Statistics of Commerce and Manufactures [pp. 543-550]

64 STATISTICS OF COMMERCE AND MANUFACTURES.
ing to all the fall in prices, though the yarn and cloth have increased in quantity.
In 1786 spinning cost 10s. per pound of No. 100, in 1824 only 8(d., or only 16 cents
instead of 240 cents.
"The best cotton goods are supposed to be made in Switzerland, where the
,kill and machinery are good, and the climate congenial. But the raw material
oeing carried so far by land is expensive, and the manufacturer caniot compete
,vith England, though 20 per cent. cheaper than in France.
"In France many fine goods are made by skill and experience; but the machinery is poorer, and costs more. Hence the prices in those two countries of' the
cloth made from a pound of raw cotton exceed, on an average, 50 cents, while in
England they are about 50 cents, and in the United States are now somnewhat
less. In 1806 the cotton was made chiefly into velveteens, nankeens, crapes,
muslins, &c.
"But in 1810 our cotton cloths made in houses and manufactories, on an average, were estimated at 33 cents per yard. The prices are now lower, notwithstanding the introduction so extensively of finer cloths and of printing calicoes.
"We make more coarse and substantial cloths of' cotton now than England,
and they can be afforded cheaper by two or three cents per yard. They are in
greater demand abroad. We put more staple into them, the raw material being
cheaper here. But the English laces, being made chiefly of Sea island cotton,
with a very little silk, enhance the value of each pound to over $5; and the whole
manufacture of it equals nine millions of dollars per annum, and 301 millions
of square yards.
"The coarse India cottons are made of the worst materials and less smooth,
being chiefly spun by hand, and the raw material poorer. But the thread so spun
is softer and the cloth more durable. But the power to spin a fine thread there
has been carried almost as far as in England."
IMPROVEMENTS IN COTTON MACHIINERY-THIIE SPINDLE.
It will be observed that this was written ten years ago, and must give an inadequate notion. We publish it intending to mark the farther improvements in a
subsequent number.
"With a view to furnish a few more details, which may possess some usefulness and interest, it may be remarked, on the power of the spindle, that, by improvements in machinery, it is said that one now sometimes revolves 8,000 times
in a minute, instead of only fifty times, as formerly, and that one will now spin
on an average from one-sixth to one-third more than it did twenty years ago.
Indeed, in 1834, it is said that one person can spin more than double the weight
of yarn in a given time that he could in 1829. The quantity of raw cotton spun
by one spindle depends, of course, on the fineness of the thread and the quality
of the machinery. In England, where a considerable portion of the yarn is finer,
the average is about 81 ounces weekly, or from 27 to 28 lbs. yearly; while the
average in the United States is about 50 pounds yearly, of yarn number 20 and
25 in fineness, and about 26 pounds of number 35 and 40. In 1808 the average
was computed at 45 pounds per spindle, of cotton yielding 38 pounds of yarn.
The difference in weight between the cotton and the yarn, by loss from dirt and
waste, is usually estimated from one-twelfth to one-eighth. At Lowell, 100 pounds
of cotton yield 89 pounds of cloth, though the average here used to be estimated
only 85 pounds, when cotton was not so well cleaned and machinery less perfect.
One spindle at Lowell produces, through looms, &c., on an average, 1 Il yards
of cloth daily; but this result must differ greatly with the fineness of the thread,
excellence of the looms, width of the cloth, &c.
" In 1830 it was computed that 37 spindles were necessary to supply one loom;
though in 1827, at Lowell, the actual proportion was only 26, at Exeter, in 1831,
it was 29, and now at Lowell it is 31. The number of looms in England in
1832 was only one to about 40 spindles, so much more yarn is made and not
woven there, and those were mostly hand-looms. But in 1834 the number of them
was about 100,000 power-looms and 250,000 hand-looms, or in all, about 1 to 30.
One loom formerly wove daily about 20 yards of cloth of the ordinary seveneighths width, more of the 26 inches in width used for calicos, and less of the
five-quarters wide. The average now is from 30 to 40 yards of No. 20. At
Lowell, in 1835, it was 38 to 49 yards of No. 14, and 25 to 30 yards of No. 30.
It requires from four to five yards of cloth of Nos. 20 to 25 yarn to weigh one
pound, and five to six yards of Nos. 35 and 40.