------------------------------------------------------------------------ Great Britain All Countries including Great Britain ----+----------------+----------------+----------------+---------------- |Mule Spindles in|Ring Spindles in|Mule Spindles in|Ring Spindles in | work as per | work as per | work as per | work as per | Returns | Returns | Returns | Returns ----+----------------+----------------+----------------+---------------- 1910| 40,101,083 | 7,987,430 | 65,051,239 | 54,421,786 1911| 39,977,255 | 8,050,925 | 65,231,044 | 56,046,153 1912| 39,848,727 | 8,885,218 | 65,311,070 | 61,426,062 1913| 40,493,532 | 9,312,236 | 64,325,243 | 65,570,408 ----+----------------+----------------+----------------+---------------- [Footnote 489: _Report of the Tenth International Cotton Congress_, pp. 591, 600, 610, 717.] From these figures it will be seen that in Great Britain the mule still vastly predominates, and that in other countries the opposite is the case.[490] It is unnecessary to enumerate here the particular economic advantages of one machine compared with the other,[491] but in explanation of the international position it has to be borne in mind that, for spinning the higher qualities of yarn, the mule is superior to the ring-frame, also, that it is a much more complicated machine, and requires more highly skilled labour for its construction and operation.[492] As regards such labour, this country has been highly favoured compared with most of the other countries where the cotton industry is carried on. Even so, it appears that in British cotton mills ring-spindles are increasing at a greater rate than mule-spindles, and in the mills of other countries the fact is more pronounced. Whether the above figures represent a permanent tendency a longer period will be required to show, but, in any case, it is certain that the development of the cotton industry during the past century and a half, particularly in the United Kingdom, cannot be fully understood apart from the service which has been rendered by the invention of Samuel Crompton. [Footnote 490: In this connection, of course, Great Britain really means the United Kingdom.] [Footnote 491: They are discussed in Ellison, _Cotton Trade of Great Britain_, pp. 33-35.] [Footnote 492: _Souvenir of Royal Visit to Bolton_, pp. 27-28.] CHAPTER VII LETTERS OF SAMUEL CROMPTON