has sold for about the same price as middling American, though
some of it realized as much as 25 to 30 “points on.” The
quality in greatest demand in England, it should be observed, is
worth about ¼d. to ½d. per ℔. above middling American. In
Southern Nigeria the association has met with only slight
success; in Northern Nigeria, a working arrangement was entered
into with the Niger Company, and a small ginning establishment
was set to work in February 1906. In British Central Africa, the
results on the whole have not been satisfactory. Though
planters who confined their efforts to the lower lying grounds—of
which there is a fairly large tract—succeeded, all the cotton
planted on the highlands proved more or less a failure. In
Uganda the association took no steps, but activity in cotton-growing
is not unknown, and some good cotton is being produced.
Arrangements were concluded with the British South Africa
Company for the formation of a small syndicate for working in
Rhodesia.
The general movement for the extension of cotton cultivation was welcomed by the International Congress of representatives of master cotton spinners and manufacturers’ associations at the meeting at Zurich in May 1904. It placed on record “its cordial appreciation of the efforts of those governments and institutions which have already supported cotton-growing in their respective colonies.” England is pre-eminent but not alone in the matter. Germany and France, and in a less degree Belgium, Portugal and Italy, have taken some steps. Russia, too, is developing her internal supplies.
The advantages that might accrue from the wider distribution of cotton-growing are mainly fourfold, (1) Greater elasticity of supply might be caused. It is probably easier to extend the area under cotton rapidly when crops are raised from many places in proximity to other crops than when the mass of the cotton is obtained from a few highly specialized districts. Possibly the advantages of specialism might be retained and yet the elasticity of supply be enhanced. (2) Greater stability of crops in proportion to area cultivated is hoped for. The eggs are now too much in one basket, and local disease, or bad weather, or some other misfortune, may diminish by serious percentages the supplies anticipated. Were there numerous important centres, the bad fortune of one would be more adequately offset by the good fortune of another. (3) Desirable variations in the raw material might conceivably eventuate from the introduction of cotton to spots in the globe where its growth was previously unknown or little regarded. The results of the enterprise of Mehemet Ali and Jumel in Egypt prove such an idea to be not altogether fanciful, and warn us also against hastily arguing that the plan is too artificial to succeed on a large scale. Without the active intervention of a strong body of interested parties it is sometimes unlikely that new industries will be undertaken even in places well suited for them. (4) Lastly, the countries to which cotton-growing is carried should gain in prosperity.
The general difficulties in the way of the British Cotton Growing Association are many and will be sufficiently evident. Lessons of value may be learnt from the fate of similar work undertaken by the Cotton Supply Association, The Cotton Supply Association. which was instituted in April 1857. According to its fifth report, it originated “in the prospective fears of a portion of the trade that some dire calamity must inevitably, sooner or later, overtake the cotton manufacture of Lancashire, whose vast superstructure had so long rested upon the treacherous foundation of restricted slave labour as the main source of supply for its raw material.”[1] Its methods were stated to be: “To afford information to every country capable of producing cotton, both by the diffusion of printed directions for its cultivation, and sending competent teachers of cotton planting and cleaning, and by direct communication with Christian missionaries whose aid and co-operation it solicits; to supply, gratuitously, in the first instance, the best seeds to natives in every part of the world who are willing to receive them; to give prizes for the extended cultivation of cotton; and to lend gins and improved machines for cleaning and preparing cotton.” Though the association brought about an extension and improvement of the Indian crop, in which result it was enormously assisted by the high prices consequent upon the American Civil War, it sank after a few years into obscurity, and soon passed out of existence altogether, while the effects of its work dwindled finally into insignificance. Much the same had been the ultimate outcome of the spasmodic attempt of the British government to bring about the introduction of cotton to new districts, after it had been pressed to take some action a few years prior to the formation of the Cotton Supply Association. A Mr Clegg, who afterwards interested himself keenly in the activities of the Cotton Supply Association reported that in the course of a tour in 1855 through the Eastern countries bordering on the Mediterranean he had found none of the gins presented by the British government at work or workable.
Bibliography.—On the question of cotton supplies, as treated in this article, the reader may be referred to Brook’s Cotton, its Uses, &c.; Dabney’s Cotton Plant (Department of Agriculture of the United States); Foaden’s Cotton Culture in Egypt; Dunstan’s Report on Cotton Cultivation for the British government; Oppel’s Die Baumwolle; Leconte’s Le Coton; publications of the British Cotton Growing Association; Report of the Lancashire Commission on the possibility of extending cotton cultivation in the Southern States of North America; Watt’s Lancashire and the Cotton Famine; publications of the old Cotton Supply Association (many will be found in the Manchester public library in the volume marked “677 I. C. ii.”), including their weekly paper, The Cotton Supply Reporter; Hammond’s Cotton Culture and Trade. On methods of marketing to certain portions of the above must be added: Ellison’s Cotton Trade of Great Britain; Chapman’s Lancashire Cotton Industry (ch. vii.); articles by Chapman and Knoop in the Economic Journal (December, 1904) and the Journal of the Royal Statistical Society (April, 1906); Emery’s Speculation on Stock and Produce Exchanges of the United States (small portions of which relate to cotton). Many statistics will be found in the works mentioned, and these may be supplemented from the trade publications of different countries. Many valuable figures of cotton imports, &c., in early years will be found in Baines’ History of the Cotton Trade. Recent statistics bearing upon cotton are collected annually in the two publications, Shepperson’s Cotton Facts and Jones’s Handbook for Daily Cable Records of Cotton Crop Statistics. For current information the following may be added: Nield’s, Ellison’s and Tattersall’s circulars; Cotton (the publication of the Manchester Cotton Association); and daily reports and articles in the local press. Price curves are published by Messrs Turner, Routledge & Co. (S. J. C.)
Cotton Goods and Yarn
The two great sections of the cotton industry are yarn and cloth, and in Great Britain the production of both of these is mainly in South Lancashire, though the area extends to parts of Cheshire, Yorkshire and Derbyshire, and there is a Scottish branch, besides certain isolated ventures in other parts of the country. Though there are local rivalries there is nothing in competitive division to compare with the northern and southern sections in America, and the British industry is, for its size, more homogeneous than most of the European industries. Both operatives and employers are highly organized and both parties are able to make articulate contribution to the solution of the various problems connected with the trade.
Cotton Yarn.—The yarn trade is mainly in the hands of limited companies, and a private firm is looked upon as something of a survival from the past. The two great centres of production are Oldham, in which American cotton is chiefly, though not exclusively, spun, and Bolton, which spins the finer counts from Egyptian or Sea Island cotton. Spinning mills are established, however, in most of the large Lancashire towns as well as in some parts of Cheshire and in Yorkshire, where there is a considerable industry in doubling yarns. The centre of trade is the Manchester Royal Exchange, and though some companies or firms prefer to do business by means of their own salaried salesmen, managers or directors, most of the yarn is sold by agents. Frequently a single agent has the consignment of the whole of a company’s yarn, but many spinners, especially those whose business connexion is not perfectly assured, prefer to have more outlets than can be explored by an individual. At times of bad trade even those who usually depend on their own resources seek the aid of experienced agents, who sometimes find a grievance if their
- ↑ The Association published a weekly paper known as The Cotton Supply Reporter.
