King Cotton (1949)

from the brink of mourning here [Music] that sounds big [Music] cotton is king but there was a day when few people believed that cotton would have as many uses as a does in today's world cotton has been known for many hundreds of years but it was not usable on a large scale until the beginning of the 19th century in 1781 a New England farm boy named Eli Whitney was beginning to make a name for himself as a manufacturer of hat pins for ladies bonnets a few years later young Eli said his nimble fingers to a harder task getting the seeds out of cotton for thousands of years the only way to separate cotton seeds from cotton fibers had been to pull out the seeds by hand a slow costly tedious task in ten days Whitney developed the model of a machine that was to revolutionize the cotton industry the cotton gin was a simple device but it took the seeds out of cotton and that was what the salt had been waiting for some of the southern states voted Whitney a royalty for his invention but he had to spend most of this money to defend his rights in marketing the new cotton gin those who had started to emigrate from the south in search of a better opportunity learned of a new machine and took new hope the value of cotton land trebled overnight all over the world the impact of this simple invention was felt almost immediately Eli Whitney put together a few boards and rollers and gave the world a giant industry common was King never before that anyone removed seeds from cotton so quickly easily and surely never had anyone dreamed that a machine could do so much here was an invention that did in a few minutes the work that took a pioneers family a whole evening to do by hand as they sat around the fire here in a small wooden box was all that was needed to demonstrate the value of cotton as a world crop the principles important Whitney's first machine have been retained in the modern cotton gin inside the gin the cotton fall through the hopper and hits a grid where it comes in the revolving teeth the teeth grabbed the fibers and pulled them through the narrow openings of the grid openings they can't pass through they fall to the floor the fibers are swept off the revolving saw teeth and out of the gin the modern Jim seems much different certainly much larger than the experimental gins of Whitney's day but the real difference lies not in the principle used to take out the seeds but in the fact that new machinery has been added to clean the cotton and carry a large amount of cotton through the gin it is here in the generate that all the work in the cotton fields comes to a focus all the time labor expended by the southern cotton farmer reaches its climax in the two great products of the cotton world cotton fibers and cotton seeds the valuable seeds emerge from the gin fall into a trough and are drawn away by suction the seeds are still not entirely free from cotton they are covered with a white fall known as cotton linters Linda is removed from the seeds in a later operation are used in many basic cotton products of great importance the seeds are likewise storehouses of the wealth to the salt each year brings new uses cotton seed for various oils for tar phonograph records cosmetics and foods today more than threescore products are made from cotton seed so that the cotton can be handled conveniently it must be made more compact and tied into a package or bale as the ginned cotton collects it is mechanically packed until enough has accumulated to make a 500 pound pack the heavy pressure which is then applied produces good bales that are compact and uniform in size almost completely covered with sturdy bagging iron bands wrapped tightly around the bale make sure that king cotton can travel securely if need be to the ends of the earth on the cotton plantations today modern science and modern farm machinery play an important part work that formally required days or weeks of sweating toil is now handled with ease and efficiency in a very short time early in the year law was drawn by light but powerful modern tractors break the soil to a depth of three to eight inches preparing acres of land quickly and easily for the good crops of cotton to come after the danger of frost is over and the land has been warmed about a spring Sun up to the minute multiple roll planting machines move swiftly over the fields a far cry from the once common and laborious method of dropping the seed by hand all through the growing season modern cultivators roll through the fields of cotton plants destroying weeds and grass loosening the soil to let in air allowing water to penetrate to the roots of the growing plants today science as well as modern engineering has entered the cotton industry and along with science come the trained men of modern agriculture men who have studied cotton for years in the laboratory in state experimental stations and in the field these experts know the characteristics of the climate and the many kinds of cotton growing soil in the vast region of the south they know the peculiarities of the numerous varieties of cotton plants they have found new fertilizers that get better yields from average lands new ways for farmers to grow better quality cotton with longer tougher fibers scientific research and all these fields goes hand in hand with the big job of protecting cotton from its enemies from diseases of a cotton plant from dreaded insect pests for most among the ravaging insects is the Mexican ball weevil which first crossed the Rio Grande into Texas in 1892 and has since spread over nearly all of the American cotton belt if not controlled the ball weevil can wipe out millions of acres of cotton in a single year controlling the spread of this insect by dusting field Planes is the most spectacular and frequently the most successful method before the plants are fully developed just as soon as the weevil begins to appear on the squares or brats that protect the immature flower the modern farmer enlists the aid of the most modern methods in his attack in a matter of minutes the dust poisonous to the ball vevo spreads in long white plumes over acres of cotton the up-to-date way of fighting the stubborn invader in keen Cotton's remain [Music] [Music] as a result of careful and scientific cotton farming today the United States supplies the world with almost one-half of all the cotton it consumes from thousands of fields come millions of bales the product of hundreds of thousands of men product of the soil of the sole product of science and American invention product of America in the poll of each year on the coasts of the Atlantic in the Pacific on the Gulf of Mexico on the banks of the Mississippi King Cotton starts his journey to the ports of the world king cotton ruler of a huge industry at home and abroad cotton for the spindles of the world world of progress calls to cotton for textos cotton for clothing gotten for familiar fabrics yes but for more than that much more the world calls for cotton for many unseen uses in virtually every industry surprising for instance is the tremendously important role that cotton plays in the manufacturers for the modern automobile everybody thinks of them as rubber tires but it would be just as correct if these pneumatic cushions were called cotton tires for actually 50% of all the material that goes into the making of a tire he is cotton long before the tire assumes its familiar shape yard upon yard of top cotton fibers have been spun and twisted into cords then woven into still tougher fabrics fabrics that ensure long life as well as safety compounded rubber heated to just the exact temperature he's then blended with the cotton fabric coating it until together the materials form a kind of rubberized cloth this exacting operation wear in cotton and rubber each become part of a new fabric is called calendaring and the materials are prepared with the greatest precision rubber compounds and column and a tire begins to take form on the building drum great care is taken to ensure the exact position of the chords in the fabric it is cut on the bias to give greater strength then another layer another fly but this time the cords must be at right angles to the first layer so again it is caught on the bias thus additional reinforcement unseen protection is built into the tire with cotton after several layers have been carefully placed the plies are trimmed and molded under the watchful eyes and skilled hands of men who are masters at their trade the raw tire expertly constructed is next placed in a steel mold that not only gives it the tread design for a complete curing as well under terrific heat and tremendous pressure balkanization takes place the tire is toughened to a final degree in different now to heat to cold to all the elements it has emerged ready to take its place to play its important part of furnishing comfort and safety on the wheels of the modern motorcar rubber compounds and cotton again cotton for comfort this time for comfort inside the motorcar layer upon layer of thick fluffy cotton blankets are formed into deep soft padding's for the luxuriously comfortable seats King Kong modern science has developed hundreds of new uses for cotton within the past few years for instance when scientifically treated with special gases and liquids cotton can be transformed into beautiful durable and valuable plastics today plastics made from cotton are used to make the sparkling striking interior appointments in the up-to-date automobile plastics for the steering wheel horn button the gearshift control cotton in the plastic knobs on the note drafted entertains Beauty to be sure but a very practical beauty a handsome gift of calm cotton makes still another valuable contribution to appearance in the motoring age again through the magic of science of chemistry cotton yields a treasure called cellulose cellulose to basic element in modern lacquer a lacquer that is even more weather resistant than the metal it coats and protects the short letters of cotton contains cellulose in its purest form first the oil is removed in the cotton linters then the fibers are washed mixed with chemicals and stirred stirred and heated heated and cooled then mixed again with still more chemicals at last the solution is ready to receive the pure rich pigments that are mixed in rotating drums cotton becomes lacquer a beautifully glossy and rugged product built to stand up under every adverse condition not many years ago it took six full tedious weeks to apply the twenty two coats of paints and varnishes that were required to properly surface the automobile body but here again science science and cotton have United to simplify this by producing lacquer that is faster drying longer-lasting smoother harder and more durable and easier to apply with this matchless product of cotton and chemicals skilled workmen create the brilliant magnificence that is the protective surface coating for the motorcar today here is cotton cotton for splendor another of the contributions king cotton makes to the motor industry and now King cotton has made still another valuable contribution to the motorists engineers have experimented successfully with the use of cotton in the construction of roads they have proved that cotton fabric used in Road building does a better job of binding the asphalt surface to the road bed preventing surface cracks reducing maintenance costs and providing a longer-lasting smoother road long rolls of cotton fabric are unwound until the entire surface of the road bed is completely covered the fabric is tacked down and held in place then it is ready to be covered with asphalt hot asphalt in large tanks sprayed over the cotton fabric in a smooth encoding the molten asphalt works its way into the top cotton fibers to remain welded permanently this by to Mankato blanket is now ready to receive the layers of gravel that are spread over it and rolled down to form the firm hard surface of the finished highway a highway that will all its long life to the tremendous strength of the millions of cotton fibers buried in its heart cotton for the modern motorists cotton in the fabric of the upholstery cotton in the plastic parts cotton in the glossy lacquer cotton in the rolling tires and cotton in the highways comfort luxury and safety calm but in the great universities and technical laboratories of the south diligent scientists continue to experiment to hunt to search and to research for still new uses for king cotton each day new discoveries are made and yet this is only the beginning science and cotton making possible the building of vast new industries challenging the unknown discovery making revolutionary improvements in the working and living conditions of our day 53 more pounds of cotton in various forms are used in creating the modern motorcar cotton for beauty comfort and safety today cotton serves mankind's retail markets in more than 10,000 different forms cotton for fountain pens and steering wheels cotton for fishing tackle and tires cotton for artificial sponges and shatterproof glass cotton for lacquer cotton for airplanes cotton for roads cotton worthy to be called King truly a servant of mankind [Music]