The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-06-29


several years after the breaking out of the
Rebellion. There was little risk in directing
all available capital and labor to this end.
The mills of England were closed; her people
and her ships were idle; her stock on hand
was exhausted; and her commeroe-her best
prop-was suffering at the rate of nearly one
hundred millions a year. She could well
afford to take cotton from all quarters of the
world and at any cost. She could afford to
take under the Government protection and
assistance the cultivation of cotton in her own
Indies, and send skill and capital to energize
and increase the efforts of Egypt.
But the growths of all these countries could
not stand before the American cotton, previous
to the war; nor can they, by any possible
means, do so now, the moment the South is
capable of producing full crop. As long as
we produce bare million and half or two
millions of bales, foreign growths can retain
the field and furnish England with the bulk of
the cotton she requires for consumption, but
not longer.
In 1860, when American cotton was selling
in the Liverpool market at eleven and a half
cents per pound, Brazilian was asking fifteen
and a half cents; Egyptian the same figure,
and West Indian fifteen cents; and in the year
1854, in the same market, when American
cotton was scarce and prices up, it was sold at
tifty-ive cents per pound, against ffty-six
asked for Brazilian, ffty-fve for Egyptian,
and fifty-four for West Indian. This, it
should be remembered, was at time when
all the American cotton England could get
was by running the blockade, and with all its
extreme scarcity and the great risk in obtain
ing it, the article could sell for one cent a
pound less than the Brazilian.
The Egyptian crop of 1864 was about two
hundred and ninety thousand bales of four
hundred pounds to the bale, and the East
Indian crop, 1or the same year, about six hun
dred and seventy-fve thousand bales, of like
weight OF the entire quantity of cotton con-
sumed by Great Britain in 1860, fully nine
tenths was from the United States, and the
remainder drawn from Brazil, Egypt, the East
and West Indies. OF the quantity taken up
by the continent, about seventy-fve per cent.
was American, and the balance East Indian.
In 1864 of course, the quantity contributed
by this country was mere bagatelle COM
pared with the results of former years.
Yet, while Great Britain paid in 1860 about
two hundred and five millions of dollars
for four and half million bales--which
comprised all the cotton she purchased
in that year-at an average price of eleven
and half cents per pound, she actually paid
in 1854 over four hundred and twelve millions
of dollars for about two and two-third million
bales, at an average price of about forty-fve
cents. In this latter year the sum paid on
American cotton was forty million dollars on
seventy million pounds, against one hundred
and fifteen millien dollars ON about one billion
pounds paid in the former year. In 1864 the
supply was drawn from all quarters of the
globe; East India furnishing the largest
quantity, Egypt being next in order, and the
United States following. England paid the
East Indies over one hundred and seven mil
lions for cotton that year, and Egypt more
than sixty millions; neither of which countries
received more than six and quarter millions
in 1850. While the continent consumed seven
hundred and fourteen million pounds in 1860,
it used but three hundred and sixty-eight
million pounds in 1864; and while in the
former year it paid us over sixty millions of
money, in the latter year it paid but little to
us, and paid one hundred and sixty millions
to other nations. In the great cry for cotton
sent forth by England, and the stimulus inn
parted by the exorbitant price, even China
and Japan increased their supply to fifty mil
lion pounds in 1864.
These facts and figures will serve to exhibit
to the people of this country the money influ-
ence of the staple, its Importance as an item
of commerce among nations, the loss to Eng
land caused by the termination of her supply
from this country, the immense loss to the
South in being cut OFF from the purchases of
the world during the war; and the disaster
her greatest interest has sustained in the
movements Of competitors to establish sue
CessluI lOOLnOlu III the market during her dis
abled condition. The South has nothing
serious to fear from her rivals in cotton pro-
duction, unless her crops annually fall much
short for several years, by reason of the
worm or wet season. or from her failure to
establish a satisfactory labor system; provided,
indeed, we except long continuance of high
prices. If prices continue above twenty-five
cents for eight or ten years, it is probable that
she will sustain heavy and even irreparable
damage; but if she can throw two and half
million bales in the market per year within
three years from this date, the balance will
be cast in her favor, and she will promptly
resume her lost place in the markets.
Let her bend all her energies to effect this
result, and not become discouraged by obsta-
cles which she should firmly face and sur
mount-which she can suTmOunt, and which
must be surmounted by her sooner or later
It had better be at the start than at a distant
dav, when the hundreds of millions which
| should be collected to her Golfers are distri-
buted among foreign nations.
Last year the crop was reduced by the
worm and the wet to a one-third yield; some
planters largely lost, and the people became
discouraged. Many declared their intention
would be suicidal, and the South would realize
the fact only too late. The whole section
ought to rise to a comprehension of the in
teTests at stake.
The results of the current year are sufficient
to show the utter mistake of diminishing the
cultivation of cotton. The crops everywhere,
and of all kinds, promise abundance and the
capital, labor, and soil which produced a mil
lion and q half bales last year would produce
three and half million bales this year. This
means restoration of prosperity at rapid