Washington telegraph., 1857-01-07
The Probable Insuf6ciency Of the Cotton
Eron

of that material progress, in which the
present generation boasts to have excelled
all former ages, that it consumes the pro-
ducts of the earth faster than they can be
replaced again. More than once, within
the last decade, we have seen flour almost
touching famine prices. The cane crop
has come to be permanently deficient.
And now there is good reason to believe
that the annual yield of cotton, the world
over, has ceased to be equal to the annual
demand for it,
The best staticians, for example, esti-
mate that the entire quantity of cotton,
which can be made available, during the
current year, will not exceed what the
manufacturers will use up in forty weeks.
In other words, the product of ffty-two
weeks will disappear in little more than
nine months, compelling a draft on next
years crop for the deficiency. This de-
cline in the yield of cotton, as compared
with the consumption, is no new thing;
but has been going on for half generation.
The annual crop, the world over, is now
four millions two hundred thousand
In 1914 it was hardly two millions five
hundred thousand Yet while, twelve
years ago, the stock on hand, at the end
Of the season, was nine hundred thousand
bales, the stock at the close of last season
did not exceed four hundred and ninety
thousand.
Persons not familiar with the growth
or manufacture of cotton, have no concep-
ton of the enormous quantities demanded
/ w Nv {ho c.r,lI-oI 1x-or.1I W. oil
wear or use cotton fabrics, in one shape or
another; but how few ever think of the
millions who gain their subsistence out
of it It is only when we learn that the
estimated consumption every week during
the coming year will be eighty-six thou
sand bales, that we realize how large a
portion of the earth's population earns its
bread by growing or manufacturing cotton.
Hardly a century has passed since most
people, both here and in Europe, dressed
in linen or other fabrics, whose high prices
almost wholly excluded them from the
poor, and even precludcd their being fire.
quently renewed By those in moderate
circumstances. If, by some terrible blight,
analogous to that which assailed the DO
tato, but still more fatal in its consequences
the cotton plant should be suddenly ex-
( tirpated, the world would inevitably retro
grade in civilization; for so long as nc
substitute for cotton can be found, chear
clothing would cease to be general, and
without cheap clothing, cleanliness, and
its attendants, health, refinement and pro
gress, would be impossible Modern civ
ilized society could dispense with anything
except the cereal grains, better than il
could with cotton. The total destruction
of the cotton plant would make England
bankrupt, American southern States int
comparative deserts, and revolutionize
more than one nation which is now pros
porous, happy and powerful
In the supply Of this potent fibre the
United States, though taking the leading
part, does not enjoy that monopoly which
IS popularity supposed. OF the four mil
lions two hundred thousand bales annually
grown, the product of this country has
been about three millions and a half, the
/ East Indies, Brazil, and other places
making up the deficiency Nevertheless
the East Indies, which produces more than
any country except the United States
sends only about four hundred thousand
bales to market, or less than five week.
consumption. Nor will that country, fer
/ tile as it is, ever send much more until
canals are constructed throughout its
interior, So as to bring the cotton, at q
moderate freight, to Calcutta and other
ports.
In view Of this decline in the production
Of cotton, as compared with the consump-
ton, it may be considered certain that the
price Of the fibre will advance, till II
reaches point beyond which the manu-
facture of it will cease to pay Many
sagacious men incline to believe that such
a point has already been attained; that,
in fact, cotton now rules at a price above
which it cannot permanently 90. The
world must, therefore, economise in cotton
or hit upon some method Of growing more.
Philadelphia Ledger.