COTTON SPIN XI XG AXD WEAVIXG 29 



cotton mill and the profits, as will be shown later, are decidedly 

 encouraging. 



Machinery, etc. — We visited, during our tour, a large number of 

 cotton mills and were impressed with the modern mill architecture, the 

 first-class machinery and in some of the mills with the high efficiency. 

 But we inspected also some mills where the space between the machinery 

 was very narrow, where the buildings were old and altogether 

 unsuitable. We saw Piatt Bros, machines of 1871 still at work. The 

 fencing of machinery in most cases is not efficiently done. The 

 spinning and weaving machinery is generally from well-known 

 Lancashire machinists, though some Swiss makers had also supplied 

 a number of ring frames. Only very few mules exist, the spindles 

 being almost entirely ring sj)indles. Finishing and dyeing 

 machinery is often of German make, whilst the Calico Printing 

 machinery is mostly of Mather & Piatt, with a sprinkling of Alsatian 

 machinery. Whilst there are, especially in Rio and Sao Paulo, mills 

 which turn out cloth more or less as perfect as in Lancashire, there 

 are a number of small mills in Brazil, especially in the interior, which 

 produce cloth that could hardly be sold as " seconds " in Lancashire. 

 The yarn used contains dirt, bits of leaves, foreign matter, and the 

 cloth is therefore uneven. One Lancashire mill man had a pride in 

 showing us how his looms " danced about,"' the fioors of the mill 

 being rickety and the transmission shaft running anything but true. 

 But as he had made 300 per cent, profit in one year he did not see 

 why he should improve his mill. 



The great difference between a Lancashire and a Brazilian cotton 

 mill is that in the latter not only spinning and weaving are carried 

 on, but that there are also, in almost every case, departments for 

 doubling, dyeing, finishing, bleaching and printing and that the 

 variety of goods produced is of a very extensive range in every mill, 

 as will be seen from reference to the list in the Appendix. The average 

 counts spun are about 20's, but the " America Fabril," Rio de 

 Janeiro, has now 30,000 spindles on fine counts and spins as fine 

 as 125's from Brazilian cotton, without admixture of any foreign 

 cotton. This company is extending largely its fine spinning section.* 

 Owing to the difficulties of transport, the Light & Power Co. could 

 not obtain during the war its imported insulating cords, but the 

 "America Fabril" produced 26/100 plaited yarn and has done so 

 ever since. This mill has now 130,000 spindles and is adding extensions 

 from year to year. The able managing director, Mr. Mark Sutton, 

 a Yorkshireman, is his own architect and is largely responsible for the 

 development of the many departments. During the 32 years he has 

 been in the country he has formed a high opinion of the Brazilian 

 workmen and of Brazil as a first-class cotton growing country. Every 

 mill in Brazil is bound to have a mechanic's, a carpenter's and 

 joiner's shop of larger dimensions than is the case in Europe. In 

 three mills visited by us there were iron foundries, which had been 

 installed since the war and not only are they used for repairs, but also 

 for the construction of new heavy machinery. In one of these 

 foundries we saw the sides of a raising machine of a German pattern 

 being cast. In one of the joiner's shops we watched a Brazihan making 

 * There are more than 40 English foremen engaged in the various departments. 



