It produced a much stronger thread than could have been
made with a spinning wheel. With capital from two rich hosiers, he
set up a workshop next to a swift and powerful river running down
a narrow gorge. Then he turned his attention to weaving this
thread. In 1773, he set up weaving workshops making pure cotton
calicoes which were as good as Indian calicoes. But there was a
statute of 1721, that no one may wear or use printed, painted,
stained or dyed calicoes e.g. in apparel, bed, chair, cushion,
window curtain, furniture, except those dyed all in blue, or
forfeit 20 pounds by a seller, 5 pounds by a wearer, and 20 pounds
by other users. This prohibition was to provide wool working jobs
to the poor, who had been increasing excessively because of lack
of work. A clarification was made in 1735 that the statute did not
include printed or painted cloth made of an all linen warp (for
strength) and a cotton weft (for fineness) manufactured in Great
Britain because such was a branch of the ancient fustian
manufacture. There was also a statute of 1720, that any one who
willfully and maliciously assaults a person in the public streets
or highways with an intent to tear, spoil, cut, burn, or deface
the garments or clothes of such person and carries this out is
guilty of felony and may be transported for seven years. This was
the way the wool weavers had expressed their opposition to
imported printed cottons and calicoes.
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