New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1877-02-17
King Cotton.

News was flashed across the ocean yes
terday from Manchester to the effect That
at meeting of the Chamber of Commerce
of that city the president had said that the
exports of Manchester goods to the United
States, which formerly afforded an excl
lent market, were now nil, and that there
is considerable trade in Manchester in cot
ton fabrics manufactured in America" A
Herald reporter was instructed to call upon
MIR. Hilton, of the firm of A. 7. Stewart &
Co, to gain his opinion on the subject, and
this is what he said 10 reply to questions:
"First, let me cay that / am glad to see the
Herald taking an interestin this matter. The
English government limits duty to the
importation of q very few articles, and our
goods enter British ports free. In the United
States, however, the duty on English and
French printed cotton dress goods and
chintz will run from thirty-fve 10 sixty per
cent, according to value. A safe estimate
of the average would be about fifty per
cent. You see that we have this great ad-
vantage of tariff over our Manchester COM
petItOrs, and can pour our goods into their
markets The English manufacturers ship
largely to Australia and the East Indiee,
but We are beginning to compete very seri-
Ously with them there. In several
parts of the world the Manchester
men have obtained a bad name for their
cotton goods by weighing them with size,
which gives them strong, solid appear
anee, but when washed and the size re-
moved they are seen to be light and flimsy,
and transparent enough to allow a New
England primer to be read through the tex.
ture. 1t is no vain boast 10 say that our
American cotton goods bear the best repu-
tatiOn in the East, and importers there
would not change them for the British pro-
ducts. When Gotten is high on the other
side, as 1t is to day, it does not pay us to
export, although some of our larger cotton
manufacturers are overloaded. Mill own
ers do not want to stop their mills, as il
has ptejudiciel effect. They will willingly
sacrifice ten to fifteen per cent on the
price of their goods sooner than stop
manufacturing. Percale is sold in New
York at fifteen cents yard, which COM
pares favorably in appearance with Eng
lish and French prints ct forty Five cents a
yard. The last six months have been ter
ribly dull 10 our trade, particularly the last
three. The uncertainty and insecurity as
regards the presidency has had much to do
with it. Southern trade is entirely stopped
and the iobbeFs are holding back for fall
ing market. can not tell you the class of
communications we receive from the South,
bat will only say the sooner the presiden-
tiAl question is settled the better.
''West of England brOadel0th we can not
successfully initiate. The best quality real.
ICES here $40 per yard. German broadcloth
IS, and American e. 90 This remark still
applies to q good many other articles. OF
course, impOrtatiOns have to pay duties
more or less high. You see these samples
Of wooden dress goods o. my desk, made of
silk camels' hair and wool, and containing
twenty-five, fifteen and ten per cent of silk
respectively. We used TO buy this class of
goods from France, where they made them
Of eamels' hair, spun with wool. In
Mr.. Stewards lifetime we agreed together
10 buy up all the camels' hair we could find
In the United States, and cleaned out the
market, obtaining altogether some AZ, 600
pounds. To cut long story short, we are
now manufacturing these goods and ship
ping them to Paris and other European
centres, and selling them ct half the price
We did the sans style of goods we former
y imported from France. Another thing
We have ceased to import is wooden blank.
eta
ain conclusion, maintain that since
1873 this country has advanced fifty per
cent 10 excellence, 1t least, In the manu-
facture Of wooden goods. "-Nelg York
Herald.