Samuel Slater, Francis Cabot

Lowell, and the Beginning of the

Factory System in United States

HEMT GROUP 2

SUBMITTED BY-
AASHNA SHUKLA
ASHUTOSH GUPTA
PRACHI PRAGYA
STANSAM THOMAS
Introduction
In nearly every country, the first modern factories have
produced cotton textiles.
Britain had long been a major producer of hand-spun and
hand-woven woollen yarn and cloth.
In the last decades of the 18th century, a series of mechanical
inventions made possible the production of cloth from raw
cotton by water-powered and then steam-powered machines.
In 1813, Francis Cabot Lowell, brought from England to the United
States the plans for a power loom.
Innovations in

Spinning
Before the coming of innovations in spinning and weaving, four of the five
operations traditionally performed by women and, sometimes, children.
The cotton manufacturing process was initially mechanised by a new
invention, the "jenny", which permitted the production of several strands of
cotton yarn simultaneously.
The invention that simultaneously improved quality and output was the
spinning machine patented by Richard Arkwright in 1769.
An engine by Jedediah Strutt freed the England from dependence on water
power and made possible the amazing growth of the English cotton textile
industry between 1782 and 1800.
SAMUEL SLATER
Spread of cotton mill fever in England convinced
Slater that England market would saturate
He saw new prospects lay in America (1789)
British Government had restrictive policies which
barred skilled labour to leave England
Slater disguised himself and escape
The Firm Almy & Brown
The Brown brothers manufactured and exchanged

goods and traded in African slaves

Ineffective relationship with spinning machines
Browns were impressed by Slater's command of
cotton manufacturing but knew the establishment of the
mill would take long
They signed a contract with Slater to form a new

partnership called Almy, Brown & Slater for the pilot

plant

Points of Contract
The spinning of cotton by water
Almy & Brown, to provide cost of machinery &

equipment, Slater to provide skills & expertise

Compensation, Profits, Interests & Commissions

Volume G1. Almy, Brown and Slater,

Daybook: Almy & Brown's Account with

Spinning Mills, 1793-1804. (seq. 1-106)

Early Years of Almy, Brown & Slater

Slater decided to build new machines such as carding engines,

roving frames, and spinning machines with capital furnished from

Almy and Brown.
Two spinning machines were completed by 1790. Initially powered by

hand, later water power was used and commercial production

started on a small scale.

The successful pilot efforts led to the setting up of the “Old Mill” at

Pawtucket which was widely imitated.

1790 1793

Spinning machines were

The partners agreed to
completed finance the present day
"Old Mill"
Labour
Children aged 7 to 12 were full-time workers. Families had to be

persuaded to move to Pawtucket to secure operatives for the mill.

A Sunday school was set up in Slater's house for children and

uneducated adults working at the mill.

Women and children from poor families were employed to clean the

cotton before it was spun into yarn

1790 1793

First record of employees Sunday school was set up

Marketing through Almy and Brown

The firm of Almy, Brown & Slater did not do weaving, only

produced yarn, to be sold by the mercantile firm of Almy

and Brown without any direct marketing.

The separation of marketing and production functions

was typical of manufacturing enterprises established by

mercantile interests.
Word of mouth recommendations and commission-

based sales were relied on after completing orders for

clients.
Initially, a commission of 5% was offered for sales but as the

firm felt their product was established and they enjoyed a

near monopoly of machine-made cotton yarn in the United

States, this commission was proposed to be slashed down

to 2.5%.
Dissension among partners
Moments of tension started to grow among the 1970
partners as production increased and this
virtually transferred the financial control to Samuel Slater sent a

Almy and Brown letter to Almy and Brown

Retaliation ensued in the following year(1800)
when Slater formed a partnership with his
Father in Law, the Wilkinsons to build and
1800
operate the White mill.
When Almy & Brown refused Slater permission to
Retaliation resulted in
erect the mill, Slater took the matter to court
White Mill
and secured a jury decision to partition the land
and water privileges
These personal differences did not however
completely hamper the Almy, Brown, and Slater 1806
partnership.
A new mill was erected in 1806, in Rhode Island John Slater came to

selected by John Slater(Slater’s brother). Around America

the mill was built a company town, which later
came to be known as Slatersville
 Competition
The period from 1806 to 1812 saw a rapid expansion of
Slater-type mills along the Blackstone river
1806 - 15 cotton mills and by the end of 1809 - 62
cotton mills
Most of these mills were built by people directly trained
under Slater
Marketing became a serious problem in this mounting
competition
Extensive attempts were made to add new customers to
increase direct sales “Price maintenance”
Little efforts were made at Slater mills to produce goods
in quantities that bore a close relationship to market
demand
Additional Mills(1812-1820)
Outbreak of war – 1812 and British imports
were shut off and Slater saw an opportunity here.
Green Mill was setup in Oxford(Now, Webster)
Inspired by the war Wooden Mill was setup in
1815 in Oxford which extended his management
responsibilities
However, as soon as peace was declared, times
were difficult for the American cotton industry as
British merchants dumped large quantities of
accumulated goods
Addition of mills continued again in 1820s.
However, by 1828, due to sharp recession, Slater
was driven to near bankruptcy

1806 - 1812 1812 1806 - 1815 1828

Rapid Expansion Outbreak of War Cotton mills Slater driven to

bankruptcy
Labour in Slater's Mill
Workers were mostly of English ancestry and Puritan influence was
still at work.
Workers were made up chiefly of family groups, which probably
consisted largely of minor children
By 1827, when Slater was operating two mills at Oxford, the
number of labourers had grown to 144, 79 males and 65 females
The normal working day was 12 hours, as may be seen from the
time book for 1813-1836.
The wages of men in 1817 seemed to vary around a normal
standard of six shillings per day.
Children received sometimes as little as three shillings a week.
Women were paid by piecework
 Delay in Adopting the Power Loom
Poweloomsom were brought to America by Francis Cabot Lowell and by a Scots
mechanic named Horrocks
Slater stood firm against the new invention - he did not wish to risk the investment
during depressed times & preferred to concentrate on spinning
Slater returned to the practice of subcontracting to domestic weavers to compete
with machine-woven goods
Hand-loom weaving seems to have reached its peak between 1820 and 1825. By
1823, Slater began to install small weaving machines to take the place of the hand
weavers
In 1827 Slater and his associates build a large mill at Providence powered by steam, it
integrated weaving with spinning
In the next decades, steam-driven factories competed successfully with the large
water-driven mills
Conclusion
Industrialisation made existing sectors more efficient
The whole case resonates with what MNCs do today- talent comes from a foreign land and
uses labour elsewhere
The Slater case is a good example of what today's partnerships look like
The compensation and benefits provided to families to move to Pawtucket is an example
of employee perks and negotiation