The Express.
London, England, 1862-07-07 00:00:00

Ilea WATIN AT LONDON BRAWL

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TO-MORROW—Morning. 10a Allarsoos. 111. Oa

LONDON, MONDAY, JULY 7.

Tim prominence given to the discussions on
the sinew' prospeote of the cotton trade is day by
day justified by the event. This great interest is
at last fairly roused and alarmed. Lest week we
recorded an advance of about 20 per cent. in the
value of all kinds of cotton ; in the week just
dosed the rise has been of nearly equal amount.
The Liverpool market has been "wild," and •
degree of excitement only paralleled within the
memory of the oldest dealers by that of the pre-
vious week has prevailed. It is now certain that
• further large decrease will occur in the produc-
tion of goods, as the price of the raw material has
reached a prohibitive point, considered in relation'
to the rates obtainable by manufacturers for their
goods. This means, of course, that there will be
a further considerable reduction of employment,
and • proportionate increase of pauperism amongst
the operatives shut out of the mills. The total
stock of cotton in port at Liverpool is now computed
at only 185,430 bales, against 1,107,430 at the
corresponding date of last year.
Now that the crisis has errived, the blow fallen,
and the cotton famine fairly set in, it would be
amusing, were it not so lamentable, to notice the
random remedies that are prescribed, the
wild suggestions that are urged, and the
reckless manner in which people who have
woke up to the realities of the situation flout de-
fiance in the face of free trade and political
economy. Their process of argument seems to be
very simple. Cotton is wanted, ergo, cotton must
be had. The question being, who is to get it ?
the readiest answer is—Government. Upon Go-
vernment they accordingly fall, and require them
immediately to improvise a supply, by ransacking
India (according to ore suggestion), buying all the
cotton to be found there at one price, and selling
it to our spinners and manufacturers at another
—of course a reduced one. We wonder what
Government will be asked to do next. Why do not
those of the Lancashire manufacturers who thus speak
and write complete their suggestion, by demanding
that Government will iu future let them pocket
all the profits of their business in prosperous times,
but itself support the operatives and pay the mill-
owners intereston sunken capital in bad times? If it
be good for the State to saddle itself now with a loss
of • penny or twopence a pound on cotton, in order
to keep the mills running and the manufacturers'
investments fructifying, why not do so always
We must say that, though the operatives have
here and there had their meetings and discussed
the causes and remedies of their present
trial, their views have been marked by
a great deal of good sense, while for the
employers and their advocates has been
exclusively reserved the unenviable distinction
of propagating some of the most preposterous
suggestions ever submitted to a tolerant but discern-
ing public. It is of little avail now, however, to
join in a chorus of censure of the employers.
We spoke pretty freely, especially some time
ago, when the adoption of remedies and pre-
cautions would have entirely prevented the present
collapse of the trade ; now it is vain to indulge in
reproaches or recriminations. The most lament-
able feature is that, even now, when the trade is
starving, talking and writing are all the fashion,
while of real remedial action there is absolutely
none. Among the London mercantile community,
by whom the dangerous position of the cotton
interest has always been more justly and practi-
cally appreciated than in the northern seats of
the trade, there are men of high position
and large means who are prepared to embark
heartily and extensively in the sort of enterprise
needed, and, what is more, to draw the monied
public after them, provided only the cotton men
will put their own shoulders unitedly to the wheel.
This is an indispensable preliminary, and the
cotton men do not move. Their apathy is such
that they will not respond even if a respectable
artiociation approaches them and says, " We are
" organizing cotton agencies all over India; supply
" us with the means." Just the same sort
of answer is given to another association,
which says, " We have successfully cow-
" menced cotton-growing in Jamaica ; the
" first crop of our experimental plantations
" is before you, and has been grown at a profit,
" as may be seen by our accounts, which you are
" welcome to inspect. Give us, then, the means
" for extending our operations, and furnishing you
" in a few months with a large supply."
It would really appear that, when relief comes
to the cotton trade, it will not come from the
efforts of the Manchester men, nor yet from pub-
lic meetings or public companies, but simply from
the slow yet sure operation of those infallible laws
of commerce which some of the advocates of the
manufacturers now so strangely contemn. There
is one plain fact staring us in the face which is worth
a twelvemonth of speechmaking and • ton weight
of letter-writing—cotton is worth treble its ordinary
price. Each mail from England will din this
in the ears of merchants, dealers, and producers
in every part of the world, and will
add fresh assurances that not only is
the last crop of American cotton daily becoming
less available, and less likely ever to be available,
but that there will be no American crop worth
speaking of next season. The chance of an in-
undation of cotton from the old slave-ridden
source is rapidly disappearing, and the inducement
to grow the article elsewhere increases in propor-
tion. If a rise of some 200 per cent above its
normal value does not increase the supply of •

commodity which will grow over • vast belt of the
globe, there is no truth in the laws el trade or of
supply and demand, and all our commercial notions
are false. The supply, under this forcing action,
will assuredly come, but the evil is that, owing to
the apathy of the trade, it will not come in ade-
quate quantity until after • prolonged delay,
which will yet sorely waste the capital and sub-
stance of the country, and impoveriah the popu-
lation.