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THREE TEXTILE
RAW MATERIALS
AND
THEIR MANUFACTURE
[Illustration: Decoration]
INTERNATIONAL ACCEPTANCE BANK, INC.
NEW YORK
Copyright, 1924
INTERNATIONAL ACCEPTANCE BANK, INC.
NEW YORK
CONTENTS
_Part One_
COTTON
_Page_
CHAPTER I The Raw Material 9
CHAPTER II The Manufacture of Cotton 19
CHAPTER III From Mill to Consumer 49
CHAPTER IV The Position of the United States 52
_Part Two_
WOOL
CHAPTER I The Raw Material 59
CHAPTER II Worsted Manufacture 67
CHAPTER III Woolen Manufacture 81
CHAPTER IV The Economic Aspect 89
_Part Three_
SILK
CHAPTER I The Raw Material 97
CHAPTER II Reeling 104
CHAPTER III Marketing Raw Silk 109
CHAPTER IV The Manufacture of Thrown and Spun Silk 115
CHAPTER V Weaving and Finishing 120
CHAPTER VI Artificial Silk 123
[Illustration: _Cotton Bolls_]
PREFACE
The importance of the three main textiles in the civilized life of
today is probably but vaguely realized by the majority of people.
In this country we consume raw cotton alone at the rate of about
twenty-six pounds per capita each year, which if translated to
yards of cloth and other fabric, would make a strip longer than the
distance from the earth to the moon, and a yard wide all the way. Add
wool and silk to this and the picture becomes even more impressive.
There is not a man, woman or child who does not use one or all three
of these textiles in daily life. With this in mind we submit this
brief description of how they are produced, emphasizing in particular
the development of the raw material in each case.
Parts I and II are practically revised editions of “Cotton and Cotton
Manufacture” and “Wool and Wool Manufacture” which were written by
James Paul Warburg in 1921 and 1920, respectively, and published by
the First National Bank of Boston, with whom he was then associated.
We take this occasion to acknowledge the extreme courtesy of the
First National Bank of Boston in allowing the use of this material.
Part III, dealing with Silk, has been newly compiled by Benjamin
Strong, Jr., of the International Acceptance Bank, Inc.
No attempt has been made in these studies to enter very deeply into
the technical processes involved, the purpose being more to give a
condensed outline of the subject from the layman’s point of view.
While actual survey and observation were extensively made in each
case, a great part of the material has of necessity been obtained
from standard works on these subjects. In this connection we wish
especially to render acknowledgment to Professor M. T. Copeland of
Harvard University, whose studies were freely used by the author of
Part I on Cotton. In the case of Silk, we are particularly grateful
to Mr. W. D. Darby, whose “Silk, The Queen of Fabrics” has been of
invaluable assistance. To the many friends in the textile trades who
have provided opportunities for first hand observation, as well as
a wealth of information, we tender our sincere thanks and grateful
appreciation.
INTERNATIONAL ACCEPTANCE BANK, INC.
_New York, N. Y., October, 1924._
PART ONE
COTTON
By
JAMES PAUL WARBURG
Vice-President
INTERNATIONAL ACCEPTANCE BANK, INC.
Photographs by courtesy of the
Pacific Mills and
Keystone View Co.
[Illustration: _Cotton Field_]
CHAPTER I
THE RAW MATERIAL
1. THE COTTON PLANT
[Sidenote: _Derivation of Names_]
The word, “Cotton”, is said to be derived from an Arabic word,
“Qutun”, originally meaning flax; and the botanical name of the
plant, Gossypium, signifying the fleece worn, was first found in the
writings of Pliny, and is derived from the Sanskrit. Thus, in the
mere origins of the colloquial and scientific designations of the
plant, we have ample proof of its antiquity.
[Sidenote: _Botanical Types_]
The cotton plant belongs to the mallow family and is a native of
the tropics. The genus has a great many botanical varieties, all
of which, in the wild state, are perennial, but under cultivation
tend to become annual. One variety, Gossypium Arboreum, which
is found chiefly in Mexico and Brazil, attains a height of over
fifteen feet. This tree cotton, however, has not been extensively
cultivated because of the obvious expense of picking. Of the
herbaceous varieties the most commonly known are the American and the
long-staple Egyptian. G. Barbadense, known as Sea Island cotton, is
another long staple variety which is grown only in certain counties
of Georgia, South Carolina and Florida.
[Sidenote: _The Cotton Plant_]
[Sidenote: _The Fibre_]
In all the cultivated species the plant attains a height of two to
four feet. The leaves vary, but all have characteristic lobes. The
blossoms also vary a good deal in color, but have this in common
that the seeds are contained in a pod or boll which is filled with
a floss not unlike that of the common milk-weed. In due course the
boll bursts, exposing the mass of fluffy fibre from which the plant
derives its extraordinary value. The superiority of cotton over other
vegetable fibres, such as hemp or flax, is in the natural twist,
which makes it inherently adaptable to spinning. The single fibre
consists of a hollow tube having transverse joints at irregular
intervals, and this tube, when dry, has a tendency to flatten out
and curl. The more of this natural elasticity is found in the fibre
the better it is for spinning purposes, and an immature fibre is for
this reason unsatisfactory. Cotton is exceedingly susceptible to
moisture, and a succession of violent atmospheric changes will cause
such a rapid contraction and expansion in its fibre as to destroy its
elasticity. From the point of view of the manufacturer there is very
little difference between immature cotton and that which has suffered
loss of vitality.
[Sidenote: _Seeds and Stems_]
Besides yielding a natural wool from which a tremendous number of
products are derived, the seed of the plant gives forth a highly
useful vegetable oil, and the stems and leaves are used for fodder.
2. HISTORY AND DISTRIBUTION
[Sidenote: _Ancient History_]
The origin of the cultivation and commercial use of cotton is
shrouded in the dim veils of antiquity. The records of India show
that the plant was grown, and its fibre utilized, from the earliest
times. The Phoenicians and the Hebrews are known to have made cotton
clothing, and later the art was transmitted by them to the Greeks and
Romans. The vague annals of China indicate a familiarity with this
plant and its value extending back to the remote past, and the same
is true of Japan. Cortez found a flourishing textile industry among
the Aztecs in 1519, and in Peru, Pizarro found cotton garments said
to antedate the civilization of the Incas. Again early Portuguese
chroniclers relate the discovery of native cotton in Brazil.
[Sidenote: _Europe_]
[Sidenote: _America_]
The Arabs and Saracens were largely responsible for the introduction
of the textile industries to western Europe in the ninth century, but
it was not until about the middle of the seventeenth century that
any great progress was made. During this time the British began to
attempt the cultivation of cotton in their colonies, and it was about
1650 when the first Virginia plantations were begun. Since that time
the United States has forged ahead until at present it grows over
three-fifths of the world’s crop.
[Sidenote: _Egypt_]
The cultivation of cotton in Egypt was begun about 1821, American Sea
Island seeds being imported at that time. The fertile alluvial soil
of the Nile delta was found particularly adapted to this use, and
extensive irrigation later expanded the area. The construction of the
Great Assouan Dam late in the nineteenth century gave a tremendous
impetus to the industry. Egyptian cotton is mostly of the long staple
variety, the best, known as Sakellarides, averaging an inch and
three-quarters.
[Sidenote: _India_]
Cotton culture in India is perhaps the oldest of all, but Indian
cotton is of the short staple variety, and can only be used by
certain manufacturers most of which are located in Japan and Germany.
About twenty-five million acres are said to be under cultivation, but
statistics are very meagre.
[Sidenote: _China_]
China has long been a large grower of cotton, but the native species
are of a harsh, short fibre. Korea and the Yangtze and Wei basins are
the chief sources, and American cotton has recently been introduced
in the southern provinces.
[Sidenote: _Other Countries_]
Russia began to raise American cotton on a large scale in Turkestan
only some twenty years ago, and bids fair to become a large producer.
The plant is indigenous to almost all the Central and South American
countries, and particularly in Mexico, Brazil and Peru, it has great
potentialities. Peru has two kinds of native cotton known as the
rough and smooth varieties. The former is of a very long and tough
fibre and is valuable because it can be blended with wool.
[Sidenote: _American Varieties_]
The greatest part of the American crop consists of the Upland
variety, although, as we have noted, there is a small but important
crop of Sea Island in the Southern Atlantic states. Another long
staple species, known as Pimas, has recently been introduced in
Arizona, and the alluvial soil of Mississippi, Arkansas, and
Louisiana has produced still other desirable species, locally known
as “Rivers,” “Peelers,” and “Benders.” Before we consider the
relative manufacturing merits of the various kinds of cotton, it
would perhaps be well to consider briefly how the crop is grown.
3. CULTIVATION
[Sidenote: _Growth of the plant_]
The cotton season of course varies in different latitudes, but the
planting is done everywhere in the early spring months. The proper
care and fertilization of the soil and its preparation to receive
the seed is of the utmost importance. The plant ripens in about four
months, so that the picking season in this country usually begins
in August, and continues until the first killing frost. From the
time of the opening of the first bolls the cotton continues to grow,
unless killed by drought or insects, until the cold puts a stop to
vegetation, and the same stalk frequently contains ripe and immature
cotton at the same time. The cotton which matures first and has been
least exposed to weather when picked is likely to be freer of spots
and discolorations than that which is picked at the end of the season.
[Sidenote: _Enemies of the plant_]
[Sidenote: _The Boll Weevil_]
The two great enemies of the cotton plant are drought and insect
depredations. Late frosts and the right quantity of rain and sunshine
are what every cotton planter prays for, and praying is about all he
can do in this respect. Not so, however, with insects. Unfortunately
there are a great number of rapacious little creatures rendered
particularly hardy by some caprice of Nature, to whom the growing
cotton plant represents an especial delicacy. Against them the
planters, under the guidance of the Department of Agriculture, are
waging continuous warfare. It is said that insect depredation, at
pre-war prices cost the country an annual sum of $60,000,000, more
than half of which is attributable to the two worst offenders, the
boll weevil and the boll worm. Coming in hordes across the Mexican
border, the boll weevil has destroyed millions of bales of cotton
annually, and as yet no very effective remedy has been found to
exterminate it.
[Sidenote: _Weather Defects_]
Even at that, however, the planter’s greatest worry is perhaps not
so much the growth as the harvesting of his crop. To get his cotton
picked rapidly and properly, an operation for which no successful
machinery has yet been devised, and to have it properly ginned,
presents his chief problem. If cotton is left too long on the stem it
will be exposed to the detrimental effects of the weather. Coloring
matter from the newly opened bolls, or from the soil, is washed into
the floss by the rain, and while such spots or stains may be bleached
out by the sun, the lustrous bloom never returns. Frost will make
permanent tinges or stains, and the wind will frequently wrap the
pendulous locks of fibre-covered seed about the stems of the plant or
tangle them up in the leaves.
[Sidenote: _Careless Picking_]
[Sidenote: _Bad Ginning_]
When the pickers do not exercise proper care stem and leaves
frequently get picked along with cotton, and a considerable quantity
of dirt inevitably finds its way into their bags. Or else the cotton
may be picked when it is damp, with the result that the teeth of the
gin, instead of picking out the seeds and stems will cut the matted
fibres, producing a class of cotton known as “Gin-cut”. Moreover the
gin brushes will be unable to separate the matted tufts, and so they
go into the bale as “naps” or “neps”. All these factors militate
against the planter in his efforts to have his crop classified as
high as possible.
4. GRADES AND STAPLES
[Sidenote: _Grades Based on Condition_]
The classification of cotton into the standard grades fixed by
the Government constitutes an exceedingly difficult art. There is
absolutely no mechanical basis, and the classification is a purely
relative one. The kind of plant has no bearing whatsoever, nor has
the length or strength of staple. It is really a distinction based
upon the condition of the cotton, rather than upon its inherent
attributes.
The grade “MIDDLING” is the basis upon which the market values of the
other grades are quoted. There are eight full grades:
[Sidenote: _The Full Grades_]
_Fair_
_Middling Fair_
_Good Middling_
_Middling_
_Low Middling_
_Good Ordinary_
_Ordinary_
_Low Ordinary_
[Sidenote: _Tinges and Stains_]
[Sidenote: “_Points_”]
Between these full grades are the half grades, known as the Stricts,
and some classers use quarter grades with which, however, we shall
not concern ourselves here. The grades and half-grades are quoted for
whites, tinges, and stains. A stain is a heavy discoloration while a
tinge is a lighter hue, and partial discolorations, known as spots,
are permissible in the lower grades of whites. The values of the
various grades are always quoted as so many points on or off White
Middling, a point being 1/100th. of a cent. Thus, if Middling White
were quoted at 24c and Ordinary as 300 points off, it would mean
that Ordinary was worth 21c. An example is given below of a regular
quotation sheet.
U. S. GRADES [1]WHITE [2]TINGES [2]STAINS
Middling Fair 403 on Nominal Nominal
Strict Good Middling 328 on 49 off a Nominal
Good Middling 253 on 152 off a 447 off a
Strict Middling 135 on 300 off a 618 off a
Middling Basis 456 off a 809 off a
St. Low Middling 305 off 704 off a Nominal
Low Middling 843 off 1064 off a Nominal
Strict Good Ordinary 1230 off Nominal Nominal
Good Ordinary 1518 off Nominal Nominal
[1] U. S. Government differences.
[2] Average of differences on New York, New Orleans, Memphis and
either the Savannah or the Augusta exchanges.
[Sidenote: _The Human Element_]
[Sidenote: _Proportion of Impurities_]
It is obvious that in this classification the human element plays
a great part. The difference between quarter grades, or even half
grades, or between a tinge and a stain, are subject to a great
variety of interpretations. While there is no definite standard,
Middling must be cream or white, must show no soil evidence, no
gin-cuts or naps, may have a few pieces of leaf (not powdered), and
a few motes, (immature seeds). As the grades go up the cotton must
be freer of impurities until the top grades have to show practically
a perfect lustrous, silky, white, and clear fibre. On the lower side
the impurities increase, until, in the Ordinaries, we find large and
small leaf particles, sticks, hulls, dirt, sand naps, gin-cuts, and
spots, together with a dingy color.
[Sidenote: _Some Cottons not Sold on Middling Basis_]
It is this classification that governs the trading on all the
exchanges, and upon which the planter originally sells his crop. The
exceptions are those varieties of cotton which are distinct from the
crop as a whole. Sea Islands are sold as Fancy, Choice, Fine, Medium,
and Common. Bolly or immature cotton is sold by separate agreements;
and Linters, the fibres regained by the seed mills from reginning the
seed, are not sold on this basis. Neither is what is known as the
“City Crop” of loose cotton accumulated from taking samples, sold in
this way.
[Sidenote: _Staple Length_]
Aside from grade there are two other qualifications which are of
equal importance to the manufacturer: length, and strength. Lengths
are quoted in eights of an inch, and cotton under 1⅛” is termed
short, while that over 1⅛” is long. The normal lengths run from ¾”
to 1⅞”, and it is noteworthy that, where a normal difference between
grades would be 25 points, the difference of ⅛” would be about 250
points. “Pulling” for staple is another art where the individual’s
judgment plays an important part.
[Sidenote: _Elasticity_]
Strength,—elasticity and tensile strength,—is again one of the mill’s
prerequisites. The usual buyer’s test for fibre vitality is to
compress a sample in the hand to see if it will return to its former
shape. The importance of length is that it governs the fineness of
the yarn to be spun, while grades affect the finish of the cloth.
We shall see later that mills cannot buy mixed lots, but must have
even-running grades of fixed staple.
5. BUYERS OF RAW COTTON
[Sidenote: _Storekeepers as Local Buyers_]
The small planters of the South are usually unable to finance
themselves independently through the growing and picking seasons.
Consequently the local store-keeper, from whom the planters buy their
supplies, usually extends credit in the form of an open account and
so becomes the first middleman. Not infrequently the store-keeper
will accept cotton rather than money in settlement of his accounts,
and where he follows this practice he becomes what is known as a
local buyer. When he has accumulated sufficient cotton he sells
either to an intermediate buyer, or to the buyer for some merchant or
mill.
[Sidenote: _Large Growers_]
In the case of the larger grower, or the syndicate of growers, the
local buyer is usually eliminated. These planters obtain their credit
from the large merchant buyers, who in turn are carried by their
banks.
[Sidenote: _Intermediate Buyers_]
Very frequently the local buyers are scattered so thickly through
a neighborhood, and each accumulate such small and heterogeneous
lots of cotton that an intermediate buyer finds his way into the
natural order. Sometimes the intermediate is merely a “scalper” who
buys from the local dealer and sells to merchant buyers. In other
cases, notably in Texas, he acts as a concentrating agent, buying at
local points from growers and selling, usually at compress points,
to representatives of merchants or mills. In the latter case he is
referred to as a “street buyer.”
[Sidenote: _Financing Early Stages_]
Where the grower surrenders his cotton to the local dealer the latter
usually has it ginned, but in cases where the planter is able to
finance himself he takes his cotton to the gin himself, pays for the
ginning, and either sells in so-called gin bales, (before they are
compressed) or, if a warehouse is available at the gin or compress
point, holds his cotton until he can obtain a satisfactory price
for it. The local banks perform a very important part of the crop
financing at this stage, for, since the grower sells for cash, the
buyers require advances. These are made by the Southern banks against
buyers’ tickets, showing cotton purchased, against gin receipts,
warehouse receipts, compress receipts, and finally when the cotton is
shipped, against bills of lading.
[Illustration: _The Square Bale_]
[Sidenote: _The Merchant Buyer’s Importance_]
[Sidenote: _The Take-up Man_]
The large cotton merchants fulfill a very essential function in
that they are responsible for the concentration of the raw material
and for its redistribution into the proper channels of manufacture.
They maintain branches and representatives throughout the entire
cotton growing areas and are directly connected by wire with all the
important exchanges. By far the bulk of their buying is done after
the close of the New York Exchange from local and intermediate buyers
who during the day have been acquiring mixed lots of all sorts.
The merchant’s representative, known as the take-up man, goes over
and classifies the cotton accumulated by the local buyers, takes a
sample from each bale which he tags with a duplicate of the shipping
tag he places on the bale itself, and then ships the cotton to the
concentration point and the samples to the office at that place. He
pays the local buyer by draft or check.
[Sidenote: _Even-running Lots from Compress Point_]
The office at the concentration point, usually where there is a
compress, has in the meantime received instructions from the head
office as to how to make up the various lots. As the bales are
compressed they are collected into even-running lots of certain
grades for which the head office has received inquiries from
mills, and are shipped out in this way. The branch office will
ship according to instructions forwarding the bills of lading with
invoices and sight drafts to the head office or to some bank.
[Sidenote: _Cooperative Marketing_]
Since the war, and particularly in the last three years, the
co-operative movement has in some sections developed to such an
extent as to supplant in large part the old system of marketing.
In Texas, Georgia, and other States, a large part of the crop
is now concentrated, financed, and sold through these extensive
organizations of growers either direct to mills, or to large
merchants and exporters.
Almost all cotton is bought on Middling Basis, but some is taken
on sample with guarantees, (often a dangerous practice for both
parties), and some is taken at a fixed price per bale.
[Sidenote: _Direct Buying_]
A few Southern mills buy direct from nearby growers, but the
preponderant majority and practically all the Northern mills obtain
their cotton through merchants, or through brokers representing
Southern merchants.
We have seen briefly how the cotton is grown and brought to market,
but we have still to consider the all important question of what
determines the price at which it changes hands.
6. THE COTTON EXCHANGES
[Sidenote: _“Spot” and “Futures”_]
[Sidenote: _The Great Markets_]
Cotton trading falls roughly into two categories: trading in cotton
for immediate delivery, or spot cotton; and buying or selling for
delivery at some future time. Purchases or sales of spot cotton mean
that cotton actually will be delivered from vendor to purchaser, but,
as we shall see, trading in futures does not necessarily mean that
the contract will be fulfilled by delivery. The great cotton markets
are New York, Liverpool, New Orleans, Bremen, and Havre. Of these
New York is almost entirely a futures market, while New Orleans is
chiefly a spot market. Liverpool, Bremen, and Havre trade in both
spot and futures, but Liverpool is the European centre for trading in
future contracts.
[Sidenote: _The New York Cotton Exchange_]
Only about 2% of the annual crop is sold spot in New York, and yet
it is the prices on the New York Cotton Exchange which govern very
largely the price paid to the grower in the South by the various
buyers. The New York Exchange is the barometer of the American, and
to a large extent, of the world’s cotton trade, because its mechanism
works out the equilibrium between demand and supply; and as this
mechanism consists chiefly of the trading device called the “Hedge”,
we shall digress for a moment to consider its operation.
[Sidenote: _The “Hedge”_]
We might say that hedging is an insurance against fluctuations in
cotton prices by purchase or sale of future contracts for cotton
against sale or purchase made for actual delivery. It consists of
nothing more than of neutralizing the gain or loss which will result
from existing delivery contracts if the price rises or falls before
delivery date, by creating an off-setting loss or gain.
[Sidenote: _As Used by the Merchant_]
Assume, for instance, that a merchant makes a contract with a mill in
July for 100 bales October delivery. He sells at the current price of
let us say 30 cents per pound plus his overhead and profit. In due
course he will obtain his cotton from the South, but in the meantime
he covers, or hedges his contract by buying 100 bales of October
futures on the Exchange. If he has to pay the grower 31 cents for the
cotton which he has sold to the mill for 30 cents, he will on the
other hand, be able to sell his future contract which he bought at
30 cents for 31 cents, so that the loss on one is neutralized by the
gain on the other. Vice versa, he will lose whatever _extra_ profit
he might have made from a falling price.
[Sidenote: _By the Manufacturer_]
In the same way a manufacturer may buy futures against orders he
has accepted for goods, based on the price he expects to pay for
his cotton. Or he may sell futures to protect himself on cotton he
has bought but has not yet covered by cloth contracts. Hedging by
manufacturers, however, particularly in the North, is not a common
practice, because the cloth market is not elastic enough to follow
accurately in the wake of cotton prices, and also because the mill
treasurer rarely wants to hedge cotton in his warehouse, preferring
to rely on his own judgment in matters of purchase.
[Sidenote: _By the Grower_]
Occasionally a grower may find it to his advantage to hedge his crop.
If, for example, he is satisfied in August that the present price
for December is likely to be higher than he will obtain later, he
may sell December futures for a conservative percentage of his crop,
thereby guaranteeing himself against a drop.
[Sidenote: _Speculation_]
By far the greatest part of the future trading, however, is done
by merchants, because they are actually engaged in the business
of selling cotton which they have not yet acquired or of carrying
cotton for which they have no contracts. Speculation, of course,
enters into the dealings on the exchanges as an important economic
factor, in normal times tending to stabilize by discounting future
trends, but in periods of extraordinary demand or supply frequently
causing violent fluctuations in prices. At such times there is
always a good deal of agitation for preventive legislation, but it is
unlikely that dealing in futures will ever be prohibited by law. The
present regulations of the large exchanges eliminate abuse as far as
possible, and the futures markets are really a factor of safety for
the entire industry.
[Sidenote: _The Dissemination of Quotations_]
All the large merchants, as we have seen, have branch offices in the
South, and all these offices have wire connections with the chief
markets. On the basis of the Liverpool quotations and the New York
opening prices the head offices will send out to their branches and
representatives their daily limits, above which they are instructed
not to buy. Inasmuch as most of the small growers are dependent for
their news of the markets upon the buyers, they are at somewhat
of a disadvantage, but the keenness of competition prevents their
exploitation by unscrupulous buyers.
[Sidenote: _New York Cotton Contract_]
A contract on the New York Cotton Exchange calling for the delivery
of 100 bales specifies Middling grade, but the seller may deliver
any grades which are tenderable by the Exchange regulations. These
grades are from Strict Low Middling to Middling Fair, but if tinged,
not below Middling Tinged. Stains are not tenderable. The grades are
determined and settlement made on the basis of so many points on or
off Middling, which, as we have seen, is the basis for all quotations.
[Sidenote: _Buying Season_]
It is evident that mills, which require certain even-running grades,
could of course never buy their cotton on the Middling basis. For
this reason, except in the few cases where they buy direct from
the growers, mills purchase their requirements from dealers on the
basis of samples. Selling to mills, as opposed to selling M/B, is
known as selling on merit. Mills usually begin to buy in September
and fill about 60% of their year’s requirements by January. Those
manufacturers who use the high grades usually buy earliest because of
the limited crop from which they must obtain their share. Cotton is
ordinarily shipped soon after purchase and stored not by the merchant
but at the mill. The recent growth of Southern warehouse companies,
however, has caused mills to carry less cotton than formerly. Mills
ordinarily pay for their cotton in three days.
We have now traced rapidly how the cotton is grown and marketed,
and our next concern will be to follow what happens to it during
the process of making it into goods. Deferring for the moment
consideration of cotton export from the United States, we shall
proceed in Chapter Two, to glance at the various aspects of Cotton
Manufacture.
CHAPTER II
THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON
1. HISTORY IN THE U. S.
Much has been written on the subject of the textile industry and
perhaps even more still remains to be said. It is not the object of
this brief survey to present a complete picture of all the stages
of manufacture, but rather to place briefly before the reader a
necessarily kaleidoscopic view of the various processes.
[Sidenote: _Slater’s Mills_]
[Sidenote: _Whitney’s Gin_]
[Sidenote: _Stimulus of War of 1812_]
Although the first cotton mill in the United States was founded in
Rhode Island by Samuel Slater in 1790, Whitney’s invention of the
cotton gin in 1793 marked the real beginning of the cotton growing
and manufacturing industries in this country, because it solved the
hitherto vexatious problem of separating the fibre from the seed.
Nevertheless, until the war of 1812, this country exported almost all
of its cotton to Great Britain, and imported from there its cotton
goods. The war stimulated the textile industry for two reasons:
first, because no British goods were available; and second, because
it brought about the transference of New England capital from ships
and commerce to home manufacturing industries. The census figures for
1805 show 4,500 spindles in the country; in 1825 there were 800,000.
[Sidenote: _Growth to 1860_]
Various inventions, notably Lowell’s power loom in 1814, and
Jenck’s ring spindle in 1830, made it possible for the New England
manufacturer to compete with the skilled labor of England, and up
to the time of the Civil War the industry made rapid strides. In
1831 795 establishments with 1,200,000 spindles used 77,800,000
pounds of cotton and manufactured $32,000,000 worth of goods. Thirty
years later there were 1091 mills with 5,200,000 spindles using
422,700,000 pounds of cotton and making a product worth $115,700,000.
At this time 570 of the mills were in New England, 340 in the Middle
Atlantic States, 159 in the South, and 22 in the Western States. The
New England mills, however, averaged twice as many spindles as the
others, and Massachusetts and Rhode Island alone contained 48% of the
total.
[Sidenote: _Civil War_]
Home industries at this time supplied most of the coarse drills and
sheetings, while the fine goods were imported from England. There was
a small export trade of coarse goods to Asia. The Civil War cut off
the industrial centers from their raw material so that for five years
no progress was made, and when normal life was resumed a new tendency
towards concentration became manifest. From then on the number of
plants decreased and the individual establishment grew larger, so
that in 1880 there were fewer mills and four and one-half times as
many spindles as twenty years before.
[Sidenote: _Rapid Industrial Rise of the South_]
While we shall discuss the geographical distribution of the industry
in a later chapter, it is worthy of note here that the feature of
the period beginning about 1880 and extending to the present time,
was the gradual growth of the spinning and weaving industry in the
South. The social and economic system in the Southern states before
the abolition of slavery made those states entirely agrarian, but
as soon as a recovery from the war was accomplished, manufacturing,
and particularly cotton manufacturing, grew up surprisingly fast.
A glance at the growth in spindlage in the United States from 1880
to 1923 will suffice to illustrate. Sixty per cent. of the increase
since 1880 was in the South. The units represent millions of spindles.
1880 1890 1900 1910 1923 Inc. 43 yrs.
North 10.1 12.6 14.5 17.4 19.9 9.8
South .5 1.7 4.5 11.2 16.3 15.8
2. MAKING COTTON YARN
[Sidenote: _The Bale_]
Almost all cotton comes to the mill in standard compress bales of
five hundred pounds gross. The cotton is condensed to about 22 pounds
per cubic foot at the compress, wrapped in coarse jute bagging, and
circled with iron hoops. For some time there has been a movement to
improve the so-called square bale, or to replace it with a different
form of packing. Sea Island cotton is frequently packed in a smaller
round bale, and there is much to be said for this practice. What
we are concerned with here, however, is that the mill receives the
cotton in a compressed form which must be loosened before anything
can be done with it.
[Sidenote: THE BALE-BREAKER]
Accordingly, the first thing that happens is that the hoops are
cut, the bagging removed, and the cotton thrown by hand into the
feed-apron of the bale-breaker. This machine does nothing more than
to pick the compressed cotton apart and deliver it in tufts about the
size of a handfull on a belt conveyor.
[Sidenote: _The Opener_]
The travelling belt or feeder delivers these bunches of cotton into
machines called Openers, which simply repeat the operation of the
bale-breaker on a more thorough scale, reducing the large tufts into
many smaller ones. These small pieces are dropped into an air chute
and drawn along parallel rods up to the picker room. During transit
in the trunk much of the heavier dirt falls between the rods and is
removed.
In the most recent installations larger bale-breakers are used which
reduce the cotton to small tufts and deliver through an air pipe to
a condenser in the picker-room. The condenser either empties into
bins or else on to the automatic feed of the breaker-pickers.
[Illustration: _Bale Breakers_]
[Sidenote: _Pickers Remove Coarse Dirt_]
As the tufts come out of the chute they fall into the first of three
machines known as Pickers, whose function is to beat out the coarser
impurities and deliver the cotton in rolls of batting called laps.
In the first, or breaker-picker the tufts are thoroughly whirled
and pounded over grid-bars by rollers armed with short flail-like
projections, and then compressed into a continuous sheet or lap of a
given weight per yard, which is wound on a large spool and delivered
to the second, or intermediate picker. This machine practically
repeats the operation only that it combines four laps from the first
picker into one which it hands over to the last, or finisher picker.
The latter again takes four intermediate laps and forms them into
one sheet of fairly clean cotton, containing very little dirt or
seed, but still fairly filled with small particles of leaf. In these
preliminary operations the cotton has lost about five per cent. of
its weight.
[Illustration: _Picker Room_]
[Sidenote: _The Function of the Card_]
Before anything else can be done it is now necessary to remove the
leaf particles, and to separate the individual fibres from their
matted position. Both these functions are performed by the machine
known as the Card, the principle of which is that of two surfaces
armed with fine wire teeth revolving not quite tangent to each
other. Originally carding was performed by hand, but the Wellman
carding machine was one of the earliest textile inventions. This
was considerably improved by the revolving flat card in 1857, the
operation of which is somewhat as follows.
[Illustration: PRINCIPLE OF THE FLAT CARD]
[Sidenote: _Its Operation_]
The lap from the finisher picker is fed over a plate on to a
revolving cylinder bearing wire teeth, which combs it over a set of
knives, thereby removing coarse dirt, and passes it on to a large
cylinder armed with millions of fine wire teeth. The latter carries
the cotton past a slowly revolving endless chain of flats which
remove the neps and fine dirt. The clean, separated fibres are then
picked off the cylinder by a smaller rapidly revolving roller called
the doffer, which carries them in a filmy sheet to be in turn removed
by the doffing comb. The latter, working so rapidly that the eye
fails to see it, lifts the sheet of fibres clear so that it may be
passed through a funnel and condensed into a single untwisted rope a
little under an inch in diameter. This rope is called a sliver, and
is automatically coiled into a can like an umbrella-stand.
[Sidenote: _Counts of Yarn_]
[Sidenote: _Two Processes_]
[Illustration: _Feed End of Card. Lap Entering_]
[Illustration: _Delivery of Sliver_]
We have now for the first time reduced the raw material to a
continuous strand, comparatively free from impurities. Up to this
point, no matter what kind of yarn is to be spun, the operations
are practically identical, but from here on the processes vary
according to the product desired. A hank of yarn is 840 yards (not
to be confused with the worsted hank of 560 yards) and the number
of hanks it takes to make a pound is the basis upon which yarn is
classified. Thus a coarse yarn which weighs only twenty hanks to the
pound, would be called 20s, while 80s would be a very fine yarn.
Various fabrics require different grades of yarn, just as different
finenesses of yarn must be spun from varying grades of cotton. The
processes preparatory to spinning vary, not only with the counts to
be spun, but with the use to which the yarn is to be put. Ordinary
coarse and medium yarns for weaving usually follow one process, while
fine counts for weaving, or knitting yarn, or coarse yarn made from
long-staple cotton such as that used for tire-duck, go through a
different preparation. The former are simply drawn and reduced, while
the latter are in addition combed.
[Illustration: _Drawing_]
[Sidenote: _First Process_]
[Sidenote: _Drawing_]
In the ordinary process, which is by far the most commonly used, the
sliver from the card is put through successive similar operations,
known as drawing, the object of which is to draw out the fibres
and cause them to lie parallel to each other. Six card slivers are
fed together between two pairs of rollers, the second of which is
revolving faster than the first. The obvious result of this is the
stretching of that portion of the slivers which is between the two
sets of rollers. The operation is usually performed two or three
times, in each case combining six strands into one. The sliver
delivered by the third drawing machine will be of the same diameter
as the original card sliver, but will contain more or less parallel
fibres.
[Illustration: _Roving Frame_]
[Sidenote: _Roving Operations_]
[Sidenote: _Slubber_]
There remains now only one series of operations before the yarn
is ready to be spun. The sliver must be reduced in size and given
a certain amount of twist; these objects are accomplished by the
roving frames, of which there are either three or four. The first, or
slubber, passes the drawn sliver through rollers without combining,
and winds it up on bobbins set in spindles. The sliver is twisted
by being fed onto the bobbin by an arm, or flyer, which revolves a
little more slowly than the spindle, being drawn around after it. The
result is a slightly twisted sliver, now called a roving, about the
diameter of a clothes-line.
[Illustration: _Four Stages of Roving_]
The intermediate, fine frame, and jack frame,—or, if there are only
three roving boxes, the intermediate and fine frames,—combine two
rovings into one of smaller size and more twist. The mechanism is
much the same, except that in each successive frame the spindles are
smaller and revolve faster, until finally the thread is small enough
to spin.
[Sidenote: _Second Process_]
[Sidenote: _Lapper_]
Where it is desired to spin special kinds or very fine yarns twenty
card slivers are usually combined in a machine similar to a drawing
frame and known as a sliver-lapper. The twenty ends are drawn between
rollers and delivered not as we should expect in one strand, but in
a narrow band or lap, which is wound on spools. Four of these laps
are again combined and drawn over a spiral surface in the ribbon
lapper which delivers its product to the comb. The cotton is now in
a band less than a foot wide, with fibres more or less parallel and
practically clean. Since it is desired to spin a yarn which demands
not only parallel but uniform fibres, the short fibres must be
eliminated.
[Sidenote: _The Comb_]
There are a considerable number of combing machines in use at the
present time, but their differences are mechanical rather than in the
function they perform. The Heilmann principle is the most commonly
used in this country. Eight rolls from the ribbon-lapper are placed
in separate rests, or heads, end to end, and each lap is fed through
rollers between teeth of a very fine and rapidly oscillating steel
comb. Every back and forth motion, known as a nip, delivers about
half an inch of filmy sheet from which the short fibres have been
combed out. The eight combed sheets are then once more condensed into
a single sliver and coiled into a cylindrical can.
[Sidenote: _Drawing_]
[Sidenote: _Doublings_]
Following the comb there are usually two drawing frames, each
combining six slivers into one, and these are followed by the three
or four roving frames as in the other process. In the ordinary
process the last roving as it leaves the jack frame has been doubled
27,648 times; in the combed yarn there are 2,959,120 doublings before
spinning begins.
Spinning proper is done either on the mule or the ring spindle. Very
little cotton is spun on mules in this country, although mules are
extensively used in Europe. We shall concern ourselves here only with
the ring spindle, and that in bare outline. (See also Part Two, Page
83).
[Sidenote: _The Ring Frame_]
The principle of the ring frame is very similar to that of the roving
operations which immediately precede it. The thread is again drawn
through two or three sets of rollers running at successively higher
rates of speed, and then passes as shown on the accompanying sketch
through a guide to a small metal loop, called the traveller, which
runs around on a metal track or ring within which the spindle with
its bobbin is revolving. Since the spindle pulls the traveller around
after it, the yarn is twisted or spun as it is wound on the bobbin.
Sometimes two spools of roving are spun into a single thread, but
more frequently there is no combination. All the rings on one frame,
usually about 256, are moved up and down together on their spindles,
so that yarn will be wound evenly on the bobbin.
[Illustration: _Ring Twister_]
[Illustration: THE RING FRAME PRINCIPLE]
[Illustration: _Yarn of Filling Bobbin, Warp Bobbin, and Spool_]
[Sidenote: _Warp and Filling Bobbins_]
Not only is a different bobbin used for spinning warp and filling
yarns, but they are also wound differently on the bobbin. Warp yarn
is wound evenly up and down the whole length of the bobbin, while the
filling bobbins, which go straight from the spindle into the shuttle
of the loom, are wound on in sections to facilitate rapid unwinding.
[Sidenote: _Twisting_]
We have now proceeded as far as the finished yarn. Sometimes,
however, when a particularly strong thread is desired, or in case
of fancy designs, it is desirable to twist two or more threads
of yarn together, this being known as two-ply, three-ply, etc.
Various effects are obtained by twisting different yarns together,
and sometimes worsted and cotton strands are twisted together. The
operation is done on a frame similar to the spinning frame.
[Illustration: _The Barber Knotter_]
[Sidenote: _The Barber Knotter_]
In these and subsequent operations the Barber Knotter, a little
device worn on the hand of the operative, has enormously increased
efficiency. By a single motion an entirely unskilled girl can knot
and cut off evenly the ends of two threads.
3. WEAVING GRAY GOODS
[Sidenote: _Principle of Weaving_]
The modern power loom represents one of the most remarkable
achievements of industrial development. Into its perfection have gone
the inventions and improvements of centuries, and volumes could, and
have been written on the subject of modern weaving. Nevertheless, the
old-fashioned hand-loom has not yet gone out of existence, and still
finds its use in the development of new designs.
[Illustration: _Spooling_]
Weaving is, of course, the process whereby yarn is made into cloth,
and its fundamental principle is that of the warp and weft structure.
In its simplest form this means that a series of threads are
stretched parallel to each other, thereby forming a warp. A second
thread, called the weft, is then passed over the odd and under the
even warp threads, and back again under the odd and over the even.
In this way a cloth fabric will gradually be built up. In most cases
the process has become considerably more complicated than this, but
there are even now certain materials, such as calico, which retain
the elementary weave. The actual weaving, that is, the passing of the
shuttle carrying the weft thread over and under the warp threads, has
now been reduced to an entirely automatic process, even with the most
complicated designs, but the preparatory work still entails a large
proportion of hand labor.
[Illustration: _The Creels_]
[Sidenote: _Spooling_]
The first operation consists of winding the yarn from the bobbin on
to spools, each containing the same length of yarn. This must be done
with care or considerable waste will result.
[Sidenote: _The Creel_]
The next step is to place these spools in a rack or creel where they
fit on glass bearings so that they may be arranged in the proper
order and run through the warper on to the section beam. The latter
is a large roller several of which are combined to form a beam. The
beam is the name given to the roller which is placed in the loom to
deliver the warp threads.
[Sidenote: _Sizing_]
In order both to strengthen the warp threads and to make them
smoother for weaving it is usual to apply some starchy or glutinous
substance to them. This operation, which is performed in a machine
called the Slasher, is termed yarn sizing, and consists of running
the threads through a bath of preparation and then drying them
quickly on a large steam-filled drum or can. One slasher will do
enough work for 200 to 500 looms.
[Illustration: _The Slasher_]
[Sidenote: _Healding_]
Since it is necessary that the warp threads may be lowered or raised
in various combinations to allow the passage of the shuttle, each
warp thread must be passed through an eye in the centre of a harness
wire. Where, for instance, the warp is to be raised and depressed in
three even sections there will be three harness frames, each fitted
with enough heald-wires to accommodate one-third of the number of
threads in the entire warp. In the Jacquard loom, used for intricate
patterns, each warp-thread is separately controlled. The passing of
the ends of the warp through their proper harness wires is a delicate
and skilfull operation known as healding, or drawing-in. At the same
time that this is done the threads are passed through individual
stop-motion wires, relaxed tension on any one of which will bring the
loom to a stop.
[Illustration: _Drawing In_]
[Sidenote: _Reeding_]
Closely connected with drawing-in, is the final step in the
preparation of the warp, and this is called reeding or sleying. In
order to keep the warp threads in proper position during weaving
they are passed through the wires of what looks like a comb with a
strip across the open ends. This, the sley or reed, is attached to
the batten on the loom and serves in addition to drive home each weft
thread after the shuttle has passed.
[Sidenote: _Warp Tieing_]
When the loom has devoured all the warp threads contained on one
beam, all that is necessary, if the pattern is to be continued, is
to tie the ends of the old warp to the ends of the new, and this is
accomplished with marvelous accuracy by a little machine built on the
same principle as the Barber Knotter. This avoids drawing-in a second
time.
[Illustration: _Weaving Shed of Power Looms_]
[Sidenote: _The Power Loom_]
When the preparatory processes have been completed the actual weaving
is done, practically without human agency. The shuttle flies back
and forth at the rate of from one to two hundred picks per minute,
and when its thread is exhausted it drops out and, in the automatic
loom, is immediately supplanted by a fresh one. The harness frames
jerk up and down, forming and reforming the V shaped shed through
which the shuttle passes; and after each pick the batten drives home
the new thread into the ever-growing stretch of cloth. Like the film
in a kodak, where a roller at one end gives out plain paper which is
rolled up at the other end as a magic sheet of pictures, so in the
loom the homely warp threads are rolled out at one end, while the
roller at the other extreme winds up smooth gray cloth.
We have now made yarn out of cotton, and unbleached cotton cloth, or
gray goods, out of our yarn. All that remains before the fabric goes
to the finisher is an inspection for imperfections and their removal
where possible, usually by hand.
4. CONVERTING AND FINISHING
[Sidenote: _Old-Fashioned Bleaching_]
Cotton cloth as it comes from the loom has a gray or yellowish
appearance due to the impurities it contains. The old-fashioned
method of removing these consists in simply spreading the cloth in
the sun for a few days until it is bleached white. Most cloth mills
dispose of their goods in the gray and allow the finishing to be done
by a separate establishment, although the large manufacturers of
“fancies” sometimes do their own finishing.
[Sidenote: _Sewing Together_]
The first step in the finishing plant is to inspect the cloth and
then to sew the ends of many pieces together into long strips. This
greatly facilitates subsequent operations, because the cloth can now
be run through various processes as a single unit.
[Sidenote: _Brushing_]
In order to obtain a smooth surface for later processes, the cloth
is first run through a machine which brushes up the fibres and loose
ends, much as a carpet-sweeper picks up the fibres of a carpet.
Sometimes a bladed roller like a lawn-mower is used.
[Sidenote: _Singeing_]
Removing the raised lint is a dangerous operation because it might
easily damage the cloth, and this is usually done by the process of
singeing. The cloth is run rapidly through gas flames or over hot
plates and is quickly cooled. In this way the fuzz is burned off
without injuring the cloth.
[Sidenote: _Napping_]
[Illustration: _Inspecting_]
[Illustration: _Sewing Ends Together_]
The next step is usually the bleaching process, except where the
cloth is to be finished as a corduroy, velvet, or flannel. In the
latter case it is first run through the napper, a machine which
brushes up the fibre with wire teeth in such a way as to leave a
raised face or nap.
[Illustration: _Singeing_]
[Sidenote: _Bleaching Process_]
Bleaching is accomplished by boiling the cloth for several hours in
large iron tanks known as kiers, which contain a solution of caustic
soda. Next it is washed and scoured in dilute acid for several hours
with the object of removing iron stains. Then it is again washed,
boiled a second time, washed, run through a chemical solution of
bleaching powder, and allowed to steep. After a last washing the
cloth is dried by running over copper drums filled with steam, and is
then rolled up in bundles about the size of a barrel.
[Sidenote: _White Goods_]
If the cloth is to be finished as plain white goods it is next
starched and ironed (calendared), inspected, and put up in bolts for
shipment.
[Sidenote: _Mercerization_]
If, however, it is desired either to dye or print the cloth with
various colors and designs, it still has several treatments to pass
through. White goods are sometimes mercerized, but more commonly this
process is employed with cloth that is to be dyed. Mercerization is
the treating of cotton yarn or cloth to the action of caustic soda
dissolved in water, the remaining soda being removed by a wash of
dilute sulphuric acid. The result is an increased strength of fibre,
loss of elasticity, silky appearance, and an affinity for certain
dyes and mordants.
[Illustration: _Napping_]
[Sidenote: _Dyeing_]
The subject of dyeing is one of intense interest and wide scope, but
it is unfortunately beyond the field of this brief survey. Suffice
it to say that various chemical processes and mechanical devices are
employed to give a permanent color to the cloth. (Yarn and raw stock
dyeing are less commonly employed in the cotton than in the woolen
and worsted industries.)
[Sidenote: _Resist and Discharge Printing_]
Some cotton cloth is simply dyed with a solid color and finished,
but frequently it is first dyed with one color and then printed with
others, or with a chemical which will discharge the dye and leave
white figures wherever it touches the cloth. In contrast to this
discharge method, where it is desired to obtain white figures on a
colored back-ground, it is also possible first to print the figures
with a chemical that will resist the subsequent action of the
dye-stuff. Where a white ground is used and it is not essential that
the colors and design appear on both sides of the cloth it is not
necessary to dye at all.
[Illustration: _Bleaching Kiers_]
[Sidenote: _Printing Process_]
The printing process is a very old one, and was employed centuries
ago in China and India, where natives used to impregnate cloth with
colored designs by pounding small wooden blocks carved and filled
with color on its surface. The modern printing machine has a series
of copper rollers in which the design to be printed is etched or
sunk. Under each roller where it is fixed in the printing press is a
trough filled with the particular coloring matter which that roller
is to print on the cloth. As the mechanism revolves the roller is
constantly supplied with new color, which is scraped off its surface
except where the sunken design holds it, by a knife, called the
doctor. If the design calls for six colors there will be six rollers
at work, and so on up to fourteen colors at a single run through the
press.
[Sidenote: _Engraving_]
An infinite number of designs are printed, and the method of getting
them etched on the copper roller is a fascinating one. A zinc plate
is carved by hand on a greatly enlarged scale from the original
sketch, and from this plate the girls who operate the pantograph
machines transfer the outlines of each color on to the copper rollers.
[Illustration: _Printing Machine_]
[Sidenote: _The Pantograph_]
When the roller is placed in the pantograph it is coated with
varnish. As the girl traces the outlines of the design on her zinc
plate with a little pointer, she presses a treddle which brings a
number of little diamond points in contact with the roller. Each one
of these points cuts through the varnish, reproducing the design in
its original size. There will be as many points as the number of
times the design is repeated across the roller. When the roller is
finished it is given a bath in nitric acid which will eat into the
copper where the varnish has been cut away, thus sinking the design
so that it will hold color.
[Illustration: _A Battery of Forty-eight_]
[Sidenote: _Aging and Washing_]
There remain now only the finishing operations before the cloth is
ready to be packed for the market. Usually, after printing, the cloth
is steamed, or aged, to make the colors fast. Then it is fixed and
soaped thoroughly, after which it is run through the drier.
[Sidenote: _Starching_]
[Sidenote: _The Tenter_]
In order to give the cloth the proper “feel” an operation is next
performed which closely resembles warp sizing. A certain amount of
hot starch is pressed into the cloth, after which it is drawn through
the tenter frames and not only dried but stretched back to its normal
width. The tenter frame is about one hundred feet long and contains
long lines of steam pipes. On each side an endless chain with clips
grips the cloth and moving gradually further apart, these chains
stretch the cloth, delivering it dry and of even width. (Some goods,
notably those made for Asiatic consumption in England, are not only
starched but filled with China clay, which adds over 100% to their
weight.)
[Illustration: _Engraving Plate_]
As it comes off the tenter the cloth goes through steel rollers and
is pressed smooth, after which it is automatically folded and made
ready for ticketing and packing.
5. THE KNITTING INDUSTRY
[Sidenote: _History_]
We have just seen by what processes cotton yarn becomes first gray
cloth, and then finished goods. There is of course a tremendous
variety of woven fabric, ranging all the way from the coarsest sail
cloth to the finest organdie. And there are certain finishes such as
velveteen and corduroy which, for want of space, we have not even
touched upon. There is, however, a whole class of cotton fabric which
is not woven but knit; and since most of our hosiery and underwear
are made in this way, it behooves us to take at least a brief glance
at the knitting industry.
[Illustration: _Transferring Design to Copper Roller_]
The principle of knitting is so familiar to every one who is or has
a mother or wife that no description of it is necessary. Curiously
enough, although the original stocking frame was invented as far back
as 1589, power was applied to the industry for the first time at
Cohoes, N. Y., in 1832. This city is still the centre of underwear
manufacture in this country.
[Illustration: _Cloth in Tenter-frame_]
[Sidenote: _Two Types of Machines_]
Knitting is now done on two general types of machines: the flat bed
knitter, and the circular knitting machine. In the former the garment
is knit in one flat piece and seamed afterwards. Underwear made in
this way is described as full-fashioned. On the circular machine a
seam is not necessary, for the complete cylinder of fabric is made
at once. While it is possible to manufacture underwear on a circular
frame, its use is far better adapted to the knitting of hosiery, and
a very large industry for the manufacture of this product has grown
up in and near Philadelphia.
[Sidenote: _The Flat Bed Knitter_]
The Cotton Knitting Frame, invented in 1864, is still the basis of
the modern flat-bed knitter. The product is a flat web which can be
widened or narrowed by transferring the loops from the edge needles
to a separate instrument, and then replacing them. In knitting
stockings, the shaped legs are made on one machine, then transferred
to a heeler, and then to a third machine which knits the feet. The
stockings then must be seamed up the back. The largest machines are
capable of knitting twenty-four garments at one time. The advantage
of this type is that it produces more elastic fabric, but it
requires more operatives and more highly skilled labor than the
circular machine.
[Illustration: _Calendar_]
[Sidenote: _The Circular Machine_]
A series of inventions made in Philadelphia from 1867 to 1889
perfected the completely automatic circular machine of which there
are now more than seven times as many in use in this country than
there are full-fashioned knitters. The seamless machine goes on
continuously and manufactures the entire garment at once. Narrowing
is done by shortening the loops, and this accounts for the loss of
elasticity.
The finishing operations consist of seaming, where necessary, and
removing imperfections.
[Sidenote: _Growth_]
The growth and importance of the industry is perhaps best realized
from the fact that in 1870 there were 5,625 machines in the country,
in 1905, 88,374, and now well over one hundred thousand. In 1850 men
wore hand-knitted socks and flannel underwear. From 1860 to 1910 the
product of the country’s knitting machines rose from $7,300,000 to
$200,100,000.
[Illustration: _Folding_]
Cotton yarn is used more than woolen because it spins more cheaply
and is less difficult to knit.
6. OTHER COTTON PRODUCTS
Before concluding this part of our survey which deals with the
manufacture of cotton into finished goods, we must at least enumerate
some of the by-products and minor fruits of the industry.
[Sidenote: _Seed Oil_]
[Sidenote: _Linters_]
To begin with, at the time that the cotton is ginned the seeds are
sold to the manufacturers of cotton oil. Without going into detail as
to the process, we have here an annual product for this country worth
$384,000,000. Seed mills regin the seed before they crush it and
remove the short fibres which have hitherto adhered to the seed. This
regained cotton is known as linters and amounts annually to about
800,000 bales.
[Sidenote: _Felt and Surgical Dressings_]
Being of very short staple this reginned cotton is adapted for the
manufacture of felts and surgical dressings, both of which are
important by-products.
[Sidenote: _Lace_]
The manufacture of small-wares and lace curtains is another minor
branch of cotton manufacture. Here, however, domestic production
is comparatively small, and the bulk of the lace used is imported.
Nevertheless probably over 75,000,000 yards[3] of the lace are made
annually in this country.
[Sidenote: _Gun Cotton_]
[Sidenote: _Collodion_]
Gun-cotton, a highly explosive substance, is obtained by soaking
cotton (usually linters) in nitric and sulphuric acids and then
leaving it to dry. And again, gun-cotton dissolved in ether and
alcohol yields the much used surgical adhesive known as collodion.
The stems and leaves of the cotton plant are used for fodder, the
seed hulls for fertilizer, and there is in fact no part of the plant
from which man has not learned to derive some useful product.
[3] This figure is only roughly approximated.
CHAPTER III
FROM MILL TO CONSUMER
1. INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATION
Before we proceed to discuss the various ways in which cotton goods
are marketed we shall first take a cursory glance at the way in which
the industry is subdivided.
[Sidenote: _The Mill Treasurer_]
The president of a cotton mill is usually not the active head of the
business; his position corresponds to that of the chairman of the
board of directors in the usual banking or mercantile corporation.
The mill treasurer is, on the other hand, the chief directive force,
and he performs the two all-important functions of buying the mill’s
raw cotton and selling its product, either direct or through other
channels. In the mills of New Bedford and Fall River, which make
chiefly gray goods, the treasurer usually has his office at the mill.
In most other New England mills the treasurer is usually a member of
a selling house and is frequently the treasurer for more than one
mill.
[Sidenote: _The Agent or Supt._]
Where the treasurer has his office in the mill the man who has
charge of the actual operation is known as the mill superintendent.
His functions include the general management of the plant and the
purchasing of supplies other than cotton. Where the treasurer
maintains his office in a selling house, the operating head is
known as an Agent and enjoys a greater degree of responsibility and
independence. There are of course a varying number of minor operating
chiefs in charge of sundry departments.
[Sidenote: _Spinning and Weaving in Same Plant_]
The average New England cotton mill contains about fifty thousand
spindles, while the Southern mill runs about twenty-five thousand.
The vast majority of mills do both spinning and weaving, although
some Southern mills sell yarn and some Pennsylvania establishments
do nothing but weave. Of the entire number of spindles in the
country, 83%, and of the looms 97%, are in mills which do both
spinning and weaving.
[Sidenote: _Segregation of the Converter_]
In contrast to the tendency towards unification in spinning and
weaving is the ever-increasing segregation of the converting plants.
The rise of the merchant-converter, the growing demand for a great
variety of finishes, and the fact that converting is very much
cheaper on a large scale, have all brought about an increasing
tendency on the part of the mill to sell its cloth in the gray, or to
have it finished on commission.
[Sidenote: _Knitting_]
While a few large knitting mills spin their own yarn, this is the
exception rather than the rule. On the other hand the knitting mills
finish their product for the market themselves, and sell either
direct or through a selling house.
2. THE DISTRIBUTION OF PRODUCTS
There are four general ways in which a cotton mill may dispose of
its products: a. by selling direct, b. through a selling house, c.
through a broker, d. through a converter.
[Sidenote: _a._
_Selling Direct_]
A few very large mills maintain selling offices of their own in the
large centers of distribution through which they market their goods
direct to the jobbers and retailers. In most cases where direct
selling is done, however, the goods are sold in the gray by the mill
treasurer at the mill. This practice is common with those mills which
make staple gray goods and which, when not sold ahead, are able to
manufacture for stock against spot sales. A few Southern yarn mills
also sell direct.
[Sidenote: _b._
_Growth of the Selling House_]
The relation between the manufacturer and commercial banker or
commission house is as old as the industry itself. Slater’s first
mill in 1790 was financed by Almy & Brown of Boston, who undertook to
market his goods and also to furnish him the credit he needed to buy
cotton and supplies. In the early days the cloth was sold at auction
by the selling house and the proceeds less commission credited to the
mill. Later on the factors developed extensive selling organizations
throughout the country by means of which they were able to market the
products of a good many mills.
[Sidenote: “_Fancies_”]
[Sidenote: _Finances_]
The distribution of fancy goods requires a great deal of skill. The
Fall and Spring lines to be manufactured by the mills are sent out
to the trade by the selling house about six months ahead, and orders
are taken before manufacture begins so as to be sure that the line
will “take”. Of course there is always the danger of cancellations
even then, for which the selling house must bear most of the
responsibility.
In addition to distributing the goods and guaranteeing the accounts,
the commission house renders financial assistance either by advancing
on the mill’s product, or by indorsing its notes. In return it
receives the sole agency for the mill’s products, interest on the
money advanced and a commission. The latter varies with the amount of
financial assistance required by the mill and the desirability of the
risk.
As a general rule the Southern mills, because of their distance
from the chief markets in New York, Boston, and Philadelphia, are
more dependent upon their selling agents than the New England
manufacturers.
In New England a great number of manufacturers are amply able to
finance themselves, and could if necessary sell their own products.
Stock ownership, however, and old ties have frequently kept up the
relationship with the selling houses after its usefulness was partly
outworn. Nevertheless in the selling of fancy goods, even where
the mill is supplied with plenty of capital, the commission house
fulfills a very necessary function.
[Sidenote: _c._
_The Broker_]
Gray goods are very often sold either by a mill or a selling house
through the medium of a cloth broker. The latter is strictly a middle
man in that he does nothing but bring together prospective purchaser
and seller. In the event of sale he gets a commission of ½%, which he
often more than earns by his efforts. These brokers are in touch with
all the mills, converters, and consumers.
[Sidenote: _d._
_Merchant Converters_]
While there are some independent finishing establishments, most of
them operate on a commission basis for merchant converters. The
latter are a class of merchants of comparatively recent origin,
having appeared first about 1880, since which time they have
practically taken control of the finishing industry. They buy gray
goods either direct from the mill, or through a broker or selling
house, and have them finished according to whatever they think the
requirements of the market are. Inasmuch as they pay on short credit
and carry the goods during conversion, frequently selling on several
months’ credit to jobbers and retailers, they perform an important
part of the financing of the cloth. Their recent rapid rise has been
due largely to the growing demand for a multiplicity of seasonal
designs.
Some large cutters-up, and a few big mail-order houses do their own
finishing or have it done. As a rule they buy from converters and
sell to the jobber, retailer, or consumer.
We have now traced the cotton from the seed through the various
processes of manufacture and finishing, and followed the finished
goods through the channels of distribution to the consumer. It
remains only for us to compare briefly the position of the United
States with that of other countries, and the position of the various
sections within the United States.
CHAPTER IV
THE POSITION OF THE UNITED STATES
1. COTTON PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION
Ever since the Civil War the United States has produced more than
half of the world’s cotton crop. From 1860 to 1900 about one-third
of the annual crop was consumed by the domestic industries, and from
that time domestic takings have increased, except for 1921, to an
average of about 50% in the last few years. During the same period
the actual size of the annual crops increased enormously. If we take
the figures from the present back to 1790 it will give a rough idea
of the progress since that time.
Year Crop in bales Exports % of dom. takings
(of 500 lbs.)
1790 3 1 66
1850 2,136 1,854 13
1860 3,841 615 84
1870 4,024 2,922 28
1880 6,356 4,453 30
1890 8,562 5,850 32
1900 10,266 6,806 33
1910 12,005 8,205 32
1915 12,122 6,405 47
1917 12,428 4,587 64
1919 12,028 6,760 44
1921 8,351 6,479 23
1922 10,369 5,049 52
(Expressed in thousands of bales)
[Illustration: WORLD’S COTTON PRODUCTION
1908]
[Illustration: WORLD’S COTTON PRODUCTION
1922-3]
[Illustration: WORLD’S COTTON CONSUMPTION
1908]
[Illustration: WORLD’S COTTON CONSUMPTION
1922-3]
THE INTERNATIONAL ACCEPTANCE BANK, INC. AND THE COTTON TRADE
THE INTERNATIONAL ACCEPTANCE BANK, INC., offers to COTTON EXPORTERS
a unique service. It is not only equipped to finance shipments to
all parts of the world, but, because of the fact that it has as
shareholders the leading banks and bankers of Europe, it is in a
position to obtain unusual service, advice, and information for its
clients.
THE INTERNATIONAL ACCEPTANCE BANK, INC., is constantly in touch with
conditions abroad, and maintains extensive credit files on European
cotton merchants and spinners. It not only finances millions of
dollars of cotton exports every year for its domestic clients, but
opens credits for an even larger amount in favor of American shippers
by order of its clients abroad.
THE INTERNATIONAL ACCEPTANCE BANK, INC., deals actively in foreign
exchange, and by reason of the large orders it receives from abroad,
is often in a position to purchase foreign currency drafts of cotton
shippers at exceptionally fine rates.
PART TWO
WOOL
By
JAMES PAUL WARBURG
Vice-President
INTERNATIONAL ACCEPTANCE BANK, INC.
Photographs by courtesy of
The American Woolen Co.
[Illustration: _Grading fleeces_]
CHAPTER I
THE RAW MATERIAL
1. SHEEP RAISING
[Sidenote: _Early History_]
The raising of sheep goes so far back into primitive times that
historians have been compelled to draw a veil over its origin.
Whether sheep antedate man, or man existed before sheep, is a
question that has never been authoritatively answered. For our
purposes very little history will suffice. We know that sheep were
raised in Biblical times, but we do not know much about them. We do
know, however, that the old Romans practised sheep-breeding with
great care and even went so far as to cover their animals with cloth
in order to preserve the clean quality of the fleece. During the
reign of the Roman Emperor, Claudius (A. D., 50), an Italian named
Columella, took several Italian sheep to Spain and crossed them with
the native Spanish Merino breed. It is said that the resulting type
is the progenitor of all the Merino breeds which now form the basis
of sheep-breeding. Under the rule of the Saracens, Spain became
not only a great sheep-raising country, but a woolen manufacturing
country as well. In the thirteenth century there were no less than
sixteen thousand looms in the town of Seville alone.
[Sidenote: _Spain_]
When the Saracens were driven out by Philip III. the textile industry
disappeared from Spain, but sheep husbandry, which did not require
skilled labor, remained, and Spanish wool continued to be the finest
in the world.
[Sidenote: _Europe_]
[Sidenote: _Spread of Merino_]
During the eighteenth century various European countries began
to import merinos and cross them with their native breeds. This,
because of the sturdy quality of some of the native types, frequently
produced excellent results. In France we thus have the origin of the
Rambouillet merino, in Germany and Austria of the Saxony and Silesian
breeds. In 1810 merinos were first introduced into Australia with
astonishing results both as to grade of wool and increase of flocks.
About the same time South America, South Africa, and the United
States imported Spanish sheep. Of all the highly civilized countries,
England is the only one where merino breeding was not successful.
This was due in part to the climate, but the chief cause was the fact
that British sheep-raising was primarily for mutton purposes, and
only secondarily for wool. The merino types are smaller, and hence do
not yield as good mutton carcasses as some of the native “Down” and
“Mountain” breeds. In many cases, however, the native English breeds,
notably the Lincolns, have been imported to other countries and there
crossed with merinos with very good success.
[Sidenote: _Native Breeds_]
It would not be possible to give in detail the various breeds of
sheep existing in different countries. Merino sheep are now bred in
many parts of the world, and, together with the high crossbreds,
are the source of all the fine wools known as merino, half-blood,
and three-eighths wools. Long wools are derived from various native
breeds, chiefly English, and from the lower crossbreds of merinos,
such as quarter and low quarter bloods. Chinese, Siberian, and
Turkish wools, as well as many other uncivilized types, are usually
very long and coarse, and are known as carpet and braid wools.
[Sidenote: _Sources_]
Most of the best merino wools come from Australia, the next best
from South Africa, and from South America. The latter have one
fault in that they contain many spiral burrs which are difficult to
remove, and which frequently get through the machines and show up as
imperfections in the cloth. Europe grows some very fine short wools,
but these hardly ever leave the countries they are grown in.
[Sidenote: _U. S. Domestic_]
United States wools are known as “domestic” and “territory.” Domestic
wools are those grown in the eastern and middle western states,
notably in the Ohio valley. These contain the highest grades of
merino wools grown in this country. It must be remembered that
sheep raising began in the East, and as civilization expanded, was
gradually crowded further and further westward. The opening of the
Erie Canal in 1825 made available the fertile pasture lands of the
Ohio valley. The Ohio Canal eight years later opened up still more
territory, and in 1849 during the famous gold rush, sheep were first
taken to California.
[Sidenote: _Territory_]
The territory wools are those grown in the Rocky Mountain Plateau
states. Recently, with improved methods and greater care in breeding,
some very fine wools have been derived from Idaho, Wyoming, Nevada,
and Montana, and from a few other states. The Texas and California
wools are usually classed separately, because they are in most cases
clipped twice a year. A little later we shall discuss the various
grades and sorts of wool obtained from the different breeds, but as
the wool is shorn or pulled before it is graded, we shall take up
these processes first.
AVERAGE WEIGHTS OF DIFFERENT BREEDS OF SHEEP WITH WEIGHTS OF FLEECES
Breed Ewes Rams Fleece
Pounds Pounds Pounds
Leicester 185 235 10
Cotswold 200 285 12
Lincoln 250 300 15
Southdown 145 200 6 English Breeds (Mutton)
Shropshire 165 215 9
Oxford 220 275 11
Hampshire 200 275 8
Rambouillet Mer. 155 235 18
Amer. Merino A. 105 145 22
” ” B. 110 155 20 Merino Breeds
” ” C. 125 175 18
(delaine)
2. SHEARING AND MARKETING OF FLEECE WOOL
Wool is obtained from the sheep in two ways; it is either shorn from
the live animal, or pulled from the skin of the slaughtered carcass.
[Sidenote: _Shearing_]
[Sidenote: _Australian System_]
Shearing was formerly done by hand. An expert was able to clip as
many as one hundred head per day, but the average was less than
half of that amount. The introduction of machine shearing has made
it possible for one man to shear from 175 to 200 sheep in a day,
and the fleece is very much more evenly clipped than formerly. Some
merino breeds, known as type A, have so many folds of loose skin that
machine shearing is not feasible, but except for these animals, and
some of the type B or Rambouillet Merinos, almost all sheep are now
shorn by machine, that is, where they are raised in numbers. Sheep
raising in this country is not pursued with nearly so much care as,
for instance, in Australia. There they have huge shearing sheds where
the animals are first sweated and then carefully shorn. Whereas here
the entire fleece is left in one piece, in Australia the belly is
shorn separately and each fleece is carefully skirted, that is, the
inferior parts such as the britch are torn off. Then each fleece is
folded and tied up and the fleeces are put up in bales. Moreover, a
bale usually contains fleeces of the same grade, so that practically
nothing but sorting remains to be done by the purchaser. Here, on
the other hand, fleeces are shorn in one piece and are folded up
carelessly, without skirting. The tying up is frequently done in a
slovenly manner, and a bag will very often contain all grades of wool
from the finest to the coarsest. Of late years some attempt has been
made to install the Australian system, but without much success.
[Sidenote: _Seasons_]
The shearing season in the northern hemisphere is in the spring, in
countries below the equator, except Australia, it is, of course,
in our fall. In Texas and California, as well as in some other
localities, shearing is frequently done twice a year.
[Sidenote: _Marketing_]
Roughly speaking, there are seven ways in which the wool grower may
dispose of his fleece wool:
[Sidenote: _Merchant Buyers_]
1. He may sell it to buyers representing merchants. The merchant,
while he is a middle man and therefore incurs the usual anathema,
performs a variety of very essential services. At the time of the
clip he sends his buyers to the wool producing centers and buys the
clip for cash, then he ships it to his warehouse, grades it, and
sells to the mills on credit. Obviously he finances a very important
part of the production, and is furthermore essential, because he
knows the demand, which the wool-grower does not, and the supply—of
which the mill is usually ignorant.
[Sidenote: _Mill Buyers_]
2. The wool grower may also sell to buyers representing mills. He
likes to do this because he eliminates the merchant’s profit, but, as
a matter of fact, there are only very few mills large enough to stand
the buying expense, and even fewer that can afford to buy their
whole season’s supply of raw material at one time and for cash. Also,
mills can usually employ only certain grades of wool, and cannot
therefore as a rule buy a whole clip.
[Sidenote: _Consignment_]
3. If the grower thinks that he is not receiving fair offers from the
visiting buyers, he will frequently consign his wool to a merchant
to be sold on commission for his account. In this case he may or may
not get a better price, but it costs him his carrying charges plus
commission. There are some wool houses that make it a specialty to
execute commission sales of this nature.
[Sidenote: _Local Mills_]
4. Some wool is sold direct to nearby mills. This is done
particularly in Ohio, where many of the smaller mills obtain their
entire requirements in this manner.
[Sidenote: _Local Dealers_]
5. Wool growers sometimes sell to local dealers. This is particularly
prevalent in regions where the individual grower’s production is
small. In most eastern states there are a great number of small
farmers who grow a certain amount of wool. The local dealers are in
many cases also the general store-keepers, and, since they are the
farmer’s creditor on other merchandise, and since the average farmer
knows very little about the grades of wool, these individuals very
frequently turn a handsome profit when they in turn sell to the
visiting buyers.
[Sidenote: _Coop. Sales_]
6. Some wool is sold through farmers’ co-operative sales agencies,
but these organizations have in the past been so poorly administered,
that, as a general rule they have not been successful. The movement
is, however, gaining ground and has shown great progress during
recent years.
[Sidenote: _Auctions_]
7. Finally, there remains the method whereby almost all the British
and colonial wools are sold, namely, by auction. Auction sales have
been established for almost a century in London, Liverpool, Antwerp,
Bremen, Hamburg, Marseilles, and recently in Australia. This method
of disposing of their raw product does not, however, appeal to the
American growers, because of the inherent American trading instinct.
It is also not very feasible in this country, because the wool is
not graded in the shearing sheds and because sheep-raising in not
standardized.
[Sidenote: _Markets_]
The chief markets for wool in this country are Boston, Philadelphia,
Chicago, New York and St. Louis.
3. PULLED WOOL
We have above discussed the shearing and marketing of wool obtained
from the living animal. There remains a large quantity of wool which
is taken from the pelts of slaughtered sheep. In 1919 there were
produced 48,300,000 pounds of pulled wool in the U. S. as against
265,939,000 pounds of sheared wool.
[Sidenote: _Use_]
Skin wool, or tanner’s wool, as it is sometimes known, is used
extensively for soft twist yarns, bed blankets, flannels, felts, etc.
It is also used as an admixture in blends for top-making, as we shall
see later.
There are three methods whereby pulled wool is obtained.
[Sidenote: _Sweating_]
The oldest and simplest process is known as sweating, and consists
simply in sweating the hides until the wool is loosened and can
easily be pulled out. The disadvantage of this method is that it
injures the hides.
[Sidenote: _Lime_]
The lime process consists in loosening the wool by painting the flesh
side of the hide with lime. This also injures the hides somewhat and
has a bad effect on the dyeing qualities of the wool.
[Sidenote: _Depilatory_]
The depilatory process is the best, and varies from the lime process
only in that a solution is used instead of lime. This mixture
consists of sodium sulphate, sulphuric acid, and oyster shells.
By far the greatest pullery in the world is situated at Mazamet,
France, where the industry has assumed gigantic proportions. The
large packers in this country all operate their own pulleries, and
the pulled wool is marketed largely by them. Most mills buy their
pulled wool direct from the pulleries, but some is handled by
merchants.
4. WHAT IS WOOL
We have now traced the wool from the sheep’s back as far as the bag,
and may assume that the bag has travelled from the shearing shed
to the merchant’s or mill’s warehouse. Some foreign wools, notably
Australian and South American, are, as we have seen, skirted and
roughly graded in the shearing shed, so that, when the bag is opened,
there remains only the sorting to do. Grading is the separation
of fleeces into classified groups. Skirting is the removal from
each fleece of the worst parts, namely, the britch wool, manure
locks (known as tags), and matted or kempy portions. Sorting is the
dividing of the individual fleece into various classifications.
[Sidenote: _Wool as Against Hair_]
Before we take up the grades and sorts in detail, it will be well
for us to inquire briefly into the nature of the wool fibre. In the
first place, wool differs from hair in that its fibre consists of a
core (medulla), a pulp (cortex), and an epidermis. A hair follicle
consists of a medulla and an epidermis. Moreover, the epidermis
of a hair is closely and evenly scaled, which makes it smooth and
lustrous. The surface of a wool fibre is not evenly serrated, which
accounts for the felting, or interlocking, quality. Wool in which
there is insufficient moisture and natural grease (yolk) frequently
becomes felted at the ends. Such wool is variously referred to as
cotted, cotty, or brashy. The tensile strength of a wool fibre is
low, its elasticity high. The length of the fibre varies from one
to over ten inches, and the diameter from .0018 to .004 inches. The
better a wool the less like it is to a hair. Generally speaking,
the finer the wool, the shorter the fibre, but length alone would
not indicate the grade. Pure merino and high cross-bred wools have
a close wave, known as crimp, which increases the elasticity and is
therefore desirable from a spinning standpoint.
The chemical composition of wool is: carbon 50%, hydrogen 7%,
nitrogen 18%, oxygen 22%, and sulphur 3%. It is soluble in alkalies,
and at a temperature of 130° C. will reduce to powder.
[Sidenote: _Shrinkage_]
Wool before it is scoured contains a large quantity of yolk, or
natural grease, and also, besides dust and vegetable matter, a
considerable amount of dried perspiration, or suint. The amount of
weight lost through the removal of these substances when the wool
is scoured is termed shrinkage. It will be readily appreciated that
this is a very important factor in connection with the purchase of
grease wool. The percentage of shrinkage varies from 20% to 80%.
Nevertheless a good buyer will often be able to estimate within one
or two per cent. The factors to be considered in this connection are
the breed, the soil, the climate, and the care with which the sheep
are raised, as well as the diligence with which the fleeces are put
up. Fine wools always shrink more heavily than coarse; and pulled
wools, since they are washed and brushed during the process, show a
very much lower shrinkage than fleece wools. The average shrinkage of
United States wools is about 55%. Fine domestics shrink about 60%.
Lower grades about 45%. Fine territory wools about 65%; lower grades
about 55%. Pulled wool averages about 27%. Fine Australian wools
average 49%, for, although they are the finest, the fleeces contain
less dirt. Cape wools about 62%, and South American about 51%.
[Sidenote: _Qualities Desired_]
The qualities looked for in wool are roughly six, and they vary
according to the purpose for which the wool is to be used.
1. It must be fine enough to spin the required number of counts.
2. It must be strong enough to withstand strain of manufacture.
3. It must have the proper staple (length).
4. It must be of a certain softness or hardness.
5. It must have the proper felting qualities if the material is to be
fulled.
6. It must either scour white, or else have sufficient lustre to take
dyes.
[Sidenote: _Clothing and Combing_]
As we take up the manufacture of worsted and woolen yarns we shall
see how these qualifications play a different part in the two
processes. At the outset the only important difference we are
concerned with is staple length. Generally speaking, wools under two
inches are too short to be combed and are classed as clothing wools.
_Clothing wools are used for woolens, combing wools for worsteds._
This applies only to wools of fine fibre. The mere fact that a wool
has long staple length does not make it a combing wool. As a rule,
the coarser the wool the longer its staple, and the longest wools are
the exceedingly coarse “common” or “braid” wools, which can only be
used for carpet manufacture.
[Illustration: _Sorting Wool_]
In grading and sorting, practically the only guide is the fineness of
the individual fibre. The other qualifications just enumerated have
a very important bearing on what the wool can be used for, but they
have very little to do with its classification by grades.
[Sidenote: _Classifications_]
Fleece wools are graded by two systems, one by bloods, the other by
counts spun. (This means the number of hanks of 560 yards each to
a pound of yarn.) Domestic and foreign wools are usually graded by
bloods. U. S. Territory wools are graded a little differently, as
per second column below, and pulled wool is only roughly graded into
four classes (third column). The blood classifications originated
from the breeding of the sheep, but, as a matter of fact they have
become arbitrary terms denoting a certain degree of fineness. The
same fleece may, and frequently does, contain ½, ⅜, and ¼ blood wool.
COMPARATIVE GRADES
U. S. U. S. Pulled U. S. Counts Foreign
Domestic Territory Spun Counts.
Full blood (XX) Fine AA 60s 66-74s
¾ ” (X) ¾ 50s 60-66s
½ ” ½ A 40s 54-60s
⅜ ” ⅜ B 36s 48-54s
¼ ” ¼ B 32s 44-48s
Low ¼ Low ¼ C 20s 40-44s
Common Common C 16s 36-40s
Braid Braid C 12s 32-36s
[Sidenote: _Grading_]
[Sidenote: _Skirting_]
[Sidenote: _Sorting_]
When a bag of domestic wool is opened the fleeces are taken out one
by one and put into baskets according to the grades in the first
column. The grader simply decides what the majority of the fleece
is and puts it into that class. When he has filled a basket with,
let us say, half-blood fleeces, this basket is given to a sorter.
He takes each fleece, shakes it out, and, first of all, skirts it.
Then he separates it into the various sorts it contains. Fleeces
graded as half-blood will probably sort into mostly half, some fine
(full-blood), and a considerable quantity of three-eighths blood. The
best wool comes off the shoulders, then the sides, then the back,
then the thighs, and finally the britch and belly. Usually a fleece
will not contain more than three sorts.
If this were a bag of Australian, South American, or Cape wool,
the fleeces would in all probability have been bagged according to
grades, so that only the sorting operation would have to be performed
by the merchant or the mill.
When the wool has been sorted it is put into bins, and may now be
said to be ready for the first of the manufacturing processes for
which it is destined. Sorting is sometimes done by the merchants, but
more frequently by the manufacturers.
[Sidenote: _Off-sorts_]
Kempy or cotted pieces, tags, stained or painty wool, etc., are
called off-sorts, and these are put through a number of processes for
the purpose of reclaiming as much of the wool as possible.
[Illustration: _Scouring Machine_]
CHAPTER II
WORSTED MANUFACTURE
1. SCOURING
When the wool has been graded it is sold either to worsted
manufacturers or to makers of woolen goods. The two industries are
entirely distinct and separate.
The first cog in the worsted machine is the wool comber, or
top-maker. Sometimes he buys assorted grades, known as matchings,
from a wool merchant; sometimes he buys and sorts his own wool; but
most frequently he sorts and combs the wool on a commission basis.
Many of the big worsted mills do their own sorting and combing.
[Sidenote: _Blending_]
Tops are usually made from blends of various kinds of wool, and this
blending is done after sorting, before the wool is scoured.
[Sidenote: _Scouring_]
Scouring is nothing more or less than a glorified washing. A machine
closely akin to a gigantic laundry machine removes first the yolk
or grease in an alkaline solution, and then rinses out the dirt and
suint in a series of soap and water baths. The last bath is pure
water, and from this the wool is taken on a belt through the drier.
From the drier it is usually blown through tubes to the carding room.
[Illustration: _Worsted carding Machine_]
Approximately 20% of the moisture is allowed to remain in the wool in
order to facilitate subsequent processes. If the wool is still warm
it is easier to card.
2. CARDING
[Sidenote: _Opens Fibres_]
The purpose of the carding operation is to open out the fibres in the
wool. Originally, carding was done by hand with two leather surfaces,
much like butter pats, the inner faces of which were studded with
wire nails. Between these two surfaces the wool was rubbed until
all the fibres were opened out. In woolen manufacture carding is
more violent and seeks to lay the fibres in all directions. Worsted
carding aims to separate the fibres, but also to keep them as closely
parallel as possible.
[Illustration: _Woolen card. Feed end_]
[Illustration: _Woolen card. Condenser end_]
[Illustration: _Back Washing_]
[Sidenote: _The Card_]
The carding machine is somewhat similar to that used for cotton (see
page 22). The wool is automatically fed between the feed rollers,
which revolve in opposite directions and are armed with heavy teeth.
From the feed a roller known as the licker-in starts the wool on its
course over a number of cylinders, each of which is surrounded by
several toothed rollers known as workers. Each worker has a smaller
companion roller, revolving at a higher speed, which derives its
name of stripper from the fact that its function is to take the wool
off the worker and deliver it to the next worker. The last roller,
known as the fancy, raises the wool off the cylinder to be caught
by the doffer. The doffing-comb lifts the wool in a filmy sheet of
fibres, which is condensed into a thick untwisted rope by passing
through a funnel on to the balling-head. This rope, which is about an
inch and a half in diameter, is known as a sliver. A certain length
of it is automatically rolled into balls and these are taken into
the back-wash room. From a loose unrelated mass the wool has now
been transformed into a continuous strand of more or less uniform
diameter.
[Illustration: _Gilling before combing_]
3. BACKWASHING AND GILLING
A back-wash machine takes several of the carded slivers and combines
them into one. The slivers pass through several baths which rinse
them thoroughly and are then slowly drawn through a drier. The
process is quite similar to scouring, except that it is very much
less violent.
[Sidenote: _Combining and Drawing Slivers_]
As the slivers come out of the drier they are fed through a number
of gill boxes. The gill box is the first of a long series of drawing
operations. In this, and all the following stages of open drawing,
there are always several slivers being combined into one and drawn
out until the resulting sliver has about the same or a smaller
diameter than the ones fed into the machine. The principle of the
gill box is quite simple. Several slivers are fed in between rollers
revolving at a comparatively low rate of speed. As they pass through
they are flattened out over what is known as a faller. This is armed
with very fine close wire teeth which come up through the fibres
and the draft is imparted when the wool is taken off the faller by
a final pair of rollers which are revolving considerably faster.
The sheet of wool which emerges from these rollers is again passed
through a funnel and thereby condensed once more into a sliver.
This operation is repeated from two to four times, according to
the quality of the top desired, and the methods employed by the
particular mill.
[Illustration: _Gilling the top_]
Where very coarse long fibred wool is to be worked there is no
carding, and the wool is prepared by straightening the fibres into a
sliver through a series of gill-boxes.
At some point during the gilling process a slight amount of oil is
usually dropped onto the sliver, as this facilitates combing.
4. COMBING
[Sidenote: _Removes Short Fibres_]
The next operation, namely that of combing, is again simple when
viewed as the primitive manufacturing process. The old comber would
take a short length of sliver, hang it on a nail by tying one end
together and then proceed to comb out the short fibres much as one
may comb out the dead short hairs from a dog’s coat. Combing is
simply the removal from the sliver of the short fibres which would
not spin properly. These short fibres are known as noils and are the
waste product of top-making. The top is a continuous untwisted strand
of long wool fibres made parallel by the comb. (By long fibres we
mean fibres which are relatively long. Some tops consist of fibres
less than an inch and a half in length. In this case, which is very
infrequent, the noil would be even shorter.)
[Illustration: _The Noble Comb_]
[Sidenote: _Noils_]
Noils are sold either to woolen or knitting mills direct by the
top-maker, or else to a merchant who disposes of them.
[Sidenote: _The Noble Comb_]
The Noble circular comb is the most generally used combing machine.
Other types are the Lister, the Holden, and the Heilmann. The Noble
comb is a compact circular structure standing at a height of about
three feet from the floor, with a steam box underneath it. (Heat
greatly facilitates the process.) There are two smaller circles
inside the main circumference which are tangent to the outer circle
at opposite points of its diameter. All rotate in the same direction.
Seventy-two slivers are rolled up in creels on the outside of the
main circle and are automatically fed on to the tangental points.
A dabbing brush pushes the slivers down between the points of the
two circles. As the circles draw apart the long fibres are left
protruding from the inner edge of the outer circle and the outer
edge of the inner circles. They travel thus until they are gripped
by vertical rollers set to catch them. After passing the rollers
the wool is lifted off the pins of the circles by knives. The four
ribbons of combed fibres (two from the outer and one from each of the
inner circles) are condensed into a single beautiful even band which
coils itself softly into a revolving can. What remains is the waste
or noil.
[Sidenote: _Gilling the Top_]
The top, as it comes from the comb, is again put through a series of
several gill boxes with the object of further drawing it out. Once
again several slivers are combined into one in each process. At the
end of this gilling the top is coiled in balls and allowed to rest.
We have now reduced the wool to its real worsted basis. The noils
have been taken out, and the balls of top are ready to be sent to the
spinner to be spun into worsted yarn.
5. SPINNING
[Sidenote: _Drawing_]
The first processes in a spinning mill very closely approximate
the last operations in the combing plant. The tops are usually
gilled several times before weighing, and then are put through
several drawing machines in which, as heretofore, several slivers
are condensed into one. In the last of these machines there are
no fallers, the entire process consisting of two sets of rollers
revolving at different speed. Each operation results in a slightly
finer sliver, and the number of machines through which the material
is drawn is determined by the fineness of the yarn desired.
[Sidenote: _French_]
[Sidenote: _English_]
The last of the drawing processes is the so-called roving box, which,
in most cases is a cone-drawing process. There is a difference here
between French spinning and English spinning. According to the French
system, which is employed in this country only for very soft fine
yarns, no twist is given to the sliver until the actual spinning
begins; and the spinning is then usually done on mules, which in this
country are rarely used in the manufacture of worsted yarn. We shall
discuss these machines when we come to woolens. According to the most
common procedure in this country, the roving box not only draws,
but imparts a certain amount of twist to the yarn. This is done by
winding the yarn from horizontal spools on to vertical spindles.
These spindles are set on long frames, similar to spinning frames,
one frame containing about 200 spindles. The yarn is guided on the
bobbin by an arm, known as the flyer, which draws the bobbin around
after it.
[Sidenote: _Spinning_]
There is very little difference between this last drawing operation
and the actual spinning which immediately succeeds it. In both cases
the yarn is unwound from horizontal spools placed at the top of the
frame through the inevitable two rollers going at different speeds,
and guided on to the revolving spindle. Since the spindle revolves
vertically the yarn is twisted. The amount of twist is regulated,
as is also the amount of tension, and these two factors, together
with the quality of the material, determine the quality of the yarn.
Worsted yarn is graded according to the number of counts, which, as
we have seen, is the number of hanks of 560 yards that make a pound
avoirdupois.
[Illustration: _Drawing_]
[Sidenote: _Flyer_]
[Sidenote: _Cap_]
[Sidenote: _Ring_]
Roughly speaking, there are three modern methods of spinning,
namely, the flyer, cap, and ring frames. All of them are derived
from Arkwright’s original water throstle, and, if we want to go
further back, from the old-fashioned spinning wheel. The chief
difference between the three types lies in the method of driving
the spindle and guiding the yarn on to the bobbin. The flyer arm we
have described briefly above. In the cap system, the bobbin is moved
up and down in a fixed metal cap, something like the front end of a
two-inch shell-casing, and this method of guiding the yarn has the
advantage that, because of its lower vibration, the spindles may be
driven faster. It also causes considerably more friction on the yarn.
For worsted spinning it is probably the most commonly employed. Ring
spinning, the most frequently used for cotton, and described briefly
on page 28, is very similar (to the layman) except that the spindle
revolves in a metal sleeve, and that the yarn is guided by a metal
ring with a traveller, instead of by the end of the cap.
[Illustration: _Reducing_]
[Sidenote: _Twisting_]
What follows now is merely an auxiliary process of spinning. The
yarn has been completed, but it is rarely used for weaving, as it
comes off the spindle. Several strands are usually twisted together,
both to make it stronger and to give various effects of body and
color. The number of strands in a yarn are designated as plys. Yarn
consisting of two strands is called two-ply, three strands are
three-ply, and so on. Yarns of two or more colors, or yarns of
varying counts, are frequently twisted together. It is possible also
to twist worsted and cotton yarns.
[Illustration: _Cap spinning_]
[Sidenote: _Spindlage_]
Twisting is done in a manner similar to spinning. A worsted spinning
mill usually has about a third as many twisting spindles as spinning
spindles, but it is important to remember that when speaking of
a mill’s capacity in terms of spindles, it is only the spinning
spindles that are counted.
[Sidenote: _Winding or Skeining_]
After the twisting is completed the finished yarn is wound on small
spools, known as cheesers, to be weighed. Next it is wound on large
spools in such a way that the large spool holds the contents of from
ten to twenty cheesers, each wound in an adjacent space at the same
time. Some of the yarn is shipped to weaving mills on these large
spools; and some of it is taken off them and skeined.
[Sidenote: _Waste_]
We are now ready to weave the cloth, but there are a considerable
number of very interesting details which we have been forced to
omit. All the processes we have discussed produce a certain amount
of waste material. The combing waste, known as noils, is the largest
by-product of the worsted industry, but there is also a considerable
amount of yarn waste produced in the various drawing and spinning
operations. Practically all of this material finds its way back,
in one form or another, into the woolen industry. The subject of
reclaiming waste is in itself so comprehensive that we can do no more
than touch upon it here.
6. DYEING
[Sidenote: _Wool and Piece and Double Dyeing_]
Some yarns are dyed after they have been spun. In most cases,
however, woolen yarns receive their color after the wool is scoured
and before it goes into the carding machine. In worsted manufacture
the common procedure is to dye the top after it has been combed.
In this way a uniform color is obtained, whereas it is exceedingly
difficult to obtain the same color from two vats in piece-dyeing.
Some materials are both wool and piece-dyed, the second dye being
given to the cloth. This is done in cases where a peculiarly fast
color is desired, or where the cloth contains separate materials such
as wool and cotton.
The operation of the loom has already been described in connection
with the manufacture of cotton, but the preparatory processes,
although somewhat similar, vary considerably because of the
difference in the nature of the materials. In worsted manufacture the
work which has to be done before the loom can begin to operate is
usually referred to as loom-mounting, and consists of five stages.
[Sidenote: _Warping_]
1. Warping is the arranging of the warp threads in the order
necessary to produce the desired cloth. This was formerly, and still
is to a great extent, done entirely by hand on a sort of rack known
as the woof. In the larger mills, however, warping is now done either
on a sectional warping machine or on the warping mill. Both these
devices are only partly automatic, and require highly-skilled labor.
[Sidenote: _Sizing_]
2. The mechanical structure of woolen or worsted yarns necessitates
the application of some glutinous substance to their surfaces before
subjecting them to the weaving process. No matter how even the
worsted yarn, a microscopic examination would show certain fibres
protruding from the surface. Sizing has the effect of smoothing
the surface of the yarn, and at the same time distributing more
evenly the strain of weaving. The sizing machine is rather like the
back-washer used in the manufacturing of worsted yarn. The warp is
run through the sizing bath and then compressed between rollers,
after which it is dried by steam or fan.
[Sidenote: _Beaming_]
3. Beaming is the term applied to winding the warp upon the beam of
the loom. (The beam is the roller from which the warp threads are
unwound as the weaving progresses.) In order to keep the threads in
their proper position an instrument known as a raddle is employed,
and the raddling process is one which requires considerable care.
[Illustration: _Drawing in the warp threads_]
[Sidenote: _Healding_]
4. The next step, healding, is the same as that described on page 34
and enables the warp threads to be lifted in sections in order that
the shuttle may pass under some and over others. From the original
weave of lifting alternate threads, a great many complicated designs
have been evolved, which necessitate the lifting of the warp threads
in many small series. In the elementary weave where there are only
two groups, this work is done by heald-wires which raise the odd
and depress the even threads, thus forming a V, known as the shed,
through which the shuttle may pass. As the design becomes more
intricate the healding process becomes more complicated, and the
number of heald shafts increases.
[Sidenote: _Sleying_]
5. Sleying, or reeding, is the final preparatory process, and has
the object of keeping the warp threads the proper distance apart
during weaving. The sley is really nothing more than a fine comb with
a strip across the ends of the teeth. The warp threads are passed
between the wires (reeds) of the sley and are so compelled to keep
their proper position.
[Illustration: _Weaving_]
The sley is attached to the batten, or fly, and as in the cotton loom
performs the additional function of driving home each weft thread
after the shuttle has passed.
[Sidenote: _The Power Loom_]
Once these processes have been completed the remainder is almost
entirely automatic. The shuttle flies back and forth without aid. The
proper warp threads are raised and lowered to let it pass, and after
each traverse, or pick, the batten automatically drives home the weft
thread, into the growing stretch of cloth that is winding itself up
on to the beam at one end, while the beam at the other end delivers
the parallel warp threads. The average worsted loom makes about 100
picks per minute, which is only about half as fast as the calico
loom, the reason being the lower tensile strength of the yarn.
8. WORSTED FINISHING
While, as we shall see, finishing in the woolen industry is a very
important stage of manufacture, worsted materials are practically
unchanged after they come out of the loom. There is sometimes a
certain amount of fulling and raising and cropping, but the net
result does not in any way alter the cloth, except perhaps to impart
a little smoother finish. We shall discuss finishing in a little more
detail when we come to the last stage of woolen manufacture.
Our worsted cloth is now finished, and we have traced its origin,
somewhat sketchily, from the back of the sheep up to the point where
it takes only a tailor to put it on the back of a man.
CHAPTER III
WOOLEN MANUFACTURE
1. THE MANUFACTURE OF WOOLEN YARN
We have taken the worsted industry first, not because it is
necessarily any more important than woolen manufacture, but because
its processes are more complicated, and therefor, if we have gained
a certain amount of familiarity with them, we are able to take up
the sister industry in a more abbreviated manner. Although, at the
present time, the demand for worsted materials is a great deal
heavier than the demand for woolens, the woolen industry is by far
the older of the two, and may rightfully claim that the worsted
branch is really an off-shoot of its tree. Moreover, while broadcloth
and similar material no longer enjoy their erstwhile popularity,
there is still a tremendous demand for other products of the woolen
industry such as blankets, flannels, overcoatings, etc. And we must
bear in mind that most of the cheaper clothing materials are woolens.
[Sidenote: _Raw Material_]
In the sorting of wool we saw that the shorter staples were classed
as clothing wools. To these must be added the noils from worsted
combing, yarn waste, and wool reclaimed from off-sorts, as well as
wool extract made from rags, before we have the raw material for the
woolen industry.
[Sidenote: _Scouring_]
Whereas we found that combing wool had to be left in the grease until
it could be carded immediately after scouring, the maker of woolen
yarn will buy wool that has been scoured months before. Most of the
wool that is scoured by or near the growers finds its way into the
woolen industry for this reason. The scouring given to clothing wool
varies only in that it is more violent than that given to combing
wool, and in that it is frequently augmented by carbonization to
remove vegetable matter.
[Illustration: _Mule Spinning_]
[Sidenote: _Blending_]
The first process after scouring is blending. When the desired
mixture of various grades, kinds, and colors of wool, wool extract,
or cotton has been effected, the resulting heterogeneous mass is put
through the first of several carding processes.
[Sidenote: _Fibres not parallel as in Worsted_]
From now on the desire of the woolen yarn manufacturer is
diametrically opposed to that of the worsted comber. He wants to
open out the fibres, but he wants them to lie in all directions. He
does not want uniformity. He wants just the opposite. His yarn must
have a certain amount of strength, but it must have, first of all,
felting properties, so that when the cloth is finished the various
threads will merge and interlock. As might be expected, therefore,
the carding process is very much more violent.
[Sidenote: _Carding_]
[Sidenote: _Condenser_]
The blend is first put through a fearnought which might be described
briefly as the most pitiless member of the card family. It is also
known as a tenter-hook-willy, from the reversed position of its
teeth. From this machine the wool goes through the card proper, which
is similar to the worsted card except that the rollers go in opposite
directions, instead of in the same directions. Here, again, the
doffer lifts the wool off in a continuous filmy sheet and delivers
it to the condenser. The sheet is not simply drawn through a funnel
into a single thick sliver, but is forced between rollers into two
leather rubbing aprons which by pressure and friction reduce it to a
series of small soft flabby slivers, having just enough adhesiveness
to permit of mule spinning.
[Illustration: _Burling and mending_]
The fibres in these slivers may be of all lengths and degrees of
fineness, and they lie in all directions.
There are now no elaborate drawing or combing processes. All that
remains to be done before we have a weavable woolen yarn is a certain
amount of twisting and attenuation. Both these results are obtained
at once in the mule.
[Sidenote: _Mule Spinning_]
In a woolen mule the spools of sliver are placed in a fixed frame,
and the sliver passes between a pair of rollers to the spindles.
These stand, slightly inclined backwards, in a long row upon the
movable carriage. At first the spindle tips are close to the rollers.
The sliver is paid out, and at the same time the carriage bearing
the revolving spindles retreats. During this time no yarn is wound
on the bobbins, but the slivers are being twisted. Then the rollers
cease to pay out sliver, the carriage moves out a little further,
and the spindles rotate faster, so that the yarn is being twisted
and stretched. When sufficient twist has been imparted the carriage
moves back again and the spindles wind up the twisted yarn on to the
bobbins. This, briefly, is the operation of the mule. There are a
great many intricate devices in this machine which deserve attention,
but which hardly fall within our scope. All that remains now is to
wind the yarn on spools, or skein it, before it is ready for the
weaver.
2. THE MANUFACTURE OF WOOLEN CLOTH
[Sidenote: _Weaving_]
There are many differences between weaving worsteds and woolens,
but for our purposes we may consider the process the same, as in
a general way it is. Some cloths are woven with a cotton warp and
a woolen yarn filling, the warp being carefully concealed. Woolen
cloths are more frequently woven with a backing than worsteds. This
means that either there is a double warp, a double weft, or both.
The object of backing is usually to add strength and warmth to the
material, and the lower side is therefore often woven of coarser
yarn. In some cases, however, notably in travelling rugs, the backing
may be just as elaborate as the face, and this necessitates a rather
intricate mounting process.
[Sidenote: _Carpets_]
Carpet weaving is one of the large branches of the woolen industry,
and for this purpose the coarsest and longest fibred wools (common,
braid, and carpet wools) are usually employed. These wools readily
lend themselves to the manufacture of a coarse thick yarn, which in
turn produces a thick, durable material. The thickness of a carpet is
known as the pile.
[Sidenote: _Finishing Important in Woolens_]
Whereas we saw that the worsted cloth was practically finished when
it left the loom, this is not the case with woolens. Oftentimes it
would tax an expert to identify the finished goods with the loose
and altogether different material produced by the weaver. Some fine
woolens, it is true, are scarcely altered more than worsteds, but
in most cases the finishing operations are in this industry a major
rather than a subsidiary stage of manufacture. The reader may have
been puzzled at the divergent lines along which woolen and worsted
yarns are manufactured, and at a loss to account for the reasons.
The cause is precisely this, that the worsted manufacturer aims to
produce a cloth that is completed when woven, while the woolen maker
wants his loom to turn out a material that will readily adopt a great
variety of finishes.
[Sidenote: _Burling_]
The first finishing operation, which applies also to worsteds, is the
examination of the piece for imperfections and the removing of them
by hand. The piece is then scoured to get rid of dirt, and, where
the finish is complicated, this may be repeated several times.
[Illustration: _Fulling_]
[Sidenote: _Fulling_]
Fulling, the next and very important process, consists in passing the
material through closed or partially enclosed boxes, in which the
cloth is run through soap solutions and then forced through rollers.
The result of fulling is to shrink the material and give more body to
it. It is chiefly in order to be able to do this that the maker of
woolens wants the fibres in his yarn to lie criss-cross, so that in
the fulling mill their serrated edges will felt and interlock with
each other. The amount of fulling done depends upon the shrinkage
desired. It is possible to reduce the size of the cloth by half in
this process. Some worsteds are slightly fulled, but in their case
it simply serves to add a little body to the cloth, without in any
way sacrificing the design of the weaving. Long before the invention
of even the earliest automatic textile machinery there were great
numbers of water-driven fulling mills, in which the woolen cloth was
pounded in fuller’s earth by wooden hammers. In those days the cloth
was felted into a stiff thick mass which would resist wear almost
indefinitely, but which would hardly adapt itself to the requirements
of modern tailoring.
[Illustration: _Steaming_]
[Sidenote: _Raising_]
[Sidenote: _Cropping_]
[Sidenote: _Pressing_]
The fulled piece is next made to revolve on a large drum set with
teazle-heads. The object of this procedure is to open out the fibres,
and the process is known as raising. In worsteds and fancy woolens,
such as trouserings, raising is really nothing more than the brushing
up of the loose fibres so that they may be cropped off, much as grass
is cut on a lawn. This will of course have the effect of showing
up the weave very plainly. In most woolens, however, the cloth is
raised wet, and the teazle motion is more violent, so that the entire
surface is covered with a thick nap of brushed up fibres which
entirely conceal the weave. This is often very desirable where coarse
backing threads are to be hidden, or where, for other reasons, a
thick nap is desired, as for instance in rough overcoatings. There
may be several raisings and croppings, between which the material is
boiled and pressed, all depending on the character of the face that
is desired. In some cloths the finishing processes are exceedingly
complicated, particularly where a smooth finish such as doeskin
is sought. The variety of finishes is infinite and new ones are
constantly being invented, many of which are closely guarded trade
secrets. In most cases pressing completes the process.
[Illustration: _Cropping_]
We have now followed both the combing and the clothing wools through
the process of manufacture into worsted and woolen yarns and cloths.
Again, let us emphasize that the relative amount of space devoted
here to the two industries is governed, not by their comparative
importance, but by what appeared to be the most concise method of
approach. Many details, which loom up as tremendous problems to the
manufacturer, have necessarily been treated here with scant respect,
and others have not even been mentioned.
3. MOHAIR AND ALPACA
[Sidenote: _Mohair_]
There are two materials upon which we have not touched at all,
although they are generally included in wool manufacture. Mohair is
the hair of the Angora goat, and has many characteristics of both
hair and Mohair wool. These animals are native to Asia Minor, but are
now extensively raised in other parts of the world, notably in Africa
and in this country. The hair averages about four inches in length,
although it frequently grows much longer, is very smooth and fine,
has considerable tensile strength, low elasticity, and practically
no felting property. It is used primarily in the manufacture of
plush, such as is used in railroad carriages, and makes very durable
material. It is also woven into Palm Beach cloth, or mixed with
worsted or cotton yarns in such fabrics as automobile tops.
[Sidenote: _Alpaca_]
Alpaca is a similar fibre, obtained from an animal native to Bolivia
and Peru. The fibre is finer than mohair, and a little more like
wool. It comes in three natural colors; white, brown, and black,
all of which are found on the same fleece. Alpaca is both light and
soft, and therefore lends itself admirably to the manufacture of thin
linings.
4. KNITTING AND FELT MANUFACTURE
[Sidenote: _Stockinette Frame_]
Whereas most wool yarn is woven into cloth, there is also the
knitting process, in which the individual threads are interlaced
into a regular fabric without warp and weft structure. The work is
performed on a sort of loom, called the stockinette frame, upon
which the yarns are arranged in parallel order and uniform distances
apart. The actual knitting closely resembles hand knitting, and is
done entirely by automatic mechanism. A machine of this sort is
capable of turning out a great length of material in a short time,
and the fabric has the fine ribbed character seen in ordinary knitted
goods. The article is soft, full, and elastic, but lacks the strength
and firmness of woven fabrics. Stockinette cloths, sweaters, some
underwear, and hosiery are products of the knitting machine, and the
knitting mills are important consumers of noils and low-grade wools.
[Sidenote: _Felt_]
Besides being made into yarn, and woven or knit into goods, wool is
also compressed into felts of various kinds. Space unfortunately
is lacking for the consideration of this subject here, although a
considerable quantity of wool goes into felt manufacture.
CHAPTER IV
THE ECONOMIC ASPECT
1. FINANCIAL RISKS
Bearing in mind the industrial structure we have just outlined, it
might be well for us to glance briefly at its financial scaffolding.
From the banker’s point of view there are many features which are
distinctive of the wool trade, and which exercise an important
bearing upon the judgment of a credit risk.
[Sidenote: _Sheep Banks_]
[Sidenote: _Sheep Risks_]
To begin with the grower, we find here that in many instances the
large raisers of sheep have built up their own banks. In Texas,
for instance, there are a considerable number of banks whose chief
business consists in financing the wool clips of their sections.
On the other extreme we have the small grower of the East, who is
frequently at the mercy of the local store-keeper. Where wool growing
is practised on a large scale in this country the tendency is more
and more to reduce the business to a scientifically standardized
scale, in such a manner as is prevalent in Australia. The more this
is done the more independent the grower becomes, and the easier it
is for a bank to determine the strength of the individual risk. The
sheep raiser has of course one primary asset, his flocks; and if he
is compelled to borrow, the security behind his note rests upon his
sheep. In making a loan to a sheep man a bank has to consider not
only the market value of the animals, but the conditions under which
they are being raised. Sheep are affected by droughts, for instance,
and many flocks have been ravaged by predatory animals, or decimated
by disease. Any one of these contingencies may at any moment destroy
or depreciate the bank’s collateral, and for this reason borrowing of
this sort is confined very largely to banks situated in sheep-growing
sections which specialize in this form of loan.
[Sidenote: _Grower’s Cost_]
It would be of great interest to figure the average cost of
production per pound of wool to the grower, but, with the varying
conditions encountered in different parts of the country and with
sundry breeds, an accurate estimate can hardly be arrived at. Even
the cost of shearing is variously figured from ten to nearly thirty
cents. Generally speaking, however, the grower needs very little
financial assistance, because he is able to sell his entire clip for
cash. The buyers representing merchants—or in a few cases, mills—are
prepared to pay cash for their wool, and in some cases where they
feel sure of a rising market, often go so far as to buy the wool
on the sheep’s back before it is shorn. Provided the grower knows
something about wool, and the existing demand, there is no reason
why, from the proceeds of one clip, he should not be able to meet his
costs up to the time of the next shearing.
[Sidenote: _The Merchant_]
The merchant is up against a very different proposition. As we have
seen, he buys for cash, and not only sells on credit, but carries a
large proportion of what he buys for several months, before he can
dispose of it. There are so many kinds of wool merchants that it is
almost impossible to make any general observations. One merchant,
for example, may specialize entirely in domestic wools; in that case
he would do all his buying in the spring months and would gradually
dispose of his material, having first graded it, during the remainder
of the year. Another house might do the bulk of its business in
South American wools, which would mean a fall purchasing season.
Still another would handle both domestic and South American, and
a fourth might import from all parts of the world, so that buying
and selling would be going on continuously and at the same time
throughout the year. The credit requirements of the first two houses
would be an easier demand upon the bank than those of the latter,
but in all cases the judging of the risk involves certain primary
considerations, each of which really necessitates the close study of
the individual case.
[Sidenote: _Credit Risks_]
A wool merchant’s business is largely based on his estimate of the
future. There are no “future” markets for wool as there are for
cotton and silk, and the wool dealer cannot therefore protect himself
by hedging. Were it not for the fact that he assumes a risk which
neither the grower nor, in most cases, the manufacturer is able
to take, he could not maintain his position as the middleman. The
merchant’s buyer must, as we have seen, be able to judge the amount
of shrinkage within a very small fraction, he must know the demand
for each quality of wool so that he may be sure not to pay more than
he can sell for, and, what is more, he must be able to forecast the
future with a certain amount of accuracy in order to make his profit.
Furthermore, the merchant must be constantly on his guard against
doing more business than his capital warrants, while at the same
time, unless he makes every dollar work, his business will in normal
times fail to show him a profit.
[Sidenote: _Merchant Manufacturers_]
Some wool dealers have become considerably more than middlemen, and
have gone quite extensively into the first stages of manufacture.
This is particularly true of some of the large houses which of recent
years have established top manufacturing departments, and which
therefore sell a large proportion of their goods not as raw wool but
as tops and noil.
[Sidenote: _Brokers_]
Although the dealers do the bulk of the commission work in
consignment sales, there are a great number of brokers whose function
is primarily the buying and selling for account of others. These
houses usually operate with a limited capital, and are not extensive
seekers of credit.
[Sidenote: _Mills_]
So far as the manufacturers, or mills of various sorts, are
concerned, there is one striking difference about the paper of woolen
and worsted mills as against cotton mill notes which appear in the
open market; cotton mill paper, except in the case of the strongest
mills, usually bears the endorsement of the commission house which
sells the mill’s product, but this is not as a rule the case with
woolen and worsted mill paper. The reason is that a large number of
the wool manufacturing establishments sell direct to wholesalers and
jobbers, and have no close affiliation with a selling-house.
[Sidenote: _Trade Terms_]
Trade terms vary a good deal. Raw wool is almost invariably sold for
cash by the grower. Dealers make various terms to mills, the most
usual being 1% ten days, sixty days net. The terms on which mills
sell to jobbers also have a wide range; some sell thirty days net,
some 10% thirty days, others 7% four months.
2. DEMAND AND SUPPLY
Sheep raising is, as we have seen, chiefly carried on on the
borderlines of civilization. As civilized life encroaches upon the
pasture lands the flocks are driven gradually further and further
into hitherto uninhabited regions. The population of the world is
steadily increasing, and the available grazing acres are constantly
being reduced as the world becomes more thickly populated. Also, as
the population increases, the demand for clothing and food increases,
so that, on the face of it, it would seem that the production of wool
would decrease while the demand grew constantly larger. In a measure
this is true; but there are several factors which tend to arrest
this Malthusian spectre. In the first place, there are still vast
areas of desert land which can be reclaimed for grazing purposes.
In the second place the growing of wool in most countries is as yet
practiced on a very crude and consequently uneconomical scale. And,
finally, the use of shoddy and wool regained from rags, has only
begun to be developed. Nor is it true that sheep must necessarily be
raised in uncultivated regions; England, with her closely settled
soil, supports about three-fifths as many sheep as the United States,
on an area of only 121,377 square miles, as against the 3,026,789
square miles in this country.
The world’s total output of wool in 1921 is estimated at three
billion, three million pounds, as against two billion, eight hundred
and ninety-four million pounds in 1918. The production of the 1921
crop was divided as follows: Europe 899 million pounds, Australia 718
million pounds, South America 592 million pounds, Asia 327 million
pounds, North America 298 million pounds, Africa 169 million pounds.
The following table will show the amount of wool produced and
imported in the United States between the years of 1897 and 1922:
WOOL PRODUCT OF THE UNITED STATES
[Sidenote: _U. S. Product_]
Year Pounds
1897 259,153,251
1898 266,720,684
1899 272,191,330
1900 288,636,621
1901 302,502,382
1902 316,341,032
1903 287,450,000
1904 291,783,032
1905 295,488,438
1906 298,715,130
1907 298,294,750
1908 311,138,321
1909 328,110,749
1910 321,362,750
1911 318,547,900
1912 304,043,400
1913 296,175,300
1914 290,192,000
1915 288,777,000
1916 288,498,600
1917 285,573,000
1918 299,921,000
1919 298,258,000
1920 277,905,000
1921 273,546,000
1922 261,095,000
IMPORTS OF WOOL INTO THE UNITED STATES
[Sidenote: _U. S. Imports_]
Year Pounds
1897 350,852,026
1898 132,795,302
1899 76,736,209
1900 155,918,455
1901 103,583,505
1902 166,576,966
1903 177,137,796
1904 173,742,834
1905 249,135,746
1906 201,688,668
1907 203,847,545
1908 125,980,524
1909 266,409,304
1910 263,928,232
1911 137,647,641
1912 193,400,713
1913 195,293,255
1914 247,648,869
1915 308,083,429
1916 534,828,022
1917 372,372,218
1918 422,414,985
1919 414,506,891
1920 419,394,201
1921 314,624,288
1922 250,840,752
THE INTERNATIONAL ACCEPTANCE BANK, INC. AND THE WOOL TRADE
THE INTERNATIONAL ACCEPTANCE BANK, INC., opens commercial letters
of credit in South America, Australia, and South Africa for the
importation of raw WOOL. It is particularly well equipped to handle
this business because of its intimate connection with THE FIRST
NATIONAL BANK OF BOSTON, which is not only the leading wool bank of
the country, but also maintains a branch in Buenos Aires. THE FIRST
NATIONAL BANK OF BOSTON is one of the most important stockholders of
THE INTERNATIONAL ACCEPTANCE BANK, INC.
By reason of its having as shareholders Messrs. N. M. ROTHSCHILD &
SONS and THE NATIONAL PROVINCIAL BANK LTD., LONDON, as well as many
other correspondents in that city, THE INTERNATIONAL ACCEPTANCE BANK,
INC., is able to finance imports of wool by means of Sterling credits
as well as through its own Dollar facilities.
PART THREE
SILK
By
BENJAMIN STRONG, JR.
of the
INTERNATIONAL ACCEPTANCE BANK, INC.
Photographs by courtesy of
William Skinner & Sons and
the Keystone View Co.
[Illustration: _Picking Mulberry Leaves_]
CHAPTER I
THE RAW MATERIAL
1. HISTORY
[Sidenote: _Early Sericulture_]
Silk owes its position as one of the three leading textiles to its
qualities of strength, elasticity and beauty—in which respects it
surpasses all other fabrics. Its production dates far into antiquity;
for centuries China was the seat of the industry, guarding the secret
methods and processes with the utmost care. During the sixth and
seventh centuries A. D. the secret began to leak out and sericulture
gradually found root in the Near East and the Levant, whence it
spread to Greece, Italy, France and Spain. Japan also took it up and
developed it to a very high point.
[Sidenote: _Industry in America_]
Attempts to establish the industry in America have been generally
unsuccessful, high costs precluding the possibility of competing
with foreign conditions. In addition, the raising of raw silk has
been built up principally in countries where there is a system of
home industry—a social and industrial system never developed in the
United States. However, although America has never been a factor
in the producing of the raw material, it has risen to a place of
utmost importance in the manufacture of the finished textile. Immense
quantities of raw silk are imported from abroad—principally Japan,
Italy, and China—and its conversion into the finished products
constitutes a most important part of our industry.
2. THE SILK WORM
[Sidenote: _Names and Types of Silk Worms_]
The textile fibre known as silk is a filament secreted by one of two
general types of moth larvæ—the cultivated and the wild. The largest
proportion is, of course, made up of the former, produced by the worm
known as the _Bombyx mori_, while the most common type of wild silk
worm is called the Tussah. The name _Bombyx mori_ comes from the
name of the family to which the silk worm belongs: the _Bombycidoe_
(spinners), and _mori_, from the _morus multicaulis_ or mulberry
tree, on the leaves of which it feeds. The species _Sericaria mori_,
or silk worm of the mulberry, belongs to the generic class of
_Lepidoptera_ or scaly-winged insects.
[Sidenote: _Bombyx Mori_]
The _Bombyx mori_, with which we are chiefly concerned, is divided
into other groups according to the cycle of reproduction. The annuals
reproduce once a year, and sixty per cent of the silk worms belong
to this class. The bivoltines reproduce twice a year, and the
polyvoltines, several times during the year, the first crop being the
best.
[Illustration: _Full Grown Worms_]
The study and development of the various phases through which
the silk worm passes, leading up to its production of the actual
filament, have been a subject of intense research in many parts of
the world for a great number of centuries. The present silk worm is
nothing more than a highly specialized product of a long train of
artificial cultivation.
[Sidenote: _Stages of Growth_]
The cultivated silk worm passes through four changes in its life
of two months, i.e., egg, larva, chrysalis (or pupa), and adult—a
cream-white moth which is about one inch in length. The moths live
only a few days, during which mating takes place, and the female
lays several hundred eggs; after about six months these eggs hatch
into worms. The latter pass through what are known as four “molts,”
or shedding of the skin, before the worm matures, spins its cocoon,
becomes a chrysalis, and finally emerges as a moth. This, very
briefly, is the life history of the silk worm.
3. MODERN SERICULTURE
[Sidenote: _Countries Producing Raw Silk_]
Silk raising, or sericulture, has been a leading industry in
Japan and China for a great many years, while the Near East and
such countries as France and Italy have also played a part in
the industry—but to a lesser degree. A great deal of this work,
particularly in Japan and China, has been carried on as a home
industry, but with the growth of modern business methods more and
more of the silk raising has come into the hands of companies
operating on a highly scientific basis.
[Illustration: _Cocoonery_]
[Sidenote: _Japanese Supervision_]
After many years of experience and experimentation the breeding and
care of the silk worm has been put on a very technical and closely
regulated schedule that minimizes the chances of loss by waste or
the spread of disease. In Japan the industry has been encouraged and
fostered by the Government; a special division of the administration
is devoted to its attention, and numerous organizations and
associations conduct experimental stations for research and study.
In fact since about the middle of the 19th century everything
possible has been done to foster this highly profitable branch of the
country’s industry.
[Sidenote: _Modern Methods of Cultivation_]
[Sidenote: _Hatching the Eggs_]
The merest outline of the modern methods of cultivation will show
how highly they have been developed. To begin with, the eggs are
placed on sheets of paper or muslin directly after they are laid.
These sheets are hung for a few days in a damp atmosphere, and then
placed in cold storage for about six months, the period of cold being
advantageous for later hatching, which is done by heat.
[Sidenote: _Growth of the Worms_]
After hatching, the worm sheds its skin four times. The periods
between the “molts,” or ages, vary with different silk worms, but the
total process takes about a month. Worms of different ages are always
kept separate, being held on large cloth trays which are carried in
tiers along the walls of the rearing rooms. The cocooneries where
best results are obtained are quiet, spacious, well-ventilated rooms
where an even temperature can be maintained. Each worm is kept
absolutely clean and has plenty of room, as overcrowding brings
disease. As a precaution mild fumigation is resorted to from time to
time. Heavy odors or smoke of any sort are not allowed, as these are
disturbing to the worms.
[Sidenote: _Feeding the Worms_]
[Sidenote: _The Mulberry Tree_]
Nourishment is, of course, a very important item for the growing
worms, and the best form of food for the _Bombyx mori_ is the leaf
of the white mulberry, which must be young, fresh and dry, but
never withered. For this purpose mulberry tree raising has become
an important by-industry in itself. Three varieties are found,
classified according to the time of budding—early, medium and late.
The leaves, therefore, can be found in the correct condition for the
various stages in the growth of the worm. The late budding trees
are cultivated in more abundance, as the worms are larger at that
time and consume more leaves. The soil in which the trees grow is
important, as it has been found that one which is rich in certain
minerals provides leaves that keep the worms in better physical
condition. A cold winter followed by a warm spring develops the
leaves well, and the condition of the leaves is one of the most
important factors in the whole process.
[Sidenote: _Early Development_]
Careful selection of the eggs is another matter of prime importance.
When the leaves are almost ready, the eggs are brought out of cold
storage and subjected to heat for about a month before they hatch
out. When the worm hatches it is about the diameter of a hair and
less than three-fourths of an inch long. It gnaws a hole through the
end of the egg from which it issues. Nourishment at first is taken by
sucking the sap of the leaves, which are at this stage chopped into
fine pieces; later the leaves are consumed without the necessity of
their being chopped up.
[Sidenote: _Spinning the Cocoon_]
The development is very rapid, the worms consuming their own weight
daily. During this period, as has been stated, they shed their
skins four times, and after the fourth molt—about one month after
hatching—they have assumed their full size. From then on hunger
lessens, restlessness grows, and the lifting of the fore part of
the body indicates the desire to climb and spin cocoons. For this
purpose brush and twigs are provided in the trays, to which the worms
attach themselves and begin the spinning process. The silk thread
is expelled in a semi-liquid form from two openings underneath the
mouth, hardening as it comes in contact with the air. The first
threads issued are coarse and rough, having the necessary strength
to serve as supports and guys for the cocoon. Gradually the worm
is enclosed in the cocoon after three days of continuous spinning,
during one of which it is visible and then slowly disappears, though
it can be heard working inside.
[Illustration: _Worms Feeding_]
The worm wastes away as its silk glands are exhausted, and becomes a
chrysalis, from which the moth escapes after fifteen to twenty days.
[Illustration: _A Nest of Cocoons_]
[Sidenote: _Cocoons for Breeding_]
Cocoons to be used for silk manufacture must be submitted to heat
soon after they are completed, in order to kill the chrysalis and
prevent it from forcing its way out, thus breaking the fibres. A
certain proportion of the cocoons of each crop, however, is allowed
to go through the natural process, for reproductive purposes. There
is an active market in these breeding cocoons, particularly in Japan
and China, and a large quantity are exported annually to Europe and
the Near East.
[Sidenote: _Construction of the Silk Thread_]
The female cocoon is oval and the male cocoon is peanut shaped. The
silk itself consists of two parts: fibroin (the silk fibre) and
sericin (the gum). The thread is made up of two strands of fibre held
together by the gum, and the length of thread in a single cocoon
varies from three hundred to fourteen hundred yards. The cocoons are
white, yellowish, or greenish, but after the boiling process the
color of the _Bombyx mori_ silk is pure white.
[Illustration: _Japanese Cocoon Market_]
[Sidenote: _Tussah and Wild Silk_]
The preceding description is concerned more particularly with the
latter type, from which the largest proportion of the world’s silk
supply is derived, but in a general way it applies to the other
types also. The most important of these are the Tussah silk of India
and China and the Japanese wild silk. The products are coarser and
harsher than those of the _Bombyx mori_, and the natural color is
brown.
[Illustration: _A Japanese Filature_]