It is of course impossible to discover the residence of every stockholder, but enough is known to support the assertion that the proportion of Northern capital is comparatively small.

The greater part of the investment in Southern mills has come from the savings of Southern people or has been earned by the mills themselves.

Lately several successful mills have been bought by large department stores and mail-order houses, in order to supply them with goods either for the counter directly or else for the manufacture of sheets, pillowcases, underwear, and the like.

Marshall Field and Company of Chicago, for example, own several mills in North Carolina.
The mills of the South have continued to increase until they are now much more numerous than in the North.

They are smaller in size, however, for in 1915 the number of spindles in the cotton-growing States was 12,711,000 compared with 19,396,000 in all other States.