580 MANUFACTURES. 



maturity is not apparent in South Carolina, and the large increase in the 

 number of cotton mills here since 1870 shows that there remains much 

 suitable territory still unoccupied, and that the competition between the 

 larger and the smaller mills is not yet so sharp, but that all may survive 

 and prosper. 



Between 1850 and 1860, while the capital and hands employed in cot- 

 ton mills throughout the country show an increase, each of about 32 per 

 cent., and the products an increase of 76 per cent., there was a marked 

 decrease in all these regards in South Carolina, making it plain that, 

 during that period of exceptional prosperity, there Avas no tendency in 

 the State towards the development of cotton mills. 



During the decade of war and reconstruction, 1860-70, there is a 

 marked change. The percentage of increase, except only as regards the 

 number of spindles, is notably greater in South Carolina than elsewhere. 

 The capital employed in cotton manufactures increased 33 per cent., 

 while in the United States the increase was only 14 per cent. ; the num- 

 ber of hands increased 26 per cent., against only 10 per cent, throughout 

 the country at large. South Carolina consumed 19 per cent, more cotton 

 in 1870 than in 1880, while there was an actual diminution in the 

 amount used in the United States of 3 per cent. ; the value of the pro- 

 ducts of the mills in^^reased 23 per cent, for the whole country, but in 

 South Carolina this rate was nearly trebled, being 02 per cent. ; the gain 

 in the number of spindles was 36 per cent, for the whole United States, 

 but only 13 per cent, in South Carolina. The mill owners here still lack 

 the capital necessary to purchase a full supply of macliinery, but they 

 make no mean showing with what they have. 



In the decade ending 1880 the gains are great everywhere, and in every 

 particular, but in every particular the rate of increase is very much 

 greater in South Carolina than in the country at large. The United 

 States have 52 per cent, more spindles, but South Carolina has more than 

 double, the increase being 133 per cent. The capital employed in cotton 

 manufactures in the country at large is 84 per cent, more than it was in 

 1870; in South Carolina this increase rises to 159 per cent. The United 

 States employ 28 per cent, more hands, while South Carolina furnishes 

 work for 82 per cent. more. The value of the products of the cotton 

 mills of the United States is greater than it was in 1870 by 35 per cent., 

 but the value of the products of the Carolina mills lias nearly quadrupled 

 this rate of increase, showing a gain of 137 per cent. As to the raw 

 material, the country at large consumed 183 pounds in 1880, where it 

 consumed 100 pounds in 1870, and for every 100 pounds manufactured 

 in Carolina in 1870 there was, according to Mr. Atkinson, 328 pounds 

 manufactured in 1880. The fifteen and a half millions pounds of raw 



