New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1861-02-04
THE END OF COTTON.

but all have become lntocTably lnsOichI. Inc
world is not the dependent pauper on their
iibrous bounty that they suppose il to be. They
forget that cotton growing once had beginning,
even with them; that it was feeble and I'M
promising: aud that to the inventive skill OF
Northern mind all the commercial Importance it
ever had may be traced. Even in its present
day of commercial ascendancy, Northern work
shops supply the machinery which saves 1t from
perishing in the fields whereOn it is grown. AL
the great staples of the world have risen from
beginnings equally feeble into levers powerful
enough TO lit up nations TO permanent opuence.
Only fifty years ago, the first cargo at coffee
was exported from Brazil, yet that country now
supplies twO.thirds of all the coffee consumed by
the world. Previous to the revolution in st.
Domingo, that island exported 100000
pounds of coffee per annum. Europe was
almost wholly dependent on that little
spot for its constantly increasing cOnsump-
ton, just as it ia on US for cotton now. The
revolution of 1872 nearly DESTROYED the coffee
culture in ST. Domingo, and traDsplauted II to
other regions, Brazil among the number. In
l-us the whole Brazilian crop was only $4,000
bags; but in 1854 the export to the United States
alone was III 600 pounds. IL ia now 20
thoroughly domesticated in Brazil as to be the
pivot on which the whole exchanges OF the c0un'
try turn. Cotton has never accomplished more
for us than coffee has done for Brazil; yet ats
great simulant, the cotton gin, was invented
nearly twenty years before the latter country
entered systematically on tie coffee culture.
With this long start in the race coffee las still
oyertaken cotton. The great fact mu't be ap.
parent that the moment tho commercial world
discovered its supply OF coffee was Ia danger OF
permanent interruption, new fields Of cultivation
were Immediately resOrted to, and with so much
success as to degrade the original field into
permanent insiglGcance.
Commercial history is full Of similar transmu-
tatous Rice is not more indigenous TO this
country than coffee is TO Brazil. In that colm-
try only single tree was growing in III. The
first rice was raised in South Carolina from
seeds brought from Madagascar toward the close
of the 18th century. 1t was soon discovered that
the marshy ground Of that colony produced an
article vastly superior 10 any grown IN India.
Its cultivation extended so rapidly that IN i72i
the export was 5000 tierccs. This Immediately
displaced an equal quantity in foreign markets.
In time. as cultivation extended from one colony
10 another the whole British supply was drawn
from America, and India was mcasuraby
driven from the European marketP. From The
handful Of Madagascar seeds, the rice culture has
expanded into the colossal staple of thirteen
/ Slave States. In 1850, the production was
/ 2lj, 100000 pounds, of which South Carolina
alone produced Is per ceut and the export that
wear was valued at 1851 600 When
st. Domingo IcyOlted, that Island produced large
/ quantities Of indigo, and competed with British
India in supplying Europe. But the revolution
stopped It's culture; India fell heir to the
Z whole trade, and retains il to this day. 1t was
also superseded in Brazil by coffee. The intro
duction Of rice into South Carolina drove indigo
out Of that colony also, though the article there
produced was known in Europe as superior TO
all Others, 30 much so, as to sell Tor double
price. Here are three prime staples Of commerce,
/ every one Of which has changed the place of its
production, sometimes impoyersbng one country
by its loss and sometimes enrchiDg others by its
ADOPTION. While speaking OF these changes, we may
nquire what to be the fate of American sugar! In
! 1881 this country produced 5,OOO,O 600 pounds,
but the production now must be near 800 OOO 600.
( If revolution destroyed the vast coffee culture OF
! Hayt what better luck will it bring to sugar in
! Louisiana In 1858 and 1853 sLe received
I SO, coo, 900 for her sugar crops. How much OF
! this would revolution leave!
; Ii thus appears that great national staples are
/ not always permanent fixtures. They rice and fall
I from both political aud climatic causes, Coffee
/ at one time rose in England to 81 cents pound,
because the llaytian revolution had decreased the
usual supply. All the world of commerce set it.
sell to extend the cultivation, and soon restored
! the equilibrium Of price. Let Europe be again
alarmed by the high price Of any other staple,
and she viii promptly apply the same remedy.
| There is TO such thing as an immoyable monopoly
| Of any commercial product. Let il once begin to
| fyrannise, and The beginning Of TIE ED is at
hand. Apply these facts and principles to cotton,
| and how stands the case Our cotton region is
conyulsed with revolution, and the price is going
up. England, France, and Germany, the great
/ consumers, have taken the alarm. They see tie
revolution and feel the advance. They all under
! stand the teachings Of history. The London
; Times ulters its fears Of dear cot'o" aud 'd''