Alexandria Gazette, Commercial And Political

Rhode Island Cotton Manufactories.

Our readers will probably be surprised to learn the number of Cotton Manufactories; the quantity of cotton used; and the value of the cloth annually made in Rhode Island, the following paragraph on the subject is extracted from a memorial drawn up by the Cotton Manufacturers of Providence and its vicinity:-

It has been satisfactorily ascertained, that in the small district alone comprised within a circle of thirty miles from Providence, there are not less than one hundred and 40 manufactories, containing in actual operation more than 18,000 spindles, capable of holding a much larger number, few of them having yet received their full compliment of machinery. The quantity of cotton which, in their present state, they spin a year, may be computed at 2,900 bales, which when manufactured into cloth of the descriptions, commonly made, will produce 8,840,000 yards, the weaving of which, with average price of eight cents, amounts to 2,227,200 dollars, and the total value of the cloth will exceed six millions of dollars. To complete the manufacture from the raw material, until the goods are fit for market, it is estimated would afford steady & constant employment to 26,000 persons.