in shares, or partially in shares, a general
diffusion of risks and pledging of credit, would explain even more rapid
growth of industries of even greater magnitude.

Character of the American Industry.

Broad generalizations are difficult to frame, hard to establish and
liable to be misleading; some generalizations relating to the features
of the American cotton industry taken as a whole the author is tempted
to venture nevertheless. The characteristics of labour have already been
incidentally commented upon. We have also noticed that the bulk of the
work done is of a rough and simple character. In spite of American
nationalism and the prevalence of protective sentiments it is said that
there is still a prejudice in the United States against home-made fine
cotton goods.[57] "The product of the American system is a cloth which
is, on the whole, distinctly inferior in appearance, 'feel' and finish
to that produced by the Lancashire system. To equal a Lancashire cloth
in these respects an American cloth must not only be made of better
cotton, but must contain more of it--perhaps 5% more. To this rule of
inferiority there are, it is needless to say, exceptions, notably some
of the American drills made for the China market. But the American home
market, which absorbs nearly the whole of the product of American looms,
is less exacting in these matters than the markets in which Lancashire
cloths are sold."[58] It follows that the average counts spun in the
United States are lower than in England, though they have been rising
somewhat. Another feature of American spinning as compared with English
is the high proportion of ring-frames to mules. In New England between
1890 and 1900 mule-spindles advanced by 100,000 and ring-spindles by
nearly 2,000,000: in the South mule-spindles increased only from 108,500
to 180,500, while to the ring-frames 2,700,000 were added. To the
general rule Rhode Island is the sole exception; here mule-spindles have
increased and ring-spindles decreased; but in Rhode Island much of the
fine spinning--for instance that for hosiery--is congregated.[59] One
explanation of the preponderance of ring-spinning is to be found in the
character of American fabrics. Again most of the operatives are not of a
kind likely to acquire great excellence at mule-spinning. To the
Americans we largely owe the ring-frame, because their encouragement
helped it through the difficult period when its defects were serious,