The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1849-10-28
New York, Sunday, October rs, 1919.
The Cotton Trade--The South and the In
stItution of Slavery.

stitution of Slavery.
OF the late intelligence from Europe, the item
of paramount importance to the commercial world,
is, the report of an advance upon cotton IN Liver
pool, of halfpenny per pound. 1t will materially
affect the purchases, sales, shipments, and estl-
mates of merchants and planters throughout the
country. Our importing houses are, perhaps, now
realizing some advantage from 1t, IN enlarged
sales of goods for the Southern retail trade for
according to the price of cotton the planter gra-
duates his consumption of imported articles,
and makes his local advances or Investments,
governing the purchases Of his neighborhood.
An advance of a halfpennyper pound upon cotton
Is not, therefore, confined in Its advantages
or Influences TO those dealers with large sup
plies on hand, but affects all our commercial
and industrial operauons-afects the labor of the
girl who fulhls her fourteen hours per day IN the
factories Of the Mernmac, and rules the allowance
of pIn-money of the belle OF Broadway. 1t en-
livens the song of the driver the Erie canal,
and sends Jack day earlier on board ship at Mo
bile. 1t operates on the exchanges IN Wall street,
and its nipples extend into the heart of the noun
tains, and the workmen in the coal mines feel its
effects before they learn the cause. 1t rules the
investments Of the planter-the value Of his pro-
perty-the capacities Of his credit-and affects
the banks and public works of his State. Such
are the influences of the price of cotton in Liver
pool and such the effects, to some extent, of the
advance of halfpenny per pound
But the cotton trade opens a wider field Of view
than the mere temporary fluctuations of the mar
ket The raw material Is the great staple of our
exports-the manufacture of the article is prime
source of the subsistence, wealth, and power of
he of
tween the two countries, make the bonds of peace
between them the bonds of interest. 1t was the
cotton trade which settled the Northeastern
boundary and the Oregon question, and will,
doubtless, secure another compromise IN the Mica
ragua controversy. Such are its effects upon the
international relations and commercial Interests
between the two controlling commercial and
maritime powers Of the earth.
The introduction Of steam INTO ocean navigation
has gwen new impetus to the cotton trade and is
rapidly extending it in every quarter of the world.
The exports of manufactured goods from Great
Britain are increasing in the ratio Of the increase
Of the population Of her colonies, and with the de-
mands of the new markets opening in every inha-
bted corner. The fields OF snow-white cotton
which year ago the traveller admired, as he as
cended the Mississippi, near Baton Rouge, will, by
the next season, have undergone some curious
iranslts and transformations Il will have crossed
the Atlantic, passed through the mills OF Manches-
ter and will have traversed, Z" toW dH monde"
the snuostes Of the exploring expedition. The
almond-eyed women Of China, the convicts OF
Botany Bay, the cannibals OF New Zealand, the
dusky Queen Of Tahiti, and the sun-burnt gold
digger on the Sacramento, might be traced out as
ihs wearers and consumers Of the crop Of that
the communications over the isthmuses Of Pana
ma, Nicaragua and Tehuantepec, our domestic ma
nufacturers will reap the largest benefits, and en-
Ter, on more equal ground, the competition with
the mills Of Manchester; with the completion Of the
continental railroad TO san Francisco, the bulk Of
the trade will be ours.
Ia the meantime, the demand for the raw mate
rial in England has increased beyond all anticipa
lions. The free trade system Of Sir Robert Peel,
ihe good crops Of the last two years in Great Br-
tain, and the resulting comparative cheapness Of
provisions, have contributed, with the opening Of
new markets and the increased consumption Of
cotton goods everywhere, TO render the demand
for the raw article fully equal to thc most bountilul
crops Of the last two years. From the best cxhi-
bits and estimates, II appears that the cotton crop
of the current year cannot exceed
For the nited States. .2300,o00 bales
Estimate Of imports t. Liverpool from
brazil. ...............s ss''.... lOeigO
Wet Indie Csrthsgsn., Se.......... .1e2
Egyptian do. Observation-Disclosures, 1850
East Indian a.. .............. looOZ&
Is4s. NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.. 100000 :"
Total. ..................... .siOoOOo
In the United states. ........:.... ii.s,5 bales
Exports 20 ether countries, exc.piirgG q.
wssIi sa exports from Great Driisia'... 5esY
Weekly consumption Of Great Britain. 31oo2
Total weekly consumption. ....... 5sSoi
Feusl 10 an annual consumption OFF,. .305I2ss
Estimated total OF law material. .... s,lVoooo
Surplus. .................... 4l5i2
But it probable that the surplus viii be much
larger than THE, as we have made a very liberal
estimate for consumption, and a very modsrase
estimate for production Within the last year ma
merous factoues have been erected end put in
operation, and are in course Of completion, North
and South; and the State Of Georgia, from having
been almost exclusively agricultural, bids fair TO
become, m few years. second only 20 Massachu-
settsin the consumption of cotton in her factories
Georgia and the cotton producing States have al
the facilities for successful competition with New
England The costs of transportation are probably
one cent per pound TO the disadvantage OF the lat
ier in the raw article. The mills Of the South by
water power. may be worked all the year round,
and the costs OF fuel and provisions are less thaa
in the rigid climate of the North From the great
success Of the Georgia mile, it may safely be as
rumed that their profits support our conclusions,
sven allowing that the article Of labor (white fe-
p,slss) is higher than in New England. This sue
GEES Of the Georgia mile is giving an impulse to
the whole South, which promises TO become more