CONCERNING THE AFFAIRS OF SAMUEL CROMPTON
It now remains to follow the fortunes of Samuel Crompton to the time
when he wrote the following letters. Some time before 1785 he left
Hall-i’-th’-Wood and went to live at Oldhams, in the township of
Sharples, about three miles north of Bolton, where he combined the
business of a small farmer with that of a spinner.[445]
[Footnote 445: French, _ibid._, p. 90.]
During his residence at this place, Robert Peel is said to have visited
him with the object of persuading him to enter his employment, or even
to become a partner with him. French suggests that the main reason
for Crompton’s refusal was a dislike of Peel, which was maintained to
the end of his life. This may have been the case, of course, but his
references to Sir Robert (as he then was) in the following letters do
not betray any animosity, and Peel certainly appears to have exerted
himself on his behalf.[446] In the last year of his residence at
Oldhams, Crompton occupied the office of overseer of the poor for the
township of Sharples, a fact in which there is nothing surprising.
Crompton can only be regarded as a working man, but that he had fully
utilised his limited opportunities of education, his letters and other
attainments show.[447]
[Footnote 446: _Infra_, pp. 175, 176, 184, 193.]
[Footnote 447: He was something of a musician, building himself an
organ and composing several hymn tunes. French, _ibid._, pp. 133
_et seq._ The organ and some of the MSS. of his music are now in
Hall-i’-th’-Wood.]
In 1791 he removed to a house in King Street, Bolton, where in the
attics, and in those of the two adjoining houses, he carried on his
spinning business, in which he was assisted by two of his sons. One of
the strongest proofs that Crompton was not a man of business is that,
at this time, he did not establish himself as a successful spinner, as
did others with whom he was acquainted. It can hardly have been lack
of capital which prevented him, for he must have possessed as much as
his friend John Kennedy, who, in this very year, began in business with
James M‘Connel, and it is known that between them they only raised
£250.[448]
[Footnote 448: _Economic Journal_, June, 1915.]
The next interesting event in Crompton’s career, so far as the
following letters are concerned, occurred in 1802-1803, and, as
regards this event, French stands in need of considerable correction.
He informs us that “In 1800 some gentlemen of Manchester, sensible
that Mr. Crompton had been ill used and neglected, agreed without
his previous knowledge to promote a subscription on such a scale as
would result in a substantial reward for his labours, a provision for
his family, and a sufficient security for his comfort during life.
The principal promoters of this scheme were Mr. George Lee and Mr.
Kennedy.”[449]
[Footnote 449: French, _ibid._, p. 123. Mr. Lee was manager for Mr.
Drinkwater prior to Robert Owen occupying that position. He left to
become partner in 1791 in a firm which attained a prominent position in
Manchester under the name of Phillips & Lee (_Autobiography of Robert
Owen_, pp. 26-29).]
As a matter of fact, this subscription was only in its initial stages
at the very end of 1802, and, as Crompton states, must have just got
under way[450] when the war broke out again in May, 1803, after a
short pause of little more than eighteen months. Further, if French’s
suggestion is that Crompton did not know of the subscription until
after it was launched, the necessary correction is supplied in one
of the letters, in which we see that Crompton himself was active in
striving to make it a success.[451]
[Footnote 450: _Infra_, p. 169.]
[Footnote 451: _Infra_, p. 167.]
As a consequence of French’s imperfect knowledge of the exact time of
the subscription, the explanation which he offers of the comparatively
small sum raised is clearly wide of the mark: “But this hopeful scheme,
generous and noble in its intention, followed the usual course of
Crompton’s evil fortune. Before it could be carried out the country
was suffering from a failure in the crops and consequent high price of
food, a lamentable war broke out, the horrors of the French Revolution
approached their crisis, trade was all but extinguished--and the
result was a sum quite inadequate to the proposed purpose or to his
deserts.”[452]
[Footnote 452: French, _ibid._, p. 124.]
It is true that the year 1800 was a terrible year, with high food
prices, as was the greater part of the next year, but before the end
food prices had fallen considerably, and the cotton trade was entering
upon somewhat of a boom, the spinning branch was increasing, and in
the following summer a large number of new factories were erected in
Manchester.[453] Thus the time could not have been more propitious for
the promotion of the subscription, and it is more than probable that a
far larger sum than the £300 to £400 which Crompton mentions would have
been raised had not, as he says, the war broken out again.
[Footnote 453: Transactions, _Manchester Statistical Society_, Feb.,
1916.]
Although French’s explanation of the comparative failure of the
subscription is incorrect, his comment on the ill fortune which
dogged Crompton’s footsteps may be agreed with. At the same time, it
is exceedingly doubtful whether the amount of the subscription would
have reached the £5000 which he obtained by Parliamentary grant in
1812. If anything like that amount had been raised, one fears that the
application to Parliament nine years later might not have been so well
supported, and a perusal of the letters may also suggest the fear that,
even if such had been the case, it might have fallen upon deaf ears so
far as Parliament was concerned.
Shortly after Crompton received the proceeds of the subscription,
he used a portion to extend his business of spinning and weaving,
renting the top floor of a factory, where he employed three men, one
woman and six children.[454] One sore complaint that he had to make
was the difficulty he experienced in keeping his workpeople, owing
to inducements to leave him offered by those who expected to learn
something from them. In later years he actually attributed his lack
of success in the spinning business to this fact, and stated that
on account of it he was obliged for years to give up spinning.[455]
French goes so far as to say that one of Crompton’s sons was unable
to resist inducements of this character and in consequence left his
father’s service.[456] There is nothing intrinsically improbable in
the statement, for one thing of which there does appear to be ample
evidence is that whatever troubles Crompton had to contend with from
outsiders during his career, he did not receive much support from his
own kindred in bearing them. In view of Crompton’s character, it is
not an unreasonable assumption that the somewhat persistent efforts to
obtain recompense adequate to his services were due more to them than
to himself.
[Footnote 454: French, p. 125. “In 1803 he supplied the fourth part of
a sum raised to build a place of worship for the religious body with
which he had connected himself in Bury Street, Little Bolton” (_ibid._,
p. 132).]
[Footnote 455: “And though I pushed on, intending to have a good share
in the spinning line, yet I found there was an evil which I had not
foreseen, and of much greater magnitude than giving up the machine,
viz., that I must be always teaching green hands, employ none, or quit
the country; it being believed that if I taught them, they knew their
business well. So that for years I had no choice left but to give up
spinning, or quit my native land.... But to this day, though it is
more than thirty years since my first machine was shown to the public,
I am hunted and watched with as much never-ceasing care as if I was
the most notorious villain that ever disgraced the human form; and do
affirm, that if I were to go to a smithy to get a common nail made,
if opportunity offered to the bystanders, they would examine it most
minutely to see if it was anything but a nail” (Letter quoted by Brown,
_The Basis of Mr. Samuel Crompton’s Claims_, p. 30).]
[Footnote 456: French, _ibid._, pp. 125-126.]
In 1807, he wrote to Sir Joseph Banks, President of the Royal Society,
with the object of interesting him in his case, and suggested that
it might be brought before the King and his ministers.[457] Owing
probably to the letter having been wrongly addressed, it reached
the Society of Arts, and was considered by the committee, when the
secretary was instructed to send a reply, but for some reason no reply
reached Crompton, which led him to believe that he had been slighted.
It appears that, in some way, this fact must have become known, and
the matter was reconsidered in March, 1811, when an answer was sent,
which drew from Crompton a tart rejoinder, in reply to which he was
informed that the Society of Arts was unable to do anything, as it did
not possess funds to give large rewards, although, actually, Crompton
had not applied to the Society for a reward. The whole incident
was unfortunate, and undoubtedly did much further to embitter him,
convinced as he already was that the world was against him.[458]
[Footnote 457: Brown, _ibid._, pp. 23-25.]
[Footnote 458: The whole matter is discussed at length by French,
_ibid._, ch. xii.]
At this time Crompton, although by no means wealthy, according to his
standard of living, was in fairly easy circumstances, and “had even
lent a few hundred pounds,” but French suggests that he was anxious
about the future position of his family.[459] However this may have
been, it is clear that, shortly after the incident with the Society
of Arts had terminated, a move was made which, in the next year,
resulted in the application to Parliament for financial recognition of
his services as inventor. Of the negotiations in London immediately
preceding the grant eventually made to him a clear account is given in
the following letters.
[Footnote 459: French, _ibid._, p. 158.]
With a view to the application, he collected information of the extent
to which the mule was used and of its effects upon the cotton industry
in England, Scotland and Ireland, and on the basis of this information
a petition was prepared for presentation to Parliament.[460] To ensure
its being influentially signed, Mr. Kennedy and Mr. Lee again exerted
themselves whole-heartedly, and several references to the matter appear
in the correspondence of M‘Connel & Kennedy with their agent and
customers in Scotland in the last days of 1811 and the first days of
1812.
[Footnote 460: Kennedy, _Brief Memoir of Samuel Crompton_, p. 322.]
When the 1803 subscription was launched the conditions were favourable,
but the same cannot be said of this time. From the recommencement of
the war in the spring of 1803, trade, at the best, had run an unsteady
course. During the intervening period the Napoleonic decrees and the
British Orders in Council had come into operation, and had created
friction between this country and the United States, which, constantly
growing more intense, led to retaliatory measures on the other side of
the Atlantic, and in 1812 to war with England. Only in 1809 and in the
early part of 1810 was there an active trade during the period, and
this burst of activity followed upon a terrible period of distress in
1808, when, with the district in a state of insurrection, a petition
signed by 50,000 persons was presented from Manchester, and another
from Bolton signed by 30,000, praying that peace negotiations might be
opened.
The succeeding trade boom is partly to be explained by a frenzy of
speculative shipments to South America, and when it came to an end it
was followed by a hurricane of bankruptcies which swept over England
and Scotland, reached Ireland, and caused anxious concern in the United
States. The situation, bad though it was in 1808, was even worse in the
latter part of 1810 and in 1811 and during the greater part of 1812. In
1811, the Luddite risings began in the hosiery districts of Nottingham,
Derby, and Leicester, and early in 1812 extended to Yorkshire,
Lancashire, and Cheshire. In April of the latter year Manchester was in
a state of rebellion. In one riot an attack was made upon the Exchange;
in another, a few days later, upon the Shudehill market; and, on
both occasions, it was considered necessary to call out the military
to deal with the rioters. In the Shudehill riot, however, force was
supplemented by the fixing of a maximum price for potatoes, which had
to be sold in small quantities.[461]
[Footnote 461: _Transactions, Manchester Statistical Society_, 1917.]
It was in such circumstances, not to mention the drain of a war which
had continued almost uninterruptedly for nearly twenty years, that
Crompton’s petition was prepared and presented, and a grant of £5000
made to him. In view of the sums granted to others who had conferred
benefits on the nation by their ingenuity, this amount was certainly
paltry, but perhaps it should be placed to the credit of those
concerned that his appeal received the attention it did.
The parliamentary proceedings extended from 5th March to 25th June.
French states that Crompton proceeded to London in February, but, as
his letters show, he was already there in the previous month.[462]
It was not until 5th March that the matter came before the House of
Commons, when the Chancellor of the Exchequer, by command of the Prince
Regent, acquainted the House that His Royal Highness, having been
informed of the contents of Crompton’s petition, recommended it to the
consideration of the House.
[Footnote 462: French, _ibid._, p. 166. _Infra_, p. 174.]
On this occasion no debate took place, nor evidently on any other
until 24th June, when the grant was moved. On the first occasion the
petition was referred to a Committee with power to send for persons,
papers and records.[463] The next occasion was on 18th March, when the
Committee was instructed to submit to the House minutes of evidence
concerning the case, and any observations upon it. A striking comment
upon the conditions of the time is that on the very same page of the
_Journals_ on which this record appears,[464] there is also a petition
from Bolton--Crompton’s home--pointing out that the people in that
neighbourhood were “so nearly to actual starvation that they think
it would be highly imprudent any longer to delay communicating their
situation to the House”; that the manufacturers had been reduced to the
necessity of working for one-fourth of what they obtained before the
commencement of the war with France; and that the necessaries of life
had nearly doubled in price. Convinced that the war was the immediate
cause of their distress, they asked for parliamentary reform on the
ground that “if the house consisted of representatives of the people
only, it would not for any doubtful prospect of benefit to our allies
consent to expose the people of this country to the certain misery,
ruin, and starvation which the continuance of the war must bring upon
them.”
[Footnote 463: _Journals of the House of Commons_, lxvii., p. 175.
Hansard, xxi., p. 1174.]
[Footnote 464: _J.H.C._, lxvii., p. 207.]
Certainly the Committee did not delay carrying out the order of the
House in the matter of Crompton’s petition, as the evidence was taken
on the same day as the order was given.[465] Evidently some little
“engineering” had taken place as a comparison of the evidence with the
series of questions and answers prepared beforehand will show.[466]
If the record of the proceedings is a correct account of what took
place at the meeting, it is difficult to believe that the chairman
and at least one witness had not the evidence already before them. On
24th March the Committee presented its report, when it was ordered to
be printed and to lie on the table. Again, during the preceding four
days, petitions had been presented from Blackburn and Preston, drawing
attention to the parlous state of public affairs, and insisting that
the lower classes had difficulty in obtaining a bare subsistence; that
the middle classes were rapidly sinking to the position of the lower;
and suggesting similar remedies to those of their fellow-petitioners at
Bolton.[467]
[Footnote 465: _J.H.C._, lxvii., pp. 838-839.]
[Footnote 466: _Infra_, pp. 179-182, 189-191.]
[Footnote 467: Hansard, xxii. 94.]
So far as Parliament was concerned, Crompton’s petition now lay in
abeyance for three months, and his activity in keeping alive interest
in it is described in his letter of 15th April,[468] at which time
a state of insurrection prevailed in Manchester and in other places
for miles around the town. On 11th May Mr. Perceval was assassinated,
and shortly afterwards the Ministry, of which he had been the head,
resigned, and it was not easy to form a new one. Crompton’s case must
have had influential support, otherwise it could hardly have been
kept to the front in the confusion of these days. French evidently
believed that the death of Mr. Perceval prevented Crompton obtaining
a larger amount than that which was granted. This may have been so,
but a perusal of Mr. Lee’s letter does not give much ground for the
belief.[469]
[Footnote 468: _Infra_, pp. 192-194. Also in letters quoted by Brown,
_ibid._, pp. 35-38.]
[Footnote 469: French, _ibid._, p. 189. _Infra_, p. 192.]
On 24th June the matter again came before the House of Commons, when
Lord Stanley, who had been chairman of the Committee charged with the
case, brought it forward, and in his speech repeated the arguments
of the petition,[470] and ended by moving “That a sum not exceeding
£5000 be granted to Mr. Crompton as a remuneration for his invention,”
which was formally seconded by Mr. Blackburne, and the Chancellor
of the Exchequer expressed himself satisfied that this remuneration
was deserved. The only other member who appears to have addressed
the House on this occasion was Mr. D. Giddy, who, so far as his
speech is recorded, expressed no definite opinion as to the adequacy
of the grant, but suggested that, as he considered the case of a
“transcendent” character, it should be made without fee or deduction.
The resolution was then agreed to, and the following day was formally
ratified.[471]
[Footnote 470: _Infra_, p. 172.]
[Footnote 471: _J.H.C._, lxvii., pp. 468, 476. Hansard, xxiii.,
747-748.]
Throughout the proceedings Crompton had studiously refrained from
expressing any opinion as to the sum to which he thought himself
entitled, trusting rather to “British generosity” and “to the dignity
of the giver and the merit of the receiver,” but it is clear that
he was bitterly disappointed with the amount of the grant.[472] It
can hardly have come as a surprise to his friends, although it is
equally clear that they thought that he ought to have received at least
double the amount. The statement of Mr. Lee that “Crompton’s plain
appearance has been in his favour by inducing the members to suppose
that he would be satisfied with a small grant and therefore they were
willing to assist him” is significant both as regards gaining their
support of a grant, and its amount, although it is hard to believe that
the £10,000 which Mr. Lee thought reasonable would have roused much
opposition.[473] Moreover, although the suggestion of Mr. Giddy that
the £5000 should be paid without any fee or deduction was included in
the final resolution, it appears that it was not strictly carried out,
and that the sum Crompton actually received was considerably reduced by
expenses.[474]
[Footnote 472: French, _ibid._, pp. 188-189. _Infra_, pp. 176, 182.]
[Footnote 473: _Infra_, p. 192.]
[Footnote 474: French, _ibid._, pp. 187-188.]
After the grant had been made, anxious to provide for his sons,
Crompton embarked upon the bleaching business, with two of them as
partners, at Over Darwen, four miles from Bolton. He also entered
into a partnership with another son and with a Mr. Wylde, as cotton
merchants and spinners, while with two other sons he continued his
old business of spinning and manufacturing at Bolton.[475] As regards
the bleaching concern, “the unfavourable state of the times, the
inexperience and mismanagement of his sons, a bad situation, and a
tedious lawsuit, conspired in a very short time to put an end to this
establishment.”[476] The business into which he had entered with his
son and Mr. Wylde appears to have succeeded little better. After a
considerable loss the partnership was dissolved, and Crompton’s son,
taking £1500 as his share of capital, set up in business on his own
account at Oldham, which again was a failure. Even in the concern at
Bolton there was disharmony, and ultimately the sons left it and
Crompton carried it on alone.[477]
[Footnote 475: French, _ibid._, pp. 196-198.]
[Footnote 476: Kennedy, _ibid._, p. 323.]
[Footnote 477: French, _ibid._, pp. 199-200.]
By 1824, having then reached the age of seventy years, he was reduced
to poverty. The end of his career is recorded by John Kennedy, and
surely no one could have left a record based upon more intimate
and sympathetic knowledge of Crompton’s trials and achievements:
“Messrs. Hicks & Rothwell, of Bolton, myself and some others, in that
neighbourhood and in Manchester, had in 1824 recourse to a second
subscription, to purchase a life annuity for him, which produced £63
per annum. The amount raised for this purpose was collected in small
sums, from one to ten pounds, some of which were contributed by the
Swiss and French spinners, who acknowledged his merits and pitied
his misfortunes. At the same time his portrait was engraved for his
benefit, and a few impressions were disposed of: he enjoyed this small
annuity only two years. He died June 26th, 1827.”[478]
[Footnote 478: Kennedy, _ibid._, pp. 323-324. Messrs. Hicks &
Rothwell along with men like Isaac and Benjamin Dobson, of the famous
engineering firm, used to meet at “The Sign of the Black Horse” in
Bolton, where they had formed a “prosecution” club in 1801. Crompton
belonged to this club, his name appearing in 1810, and as a member
of the Committee in 1819. The scheme of an annuity appears to have
originated and have been carried through by this group of men along
with Mr. Kennedy and others. The minutes of the club are preserved
in the Chadwick Museum, Bolton. In Manchester also there was a
“prosecution” society known by the name of “The Society for the
Prosecution of Felons.” In both cases the society appears to have come
into existence to check the small thefts and the pilfering of materials
used in the businesses of the members. _Cf._ Dobson, _Evolution of the
Spinning Machine_, p. 115.]
In the year following that in which the annuity was purchased a
movement, in which a Mr. J. Brown, of Bolton, was the prominent figure,
was set on foot to bring Crompton’s case again before Parliament,
with a view to a second grant. The pamphlet, to which references have
already been made, was written by Mr. Brown and published with extracts
from Crompton’s correspondence; a memorial was drawn up, which,
according to French, was extensively signed by inhabitants of Bolton,
the application for signatures being confined to that town, and in 1826
a petition was presented to Parliament.[479]
[Footnote 479: French, _ibid._, pp. 218-222.]
From French’s account of the effort, it may be gathered that it aroused
no widespread interest, and it is significant that when John Kennedy
wrote his _Brief Memoir of Samuel Crompton_ in 1830 he made no mention
of it. Probably he thought, as one cannot help thinking at the present
day, that it was unfortunate that the effort was made. It must have
been apparent at that time, with Crompton well over seventy years
of age, that a grant of a large sum of money would be of little use
to him even had there been any possibility of an application being
successful. Its only virtue was that it gave Parliament an opportunity
of increasing the inadequate grant made in 1812. But, even as regards
that grant, one is compelled to recognise that, had it been larger, it
is unlikely, taking into account the peculiar difficulties with which
Crompton had to contend, that his position in 1824 would have been very
different from what it was. Instead of making a grant of a lump sum in
1812, the more suitable method of reward in Crompton’s case and, as a
general rule, in all such cases, would have been that of his friends
twelve years later: to have granted him a suitable pension.
As already mentioned, Crompton died in the sixth month of 1827. When
French published the first edition of his book in 1859, Crompton’s
memory was in danger of neglect, but, mainly owing to the interest
thus aroused, the danger was averted, and when he published his third
edition in 1862, a monument had been erected over Crompton’s grave in
the churchyard of his native parish,[480] and a statue was in course
of preparation, the cost of both being defrayed by voluntary public
subscription.
[Footnote 480: On 24th January 1861 (_A Chronological History of Bolton
to 1875_).]
The statue which stands in Nelson Square, Bolton, was unveiled on
24th September 1862, when an address was given by Mr. Henry Ashworth,
cotton spinner,[481] in which he spoke of the effect of the inventions
of Crompton and others upon the development of the cotton trade and
upon the people of Bolton and Lancashire. On the same occasion “Mr.
Rickson, pointing to Mr. John Crompton, the son of the inventor, who
was seated by the side of the statue, expressed hope that they would
not forget him, but would raise a subscription to place him above
indigence for the remainder of his days.”[482] Apparently something was
done in this direction, as in the next month Lord Palmerston directed
that a gratuity of £50 should be made to him, and it is a remarkable
fact, in view of the conditions that prevailed when his father received
his grant in 1812, that again, at this time, owing to the civil war
in America, the distress in Bolton was so great that a public meeting
had to be called to consider the situation, when a sum of £4000 was
subscribed for relief.[483]
[Footnote 481: Author of _The Cotton Trade of Lancashire_ (1870) and
other similar publications.]
[Footnote 482: Account of the ceremony at Hall-i’-th’-Wood.]
[Footnote 483: _Chronological History of Bolton_, 6th October 1862. See
infra, p. 197.]
Another memorial of Crompton which the town of Bolton now possesses
is Hall-i’-th’-Wood, where the idea of the mule took rise in the
inventor’s mind, and in 1779 assumed material form.[484] The Hall is
outside the town and overlooks it, but at the present day, although the
surrounding country has undergone such changes, it is not difficult
to realise what it must have been one hundred and fifty years ago.
The town was then known as Bolton-le-Moors, and in 1773 with Little
Bolton and the Manor of Bolton contained 5339 inhabitants.[485] From
the centre of a sparsely populated country district, it has been
transformed into the centre of the fine cotton spinning industry of
England, and of the world. The town is now the county borough of
Bolton, with a population approaching 200,000, and with the district,
according to a recent return, contains one hundred and twelve firms
engaged in the cotton industry, working nearly seven and a half million
spindles, and over twenty-four thousand looms.[486] In its commercial
organisation the town stands as a witness to the world economy which
has come into existence; in its industrial organisation, as a witness
to the existence of the factory system. It is these facts, with all
that they imply, which form the most striking memorial to Crompton,
who, as one among other outstanding figures of his day, played no small
part in the development of which they are the expression.
[Footnote 484: The place was purchased in 1899 by Mr. W. H. Lever
(now Lord Leverhulme) and presented by him, with a sum of money for
its restoration, to the Corporation of Bolton. It is now open to the
public as a museum, and contains, among other interesting things, many
Crompton relics.]
[Footnote 485: Aikin, _ibid._, p. 261.]
[Footnote 486: Bigwood, _Cotton_ (1918), p. 185. The figures refer to
1916.]
Sufficient has been said in the previous chapter to indicate the
place which Crompton’s invention occupied in the development of the
cotton industry during the latter years of the eighteenth and the
early years of the nineteenth centuries. A striking thing was the
rapid increase in the size of the machine, particularly after 1790.
The first mule constructed by Crompton contained only 48 spindles; in
1795 the smallest mule made by M‘Connel & Kennedy appears to have had
144 spindles. In February of that year a correspondent was informed
“in respect to what number of spindles may be most profitable, it is
difficult to fix, as what was thought best only two years ago is now
thought too small.... We are now making from 180 to 288 spindles.”
Three months later, in reply to another correspondent, it was stated
that most of the mules were then made to go by steam or water, and in
the next year we find them supplying mules to work in pairs, the two
containing 372 spindles. In 1799 they were making single mules with 300
spindles, and in the same year Dobson & Rothwell were making them with
408 spindles.[487] When Ure published his _Cotton Manufacture_ in 1836
the largest mules then in use apparently contained somewhat over 500
spindles. At the present day they are made to three times the size, a
pair of mules containing 2000 to 2500 spindles being common.
[Footnote 487: Dobson, _ibid._, p. 112.]
But in addition to enlargement the mule as invented by Crompton has,
of course, undergone vast improvements. As we have seen, movements
originally performed by hand soon came to be performed by mechanical
means, the culmination of this kind of improvement being reached in the
invention of the “self-actor” mule.[488] Yet, notwithstanding these and
other improvements, it can still be said that the fundamental motions
of the mule remain the same as in Crompton’s original machine.
[Footnote 488: It was not until the last quarter of the nineteenth
century that the self-actor mule entirely displaced the hand-mule
(Chapman, _ibid._, pp. 69-70).]
For a time in the early part of the nineteenth century the mule came
into use to such an extent that it appeared that it would entirely
displace the water-frame. With the appearance of the “Throstle,” which
was really an important improvement in the water-frame, the tendency
was somewhat checked, and later in the century with other improvements
the supremacy of the mule was again challenged. Consequently the great
rival of the mule at the present day in the world’s cotton industry is
the “Ring Spinning Frame,” which may be regarded as standing in much
the same relation to the original water-frame, as does the self-actor
mule to the original mule. The following figures show the position in
recent years:--
COTTON-SPINNING SPINDLES. SPINNERS’ RETURNS, 31ST AUGUST IN EACH
YEAR[489]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Great Britain All Countries including Great Britain
----+----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------
|Mule Spindles in|Ring Spindles in|Mule Spindles in|Ring Spindles in
| work as per | work as per | work as per | work as per
| Returns | Returns | Returns | Returns
----+----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------
1910| 40,101,083 | 7,987,430 | 65,051,239 | 54,421,786
1911| 39,977,255 | 8,050,925 | 65,231,044 | 56,046,153
1912| 39,848,727 | 8,885,218 | 65,311,070 | 61,426,062
1913| 40,493,532 | 9,312,236 | 64,325,243 | 65,570,408
----+----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------
[Footnote 489: _Report of the Tenth International Cotton Congress_, pp.
591, 600, 610, 717.]
From these figures it will be seen that in Great Britain the mule
still vastly predominates, and that in other countries the opposite
is the case.[490] It is unnecessary to enumerate here the particular
economic advantages of one machine compared with the other,[491] but
in explanation of the international position it has to be borne in
mind that, for spinning the higher qualities of yarn, the mule is
superior to the ring-frame, also, that it is a much more complicated
machine, and requires more highly skilled labour for its construction
and operation.[492] As regards such labour, this country has been
highly favoured compared with most of the other countries where the
cotton industry is carried on. Even so, it appears that in British
cotton mills ring-spindles are increasing at a greater rate than
mule-spindles, and in the mills of other countries the fact is more
pronounced. Whether the above figures represent a permanent tendency
a longer period will be required to show, but, in any case, it is
certain that the development of the cotton industry during the past
century and a half, particularly in the United Kingdom, cannot be
fully understood apart from the service which has been rendered by the
invention of Samuel Crompton.
[Footnote 490: In this connection, of course, Great Britain really
means the United Kingdom.]
[Footnote 491: They are discussed in Ellison, _Cotton Trade of Great
Britain_, pp. 33-35.]
[Footnote 492: _Souvenir of Royal Visit to Bolton_, pp. 27-28.]