New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1859-08-16
WILL COTTON KEEP UP,

An impression has gone abroad that the word's
consumption of cotton is in advance of the supply
and that to this fact its continued high price is to be
attributed qhs idea originated in England not
% formula but incidentally during the discussion
of the question of supply, and has thence obtained
currency in this country, where more importance
is awarded to it than it deserves Its correctness
may we'll be doubted. The present high prices are
temporary, and cAnnotlast Causes are at work to
bring them down, which have never failed to pre-
cipita.s a fall Our commercial history ia crowded
with "reminiscences Of the kind, as will be shown
hereafter. II it were even probable that Ike
causes would fail at the present the to produce
like effects, there new elements Of competition
about being introduced Africa, if not already as
great cotton country IS This, Is in fair way vi
being made so If high prices cause alarm here and
in England, they are stimuat1 & production there.
Pres,den, Benson writes that the Libcrians have
gone into the culture of cotton and sugsr in earnest
ard that more has been accomplished in the way OF
agricultural pursuits within the past year than in
the previous 40 years altogether. -Four thousand
pounds of African cottcs have inst been imported
into Boston BY Mr.. Edward Atkinson, y, way Of
Liverpool, and it is pow being spun and woven
into cloth Samples of this pioneer fabric will
soon be in the market, and We are assured it will
be sold at regular prices Here is African cotton
imported by circuitous and costly route which
can be manufactured and cold as low as the home
, made article. Freegrown cotton would thus seem
to be obtainable as chesply as the slave grown
But how rruch less viii be the cost when imported
direct from Africa, from the saving OF expense Of
tlaLshipmeDt, storage, and other ch'rges'
| These facts admitted, the capacity of Africa to
add rlate rialy to the worlds supply remains to b
examined. How far she possesses thjs capacity is
happily not matter Of conjecture Cotton is a.
much native of her soil as is the black man him
self. Wherever travellers have penetrated the
interior, they have found it ia abundance. One Of
| tnem saw at town in the Yoruba country fifteen
packages of clean cotton OF red for sale, weighing
50 pounds each, and was assured BY the natives
that On every fourth day "a msry as 900 20 2000
such bags were offered for SALE This was simply
the country product, with no stmulsnt from
foreign demand The plant is here perennial, and
thus its cultivation is far less laborous than IN this
towns containing 40, Geo UP to 100 900 inhsbitaats,
the natives are not only growers but manufacturers
of cotton: and from Lagos and tie Blight of Bsni-
in 1857 there shipped to Brszi POO, 900 cotton
cloths, averaging "a pounds each, while 7,!0O,c 600
pounds OF raw cotton were shipped from that region
the same year Meantime they manufacture 40 III
dance of Goth for their own wants While this de-
mand wss comparatively limited the supply WAS e.
mos. eudless. This commerce had grown up before
British enterprise had been directed to the wsnts
and capabilities Of these teeming regions. 1t saw
the opportunity aud embraced it. Ia 1852 only
], 500 pounds of African cotton reached England
in 1856 tse amount imported increased to Il 500, in
1857 to IS 400 and in the frat half OF 1855 to loo0V
pounds. The quality Of this cotton was good, while
it's cost in England was less than Midding from New
Orleans. This increase is now being stimulated
by British enterprise and philanthropy. In the
first two months Of 1855, Mr. Thomas Clegg, Of
Manchester, sent oat l57 gins, and had imported
1850 bales of cotton. 1t is from him that the lot
low being manufactured at Boston wss received
Three makers of gins at Manchester have sent out
$50 more, capable Of cleaning H,O00 pounds Of
cotton daily, equivalent to 40 600 African or 10 600
American bales annually The natives have bought
these gins with esgerness, and are calling for
more. /, 10 estimated that 1000 are now
in use among them. No sooner had
commerce opened fresh market for this sponta-
neous production Of the soil, than vast population
distinguished for docihty and industry, Get them
selves to work to supply it. and the trafie soon
grew into importance. A single native trader