In New England in the 18th and early 19th centuries, the manufacture of cotton goods was a comparatively simple matter. Nearly every town of any importance had its red brick factory owned by a thrifty Yankee who combined the qualities of feudal lord, social mogul, town benefactor. His employees admired him, had simple wants, were content with frugal wages. Raw cotton from the slave states was cheap and plentiful. The New England mills had a virtual monopoly of U. S. textile manufactures. The thrifty Yankee prospered, passed his factory down from generation to...
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