The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1871-08-31
VOLUME VII.---NO. 8.
a Cotton Revolution

In the year 1860 eighty-five per cent. Of all
the cotton used in En- land was of American
growth--but the rebellion put an end to the
virtual monopoly long enjoyed by our Southern
States, and, as events have proved, began q
complete revolution. The English msnufac-
turers, deprived by the war of their usual sup
plies, cast about for new fields, and under the
stimulus Of absolute necessity they have caused
the lands Of the East to become abundantly
ton fields, and their brilliant promise for the
future, are strikngy set forth in a work just
published in Manchester under the title Of
The Cotton Supply Association: Its Origin
and Progress" The author, Mr.. Isaac Watts,
is the Secretary of the Association, and he has
drawn the facts Of his interesting narrative
from the official records. The Cotton Supply
Association was organized in 1867, for the spec
itic purpose of opening up and developing 9TH
or sources Of cotton supply than the Southern
States Of America; but up to the time OF our
civil war its operations were limited in extent
and comparatively barren in result The pres
sure of the cotton famine in 1861 lent new Wig
or to its undertakings, and India became the
theatre of elaborate experiments. The results
of these experiments during period of ten
years are now given for the first time in con-
nected official form.
In 1860 the sum paid to India for cotton was
S17 100000; but in 1864 it had increased to
$4,000, 900, and the average annual amount
RENTED from England for cotton during the
past eight years is stated at Sl1J,000,Q ,Q00-show-
ing an aggregate increase in the value of the
Indian cotton trade, during this period, of
about S750,000,000 This astonishing growth
has been followed by corresponding develop
ment of the cotton-producing districts of Tur-
key, Egypt and Australia. Since 1862 the pre-.
eminence of Egypt has been q notable fact in
the history of cotton culture. Mr.. Watts
writes that in tnat year cotton began to be so
much in favor that cereals were almost neglec-
ted, and the enormous profits derived from its
cultivation during the American war led to
the abandonment of the ordinary succession of
crops-a result which the late Vicerov Said
Pacha, behed with apprehension and alarm"
The present khedivc. however. has encouraged
the new industry, and during his visit to Lon
don in 1861 gave much attention to the selec-
ton of cotton seed, and to the measures best
calculated to render the crops excellent and
abundant. Cotton culture is now firmly estab-
lished in Egypt and both the Government and
the people are alive to its Importance. 1t Is
believed that the fertile regions which are wa
tered by the Nile will in time be converted into
a vast cotton field. and that India, prolific as
it now is, will become Il secondary source of
supply.
These facts indicate the character of the
change which is gradually coming to our South
ern States-a change which will deprive the
cotton fields of their fancied advantages, and
lead the planters to cultivate cereals for home
consumption. The altered conditions OF labor,
the partitions of old estates the loss of fortune,
the necessity of giving larger areas of land to
the cultivation Of corn and grain. are SOME of
the causes which must produce marked chan
ges in the South, and with the complete explo-
sion Of the talacy that cotton is king, will
come better system of agricultural develop
ment a sounder financial basis, and the encour-
agement of the working classes, who are the
real rulers in republic. Certain districts in
the South, fitted for little else than the culture
of cotton, will continue to furnish supplies for
the nome and foreign demand, but the extra
ordinary developments of ten years in other
fields show that in the granary, rather than in
the cotton bale, the clements of future prosper
ity will exst.-BaAimorc american.