The cotton-thread industry has two distinct branches, each having a more or less specialized field and a highly diversified range of products. The section of greatest importance produces thread known as manufacturers' thread for use in industry; the other, so-called domestic thread, this term being used to include not only thread for home sewing by hand or machine but also darning, knitting, and art needlework cottons. Although a few of the larger mills make both kinds, most of the mills in the United States confine their production to manufacturers' thread. Census reports show production of "cotton thread" amounting to 23,275,618 pounds in 1921 31,645,537 pounds in 1923, and 37,585,368 pounds (valued at $59,875,776) in 1925. The Census data include all cotton sewing thread for either manufacturers' or household use, but do not include cottons for handwork-these softer spun threads being included without separate enumeration with cotton yarn-so that the total output of the industry is greater than that shown by the Bureau of the Census. Considering its historic upbuilding, it is interesting to note that the cotton-thread industry in this country was energized, just as were some of the early railroad enterprises, by the influx of foreign capital. The investment of foreign capital in this branch of domestic industry began during the Civil War period when, because of tariff increases, the Clark Thread Co., of Paisley, Scotland, established a branch in New Jersey, and J. & P. Coats, also of Paisley, took over a domestic plant in Rhode Island. Two other British companies subsequently built plants in this country but were absorbed by the Clark Thread Co. which in turn was itself consolidated with J. & P. Coats in 1896. The Coats concern of Paisley continued to expand its international connections, establishing mills in almost every country of Europe, as well as in Canada, Mexico, Brazil, and Japan. Another large British company, the English Sewing Cotton Co., of Manchester, England, which had been formed by the merger of 14 thread companies in Great Britain, including a subordinate concern in France and one in Canada, entered the American field in 1898. It purchased practically all the common stock of the American Thread Co., organized by the fusion of 14 domestic thread manufacturers. Concentration of production is an outstanding feature of the "domestic" or household branch of the cotton-thread industry in the United States. In fact, in the manufacture of spool thread and 3 handwork cottons for household use there is little small-scale production and there are only a few producers. About nine-tenths of the American output of domestic thread and handwork cottons is made. by three large companies which overshadow all the other concerns in size. In manufacturers' thread, on the other hand, production is diffused among a large number of sharply competing mills. In this branch, the most important in the industry, the three large-scale companies are estimated to produce about 45 per cent of the American supply; a large part of this quota is the output of the American Thread Co., as the other two, the Coats and Clark units, specialize for the most part in domestic thread and handwork cottons. The remaining 55 per cent of the production of manufacturers' thread is distributed among 150 or more medium and small-sized mills and jobbers. The three large companies and two smaller concerns are integrated plants and conduct the entire cycle of manufacturing processes from the raw cotton to the finished thread. Virtually all of the moderatesized thread factories, mostly located in New England, start with the grey yarn which they purchase from spinning mills specializing in so-called thread yarns, and carry their operations through the doubling, twisting, dyeing, bleaching, finishing, and putting-up processes. The majority of the small mills which are centralized in the metropolitan area of New York have the conversion processes done for them on commission by mills specializing in the various processes, and engage only in assembling, spooling, and marketing the finished thread. As they sell their goods under their own trademarked brands, these small concerns enter into price competition with manufacturers who conduct all or most of the thread-making operations in their own plants. Imports of sewing thread in recent years have tended to diminish and amount to a very small percentage of the total domestic production. They are largely supplemental, as the two large thread concerns abroad do not market any significant part of their exportable surplus in this country. The branch of the industry producing cottons for handwork is the one most seriously affected by foreign competition, which is heaviest from France. During the three years, 1923-1925, imports of French origin averaged about 70 per cent of the total quantity and 85 per cent of the total value of all the imports under paragraph 902 of the act of 1922; in 1926 the proportions were approximately 60 and 80 per cent, respectively. French handwork cottons have been held in high repute for fastness of dye and high luster, and prior to the war were generally considered superior to the domestic. The curtailment of imports during the period of hostilities, however, stimulated the American manufacturers to expand their output and improve the quality, with the result that domestic handwork cottons now compare favorably with the imported and are steadily growing in popular estimation. The domestic producers, moreover, have a distinct advantage in their proximity to United States markets, which enables them to supply consumers on short notice. The price differential in favor of American handwork cottons and the ready response of manufacturers to market demands both operate to aid domestic producers in the face of the heavy competition from France. The United States exports of sewing thread are considerably smaller in value than imports. In late years they have been on the decline, dropping from 1,653,184 pounds in 1922 to 960,454 pounds in 1925, but rising in 1926 to 1,299,269 pounds. The three principal thread manufacturers in this country cater primarily to home-market demand. American producers of thread who had developed an export business during the war when European production was at a low ebb now find it difficult to compete in the world markets against the two chief British thread manufacturers, J. & P. Coats (Ltd.) and the English Sewing Cotton Co., 80 per cent of whose production in the United Kingdom is destined for the export trade. With their wide commercial and industrial affiliations of an international character, these leading British companies virtually dominate the cotton sewingthread production and trade of the world. The competitive strength of the British thread industry in international commerce is evidenced by the exports from Great Britain, which attained a record of 34,695,400 pounds in 1900 and averaged during the five years 1922–1926 about 18,000,000 pounds a year. Domestic exports of crochet, darning, and embroidery cottons amounting to 291,456 pounds in 1922, declined to 97,701 pounds in 1925, and recovered to 123,400 pounds in 1926. Exporters of American-made handwork cottons find considerable difficulty in competing against the trade prestige of long-established European brands, particularly the French. COTTON SEWING THREAD AND COTTONS FOR HANDWORK GENERAL INFORMATION TARIFF ACT OF SEPTEMBER 21, 1922 PAR. 902. Cotton sewing thread, one-half of 1 cent per hundred yards; crochet, darning, embroidery, and knitting cottons, put up for handwork, in lengths not exceeding eight hundred and forty yards, one-half of 1 cent per hundred yards: Provided, That none of the foregoing shall pay a less rate of duty than 20 nor more than 35 per centum ad valorem. In no case shall the duty be assessed on a less number of yards than is marked on the goods as imported. SCOPE OF THE INDUSTRY The thread industry has two distinct branches, namely, "domestic" or household threads and manufacturers' threads. The designation "domestic threads" is an established trade term covering all the products sold through the retail dealer to the ultimate consumer for hand or machine sewing and art needlecraft. This branch includes not only sewing thread but also darning, mending, knitting, crocheting, tatting, and embroidery cottons. The production of manufacturers' threads is the most important branch of the thread industry. The strides that have taken place in industry through the invention of sewing machines of highly specialized construction have brought about a great development in the factory production of articles formerly made in the home or by the small-shop artisan and craftsman. This development has resulted in a coordinate expansion in the thread industry to supply manufacturers with threads strong enough to withstand the complicated processes of stitching under the heavy tension of the high-speed, motor-driven factory sewing machines and suitable for the many types of machines and for different textile fibers and materials. Besides the great amount of general-utility thread employed in the manufacture of apparel and house furnishings, special threads are. now prepared for use in making shoes, saddles, luggage, gloves, gas mantles, baseballs, automobile tops, upholstery, carpets, awnings, sails, flags, umbrellas, mail bags, overalls, corsets, straw hats, etc., and for the floral and the bookbinding trades. In addition there are also produced threads adaptable to particular operations such as buttonholing, serging, and blindstitching. As a result of the various demands of the trades, as well as the needs of the home seamstress, the manufacture of thread has become a specialized and complex industry involving the production of thousands of articles differing with regard to size, construction, twist, color, finish, put-up and yardage, quality, and brand. COTTON SEWING THREAD Definition.—Cotton sewing thread may be defined as a smooth, evenly spun, hard-twisted, ply or cable yarn, treated by special finishing processes to make it resistant to abrasion in its passage through the eye of a needle and through materials in seaming and stitching operations. Construction. Sewing threads for both domestic and manufacturers' use may be either plain laid or cable laid. Special threads for the shoe industry may also be braided. In plain laid, sometimes called “straight-doubled" threads, a number of ends of single yarns are by one operation twisted into a ply yarn. In cabling, on the other hand, there are two twisting operations, the first making the ply yarn from two or more singles and the second making the cabled yarn or thread from three or more ply yarns. Certain industries demand the cable laid, but threads for ordinary purposes are generally plain laid. The production of cabled threads, except for household use, is on the decline. For home consumption, however, the standard thread is cabled because of the diversified uses to which it is put in both hand and machine sewing. In handwork particularly, since a definite length of thread passes its full length through the cloth at every stitch, the amount of manipulation and wear which the thread undergoes is considerably more than in machine sewing work. Household thread is therefore given the extra doubling to make it hard and compact enough to prevent fraying. Threads of a braided construction, which were developed during the war for the shoe industry, consist usually of 16 ends or strands of single yarn plaited together on a braiding machine instead of twisted together on a doubling machine. Braiding is employed to avert the stranding difficulties often met with in a thread with an improperly balanced twist when loose riders are picked up by the needle barb in the shoe machine or when the tension of the machinery is so heavy that the twist is backed up by the pressure. Manufacturers' thread in plain-laid form for general sewing is produced in 2, 3, and 4 cord. The word "cord" is employed in the thread industry to designate the number of single ends composing the thread and is synonymous with the spinners' term "ply," the two words being frequently used interchangeably. For special industries, notably the shoe industry, requiring threads of exceptional strength, the cords range progressively up to 28, both in plain and cable construction. Household thread for hand and machine use is largely a 6-cord cabled product; domestic 3-cord plain-laid threads are for basting and for seaming operations in which security and durability are less essential requisites; a high grade of sewing thread, especially in the mercerized finish, is also now sold in 3-cord for the domestic trade. Twist. The direction of the twist in straight-doubled threads is always opposite to that inserted in the spinning of the single yarns from which the thread is made. When the revolutions of the spinning spindle have been toward the right, producing a single yarn with a so-called regular twist, the twisting spindles in the thread doubling operations are turned in the opposite direction, giving a thread with a left or reverse twist. Threads for manufacturing purposes are made with either left or right twist. Some industrial sewing ma |