SEA ISLAND COTTON" INDUSTEY. 



Manufacturers reported that the style for women's dress goods had 

 changed from soft, smooth, lustrous cloths, composed of fine yarns 

 and of high counts per inch of both warp and woof, to coarser, rougher 

 effects with fewer threads per inch in the woven fabric. On account 

 of the change of style in women's wear, shirt-waist and petticoat 

 makers had been almost driven out of business and no longer re- 

 mained important factors as consumers of fine goods. 



Such changes in style are of course reflected in the kind of cotton 

 purchased and, as might be expected, the cheapest quality that will 

 answer the purpose is generally bought. The result has been a, 

 gradual scaling down in the length of staple being used in the fine 

 goods trade. . The longest and finest cottons have felt the effect of 

 this tendency most keenly and, compared with former standards of 

 price, have been sold at the greatest sacrifice. 



Closely associated with style is the insistent demand of those who 

 place orders with mills for cloth that the price must be at the lowest 

 possible quotation. In the sale of many lines of goods manufacturers 

 reported that the price is the sole consideration, and the mill quot- 

 ing the lowest price receives the contract regardless of the quality of 

 its goods. As competition had been keen, mills were forced to accept 

 these low-priced orders and had then striven to cheapen their prod- 

 uct in order to make a living profit. The chief means of cheapening 

 the cost of manufacture are the use of either cheaper raw stock or 

 coarser yarns, or both of these ways combined. In many instances 

 both of these remedies have been applied in the recent past, resulting 

 in a coarser, rougher, and more porous style of goods. In a way 

 this cheapening of the cost of production resulted in or helped toward 

 the change of styles, as previously noted, as the arbiters of style are 

 dependent upon goods they find at hand in sufficient quantities to 

 give a ready supply of cloths for their requirements. 



Another factor to be reckoned with in the cheapening of the cost 

 of production is improved cotton-mill machinery. With the improve- 

 ments of recent years, especially since the introduction of combers 

 that can successfully comb even Upland cottons, manufacturers can 

 use shorter staples in their product and still have it look sufficiently 

 attractive to be accepted by the average purchaser. The large use 

 of the shorter staples, especially of l^ and 1J inch cottons, for comb- 

 ing has correspondingly lessened the demand for the longer varieties, 

 l-^-inch and longer, and has been partly responsible for the lower 

 prices at which the extra staple cottons have sold. 



TIRE CLOTHS AN IMPORTANT EXAMPLE. 



In the manufacture of automobile tire cloths the tendency to reduce 

 the cost of production has been especially noticeable. Only a few 

 years ago the best grades of Sea Island cotton were considered none 

 too good for the purpose. Prices and quality were maintained, and 



