 25¾ million in 1906-7, an increase of 50 per cent; and in India, 4 million in 1896-7, and 5⅓ million in 1906-7, an increase of 33 per cent. The annual consumption of cotton in cotton mills is estimated, in Great Britain, 3¼ million bales of 500 pounds net in 1896-7, and 3-9/10 million bales in 1906-7, an increase of 21 per cent; in continental Europe, 4⅓ million bales in 1896-7, and 5½ million bales in 1906-7, an increase of 44 per cent; in the United States, 2¾ million bales in 1896-7, and 4-5/6 million bales in 1906-7, an increase of 77 per cent; and in India, 1 million bales in 1896-7, and 1½ million bales in 1906-7, an increase of 50 per cent.

It will be noted that although the number of spindles in the cotton mills in the United States was but 25¾ million, against 52 million in Great Britain, or about half as many in the United States as in Great Britain, the quantity of cotton used in the United States was greater than in Great Britain, being 4,822,000 bales, against 251 3,915,000 bales in Great Britain.

The textile industry of the United States, according to census reports, represented in 1900 investments amounting to 1,043 million dollars, employed 661,000 wage-earners, paid 209 million dollars per annum of wages, used 521 million dollars’ worth of materials, and turned out products valued at 931 million dollars. The number of establishments was 4,312. Cotton manufactures formed a larger share of these enormous totals, both as to investment, wages paid, and value of products, than did any other of the manufacturing industries included under the general term of textiles. The value of cotton manufactures in 1900 was 339 million dollars, while that of wool manufactures was 297 million; silk manufactures, 107 million; hosiery; and knit goods, 95 million; and flax, hemp and jute manufactures, 48 million. Adding to this 45 million for dyeing and finishing of textiles, the value of the combined textiles in 1900 is set down at $931,494,566.

“Textiles,” or “textile fabrics,” may be properly described as stuffs made by weaving together of threads of any sort to produce a material with a nearly solid surface. “A fishing net,” says the Encyclopedia Americana, “is not a textile, because the cords which compose it are not woven together but merely cross one another at equally distant intervals and are strongly knotted at those points. But mosquito-netting is a textile, although very open, because the threads are merely held by their own friction.” Textiles in the usual sense are made of the twisted fibers spun into thread of flax or linen, cotton, hemp, jute, silk or wool, woven together by the use of a loom. “The general nature of a loom,” says the above quoted authority, “is that the threads of the warp are divided into two sets, one of which is thrown upward, while the other is thrown down, and at the same moment a shuttle carrying a thread of the woof is driven through between the two sets of warp threads. The next movement of the loom 252 reverses the two sets of warp threads, throwing the upper one down and the lower one up, compressing and drawing tight the woof thread into the loops which show on the surface of the stuff and go to form the surface, and the shuttle is driven through again in the opposite direction. The constant repetition of this forward and backward movement of the shuttle gives a strip of woven fabric which constantly grows: and as each movement of the shuttle is made, an appliance drives the last thread of the woof back against the others, so that this growing strip of woven stuff is kept at a uniform state of firmness and solidity. It is in this way that the simplest fabrics of linens and cottons are made. If it be desired to produce a somewhat more elaborate weave, this is done by raising two threads of the warp and dropping one; or by raising three threads of the warp and dropping one, and so on. In this way the threads of the woof are seen lying in loops, or what seems to be stitches longer than those of the simplest weave…. If we take a step further and use three or four warp threads, say, of red, while the rest remain white, and do the same thing with the woof threads, we produce stripes and where these stripes cross one another there will be a little square of the solid color of the three or four threads, while the stripes elsewhere remain of the half-way tint…. In such weaving of patterns it is here assumed that the threads are dyed before the weaving is begun. The matter of printing colors upon calico, thin silk, or the like, is entirely apart from consideration of the textile fabric. Printing is done from blocks (or rolls) with color almost exactly as if the material receiving the pattern were paper instead of a woven stuff.”

The above description of the method of producing textiles is sufficiently elaborate for a study of this character. The methods of producing brocades, satins, velvets and other elaborately figured textiles of any sort may be studied more in detail by reference to 253 any standard encyclopedia or work of this character.

The fact that cotton is, as has been already shown, the most important of the textile industries, utilizing larger sums of capital, turning out greater values of product, distributing its products over a wider area and to a larger number of people than any other of the textiles, justifies a somewhat more elaborate discussion of this industry and its development during the period in which the manufacturing industries of the world have been transferred from hand labor to that of machines, and in which capital has come to form so important a factor in production.

The manufacture of textiles from cotton is, like that of iron and steel, “older than written history.” The art of cotton spinning and weaving is believed to have been practised in India, still a great cotton-producing section of the world, from 20 to 30 centuries ago. From India the production of cotton and manufacture of cotton goods moved westward into Persia, thence to the area immediately east of the Mediterranean, then to Egypt, and even southern Europe. The Moors are said to have introduced the cultivation and manufacture of cotton into Spain during their control of that section of Europe, but the cotton-manufacturing industry which existed at Seville, Cordova and Grenada fell into decay after their expulsion from Spain and was only resumed after the British, followed by the French and Germans, had developed the art of manufacturing cotton goods by machine methods. While the manufacture of yarn or threads from cotton declined in Spain, it later made its appearance in Italy in the fourteenth century and in Germany, Prussia, the Netherlands and England in the sixteenth century, and France in the seventeenth century, but it was not thought practicable to manufacture cloth exclusively from cotton until toward the close of the eighteenth century, the cotton yarn being used only for woof, while the warp used in conjunction therewith was either 254 wool, flax, or silk. The so-called “Manchester cottons” of earlier date were composed in part of cotton and in part of wool or linen. The first acquaintance of western Europe with cloths made entirely from cotton seems to have been in those brought from Calcutta, India (and therefore called calicoes); but the calicoes made in Europe at that time and for more than a century after were made, in part at least, of wool or linen.

Prior to the latter part of the eighteenth century all cloths, whether of wool, cotton, silk, or flax, were manufactured by hand labor. The natural fabrics were, as described elsewhere in this work, spun into threads by the use of the simple spinning wheel, chiefly by the labor of women who were termed “Spinsters.” The threads thus obtained were made into cloth by the use of a loom upon the general principles above described, but of extremely simple design and operated solely by human power. Up to this time the making of threads or yarn and their transformation into cloth by the weavers, chiefly men, kept pace fairly with one another, the supply of thread or yarn being about equal to the demand by the weavers. “One good weaver,” says Dr. Ure, “could keep three active women at work spinning weft. In operating the loom, the shuttle which carried the thread back and forth between the raised and lowered sections of the warp was thrown back and forth with the hand, which required a constant extension of the hands to each side of the warp. In 1738 John Kay, an Englishman, devised a system by which the shuttle was thrown back and forth by means of strings attached at opposite ends of the lathe in which the shuttles ran, enabling a weaver to double the amount of cloth which he could manufacture within a given space of time, thus making the demand for yarn in excess of the supply.” “It was no uncommon thing,” says a writer on that subject, “for a weaver to walk three or four miles in a morning, and call on four or five spinners, before he could collect 255 weft to serve him for the remainder of the day.”

This stimulated active minds in those industries to devise some method for increasing the facilities for turning the wool or cotton or flax into the needed yarn, and James Hargreaves, a weaver, devised about 1764 a machine which he called the “spinning jenny,” in which were set eight spindles in a frame put in motion by a single wheel, and by moving backward and forward a moveable carriage containing a horizontal clasp to hold the material being twisted into threads, the quantity of yarn which one person could produce in a given length of time was greatly increased. Subsequently the number of spindles in the frame was increased to 20 or 30, and in time to more than 1,000. Hargreaves kept this invention secret for a time, using it merely to manufacture yarn for his own weaving, but it finally became known and the spinners of the neighborhood, believing that it would throw many out of employment, broke into his establishment and destroyed the machine. He, however, retired to Nottingham, erected a small mill and took out a patent for the “spinning jenny,” and in time it became to be an established method of manufacturing yarn and in a more elaborate form is the principal factor in the manufacture of cotton yarns in the great factories today, the number of spindles which a modern machine of this character now uses being often in excess of 1,000, instead of the 8 utilized by the original spinning jenny.

Meantime another method was being utilized and brought into operation, by which a stronger yarn could be produced. It seems to have been originally devised by John Wyatt, of Birmingham, England, and operated upon a system entirely different from that of the jenny. “The method adopted,” says Ellison, in his “Cotton Trade of Great Britain,” “was to pass the cotton through pairs of small grooved rollers placed horizontally, the upper and lower roller of each pair revolving in 256 contact, the sliver of cotton, after passing through these rollers, being caught by another pair of rollers placed immediately in front which revolve with three, four, or five times the velocity of the first pair and therefore draw out the sliver of cotton into three, four, or five times its former length and degree of fineness. After passing through this second pair of rollers it was attached to a spindle, the rapid revolutions of which twisted it into a thread and at the same time wound it upon a bobbin.” This method, devised by Wyatt in 1730 and patented in 1738, was perfected by Arkwright 30 years later and was known as the “spinning frame,” but since it was operated by water power, received the name of the “water frame.” By the use of this process the cotton yarn was made of sufficient strength to permit its use for the warp as well as for the woof, and thus, for the first time, the making of cloth entirely from cotton became practicable.