The independent press. (Abbeville C.H., S.C.) 1853-1860, 1857-01-30
The Cotton Culture of the South.


The Cotton Culture of the South.
Aparcr has recently been read before the Brit
ish Association for the advancement of Science,
by ). /. Danson, upon the subject nf the Cot.
ton culture of the South its connection with
the manufacture of cotton in Europe and its
dependence upon slave labor for its support
y copy of the Report was procured, through
the ngrnry Of Mr. Dallas. aud published in the
New Orleans D'ifa. AS the views Of the wri-
ter are well dgestcd and interesting, we con-
dense his main propositions and the facts, upon
which they are founded.
After mature reflection, the writer d,tluccs
two important conclusions: FIRST, That the
cotton panc is Interested toi he extent nf two
thirds OF his eNportablc cr"p in the mainten
ancc Of the cotton manufacture in Great Brit
ain; second. that four. iihs of the cotton
manufactured in the United Kingdom is OBJ
tanned from the South.
These conclusions nrc based upon the follow
ing propositions: That cotton must be grown.
almost entirely ont Of Europe, and mnnufac-
turcd chiefly in Great Britain; that cotton has
hitherto been grown, and must continue to be
grown chiefly by slave labor; that for fifty
years, Great Britain has been seeking all over
the earth for n supply of cotton, and with n
preference for the produce Of free labor, but
still continues to receive The best qualities Of
cotton and the greater portion Of all that she
imports from countries where it. is grown hv
slave labor that cotton is grown in the Uni.
ted States, exclusively 10y slave labor; that
two-thiras Of these slaves employed in rails
ing cotton for expectation that two-thir,ls of
this cotton is raised expressly for the British
market AMI that Of the entire quantity man.
naciured III Great Britain, nearly fourfftl,s
in quantity and more than four-iifths in value,
is obtained from the United States
The dependence of the cotton culture uron
slave labor for its support is made to appear
from number Of authenticated facts; and it
is shown that as general rule, thc colorcd
lnhorcrs. employed in the cotton growing .iis.
trcts Of the world, whence the European sun.
ply of cotton has been obtained have been in
n state Of slavery and are so still
About thrcc-fourths of the early supplies of
the cotton manufacture Of Great britain, when
it began to ASSUME n national Importance was
obtained from the British, French, Spanish,
i'"'Sh hh' col IllcS, Ill all OF WHICH
agricultural labor was performed by slaves cx-
clusivc'v. y small portion was then "ltancl
from the Fast In'lies and the remainder less
than "ne-fonrth of the whole, can scarcely be
set down, rs the fruit Of slave labor
In 1926, the sources of supply We're mate.
rally changed; aud of the entire quantity I'M
ported into Great Britain, - per cent, was
obtained from the Unitcl States, Brazil and
the West Indies, which used only slave labor
Ill the culture ; s! per cent. came from Turkey
and Europe; per cent, from the I:nst Indies;
and the remainder, about 5 per cent, from
other countries
In lSj3-55, 50 per cent Of the British supply,
came from the United States and Brazil alone
and was the produce Of slave labor most of
the per cent, obtained from the Mcditcrrarc-
an can probably he set down to the same source,
whilst nearly, the whole Of the remaining II
per cent, came from the East Indies. 1t thus
seems, that with the exception Of the East In
dies there never has been any source of supply
for cotton, which was not exclusively main
tanned by slave labor :
The question whether India can ever enter
into successful competition with this country
remains to he determined. 1t seems that the
condition OF the East India ,borer, is not such
rs to give to his operations the productive ad ;,
vantages We are accustomed to associate with
free labor, rs he is little better than n slave.
Besides the cotton of Inda, in points of quail
ty holds low mark in the European markets
and owing to the cost of Importation, cannot
he brought into successful competition, with
similar qualities from the slave holding coun-
tries of the West.
few years ago Mr.. Mckay was dcputcd
by the Chambers Of Commerce, of Liverpool,
Manchester and other cities, to enquire into
the practicability of increasing the supply or
reducing the price of India cotton. In prose
cutting his enquiries he found that this cotton
entered the European market only ns supple
mentary to the American supply; and was re-
ceived, in considerable quantity only, when
the price rose materially over the average,
owing to failure in the American supply. or
On increased demand for consumption
These causes; the increased demand, and
the failure of the American supply, which had
already obtained for India cotton temporarv
command of the European markets. he tbouyht
,
manent md transfer to the cotton growers Of
India the office Of sustaining the British man.
ntacture These conclusions were based upon
the assumption, that the production had nj.
ready failed to keep pace with with the in.
creased demand for consumption; and that the
source Of the American supply was about to
oe cut Oft by the exhaustion of the more fertile
lands There seems howeye to be no ground
for this assumption. The increased produc.
ton, has heretofore been in a great measure
owing to an increase of skill and capital to
which we see no probable check in the future.
The productiveness of cotton plantations de.
pend upon many local circumstances, elevation,
temperature. moisture, nature of the SOIL prox.
unity to the sea and we have no evidence
that the soil possessing the requisite qualfca.
| tions in the United States is nearly exhausted
Neither does the ratio between production
and consumptionin the last 20 years warrant
the belief that the former canot keep pace
| with the latter. The average of consumnt;on