TS 1583 .U6 Copy 1 DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE BUREAU OF FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC COMMERCE E. E. PRATT, Chief MISCELLANEOUS SERIES—No. 37 THE COTTON -SPINNING MACHINERY INDUSTRY REPORT ON THE COST OF PRODUCTION OF COTTON- SPINNING MACHINERY IN THE UNITED STATES WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1916 fttoaegftffo DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE W.S, BUREAU OF FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC COMMERCE E. E. PRATT, Chief MISCELLANEOUS SERIES—No. 37 THE COTTON -SPINNING MACHINERY INDUSTRY REPORT ON THE COST OF PRODUCTION OF COTTON- SPINNING MACHINERY IN THE UNITED STATES WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1916 C]KG ADDITIONAL COPIES OF THIS PUBLICATION MAY BE PROCURED FROM THE SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON, D. C. AT 10 CENTS PER COPY D. of D. JUL 15 1916 . CONTENTS Page. Letter of submittal 5 Introduction 7 Summary 10 Cost of production .' 10 Cost accounting and efficiency 11 Selling methods 12 Prices 12 Working conditions 12 Imports and exports 13 Relative merits of foreign and domestic machinery 13 Card clothing 14 Chapter I. —The cotton textile machinery industry in the United States 15 Development of the industry 15 Competitive expansion of the industry 18 Chapter II. —Cost of production of cotton-spinning machinery 18 Range of costs and profits in nine-year period IS Most profitable year 19 Least profitable year 20 Average year 22 Recapitulation for each plant for most profitable, least profitable, and aver- age years 23 Labor cost 23 Most profitable and least profitable plants 24 Recapitulation for all plants for nine-year period 27 Net sales 28 Costs. 30 Labor cost of two standard units 31 Assets and liabilities ; 32 Profits 33 Chapter III. —Cotton-mill equipment 36 Cotton textile machines and their uses 36 Openers 36 Pickers 36 Cards 36 Drawing frames 38 Slubber and roving frames 38 Ring spinning frames 38 Combing machines 39 Automatic looms 40 Cotton-waste machinery 41 Machine equipment of a 50,000-spindle mill 42 Improvements in cotton-spinning machinery 44 Chapter IV. —Machines used in manufacturing cotton-spinning machinery . 48 Shop equipment 48 Improvements 48 3 4 CONTENTS. Page. Chapter V.—Cost accounting and efficiency 51 Present methods t 51 An efficiency experiment 51 Chapter VI.—Selling methods, prices, and conditions 53 Relations of shops and cotton mills 53 Selling prices 55 Chapter VII.—Working conditions 58 Occupations 58 Earnings 59 Welfare of employees 70 Chapter VIII.—Foreign and domestic textile machinery 73 Imports 73 Exports 75 Foreign and domestic machines in American cotton mills 76 Relative merits of foreign and domestic machinery 82 Chapter IX.—Cards and card clothing 85 Cost of production of card clothing 86 Materials 86 Labor 88 Occupations and wages 88 Cost of imported cards 89 Appendix A. —Bibliography on textile machinery 91 Appendix B.—Makers of cotton textile machinery 99 LETTER OF SUBMITTAL. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, Washington, January 22, 1916. Sir : I beg to submit herewith a report on the cost of production of cotton-spinning machinery in the years 1906 to 1914, comprising a study of the manufacture of such machines as are used in the various processes from the opening of the bale to the spinning of the cotton. This investigation was undertaken in accordance with the act of Congress approved August 23, 1912, establishing the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce. In addition to presenting the cost of production, the report contains information concerning manufac- turing and selling methods, working conditions, imports and exports, and other features or conditions of this industry which were observed by the special agents. While in earlier years the American cotton-textile industry was mainly dependent upon foreign manufacturers for machinery, this dependence has been gradually removed, and at the present time statistics obtained from cotton mills throughout the United States show that over 90 per cent of the cotton-textile machinery installed is of American manufacture. Statistics of the value of imports and exports of cotton-spinning machinery are not available, but an examination of the invoices at the United States appraisers' offices in Boston, New York, and Phila- delphia shows that the number of cotton-textile machines imported at these ports decreased from l,132in 1909 to 275 in 1914. The duty on these machines is 20 per cent ad valorem. While the amount of exports of cotton-spin ring machinery of the kind considered in this report is unknown, it was found upon inquiry among the manufacturers that it is very small, in fact almost negli- gible. There is a feeling among some manufacturers that the time is now ripe to branch out into the foreign markets. In the investigation of the cost of production of cotton-spinning machinery, reports were received from three firms owning six plants in New England. These firms produce between 80 and 90 per cent of the domestic output of the machinery of the kind considered. The data cover a period of nine years. The net sales of all of these 5 6 LETTER OF SUBMITTAL. establishments varied during the nine years from $12,837,892 in 1909 to $6,988,178 in 1914. The concrete results of the investigation appear in the summary of this report, while the detailed information is given in the various chapters. This investigation was conducted by Special Agent Edward S. Fawcett, with the assistance of Special Agent F. B. Meador. Special Agent Frank J. Sheridan made special inquiry concerning card cloth- ing and obtained certain other facts that were incorporated in the report. The general direction of the office work and the editing of the report has been in charge of Gustavus A. Weber, expert in charge of the cost of production division, assisted by Henry J. Bierman. E. E. Pratt, Chief of Bureau. To Hon. William C. Redfield, Secretary of Commerce, THE COTTON-SPINNING MACHINERY INDUSTRY. INTRODUCTION. The cotton textile machinery plants included in this investigation have directed their efforts mainly to the manufacture of cotton- spinning machinery, the larger establishments making complete lines from the bale opener to the spinning frame. A few plain looms have also been made, and some little miscellaneous textile machinery. Combing machinery, used in the manufacture of fine soft yarn, has been made by only one firm. These machines are well protected by patents both here and abroad, and as the demand is not great for this special class of cotton machinery, the other firms would hardly be justified in spending large sums to develop their own machines in this direction, even though the firm now making combers has found them very profitable. Mule spinning machinery has not been manufactured to any great extent in this country. During recent years it has been made by only one domestic manufacturer. The demand, however, is so small that he has made none during the last two years. The improvements made in ring spinning machinery have developed these machines to such a high degree of perfection that they are rapidly supplanting the mule machines for even very fine yarns. Ring spinning is the commonly used method in this country. Mule spinning, a slower process, is an English method. An enumera- tion of cotton mills made for use in this report shows mills reporting slightly over 18,600,000 ring spindles and slightly less than 2,300,000 mule spindles. Each year the percentage of ring spinning is becoming greater. Most of the other machines used in cotton mills, such as dyeing, printing, pressing, drying, cloth finishing, and other miscellaneous machines, including automatic looms, are not ordinarily made by the firms that make the spinning machinery. They are made by speci- alty shops, and for all practical purposes their manufacture may be considered a separate industry. Some of the cotton-spinning machinery manufacturers also manu- facture wool and worsted machinery, but not to any great extent. Their principal efforts have been directed to the development of strictly cotton machinery. The one cotton-machinery plant which has made the greatest effort to develop a trade in wool and worsted machinery has also manufactured some silk and paper machinery, and in the last few years accepted quite a large order for jute machinery. Until this order was placed all jute machinery was imported. Unfor- tunately for the development of such lines, this plant was under very conservative management, which made little effort to use modern manufacturing methods and permitted the establishment to fall : 8 COTTON-SPINNING MACHINEEY INDUSTRY. behind the times in every way. Within the last few years, however, it has come under the control of one of the most progressive firms, and in course of time will undoubtedly be brought up to date or else its business transferred to one of the firm's efficient shops. The agents of the Bureau obtained establishment schedules for a series of years from the three firms which produce between 80 and 90 per cent of the cotton textile machinery made in this country. One of these firms operates four plants, located in three towns of two States, and the other two firms operate one plant each. These four plants were not under the same joint management during the entire period, however. Therefore they are considered as sepa- rate plants in the following tables, except in the tables showing per cent of profit on capital and surplus, etc., where the firm is considered as a unit. This difference was made because it was impossible to segregate the capital, etc., of the four individual plants. The method used was to combine the assets of all four plants and calculate the combined profits against this. The figures obtained from one of the firms were for an even nine- year period from January 1, 1906, to January 1, 1915; from another firm, April 1, 1907, to January 1, 1915; for two of the plants of the third firm the figures cover a period of nine years and two months, or from May 1, 1905, to July 1, 1914; for the third plant of this group they cover seven years and nine months, from October 1, 1906, to July 1, 1914; for the fourth plant from October 1, 1906, to October 1, 1911, and from January 1 to July 1, 1914, or five and a half years.