Cotton

17

NITED STATES
~mmAN FACTORIES

ACH DOT REPRESENTS
ONE ESTABLISHMENT

AB.

F1G. 12. There are three points of concentration for cotton manufacturing in the United States:
(1) New England, where the finest cloth is woven and where cloth woven elsewhere is dyed and
inished ; (2) the region about Philadelphia, where knitting mills are most numerous; (3) the
piedmont section at the base of the mountains of the South, where factories are near the source of
raw material and can utilize the power from the mountain streams.

How a favorable climate causes the cotton industry to prosper.
Fall River is further fortunate in being so located that the prevailing
southwest wind brings damp air from a broad expanse of ocean.
This is of great help in spinning cotton, for the dampness prevents
the fibers from becoming brittle and breaking constantly. Western
England has this advantage to an even greater degree than Fall
River, because of the prevalence of damp west winds. In good cotton
 mills the air is usually dampened by steam jets or fine sprays of
water; but in dry regions it is hard to keep the air in the right condition
 by artificial means, and consequently the thread often breaks,
so that it is difficult to make good cloth.
Climate is favorable or unfavorable in another way — it has a
marked effect on people’s capacity to work. Fall River, like the rest