Juliet signal. [volume] (Juliet [i.e. Joliet], Ill.) 1844-1???, 1861-04-02
Cotton.


ject of Cotton. The question ofsupply and
demand, the Efforts that have been made to
produce it in other countries, and the sta
tistics which show what an element of
wealth it has been in the past, and will be
in the future, are discussed with ability
and fairness. Amidst the systematic mis-
representations of the Northern Abolition
press, we are glad to see some sense shown
on the subject.
The Herald shows, in the first place, that
England wants one hundred millions of
dollars worth of cotton per annum that
France and the North of Europe wants for
ty millions Of dollars worth, and that the
Northern States of this continent also, want
about forty millions of dollars worth. Yet
there are men So lost to reason as to declare
that the North could do without the South
that England and France could buy cots
ton in other countries to supply their fac
tories and to keep their operatives from
starvation and revolution. 1t also gives an
account Of the efforts to get supply else>
where aud to cultivate it in India. The
result proved an utter failure. At one
point one thousand acres were planted in
cotton. 1t came up, blowed well, and
looked favorabiy until the dry season set
in, when the plants withered the leaves
dried up, and there was gathered but few
pounds of cotton to the acre. After trial
of five years and the expenditure of mill
ions of dollars, the experiment was aban
doned, it being found impossible to produce
cotton in India, except in small quantities
and at heavy expense. And in regard to
( quality, ole pound of American cotton will
sell for as much money as two pounds of
the cotton produced in India or Turkey.
The truth is admitted by all who are ac
quaihted with the subject, that the South
ern States is the only region in the world
where cotton can be proftably grown. be-
cause it is the only region where the
alternate rain and sunshine is such as to
promote its growth and maturity. In other
countries where experiments have been
made, they have a rainy season and dry
season. Neither will do for cotton. 1t
must have rain and sun, alternately, at
short intervals, to come to maturity and
turn out a full crop. The Southern States,
therefore, have the advantage in this re-
speet of any other part Of the world yet
| discovered.
/ The crop of cotton in 1860 in this coun
try was over four millions Of bales. The
/ total consumption of the world for the same
/ period is estimated at four millions FIVE
/ hundred thousand bales. Less than FIVE
hundred thousand bales were produced
| elsewhere than in the Southern States
/ When we recollect that each bale weighs
five hundred pounds, we may comprehend
the vast amount of this staple consumed in
the world.
Indeed there is scarcely civilized nation
that could exist without its annual supply
OF cotton. Let the factories Of England or
France be deprived of their supply, and
revolution, anarchy and ruin would be the
inevitable consequence. And the results
would be little less disastrous in the man.
ufacturing States of this country. Cotton
is an indispensable article of necessity to
all classes of people in fact COTTON is
king" in the true sense of the word.
The :" irrepressibles, aware of this fact,
are laboring hard to create the impression
that cotton sufficient to meet the wants of
the world can be grown in India, Africa,
and in alm0sta any other country. No doubt
they would be vastly pleased if this were
the case. But it is not SO. The Southern
States is the only reliable cotton region in
tao world, and hence their power to dictate
terms of reciprocity not only with foreign
nations, but with the Northern State Of this
Cunfederacy