COTTON SPINNING AND WEAVING 31 



At one or two mills a lithographic department was part of the 

 establishment, all the tickets and stationery were printed there. A 

 descrij)tive book with coloured illustrations of the mill had been entirely 

 produced in this department. 



(automatic). 



The efficiency was generally stated as being from 65 to 70 per 

 cent, of the theoretical maximum, but one manager gave it as 50 per 

 cent. only. 



As a rule two looms only are given to a weaver, as with more 

 looms to a weaver the mill loses, but in some mills the experienced 

 hands work three looms. 



Mr. Manoel Guedes' mill at Tatuhy has 12 special belting looms 

 ^^•hich turn out excellent belts. 



Cotton Used. — Cotton is bought by the southern mills in Rio or 

 Sao Paulo from merchants and brokers. Some of the northern cotton 

 merchants have their own agents in Rio. 



Practically all the mills in the Soiithand in Bahia use some cotton 

 from Pernambuco, Parahyba and Rio Grande do Norte. One mill- 

 owner near Sao Paulo, who has a reputation as a cotton expert, was 

 buying Para and Ceara cottons, 1|" staple, as in his opinion it gave 

 2 per cent, less waste than Pernambuco cotton, and he liked Ceara 

 cotton on account of the creamy colour. The quantities of cotton 

 shipped from the north to Rio and Santos (for use in S. Paulo) are 

 very considerable. In all the mills which we visited we made a 

 close inspection of the cotton stores and were surprised to see that 

 many mills in the South imported Pernambuco cotton for the spinning 

 of 24's to 30's, whilst they had cotton growing in the neighbourhood 

 which we considered perfectly good enough for these counts. Indeed 

 one cotton merchant told us that he had sent part of one lot of S. Paulo 

 cotton to Germany where they had spun 32's, whilst the same cotton 

 in S. Paulo was used for 18's. The southern mills have got into the habit 

 of mixing 25 to 50 per cent, of northern cotton with S. Paulo cotton. 

 We feel convinced that if the picking of cotton in S. Paulo were carried 

 out more carefully and the dirty and clean cotton were separated 

 there in the same manner as Boxwells, Kroencke, von Sohsten, and 

 Vasconcellos perform this work in the north, the spinners of the South 

 would not have to have recourse to buying the northern cotton, 

 except those few concerns which spin 60's and higher, thus not onh' 

 saving considerable expense in freight but also the export duty of the 

 northern States. From Pernambuco to a neighbouring town of the 

 city of S. Paulo the freight and charges came to $8-000 per 15 kilos = 

 Rs".240 per lb. One mill had bought at 26.S000 per 15 kilos ginned 

 cotton, f.o.b. Pernambuco. At that time the price for a similar 

 quality of S. Paulo cotton M^as 21 $000 to 22.SO00. This compares 

 with 34 $000 for Pernambuco cotton. It is true the Sao Paulo cotton 

 might have giv^en slightly more waste than the Pernambuco cotton. 



