State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations at the end of the century : a history, Volume 3, Part 37

Author: Field, Edward, 1858-1928
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: Boston : Mason Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 728

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The machines are supposed to have been started up temporarily in October, 1790, but the first record of their work commences with De- cember 20, 1790. The following memoranda, preserved among the voluminous papers left by Moses Brown, showed the improvement made by the new machines over former methods, as well as the styles of cotton goods then made, and the prices obtained for them:

"An account of the cotton goods manufactured by Almy & Brown of Providence, State of Rhode Island, since the commencement of the business, say about the 11th of 6th month (June 11), 1789, to the 1st of the 1st month (January 1), 1791:

Corduroy

45 pieces. 1,090 yds. 558

sold from 38. 6d. to 4s. per yd.

Royal Ribs, Denims &c.25

38. " 48. "{

Cottonets . 13

324

28. 6d. " 38.

Jeans.

1,897

28. " 28. 6d.

Fustians

687

18. 8d. " 28.

Total

188

4,556 yds.

"From the 1st day of the 1st month (January 1), 1791, to the present date (October 15th, 1791) :

Velverets

30 pieces. 669 yds. sold from 48.

to 48. 4d. per yd.

Thicksets

745

3s. 6d. " 48.

Corduroy

· 1,001

664

38. 6d. " 48.

Royal Ribs, Denims &c.55

1,284

3s.

" 48.

Jeans.

1,769

28. " 28. 6d.

Fustians

1,691

18. 8d. ' 28.

Total

326 . . 7,823 yds."

Under the old system it had taken over eighteen and a half months to produce 4,556 yards, while 7,823 yards had been turned out with the new machinery in nine and a half months. It should be under- stood that the goods were woven by hand in both cases, and that the

38. 6d. 4.8.

Fancy Cords. 26

343

INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT.

improvement was mainly in carding and spinning. It is to be inferred from these memoranda that the firm attempted at first to weave the yarn as fast as it was spun, and that the weavers were not able to keep up with the spinning frames. In fact, the manufacturers could not dispose of all the yarn to other mills, although they were for some time the only firm in the country which could produce cotton yarn with a hard twist suitable for warp. The unsalable yarn accumu- lated so fast that Moses Brown, who furnished the capital upon which the firm was doing business, became alarmed. When the unsold stock reached 500 pounds, the prudent old Quaker wrote to the firm: "Thee must shut down thy gates, or thee will spin up all my farms into cot- ton yarn."

About 1790 one Herman Vandausen, a German, began calico print- ing at East Greenwich. He cut his own blocks and printed India cottons and the coarse cottons woven in families for the people gen- erally. This was the first print-works in the country, but the business did not prove profitable, owing to the abundance and cheapness of English and Indian cotton goods. Some of Vandausen's blocks and samples of the goods printed from them are preserved in the Rhode Island Historical Society building at Providence.

Another impediment to the successful operation of the new cotton factories, besides the competition of foreign cottons, was the great quantities of textile goods produced throughout the country by house- hold manufacture, a result due to the efforts made, especially during the Revolution, by the patriotic societies to make the feeble colonies industrially, as well as politically, independent of England. In nearly 'all of the States there had been a great increase in both the quantity and quality of household goods. Bishop states that in 1790 in Provi- dence and vicinity, 30,000 yards of woolen cloth were made, and in 1791, 25,265 yards of linen, 5,895 of cotton, 3,165 of woolen, 512 of carpeting, 4,093 pairs of stockings, 859 pairs of gloves, and 263 yards of fringe were made, all of which were household fabrics.

One great impediment to success at the beginning of the factory system in this country, was the want of skilled artisans. It required experience to work the new machinery to the best advantage, and when a skilled workman came over from Great Britain, he could command the highest wages. The first operatives of the Slater mill appear to have been local residents. It began with four spinners and carders whose names were Charles and Torpen Arnold, Smith Wilkinson and Jabez Jenks, to whom were soon after added Ann and Eunice Arnold, John and Varnus Jenks and Otis Barrows. They were all children from seven to twelve years of age, and they worked the full time of six days, and doubtless at least twelve hours each day.

The building in which the Slater machines were put in operation was inadequate to the increasing business of the firm, and a new one

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STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.

was erected in 1793. It is still standing, and is known as the "Old Slater Mill."

Cotton manufacture was begun in America before American cotton could be procured to supply the mills. Southern planters were ex- perimenting with it, but it was imperfectly cleaned and was considered of inferior quality. The cotton used in home manufacture throughout the Northern States was obtained from the West Indies or from the Guianas, while the British mills were largely supplied from Brazil. The New England ship owners would send cargoes of fish, flour, rum or other commodities to the West Indies in exchange for the latter's goods, of which cotton was a leading article of export. When Slater first began to spin he used Cayenne and Surinam cotton, but after a

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EFFEFE

FFERFE

FELEEF

FETELE

OLD SLATER MILL, PAWTUCKET. As it appeared in 1793.

few years he began to mix about one-third of Southern cotton ; and this yarn was designated as second quality and sold at a price accordingly. In 1791 Moses Brown stated in a letter to J. S. Dexter, that Slater could not be induced to use American cotton because it had been so badly cleaned. After Eli Whitney's invention of the cotton gin in 1793, cotton soon became a profitable crop at the South, and it, espe- cially the Sea Island variety, soon began to displace foreign cotton in the domestic mills, while the market for it abroad continually in- creased. The price of domestic cotton at the port of export, in 1791, was twenty-six cents a pound.

The first calico printing in the State to be put in successful opera- tion was commenced at Providence in 1794 by Messrs. Schaub, Tissot & Dubosque, in a chocolate mill on the site afterward and now occu-

345

INDUSTRIAL, DEVELOPMENT.

pied by the Franklin Machine Company. Mr. Dubosque, who was formerly in the French navy, had learned the art in Alsace, before entering the navy. The cottons used were imported from Calcutta. The printing was done by wooden blocks, and the calendering by friction on a hard substance with flint stone-metal rollers then being unknown. A calendering machine had been put in operation in Provi- dence in 1790.

The first sewing thread ever made of cotton was produced by Samuel Slater in 1793. It appears that Mrs. Slater, noticing the smooth and even appearance of some yarn spun from Surinam cotton, became impressed with the idea that it would make good thread. With the aid of her sister, she twisted some of it on an ordinary spinning wheel, making No. 20 two-ply thread. On testing it with linen thread in making seams, the cotton thread proved the stronger. The introduc- tion of cotton stocking yarn in America is also ascribed to Mr. Slater. The prices for cotton twist yarn at Providence in 1794 were, for numbers 12, 16 and 20, respectively, 88 cents, $1.04 and $1.21.

The second cotton mill in the State was established at Centreville, in the town of Warwick, in 1794 by Colonel Job Greene and others, but it was not fully successful until 1799, when William Almy and Oba- diah Brown purchased one-half of the property for $2,500. In 1801 Messrs. Almy & Brown bought the other half and took full control.

According to tradition, after Messrs. Brown & Almy had purchased an interest in the mill, Brown and John Allen, one of the other owners, went to Pawtucket to look over the Slater mill, "to observe how things went and get some useful hints." Slater, who had no interest in the Centreville mill, was little pleased at having Allen spying around, and when the latter attempted to measure some of the machines, he ordered him to desist, and threatened to throw him out of the window. But as Obadiah was a partner of both Slater and himself, and stood looking on, he paid no heed to the threat. Finally Slater laid violent hands upon him. Obadiah then took the measure, saying, "I will finish thy work, and I will see if Samuel will serve me as he did thee." Samuel did not feel like attacking his own partner, and the measurements enabled the Centreville partners to equip their mill with better ma- chinery. In 1807 a second mill was erected by them on the east side of the river (Flat River, or the South Branch of the Pawtuxet). The original Green mill was purchased in 1852 by the late Benedict Lap- ham. A large stone mill erected by him just before his death (1883) was declared at the time to be the largest cotton mill in the country owned by a single individual.1

In 1799 Samuel Slater severed his connection with the firm of Almy & Brown, and in company with his father-in-law, Oziel Wilkinson, and,

' The accuracy of this claim is not vouched for.

346

STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.

his brothers-in-law, Timothy Greene and William Wilkinson, organized the firm of Samuel Slater & Company, Mr. Slater owning one-half of the stock. They erected a mill known as the "New Mill" on the Massachusetts side of the river, within the present limits of Pawtucket. Mr. Slater, however, still acted as superintendent of the old mill, dividing his time equally between the two, and receiving a salary of $1.50 a day from each.

Soon after the new mill commenced running a strike occurred in it, and several of the hands left. They went to Cumberland and per- suaded Elisha Waterman and Benjamin S. Walcott, who owned a fulling mill at Robin Hollow, to erect a mill for the manufacture of cotton. When the mill was finished and ready to start up-in 1801- the operatives marched by the Slater mill in a spirit of bravado, each with a bunch of cotton yarn wound around his hat. The Mathewson mill was rebuilt in 1824, was burned in 1850, again rebuilt, and burned again in 1860, after which it again rose from its ashes. It is now known as the Cumberland Mills.

In referring to the strike at the Slater mill, Slater's biographer says, "that by these men (the strikers) and their connections several factories were commenced in various parts of the country ;" most of the establishments erected from 1790 to 1809 having in fact been built by men who had directly or indirectly derived their knowledge of the business from Pawtucket, the cradle of the cotton manufacture. Slater's patterns and models were stolen by his servants, his improve- ments thus became extended over the country and the business was rapidly introduced in other places.

In 1805 the third cotton mill in Pawtucket was erected on the east side of the river. The persons engaged in the enterprise were Ebe- nezer Tyler, 2d, Eliphalet Slack, Oliver Starkweather, Nathaniel Croade, Benjamin S. Walcott, John Walcott and Elijah Ingraham. The mill, which was of wood and painted yellow, was known for many years as the "yellow mill." It was finished and went into operation in the fall of 1805. Its business was remunerative, and its owners built another mill of stone in 1823. Another cotton mill was built in 1805 on a site at Central Falls known as the chocolate mills. Stephen Jenks, the projector of this last enterprise, took Benjamin S. Wal- cott and Elisha Waterman into partnership, and the firm was styled the Smithfield Cotton Manufacturing Company.

After Samuel Slater's mills had been in successful operation some years he sent to England for his younger brother John, who came over in 1803, and immediately entered into the employ of Almy, Brown & Slater. Being desirous of enlarging their business, John was sent to inspect certain water privileges up the Blackstone and its tributaries. He made several journeys on horseback, during one of which he discovered a point on Branch River where there was at one point a fall

347

INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT.

of forty feet, withi ponds above it forming natural reservoirs, and promising an ample supply of water at all seasons of the year. This was the site of the future Slatersville. Three purchases of land were made, comprising in all more than one hundred and fifty acres, con- trolling the stream and providing sites for mills and tenements. A partnership was formed by William Almy, Obadiah Brown, Samuel Slater and John Slater, under the style of Almy, Brown and Slaters, and a mill was built in 1806, beginning operations early in 1807.

A cotton mill was erected in the village of Anthony, in Coventry, in 1806, by Richard and William Anthony and others. It was one of the largest mills in the State at the time. Another mill was built in 1811, a short distance east of it. A large brick mill was erected by the Cov- entry Company in 1874, upon the site of the original mill. The manu- facture of cotton goods was commenced at the village of Crompton, in Warwick, in 1807, by the Providence Manufacturing Company, which erected a stone mill known as the "stone jug." The mill now standing on that privilege is one of the largest in the State.1

A company was formed at Natick, in Warwick, in 1807 for the man- ufacture of cotton, and a mill was built known as the "Natick reel mill." It came into the possession of the Spragues in 1852, and after the failure of the great cotton manufacturing house was purchased by the present owners, who connected the detached buildings, and insti- tuted many improvements, making the establishment one of the largest, if not the very largest cotton mill in the country. It contains 100,000 spindles. The cotton mill at Hope village, Scituate, was built in 1806, and a mill at Lippitt, in Warwick, was started in 1809; that at Phenix in 1810-11, and one at Riverpoint in the same town by the Greene Manufacturing Company in 1812. Several other cotton mills were built in the State before the last war with Great Britain. An old record, bearing the date of 1812, states that there were thirty- eight cotton mills in operation in the State at that date, containing in all 30,669 spindles. They were located as follows: Warwick 9, North Providence and Coventry 5 each, Cranston 4, Smithfield and Scituate 3 each, Johnston, Cumberland and Glocester 2 each, Providence, Exeter and South Kingstown 1 each. The mill of Almy, Brown & Slater was for many years, and probably up to the beginning of the War of 1812, the largest and best equipped cotton mill in the country. British operatives, knowing that skilled workmen could command high

'A story, the authenticity of which may be considered as not fully estab- lished, is told of a little yarn mill erected on a brook emptying into Flat River, near the Crompton mill, above described. There was but little water power at the best, and the mill was finally abandoned. But one day, while it was run- ning, the machinery suddenly stopped. The operatives ran out of the mill to ascertain the reason, and discovered a cow drinking the water in the trench. When the animal had slaked her thirst, the trench filled and the wheel started again.

348

STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.

wages in America, emigrated to our shores in considerable numbers. Their first inquiry, on landing at Boston or New York, was regarding the facilities for reaching Pawtucket. The original eotton faetory thus had the piek of expert help, and its owners were doubtless in eon- stant receipt of inquiries from other mill owners who desired to engage factory hands. The quality of goods made at this mill in 1808 ean be learned through an advertisement in Philadelphia, "that Samuel Slater and Company, cotton spinners of North Providenee had on sale by Samuel Haydoek, 38 South Second street, Philadelphia, eotton twist and filling, brown and bleached, three-threaded bleached yarn, numbers eight to forty, and bleached eotton sewing thread, numbers twenty to forty, also eheeks and stripes, and tickings of superfine and mniddling qualities."

Aeeording to the eensus statisties of 1810, the value of manufae- tured produets in Rhode Island that year was $3,079,556. The returns were imperfeetly made and the figures are thought to have been too small.

The price of eotton twist at Providenee in 1800 was: Number 12, $1.03; number 16, $1.19; number 20, $1.36; an inerease of fifteen eents upon the prices of 1794. In 1803 the prices for the three grades had fallen respectively to 94 eents, $1.10 and $1.26 per pound.

It should be understood that previous to 1817 the operations of the eotton factories in this State were confined to spinning yarn only. The yarn was put out in webs, and was woven by hand weavers. Mules for spinning filling had not yet been introdueed. Although the power loom had been invented by Cartwright as far baek as 1784, and had been improved by subsequent inventors previous to 1810, it was not extensively used even in England for some years. At all events, no power looms appear to have been brought to this country for more than a quarter of a century after their invention. As none could be obtained from England, the ingenuity of American inventors was taxed to produce an American power loom. Among those who labored to this end were Judge Daniel Lyman and John Thorp of Providenee, and Mr. F. C. Lowell of Boston. The latter patented a machine which was set up in the Waltham eotton faetory in 1815. That year William Gilmour of Glasgow, Seotland, landed at Boston, bringing with him patterns of the power loom and dresser machine in use in that country. On invitation of John Slater he went to Smithfield, but as Mr. Slater could not obtain the consent of his partners to pay for the construction of an experimental loom, Gilmour aeeepted the invitation of Judge Lyman to remove to North Providenee, where he built twelve looms, in 1816, for the Lymansville mill at North Providenee. Afterwards, for the sum of ten dollars, he allowed David Wilkinson & Company the use of his patterns for building twelve other looms, and they got their dozen looms started almost as soon as those built by Gilmour.

349

INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT.

This power loom was put in operation early in 1817, two years after the American loom had been put to running at Waltham. The inven- tions and improvements in the machinery at Waltham having been patented, including the loom, the double spceder, warper, dressing- frame and filling-frame, and the right to the use of these patents being held at a high price, most of the mills already built in Rhode Island adopted the crank-loom made by Gilmour-otherwise called the Scotch loom-and introduced various plans in the process of making the roving, instead of using the patented speeder. Among them was the tube-spceder, invented by Danforth, and which was afterwards introduced to a considerable extent in Great Britain.

The introduction of the power loom completed the manufacturing system of the State. The mills could now individually employ all the various processes from the receipt of the raw cotton to the production of the finished web.

As previously stated, prior to 1817 the cotton factories of the State only produced yarn. In the days of hand spinning the spinners had not been able to keep up with the weavers, and the latter were fre- quently idle because of the want of yarn. After the introduction of mule spinning the hand-looms were fully employed, and yarn accumul- lated, waiting for the weavers. The Slater factory at Pawtucket, for many years the largest cotton factory in the country, was obliged to establish agencies in different cities, from Portsmouth, New Hamp- shire, to Baltimore, Maryland, for the disposal of its yarn.

The early customs duties upon cotton goods had but little effect in protecting the domestic product from foreign competition. They were but ten per cent. at first, but were raised to twelve and a half per cent. by an amendment of the existing tariff in 1797. While these duties doubtless helped the infant manufactures to take root, the chief imped- iment to their successful establishment was the lack of sufficient capi- tal, the want of good machinery and the lack of skilled help. Still, mills mutiplied very rapidly during the last half-dozen years previous to the outbreak of the War of 1812. That war, while it prevented to a great extent the export of our breadstuffs and cotton to foreign takers, effectually shut out British textiles and other foreign importa- tions, and thus insured the American manufacturer the monopoly of the home market, at a time when that market was stimulated by a suddenly created demand for food, clothing and the other appurte- nances of war to supply large armies. Prices went up with a rush and manufactured articles sold readily at advanced figurcs. Hence the war, which lasted three years, was of great aid to the American manu- facturer. But when the Americans and British ceased shooting at each other, an industrial war began. Great quantities of foreign tex- tiles and other goods were rushed across the ocean and exposed for

AS IT APPEARED IN 1850.

OLD SLATER MILL, PAWTUCKET.

FROM A PAINTING IN THE ROOMS OF THE PAWTUCKET BUSINESS MEN'S ASSOCIATION.

351

INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT.

sale at low prices and long credits. Mills were shut down generally for a brief period and Congress was appealed to for relief.

The enormous importations of coarse cottons and cheap calicoes from India was believed to be largely responsible for the condition of our cotton mills, and the mill owners of Massachusetts and Rhode Island united in sending a giant petition to Congress, asking for a prohibitory tariff on coarse cotton fabrics-especially those from be- yond the Cape of Good Hope-and increased duties on others. An assessment of one cent on each spindle was made in 1815, to pay the expense of an agent to procced to Washington and advocate the inter- ests of the cotton manufacturers of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and Hon. James Burrill was employed as such agent. Mr. John Waterman, in collecting the assessment and statistics, found the num- ber of cotton mills "in and near Providence" to be as follows: In Rhode Island, ninety-nine mills, with 75,678 spindles; in Massachu- setts, fifty-seven mills, 45,650 spindles ; in Connecticut, fourteen mills, 12,886 spindles; total one hundred and seventy cotton mills and 134,214 spindles. About one-third of the cotton manufacturing of the country was done in these mills.

Congress finally, in 1816, decided upon an ad valorem duty of twenty-five per cent. upon cotton and woolen goods.

The immediate effect of the new tariff (which increased the duties generally, and which was the first really protective tariff) was to replenish the national treasury. The tariff bill was approved Febru- ary 27, 1816, but the receipts from customs that year were more than double the entire receipts of the country, exclusive of loans, on any previous year. The exclusion of foreign products was defeated by the general advance in prices of the products of agriculture and manufac- ture. Raw cotton and tobacco more than doubled in price, and flour went up from $9.50 a barrel in 1814 to $14 in 1817. The exports of domestic products increased more than 50 per cent. in value in one year. The increase in the purchasing power of the farmers and those engaged in commerce, together with the adoption of the power loom by textile manufacturers, insured the latter a brief period of pros- perity. Unfortunately it was of short duration. The British ex- cluded American flour from their ports after November, 1817, and the increased importation of East Indian and Brazilian cotton into Eng- land forced down the price of the American product. Bishop, in commenting upon the situation in 1819, says : "Flour had also fallen off from its high price of ten to fifteen dollars a barrel in 1817 to five or six in the present year, in domestic ports ; and tobacco from $148 in 1817 to $110 this year, and $75 in 1822." A like depreciation in other crops greatly diminished the power of a large portion of the popula- tion to purchase manufactures. A general paralysis now fell upon all branches of industry. "The distress became more general and

352

STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.

severe than had ever been known and but little alleviation was experi- eneed for several years following. The banks suffered from laek of speeie. Bankrupteies overtook the mereantile and shipping interests, whose merchandise lay on their hands, and whose ships eould neither be employed nor sold save at ruinous losses. Rents and the value of real estate were enormously depreciated. Farms were mortgaged or sold at one-half or one-third their value. Factories and workshops were everywhere closed. Manufacturers were foreed to abandon ex- tensive and flourishing establishments, reared as if by magie in the last few years. The suffering among manufacturers was more severe in Rhode Island, New York and Pennsylvania than elsewhere. The number of persons thrown out of employment sinee peaee was variously estimated at from forty to sixty thousand, and with their families the number deprived of support was computed at from one hundred and sixty to two hundred and forty thousand." Many mills were put under the hammer and disposed of at a fraction of their orig- inal eost, and some establishments were permanently elosed. The dis- tress was generally imputed, especially in manufacturing distriets, to the great importations of foreign goods, and Congress was importuned to inerease the protective duties. Strong opposition was shown in Congress and elsewhere to an advance of tariff rates for several ses- sions. The eotton growers of the South and other agriculturalists, and the commercial interests were strongly opposed to an inerease.

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State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations at the end of the century : a history, Volume 3, Part 37

Author: Field, Edward, 1858-1928 Publication date: 1902 Publisher: Boston : Mason Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 728

Author: Field, Edward, 1858-1928
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: Boston : Mason Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 728