The Abbeville banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1847-1869, 1857-04-09
THE COTTON INTEREsT-Gc.tT0N EXPERT
MENT IN INDIA.
PHILADELPHIA. Feb. l6, is.

sion in well Informed circles of business
men in your city, and n. York, the subject
being the renewed efforts and evident ankle
ty on the part of the English manufacturers
TO find ia some part of her Majesty's wide
extended dominion Il vast cotton field that
would quiet their arprchcnsions lest the
supply Of the raw material should not long
continue 10 meet the rapidly increasing de-
mand.
The attention of the English manufactu-
rcrs is naturally turned 10 that land of fabu-
lous wealth the East India Company's en-
pirc, India; and some of your leading mcr-
chants, knowing that had been connected
with the great cotton experiment in India,
gotten up l'y the rulers of that vast country
appealed TO me TO know what was the re-
suit, and expressed the belief that some ac-
count of that experiment would lie of gen
crai interest to the public, promised to
give such an account, and | shall now fur
nish mere cptomc of the details which /
will send You on my return home, us soon
rs leisure permits.
In 1910 the opportunity was offered to
me, with Others, of going to the East Indies,
under the auspices of the East India Com
panv; and considering that lie who accom-
plshcs the greatest good to the greatest
number was entitled to the greatest distinc-
ton. and hcin. ambitious of cnioving all
that could he attained from that prolific
source, ! went; and though al that was
anticipated was not realized, the experiment
was fairly tried during ten years laborious
effort in that far distant land, where Brah-
rninec bulls and drficd monkeys arc objects
of profound admiration by the whole lin
doc population.
After the first two years experiment
tried in various parts of the country, | re-
ported TO the East India Government that
the object hoped for WAS northumberland
The experiment was a failure. There was
some cotton produced, but ut n cost of a
"gunea IT," which served well for Il ba-
s:s OF reports on the part of those who looked
to that source for Il supply of the great sta
pie, how the greatest i'll the commercial
world.
am asked hv all who mention the sub
jcct, "Wl,at WAS the cause of failure in the
great cotton experiment in India, which at
one time caused So much anxiety lest our
best interests should be subvcrtcd by another
country superscding us in the production
OF the great staple product of our own ?"-
physical and moral in their nature. The
physical defect i'll tl;c want Of an c1uable
climate-a climate of equal temperature,
and OF sufficient duration TO mature the
plant; the extremes Of excessive humidity
and excessive aridncss, or drought long
continued, and consequent heat, and even
wcn favorable circumstances combine, and
the plants is growing well, aud its abundant
storms" or embryo fruit, promises and
abundint harvest, the bollworms" bud the
plant, main stem and branches, and also
enter the " FORMS" and cause them TO fall
i'll myriads, and cover the ground with what
would have been the "grcat staple" if ma
tured. The plant will grow and produce
well it it is irrigated, but that process is too
expensive to Le profitable. Cotton mus.
be produced by the tertilizing influence of
the natural rains, which, we are told, "fall
ON the just and unjust" The natural dews
Of heaven must tructify the earth, or her
ordinary products cannot be proi,ably
produced.
The moral defect is the immobillity of
the IIindoo character. They will not change
they will do rs their fathers did forever:
they will not adapt themselves to the ap,
pianccs essential to success.
This is succinct account Of the cotton
experiment in India, commenced by the
East India Company, under the superinten.
tsence OF American cotton planters in 1910
continued i'll it till 1850 others remained
there longer, and we have not seen nor felt
amy beneficial consequences. Millions were
expended in the enterprise, and the only re.
suit is we hear occasionally Of the shipment
of few bales of American cotton from
India; but, sir, this does not constitute sue
Cess. Success is not attained until the pco-
pie of the country themselves produce the
article, and that in such quantities as to cf-
feet the markets Of the world.
Let me hear add that the American cot.
ton degeneratcs TO such an entcnt in the
plains Of India, that in few years it will
not gerninate, and the staple soon becomes
short and weak; and that, while have pro-
nounced all the efforts of the East India
Company to make India an American cot
ton producing country, failure in the
plains generally, yet there is large extent
OF territory that would, with proper appli-
anccs, such rs we Southern planters would
cyadopt, produce cotton well; bnt where that
is the case it woul produce other things
= that arc more profitable than cotton, and
consequently The people Of India will not
"'yate the article, aud Englisllmen never
IN oS IAN anywhere.
$"h ~" yet another suggestion. We have
comparatively limited area Of country
".sti is well adapted by climate and soil for
cotton, and that area will produce enough
icotteh for the world for some time yet, If it
1wcre all i'll cultivation but remember that
: That area Of country is in climate that
white people cannot work in, in the open
field that the great staple must bc pro-
duced hy negroes; there are not rs many
as three millions Of negroes in the cotton
climate, and they cannot, according to the
English estimate, produce enough cotton to
J clothe the many millions who now use cot
ton, wholly Oh i'll part, for clothing. These
two millions five hundred thousand negroes
tho producers, will only Increase naturally
tlsS supply very wisely being stopped from