The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-05-02
The Cotton Question in England.

supply OF the raw material from some quar-
ter of the British possessions. Were they
contemplating merely a provision against
deficient crop in this country, they would be
acting with commendable providence. But
they have again and again avowed that their
chief purpose has been to emancipate them
selves from dependence on America for a ma
terial which enters so largely into the com
mercial interests OF the kingdom as to impair
seriously its political freedom in relation to
this hemisphere. 1t is easy to understand
why the British ministry and Parliament
should wish to break loose from any condi-
tons inconveniently restricting their action in
matters OF international consequence; but it
is amazing that the Government has been
literally instigated by the spinners of Man
chester to measures intended to substitute the
cotton of India for that of this country. Do
they see the formidable rivalry their policy
must raise up IN opposition to British indus
try and commerce., and the millions of yearly
revenue it must withdraw from British pock-
cts? Have they no more sense than to sup
pose they can have this matter all their own
way, forgetting that trade insists upon reci-
procity as an essential condition, and that
when discontinued on one side, it conpels a
counter suspension on the other?
Suppose it be admitted that the experiment
of growing cotton in India will vet be sue
cessful and that the British cotton factories
will cease altogether consuming the Ameri-
can product; what then? Why, two most
important effects must certainly follow, either
of which will prove disastrous to the looms
of Manchester, while both would be more
than they could long stand up under. In
. the first place, the closing up Of the British
market for our cotton would necessarily
develop market for 1t at home. We should
be driven into tie manufacture of cotton
until our consumption in that way of the raw
| material would equal the domestic produc-
! ton. In that event, the nearness to our mills
of the source Of supply, and the superabun-
dant quantity of the staple always obtainable,
! would cheaper it greatly, so that the home
fabrics could be sold, not only in the United
! states. but in all foreign countries, at prices
! fully as low, if not lower than those of Eng
! land could be sold here or elsewhere. And
the friends Of a protective tariff could not desire
u more favorable eXpedient for the effeetual
! and permanent practical realization of their
long cherished policy, than the transfer of the
consumption OF American raw cotton from
the factories of Old England to those which
would be speedily multi piled on this side of
! the ocean by the cessation Of the demand
! for our chief Southern product in the manu-
| featuring district of Lancashire.
Hence, Yankee labor, skill, and capital
would be afforded a powerful impulse in a
| rev direction, and, as final consequence, the
/ United States would be made a formidable
competitor of Great Britain in the fabrication
of cotton cloths and threads, and the like, not
only in this hemisphere, but also in the mar
| kets of the Old World. The advantage of
cheaper labor on the side of the English
would be counterbalanced by the cheaper raw
cotton on our side, as the article can hardly
be grown and transported from India to Man
chester as cheaply as it may be raised and
delivered to our manufacturers from the plan
tations in the South; and with these essential
conditions of competition in our favor, we feel
confident that the American manufacturers
would be able to meet those of England in
any market and undersell them.
In the second place, Great Britain, in ceas-
ing to take our cotton and forcing us to
manufacture it, would lose the chief market
for her own fabrics. We would not want
them when producing more than enough for
our own necessities, at lower prices than the
foreign article could be had tor. With this
market tor their muslins, thread, and like
commodities closed against them, where would
British manufacturers find an equivalent one /?
With no sufficient demand tor their tabrcs
outside of the United Kingdom, what would
be the nature OF the cotton supply from India
TO the mill-owners and operatives of Man
chester? For these reasons our English
cousins had better take care lest, in striving
to achieve independence of this country in
respect of the cotton supply, they do not
make us, in turn, entirely independent OF
them. BY the change they seek, they have
everything to lose, while the United States
has everything to gam.
DEMOCRATIC LOGIC. - The New York
Daily Meas, in denying the right OF the
Government to disfranchise the late Rebels
proposes this dilemma p