real cost of production in England in the organization of the industry. The German industry is not only less localized, but, as we might perhaps infer from that circumstance, less specialized. A German factory will turn out scores of patterns where an English firm will confine itself to a few specialities. Time is wasted in accommodating machinery to changes and in accustoming the hands to new work. The German producer suffers from the undeveloped state of the market. In England specialized markets with specialized dealers have greatly assisted producers both in their buying and selling. A German manufacturer may have to find his customers as the English manufacturer need not; at least, so Professor Schulze-Gaevernitz has assured us, and conditions have not been wholly transformed since he made his careful analysis. He wrote:—“But especially disadvantageous is the decentralization in respect to the sale. Here also the German manufacturer stands under the same disadvantages with which the English had to struggle in the ’thirties. The German manufacturer still seeks his customers through travellers and agents, and in many instances through retail sellers, whose financial standing is often questionable, whose necessity for credit is always certain. Hence the complaints about the bad conditions of payment in Germany which crop up continually in the enquête. The manufacturers had to wait three, four or six months, and even twelve months and longer for payment. In reality there existed ‘termless terms,’ a ‘complete anarchy in the method of payment.’ ... The manufacturer cannot be at the same time commission agent, banker, merchant and retail dealer; he needs sound customers capable of paying. He fares best if the sale is concentrated in one market, and ‘change’ prices simplify the struggle between buyer and seller. The search for customers, foreign as well as home, and the bearing of all possible risks of disposal, are in any case difficult enough to necessitate the whole strength of a man. The wholesale merchant alone is in a position to pay the manufacturer in cash or on sure, short terms. But especially where export is in question is the dispersal of sales an extreme impediment. The manufacturer cannot follow the fashions in Australia and South America; the foreign buyer cannot travel from mill to mill.”
It is the want of commercial development in Germany which accounts for the more frequent combination of weaving and spinning there than in England. But in Germany to-day economic enterprise is flourishing, and commercial development may confidently be looked for together with advance in other directions. It is not many years since the typical German cotton factory was comparatively primitive; now mills can be exhibited which might have been erected recently in Oldham. Between the early ’eighties and the ’nineties the expansion of the German industry was enormous—the imports of cotton-wool rose by nearly 70%—yet the number of spinning-mills was actually reduced from 6750 to 2450, while the number of weaving-sheds fell from 56,200 to 32,750. At the same time the factories devoted to mixed goods declined from 25,200 to less than 16,350. From these figures we may gather how rapidly the average size of mills and weaving-sheds enlarged in the period. One cause, no doubt, was that improved economies in the new businesses forced antiquated factories to shut down and make way for still newer erections. There were recently about twice as many persons engaged in weaving as in spinning, but the largest numbers of all—slightly in excess of those in weaving-sheds—were the persons occupied in the manufacture of cotton-lace, trimmings, &c. As we might imagine, Germany’s exports of cotton goods are not high. Including yarns they amounted to £13.7 million per annum in 1899–1903. In order of value their largest exports are (1) coloured goods, (2) hosiery, (3) lace and embroidery, (4) yarns, and (5) trimmings, &c.
France.—Into the industrial conditions of the two leading rivals of England we have entered in some detail; the state of affairs in the rest of the world must be dealt with more briefly. Of France more ought to be said than we can find place for, though in respect of the magnitude of her cotton industry, as measured by the quantity of spindles, she stands now not fourth, but fifth, Russia taking precedence. But the work of the French is incomparably superior to anything that is turned out from Russia. France suffered a severe blow when the industry of Alsace and Lorraine was lost to Germany, but the inexhaustible originality of French design will always secure for her goods a place in the first rank. As regards artistic results France leads, but the real cost of her spinning and weaving cannot approach in lowness that of Lancashire. After costly strikes the French workmen have succeeded in shortening their hours to ten and a half a day; and here it may be remarked that the International Association of Textile Operatives tends to equate continental industrial conditions to those of England. The French industry has been fostered by tariffs. When the Board of Trade calculation was made, French tariffs were found to bear upon British cotton goods with about the same severity as those of Germany, except that the former treated more hardly yarns and cotton thread for sewing. French protectionism has kept down her exports; such as they are the majority proceed now to her colonies. Normandy, the north and east, in order, are the chief seats of the industry. In Normandy the leading city is Rouen, and Darnétal, Maromme, Sotteville, Havre, Yvetot, Dieppe, Évreux, Gisors, Falaise and Flers are important places. The north contains the important towns of Lille, Tourcoing, Roubaix, St Quentin, Amiens and Hellemmes. The Vosges is the chief district of the east, and the leading towns are Epinal, St Dié, Remiremont, Senones, Val d’Ajol, Cornimont and La Bresse. The following towns which are not included in any of the districts mentioned above are also noteworthy:—Troyes, Nantes, Cholet, Laval, Tarare, Roanne, Thizy and Villefranche upon the Saône. Cotton arrives at Havre and Marseilles; at the latter chiefly the product of Egypt and the East. Havre used to be the most important cotton port in continental Europe, but to-day more spindles are fed from Bremen than from Havre. France’s consumption of cotton annually in the period 1899–1903 was 215,000 metric tons.
Russia.—Power-spinning was carried into Russia by Ludwig Knoop, who had learnt the trade in Manchester, and to his efforts its early success was due. The growth, largely the result of very heavy protectionism—according to the Board of Trade report, from 50 to more than 100% more severe than that of Germany,—has been rapid, as the following table bears witness:—
Average yearly Importation of Cotton wool and
Yarn into Russia.
| Raw Cotton in thousand tons. | Cotton Yarn in thousand tons. | |
| 1824–1826 | .9 | 5.4 |
| 1836–1838 | 4.6 | 10.1 |
| 1842–1844 | 8.4 | 9.5 |
| 1848–1850 | 21.4 | 4.5 |
| 1889–1891 | 117.4 | 3.4 |
| 1899–1903 | 180.0 | 2.9 |
Table showing approximately the Growth of
Spindles and Looms in Russia.
| Spindles. | Looms. | |
| 1857 | 1,000,000 | · · |
| 1877 | · · | 55,000 |
| 1887 | 4,000,000 | 85,000 |
| 1900 | 6,000,000 | 146,000 |
| 1909 | 7,800,000 | · · |
The chief districts were the following in 1900:—
| Government. | Factories. | Spindles (in thousands). | Looms (in thousands). |
| Moscow | 56 | 1295 | 33 |
| Vladimir | 67 | 1224 | 42 |
| Piotrkov | 25 | 745 | 20 |
| St Petersburg | 24 | 1074 | 11 |
| Jaroslaw | 4 | 347 | 2 |
| Kostroma | 25 | 274 | 20 |
| Tver | 6 | 348 | 9 |
| Esthonia | 1 | 440 | 2 |
| Ryazan | 4 | 146 | 3 |
| Elsewhere | 15 | 198 | 4 |
| Total | 227 | 6091 | 146 |
Fine spinning has been attempted only recently. Generally speaking 70’s used to be the upper limit, but now counts up to 140’s are tried, though the bulk of the output is coarse yarn. The inefficiency of the labour was made abundantly plain by Dr Schulze-Gaevernitz in his economic study of Russia, and conditions have not greatly altered for the better since. Roughly, 170,000 operatives worked 6,000,000 spindles in 1900, which means 35 spindles per head as compared with more than 100 in Saxony and more than 200 in England. In weaving the ratio of operatives to machinery worked out at about one loom to each weaver, which is comparatively much less unfavourable to Russia. The proportion in Saxony is about the same, but in England the average approaches two looms to a weaver. The speed of machinery cannot be compared, and we must remember that the above contrasts are rough only, and made without regard to differences of product. Russia is encouraging the growth of cotton at home. It is of very inferior quality, but 100,000 tons from the provinces of central Asia and Trans-Caucasia were used in 1900: her imports in the same year were about 170,000 tons.
Switzerland.—Swiss spindles advanced until the early “’seventies,” but a decline followed. Details are:—
| 1830 | 400,000 |
| 1850 | 950,000 |
| 1876 | 1,854,000 |
| 1883 | 1,809,000 |
| 1898 | 1,704,000 |
| 1909 (estimated) | 1,500,000 |
The falling off is occasioned mainly by (a) the developing industrialism of the rest of Europe, notably Germany, and (b) the diminishing importance of the natural advantage of water-power with the
