The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-08-30
KING COTTON.

The telegraph has told us much of tho
triumph Of America MT the Paris Exposition,
Of the victories achieved there by her inven-
tlons, her machinery, her engines etc, but
scarcely word has been said on the point Of
how America compared with the rest of the
world in her greatest product her chief
strength and wealth--cotton. or oil the
vegetable kingdom cotton ranks first in i'm
portance ut the Exposition; 1t has clearly
shown there It's superiority, proved that 1t Is
still "King Cotton There are more speci-
mems Of it on exhibition than of any other
agricultural product; there Is cotton from
Egypt, from Brazil the Fiji Islands. Greece,
Italy, India. China, Guiana, Senegal, Mexico.
the Cape of Good Hope, and n score Of other
countries. The Exposition, therefore, fur
nishes o fine field for studying the cottons Of
all these countries and comparing their var-
GUS merits and advantages; and this study
will clearly show that no quarter Of the globe
can even compete successfully with the
Southern States In raising good and cheap
cotton. European cotton Is scarcely worth
consideration; 1t can never be grown profit
ably. A few thousand bales are, it Is true,
raised in Greece and Italy, but the season in
these countries Is too short for the proper de-
velopment Of the cotton, and hence it is Of an
inferior quality. Algeria, Just opposite Italy,
offers great advantages to cotton-growers,
coupled. however, with disadvantages that
prevent the successful cultivation OF this al
ticle there. Labor in Algeria Is excessively
dear, and very uncertain; the native grasses
and weeds, moreover, are OF peculiarly
strong and rapid growth and q fatal
enemy to the cotton plant. The Algerian
cotton-growers have fought these weeds
for years In vain; the weeds have final
ly triumphed, and thousands of acres
Of land that We're cultivated in cotton only
fifteen years ago are now given over alto
gether to couch grass The cotton raised in
Asia is all Of an inferior quality. The fibre
of that raised in the East Indies Is coarse.
short and weak; it Is our principal competitor
as far as quantity Is concerned chiefly used
to work up with good American cotton; in
deed, without American cotton as q basis,
there would be little, IL any, demand for the
Indian product In England. The Chinese cot
ton Is but little better, there Is, moreover,
little likelihood Of Its ever finding its way to
Europe, as all that can be raised in the
Japan In fact, the Paris Exposition has
demonstrated the fact that 1t Is Inn
possible to grow good cotton any
where in the southern part of Asia, which
1t was at one time predicted would supply the
world with this staple. The temporary success
Of Indian cotton cultivation was due to the
high prices born of the war, to the aid Of
English capital and the cheapness of labor in
India. In Senegal and the Cape of Good
Hope so small an amount Of cotton is Guilt
waited that 1t Is impossible to tell whether 1t
can be produced here cheap enough. The
cotton plant grows wild on the western coast
Of Africa, but no efforts have been made In
any of the numerous English settlements on
this coast to go into cotton raising to any
extent The sea island cotton, raised in the
Fills, is another English failure. The cotton
plant grows we'll in these islands and the
fibre is nearly as long as the best American,
but mixed with short ibres that are lost in
the spinning, an insuperable objection to it's
use and the cause of its low value.
Thus it seems that America is the only por-
ton of the world where good cotton can be
raised cheap. North Or South America seem
both equally well adapted to this staple. The
chief American countries engaged in cotton
raising are Brazil, Mexico, Guiana and the
Southern States. In view Of the fact that
more care is taken here in the cultivation of
cotton, that our labor is better and surer, and
that the government is not subject to frequent
changes, as in Mexico, there seems to be no
reason why we should fear that any Spanish
American republic Or English negro settle
ment can compete with us in cotton raising.
Such is the most valuable lesson that the
Paris Exposition teaches.