The state rights democrat. [volume] (Albany, Linn County, Oregon) 1865-1900, 1869-12-03

conversation turned upon the present
high price OF cotton, the important
part that India necessarily plays in the
matter, and the astonishment express.
ed by my entertainers why India con.
tributes comparatively so limited an
amount of cotton to commerce, not.
withstanding the high price the article
commands in the markets of Europe
It struck me at the time that
would leave my own personal woes, Oh
not being able to buy goods in your
market, for few days alone, and fur
nish you with such information which
q political economist is apt to relish.
Up to the year 1660-61, the highest
price we paid in Bombay for Dko1lera,
Amrawutti, Akote, or Hingunghuat
cotton was 90 to 105 rupees for a can
dy weighing 784 pounds, English.
But the house of which / am partner,
Roustarnje, Daddebhoy, Essebhoy &
Co., often bought cotton as low as GO
rupees q candy. The average price
was 30 rupees. Taking the rupee at
4S cents, the cotton would cost in
Bombay about 51-3 cents a pound -
and in England, laid down, about 4
pence.
1t was always a great eyesore to us
in India, that, while your cotton fetch
ed readily and Spence pound, ours
would only sell for pence or ii pence
at the highest.
There were, however, several good
reasons for this discrepancy. Firstly,
our cotton is of short staple; second
ly, it always did contain at least 20
per cent. more waste than yours,
which alone was a good l. pence q
pound and lastly, it was little used In
England for spinning as long as Amer
lean cotton could be found. As the
machinery then in use was entirely
adapted for the long staple cotton,
our India cotton was chiefly used up
by the German, Belgian, and French
manufacturers, who adapted their ma
chinery purposely to the cheaper cot
ton. 1t was also used largely for wad-
ding purposes and had it not been
for the American war our India cotton
would certainly have remained the
sluggish and neglected article in the
English market.
Perhaps you, o Greeley, sahib, and
your countrymen, are not aware that
our chief market for raw cotton was
China, and has now again become so.
The sudden rise In cotton in 1862,
which lasted fully in feverish state up
TO the early months of 1865, gave to
India cotton the importance it never
would have attained. Your war, which
prevented any cotton coming from the
United States, compelled the English
To alter their machinery, and adapt il
TO the short-staple cotton. The price
in Bombay during the months of April
and May, 1862, rose from $50 rupees
candy to 800 rupees.
u were all cotton mad in India:
We secured the country ard brought
cotton to Bombay, Kurrachee and Cal
cutta, by extraordinary exertions. We
stopped our shipments to China, for
we saw that the Chinese actually ex-
ported great deal of their own cotton
to Europe, and by that means We made
a very respectable appearance in the
European markets.
Bnt we never did believe IN India,
during all the years that your war
lasted, what the English people would
have us believe, viz that your war was
chronic. We all felt certain that you
would shake hands sooner or later
rather sooner than we all, / must con-
fess, wished in India.
Often did hear my senior partner
Roustamje (who is very shrewd old
sahib), say: '"The American difficulty
will and must be settled amicably al
last. The energy of the people is such
that they will in few years retrieve
all they have lost, and will raise again
four million bales of cotton a year;
and our India cotton will then, as be-
fore, be neglected, and only be worth
two-thirds of the American cotton.
This idea was so prevalent in India
during the years of the American wal
that we did not go into the raising oi
cation Systematically or scientifically
Much of the plant grows in the cen
tral provinces, IN Sheagaon, in Anvee,
and Wurdah, in an Indigenous state
and we found no difficulty, as long as
any rubbish would sell IN Bombay and
could be drawn against on England
to Lring good deal of it down tc
Bombay from the interior.
To move cotton from the Indian prov
inces down to the coast in large quanti
ties and at given time requires ready
money. You call it here moving the
crops" This facility we found during tn,
American war, to very great extent, II
Bombay. Confidence was in its height
banks spraDg up like mushrooms; any
body could get money from the bank
who was engaged in bringing cotton dowl
from the provinces.
/, l can assure you, o Greeley, sahib
that our clerk, Hurrichund Mehadoo
who was then only twenty years old, go
on his own name 5000 rupees from tn,
!, Central Bank of India to bring cotton
from Hingunghaut.
Il All at once the day of reckoning came
March and April, 1865, many of on
most useful aud energetic merchan
sahibs failed. I need but mention tn
house of Cana Il Co., who failed for NOR
{ than l8 million dollars; the great Hin
doc schraf and speculator, Payehund
: who was chairman of the Bank of Ben
| gal. Besides these, there were many
, many better men, although not SO larg
| in business, who went to the wall. Thi
at once broke the energy in the cotto
trade from the interior, and you will rec