Corwin, Thomas

(1794-1865), statesman, was a member of the Ohio Legislature 1822-1829, and of the U. S. House of Representatives in 1831, where he represented the Whig party until 1840, when he was | | | | elected Governor of Ohio, He was elected to the U.S. Senate 1844- | 1850 and to Congre in 1858 and 1860. He was appointed Minister to! Mexico by President Lincoln, serving from 1861 to 1864. | Cotton. The cotton plant began to be cultivated in Virginia in the | times of the earliest colonists, Small patches were grown, and the lint, picked from the seed by hand, was woven into cloth for domestic use. The development of cotton manufacture was gradual, and it was not until 1750, when the fly shuttle was invented, that the industry bel came extensive through the Southern States of the Union. The spin- ' ning jenny was invented in England in 1767 and immediately brought into use in this country. In 1769 Ark wright patented a spinning frame, or ‘‘ throstle,’’ in which was a useful device for spinning with rollers, Ark wright adapted to this machine the principle now known as the “‘ flyer.” Samuel Crompton combined the principles of the fly shuttle and the ‘‘ throstle ’ in 1779, and Cartwright invented the power loom in 1785. The first steam engine used in a power mill was set up in 1785, thus supplying the mechanical power so long needed. Eli Whitney’s cotton gin, invented in 1792, brought about an enormous increase in the cotton industry. The first succe ful cotton factory in the United States was that of Samuel Slater, of Pawtucket, R. I., established in 1790. In 1810 the whole consumption of cotton in this country was 10,000 bales; in 1815 it had reached 90,000. The total product in 1900 was 9,439, 589 bales, with a capital of nearly $400,000,000 employed in the industry. Cotton Gin, invented by Eli Whitney, of Ma achusetts, in 1792. With this machine the preparation of cotton for market was enormously facilitated and the cotton industry increased proportionately. The price of slaves immediately rose and the faint glimmerings of emancipation sentiment in the South were quickly extinguished, slave labor being invaluable in the cultivation of cotton. Cotton Loans, loans negotiated by the Confederate Government. It induced the planters to promise that, when their cotton was sold, certain sums or a certain proportion of the crop should be paid to the government for the management of the war. In return, and on this basis, the government i ued eight per cent. bonds. The loan proved worthle to subscribers. * Cotton Whigs,’ a name given in the decade preceding the Civil War to those Whigs in the North who were willing, for the sake of conciliating the Southern Whigs, to make as little opposition as po ible to the extension of slavery. 190