The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 59, July 1955 - April, 1956 Page: 170
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
trailing, lumbering, and railroad building; moribund business con-
ditions following the failure of Jay Cooke and Company in 1873;
and competition from Northern mills already so firmly estab-
lished that they could undersell Southern mills for as long as nec-
essary to put them out of business."7 The woolen goods industry
(27/29) also had been adversely affected by these factors. It was
represented in the census of 188o by a single mill in Comal
County, where experienced operatives put out as much woolen
goods as had the entire state in 1870. The men's clothing industry,
on the other hand, had increased production by 8o per cent, re-
taining its rank (22/22) in the growing list of Texas manufactur-
ing enterprises. Harris and Galveston counties still led in this
field.38
Texas manufacturers fared better with the seed of the cotton
plant than with the fiber. The first cottonseed oil mill in Texas
was established in 1867. By 1870 there were two which grossed
about $2o,ooo each. The greatest obstacle to the success of the
industry was the opposition of farmers, who had to be persuaded
by editorials and local experiments that cottonseed cake and meal
were better feeds for cattle, especially milch cows, than the seed
itself. Once convinced, however, the farmers looked upon the
cottonseed oil mill as a benefactor to the vicinage. By 188o, two
mills in Grayson and Waller counties had raised their gross to
$ioo,ooo and $90o,ooo respectively, and there were smaller mills
in Dallas, Brazos, Galveston, Grimes, and Robertson counties.
These mills bought seed at five or ten cents a bushel, removed
the hulls, and crushed the kernels into cakes. The hulls and cakes,
which were rich in potash and phosphate, were useful as feed or
fertilizer, and the oil could be used in making soap or stearine,
or refined for cooking and table use. The processing of $20 worth
of seed yielded $3 worth of lint, $1o worth of cake or meal, and
$24 worth of oil. By 188o the cottonseed milling industry stood
fourteenth in the value of its products and twelfth in the value
created by manufacturing.8"
37U. S. Census, i88o, II, 189-19o, 956; Coulter, The South during Reconstruction,
268; Edwin De Leon, "The New South," Harper's New Monthly Magazine, XLVIII,
270, 410; U. S. Census, I870, III, 596-597; J. G. Randall, The Civil War and Recon-
struction (Boston, 1953), 83o0-831.
88U. S. Census, z88o, II, 189-19o, 369-371.
s3Handbook of Texas, I, 422; U. S. Census, z87o, III, 735; U. S. Census, z88o, V17o
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 59, July 1955 - April, 1956, periodical, 1956; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101162/m1/188/: accessed March 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.