The national Republican., 1861-10-23
COTTON.

| COTTON.
An article In the Baltimore Sun, denying the
possibility Of raising good cotton in India, and
affirming that eightteuths Of the European sup
ply Of that article have been drawn from the
United States, has attracted the attention of one
Of our subscribers, an old merchant, who sends
us the following Interesting comments upon IT.
"The statistics before me show that the av.
erage for the three years last past Of supply Of
cotton to Europe by the Southern States is
seven hundred millions Of pounds, while the
amount required and used was eleven hundred
aud fifty millions Of pounds-seven hundred
from the Southern States, four hundred and
nfty from England's East India possessions, aud
from Australia, Brazil, Egypt and China. This
Is the true proportion OF supply for Europe by
the Southern States, and by all other cotton
growing countries. As seven to four and
half, and not as eight to two And here the
editor asks how many years would be required
to make up the deficiency, supposing the Amer
| lean supply to be cut of. | will answer his
question In an old-fashioned Yankee way, by
asking another. How long did It take for
Georgia and South Carolina to quadruple their
| supply after the introduction of Ell Wbitney's
saw-gnG The editor, while he superciliously
| questions the knowledge of others, betrays the
grossest ignorance of the quality Of East India
cotton, and Of the productive capability Of Hin
dostan Of that material Forty-lhree years ago,
lin 1879 upwards Of twelve millions Of
pounds Of raw cotton were exported from Bonn
bay alone, In American bottoms, which ali en-
tered the ports Of Salem, Boston, and New York,
excepting one, the Atlas, of and to Philadel-
phis.
The writer Of this article purchased two car
goes OF that cotton In Bombay In 1919; the
one Of $3.50, the other Of 1,44O screwed bales,
averaging 81 cwt. each. This cotton was of
that description which in Georgia and South
Carolina Is called nankeen cotton, but of longer
and stronger staple with black seed, and not
raised from American seed So much for the SUMS
statement touching the inferior qualitysof East
India cotton, and the necessity of raising 1t
from American seed. The csrgoes of which +
have spoken, were sold (all but 1000 bales,
which were shipped to Havre) in Boston, for
II cents the short price:-the purchaser bond
ing the goods and paying an import duty of
three cents per pound for the protection Of the
South Carolina article against foreign compe-
tition and yet but very few years after, this
high-tened, chivalric, liberal, sensible, intelli.
gent, unselfish, consistent, and patriotic State
swore "she would go to fan unmen.
tionable place,] before she would submit to be
taxed for the protection of domestic manufac-
tures," manufactures, be 1t remembered too,
chiefly fher own hiefstaple,) and commenced
that opposition to the tariff of -----, which
eliminated in 1882 10 the passage of an ordi.
nance of notification and secession.
Has the editor of the Sun any personal
knowledge of the quality of Clutch cotton, or
Of the cost Of its production, its culture gath
erirg, and picking? respectfully submit that
these are matters of importance in determining
the question which he has decided so summari-
ly and dOgmatically.
He boldly esserts the utter impracticability
Of q successful culture of cotton in India, upon
| account Of adverse climatic causes! Does he
mean of both the hither and farther Indies
Why there's many miss not yet ain her
teens" In those noble institutions of learning
| of bis own haff-ruined city, who can tell him
that the East Indies have every variety of soil
| and climate. Talk Of climatic causes making
the successful culture Of cotton impracticable
| throughout the East Indies Why, HindOstan
| alone stretches from the 9Th to the 37th para
lell of North latitude and from the GSth to the
| 95th degree of East longitude more than
1000 miles North and South and nearly 1900
East and West; and fully one-,hird of this vast
region lies between the same isothermal lines
| that bound the cotton growing section of our
own country. The vegetable productions of
the two regions herbs, trees, fruits, flowers,
shrubs and grasses, are identical. Then, why
| may not the production of cotton in the East
be stimulated to an Indefinite extent? have
stated, in the foregoing, that the cost of the
cotton imported into this country in 1918, de.
livered on board, was 9f cents per pound In
| 1919, l09. Let US take the mean, 81, and yet
every pound of that cotton was cleaned by
hand. the gin not having been introduced |! 4!
Now what was the probable cost Of production?
And here can only make an approximate es-
innate for the information sought and received
| in the minute of this subject In Surat in 1919,
| has, In the long lapse of years since that pc
riod, been abraded from memory's tablet by
| the rough hand of stern adversely. Let it pass;
its of little moment. Tho producers and the
| merchants profit and the factors per centage,
l think we may safely assume, constituted, in
the aggregate, one-half oil the price we paid This
brings the naked cost of Its production and
preparation for market, to fraction below
cents-to be exact, 1916. How does this
compare with its production by slave labor
Will the astute slavery propagaudist of the
Sun inform US? That most infelicitous 6gura-
tive expression, that cotton is king" can
mean nothing more nor less than that the South,
by Its exclusive ability to supply a sufficiency
Of that material which is indispensably neces-
sary to the support of five millions OF British
subjects, at the cheapest rates, by the cheapest
labor, holds dominion over the destnies Of the
British Empire. l would fan show to our
Southern brethren that that Is most fallacious
idea, and one which may be fatal to their pros.
perity. This is but an assumption resting upon
mere postulate which my facts refute-an
airy nothng-s bubble which cannot for an
instant stand collision with a stubborn fact
They assume that slave labor is, of all descrip
tions Of human labor, the cheapest, and, il may
seem 80 to them, and doubtless most of them
believe it, for they know 1t costs simply the
subsistence of the doomed race. But a sert
| that 1t costs six times as much as the Sudra
labor of Hindostsn, and that for the simple.
reason that subsistence for the slaves of the
South costs Fix times as much as does subsis
tenGe for the Sudras
Ihave predicted that the seat Of power of the
boast and glory of the South, King Cotton"
would ere long be transferred from the New
World to the Old. That prediction was founded
upon my own knowledge OF the facts, which