THE FUTURE OF OUR COTTON MANUFACTURE. 291 



it has always been more like a Western State ; that it never had 

 any considerable number of cotton-spindles within its borders, 

 and that its people were never clad in hand-made fabrics to any 

 considerable extent. I include under the name of Southern States 

 Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mis- 

 sissippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia, 

 including West Virginia. 



In 1860 the population of these specific States numbered 9,650,- 

 000; in 1870, 10,432,000; in 1880, 13,665,000; and at the present 

 time their population, without question, exceeds 17,000,000. 



From the best information which I can obtain, and in the best 

 judgment of old planters, dealers, and manufacturers, nearly the 

 whole population of the middle or mountain section of these States, 

 two to three millions in number a very large portion of the col- 

 ored people on the plantations, probably two or three millions 

 more out of four millions and a very considerable part of the 

 population of country districts aside from these two classes, were 

 clad in homespun or hand - woven fabrics prior to 1860. The 

 average of the estimates which I have received would put more 

 than one half, or about five millions of the population in 1860, of 

 these Southern States into this class. 



In 1870 very moderate progress had been made in displacing 

 hand-made fabrics with the products of Southern factories, but 

 the more prosperous people were consuming more Northern goods 

 of finer quality. The average judgment of my correspondents 

 indicates that in 1870 at least forty per cent of the population 

 were clad in hand-spun or hand-woven fabrics. I estimate it at 

 one third, numbering three and a half millions, in my succeeding 

 computations. 



At the Atlanta Exposition Mr. F. E. Clark, of the Pemberton 

 Mill, and myself, computed the product of two hand carders, two 

 spinsters, and one hand-loom weaver, who were working on thirty- 

 two-inch Osnaburgs, about thirty-six picks to the inch, at eight 

 yards a day of ten hours. Five operatives in the Pemberton 

 could have turned out eight hundred yards of the same fabric in 

 the same number of hours. 



In my computation of the ratio of spindles to population I de- 

 duct 4,800,000 in 1860 ; 3,500,000 in 1870 ; in 1880 I make no deduc- 

 tion for hand-work, for the reason that the art was then nearly a 

 lost art. A few home spinners and weavers may still be found 

 only in the heart of the mountains of Kentucky and North Caro- 

 lina. On this basis the cotton-spindles of 1860, numbering 5,235,- 

 727, bore the ratio of one spindle to each of 5'05 of the remaining 

 population ; 1870, spindles 7,132,415, one spindle to 4*92 of the re- 

 maining population ; 1880, spindles 10,653,435, one spindle to 4*71 

 of the total population ; 1889, September 1st, spindles estimated 



