The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1850-05-07 00:00:00

the cold backward spring that the following one will not
be abundant. Should this prove to be the case. what
greater misfortune could befall our manufacturing dis-
tricts ! But it is not the shortness of the crop, so much
as the relatively small proportion that Great Britain is
likely to receive, which claims attention.
"By the annexed tables it will be seen that, at this
date 1849, our shipments were 1,041,000 bales, and Ame
rica had taken 443,000. This year our shipments are
only 624,000, while the American manufacturers have
taken 401,000, showing that our supply is simply their
surplus : and yet no effort is made to provide a substi-
tute from our own Colonies or elsewhere to render us in
some degree less dependant on the United States for the
means of employment for our vast manufacturing
_ _

" Much has been said pro and con upon the growth of
cotton in the East Indies,- but the climate and character
of the natives appear formidable obstacles. Many other
parts of our vast dependencies would no doubt grow cotton
in abundance—Australia, New Zealand, the Cape, and
Port Natal—but, probably, none are so well adapted for
the purpose, from their locality, climate, and population
as the West Indies, which are known to be capable of
producing cotton quite equal and even superior to Ameri-
can. On this point we give an extract from the letter of
an intelligent and highly-respectable estate manager in
Demerara, received by a large proprietor in Liverpool by
the last mail. In answer to some queries on the subject,
he xrites I note what you say regarding the cultiva-
tion of cotton in this country. There is no country under
the sun more favourable for growing all sorts of it, from
Sea Island to Upland cotton, and, besides the immense
tract of coast from the Courentyne River to the Essequibo,
there is a tract of land to the northward of nearly one
hundred miles square (having large rivers and creeks) of
the finest descriptio n in the world for producing cotton,
and will produce two crops per annum for an unlimited
time, and a great deal of this land is perfectly well adapted
for producing two crops per annum of cocoa and coffee;
I say this advisedly, having served my time to cotton,
coffee, and cocoa planting, as to cane planting, and having
many years ago visited the above-named tract of land.
If the British government would only give us fair play, i. e.
unlimited emigration from all parts, especially from India,
China, and Africa for some years, this colony would pro-
duce as much cotton as would clothe every individual on
the face of the globe with cotton garments, and also pro-
duce an abundance of sugar, rice, coffee, cocoa, indigo,
&c.; all we require is plenty of labour and fair play."
" Surely this is a subject worthy the attention of Go-
vernment ; for if we are to be the manufacturers for the
world, the very first essential must be a large and cheap
supply of the raw material. If the three branches of po-
litical economy are to be blended into one—if agriculture
and the shipping interest are to be made subservient to
the single object of adding facilities to manufactures, and
thus stimulating their increase to the greatest possible ex-
tent, is it not in the highest degree impolitic to leave so
large a mass of our population dependent on one source
of supply, and that from a country our most formidable
rival and most precarious friend, which, should a change
of policy be adopted, or any hostile movement occur be-
tween us. could, by the imposition of a high protecting
duty or a prohibition of export, inflict ruin on our manu-
facturing classes. We cannot suppose that Government
is indifferent to this vital question ; but their total supine-
ness in action would certainly justify the accusation."

Long ago we predicted the occurrence of this state
of things—that the United States, if privileged
by our free trade policy to become the grain
growers of this country, would be enabled,
whilst affording us vast supplies of food, to inflict
us periodically with a deficient yield of the raw ma-
terial cotton, upon the supply of which we have
staked the very existence of a large portion of the
industrious classes of this country. The planters
of the Southern States, whether with or without
the inducement of a short crop, are enabled now,
by the returns for other products, combined with
the supply of precious metals from California,
giving to the population of the union the advan-
tages of a full currency, to hold back for high rates
that particular raw material without which our ma-
nufacturing population must starve in idleness ;
and, at the same time, the pattern republic is sti-
mulating its own manufactures, and not only de-
priving us of the opportunity of supplying its
demand for cotton fabrics, but competing with us
successfully in the neutral markets of the world.
How far this policy has been successful is patent
to the world from Messrs. Littledale's statement.
Up to this date last year the manufacturers of the
United States had secured for their own consump-
tion 443,000 bales against 1,041,000 bales forwarded
to Great Britain. This year they have secured
401,000 bales against our 624,000. By the last
advices we were told that 600,000 bales would be
the lowest limit of their requirements for the
present year. Let us endeavour from these statis-
tics to ascertain what is likely to be our position
during the present year.
On the 3rd instant we had stock in Liverpool
531,000. The stock same time last year was
600.600 bales, and the crop of last year amounted
to 2,700,000 bales, We have on the voyage to
this country, on the most extravagant estimate,
100,000 bales more. Probably half the amount
would be nearer the mark. The stock in America
is set down at 600,000 bales, at the ports,
with 250,000 more to arrive—an extravagant esti
mate. We thus arrive at a total possible supply-
of 850.000 bales. Of this, however, 150,000 will
be retained in the United States for the consump-
tion of their own manufacturerrs. Indeed, accord-
ing to recent advices, we should be disposed to
double this quantity. The Continent of Europe
will require 200,000 bales, and the balance left for
us, on the most liberal scale of computation, will
he 500,000 bales of American. From India we
may expect, at the utmost, 100,000 bales, and from
Egypt, South America, &c., 119,000 bales. The
total supply up to the Ist of November will thus
be 1,350,000 bales.

Taking 25,000 bales per week as the present
consumption—and it will have reached this amount
when we remember that some 40,000 to 50,000
bales have been worked up this year out of spin-
ners stocks—we should have on hand on the let
of November 700,000 bales. Adding 3000 bales
extra per week, the stock would be on the let
November 544,000 bales, or about the same that
we bad at the same time last year, after a season
of abundant yield, but with one f deficient yield
before us. We have said nothing, however, of the
exports from this country; and further, we believe
that 200,000 bales direct from the United States
to the Continent is a very insufficient computation.
Our present view of the position of the British
manufacturer is based, however, upon the very
improbable supposition that the planters and own-
ers of cotton in the United States, and elsewhere,
will forward us the whole of their available supply.
They will do no such thing. On the contrary,
they will withhold from us every bale of cotton
they can afford to keep, unless we pay them prices
proportionate to our necessities. To keep ourselves
out of a positive dilemma, we must work not an
ounce more than 15,000 or 16,000 bales per week.
Drawing largely upon a stock so low, and with
present prospects of another deficient crop, would
be madness ; and only lead to ruinous loss, and an
almost universal insolvency of the manufacturing
community. By the Board of Trade returns for
the last month, just published, it will be seen that
the export of cotton goods is an exception to the
general progress of the country. All the reports
from the manufacturing districts concur in repre-
senting the fact that prices of yarn and goods are
not overtaking those of the raw material. Under
these circumstances it is tolerably clear that our
cottonocracy are about to be flogged rather exten-
sively. Who will pity them we are at a loss to
know.

ONE of the most striking characteristics of
modern legislation is the continual effort to cen-
tralize, and to deprive individuals, as well as com-
munities, of all control over their own affairs.
Nearly every suggested improvement in the moral
or social condition of the people results in the for-
mation of a Government Commission or a Central
Board ; and the country is threatened with being
overrun with an army of paid officials and inspec-
tors, appointed to manage not only our well being
as a community, but our private business as well.
Boards of Health dictate to us how we shall build
our houses, and form our streets and sewers, what
water we shall drink, and how much we shall con-
sume. Our prison discipline is regulated for us
upon a pattern laid down by central authority ;
and, as a climax of official cleverness, Government
now proposes to extend its care of our bodies in
life to that of our remains when dead. We are to
be coffined, shrouded, and buried by contract, at
so much per head according to our station.
The origin of this proposal, which has emanated
from the Board of Health, is the very proper ob-
jection made against the practice of intramural
burial. Against such practice, especially in large
and populous towns, no one protests more strongly
than ourselves as most injurious to public health.
We should wish also to see 'our large cemeteries
better regulated, and burying in large public graves
put an end to. In our own town this practice is
carried to a fearful extent, and the law provided to
regulate it is in some instances completely evaded.
In his evidence before the committee appointed to
enquire into the subject, Dr. Sutherland, the go-
vernment medical officer, says :
" The law requires that graves shall have two and a half
feet of earth over all; and an attempt has been made in