An electrically driven and controlled cloth spreading machine including means for reversing the travel of the machine, means for controlling the high and low speeds of the machine, means for causing the machine to fail safe at low speed upon power failure and open circuit conditions caused by different changes in function of the machine. The machine is also provided with various selective controls for manual, semi-automatic and automatic operation of the machine, and for spreading cloth face-to-face, face-up or face-down.