The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1861-08-15
TIE
Commercial Advertiser.
The Cotton Question.


plant in The East, without any aIprehensions
that it could have any perceptible influence on
the commerce or the internal poIity Of this
country But the tables given below showing
the rate Of the annual increase Of It's production
in India. tell a story to which uo intelligent
citizen who has an interest in the growth Of this
great staple can afford to shut his eyes. Ten
years hence, India will furnish ~ much cotton.
within n triae, as America viii, even If the rate
of increase continues in this country as rapidly
in the next ten year,. a. 1t has in the last decade
Ofyears- There i scarcely 4 remote probability
that the increase will 20 on So rapidly in the
South as it has hitherto done. II the war con
tinues Eve OF ten years longer, it, effects On the
cultivation of cotton will b. destructive. 1t takes
no knowledge of political economy 20 perceive
the effects which the blockade Of ports. the un-
certainties Of trade, The diversion Of capital and
labor, the absorption Of mind and the waste Of
strength will exert On this great crop, which is
more dependent for its SUCCESS on the stability Of
business and general prosperity in the world than
any other. IL is also intimately related TO the
question Of slavery, 80 intimately, indeed, that
the North British Reriecer sees the causes at
work to transfer the British market for cotton to
free countries, that the demand for slave labor 70
BEO" J. mdy crlSef anu Win IL slavery
The Future OF CoTTON.-It i under the Ian
ner OF Is King Cotton that the Gulf States have
marched out of the American Union and a.
cotton has dictated their policy, 20 it promises to
shape their destiny. At the moment when the
short-sighted STAKEHOLDER, reasoning from the
fact that cotton lands and cotton slaves are
annually rising in value, is Blasting that the
earth is becoming tributary to him, his huge
monopoly Is prepared to fulfil the law by which
sooner OF later all mpnopolies must fall. The
seeding leaders have duly estimated the stake
which Europe has in their eotton-growing clpa-
bilItIes- England, from whose anti-slayeTy pro-
clIyItIes they have most To fear, cannot, they
argue, afford To quarrel with them ON ethical OF
philanthrUpic grounds, while 1 coo, 900 of her
people are dependent ON their staple production.
Full well they know that the British cotton
spinners mind il in perpetual anxiety about the
supply OF the raw material, and kecnly sensitive
10 May frOsts, October storms. and rumOrs Of in
surrection or an American = difficulty
No trade has ever grown 20 rapidly OF assumed
such gigantic PROPORTIONS. In $500 our imports
OF cotton were 31O,320 lbs, and the value Of our
cotton exports, E3. O0O, 900 III 1850 our imports
were l,435, $40 600 lbs, and the value of our
exports between forty and fifty millions sterling,
The amount of capital invested in the cotton
manufactures of this country Is between eco. OOO,-
600 and go, 900, 900 sterling. Great Britain
alone consumes annually E24 .O00, 900 worth of
cotton goods Our imports of the material are
valued ut E3O, ZOO, 900. The cotton demand is
daily increasing, and rs the future augmentation
OF the supply of human clothing must be met
almost by cotton. the fact becomes PAINFULLY sig
nIhcant, that, of the already enormous quantity
imported, America supplies US with fye-sevenths
OF the whole. Our total imports in 1860 were
1857 .046 bales, being an increase over last
year Of $50 400 bales, and of this increase
America furnished 400, 424 bales.
The prospect of a short supply of American
cotton for some time 10 come, owing to the dis
sensIons IN the country, naturally produces great
apprehension. but ut the same time is bringing
out the fact that the production of the cOmIara-
lively neglected cotton regions of the earth may
be made capable of keeping pace with the demand.
In n notice of these capacities, the statistics of an
exceptional year are Of no value therefore we
take the data furnished by the returns of the
seven years from 1850 to 1857. During that
period the increase OF 300, OOO, 200 lbs, in round
numbers, in our imports of cotton was furnished
by the following countries:
sniisd .16l s0t 900 pounds
5Sl0,I3O
20 In5t~I Istst9S5
Africa and others, ---..--..--.---.-. 5,s95,462 "
IL we take the fourteen years from lS43 to
1857, we find that the cotton countries increased
their shipments to England as follows:
snna Is percent
6sypS
ks.t Indies
IL we take the import of 1857 as the basis,
and assume the increase of the fourteen succeeding
years TO be- in the same ratio, the rate of increase
IN 1871 will be rs follows:
E Ea., dsS -..S59 n 20 pounds
.ase iHc'ss' .'=oytSs55
srazai, 454Gi464
Africa and others, ----.-----"---.---- 23,'5s,4sO
In this estimate we have not taken into account
the opening of new fields, the stimulus given To
free growth by British capital and enterprise,
and the possibility that the present enormous
American rate of increase may be checked for n
fTrn hr I4..A-~.A 1900. " H.
are, that in 1871 the free labor countries will be
able To produce nearly rs much cotton as the in
creased British consumption will require; and
with this change, and its accompanying revOlu-
tion in price, the great Southern monopoly must
inevitably be broken up. India will then rival
the United States in her production-Africa be-
grit with free settlements, will supply US with
millions of pounds-Greece and Turkey are be-
ginning cotton cultivatiOn-Cyprus has devoted
so ,OOc acres to it-and Tunis and Australia are
moving in the same direction. The great difficult
ties are the cleaning of the raw material and its
inland carriage but the first can be overcome by
perseverance,, and British energy and capital will
accomplish the last by means of railroads and
light draught steamers. In fact, so strong Is the
resolve not To be dependent on slave-grown cot
ton, that stimulating production and cheapeuing
carriage are merely questions of time. In uarts
of Africa the natives are satisfied with a half
penny q pound on uncieaned cotton. and cleaned
cotton, worth sd a pound in Liverpool, can be
oougnI on tne Niger Tor 3D. per pound In INDIA
industry is cheap and abundant, and in most Of
the free labor countries n great item in the cost
of production is saved by the plant being a per-
ennial. Allowing for a great rise in the value of
labor, two continents will be able to undersell
America cotton being raised in the United
States by " cotton hands" who cost their owners
ESQ a piece, and i'm Africa and India by men
who own themselves, and are satisfied with Id. a ,
day while the South cannot diminish the cost of
production to any great extent, for the reopen
ing of the slave trade is impossible. Never be-
fore have geographical discovery, religious effort,