Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-09-30
The following are the two articles referred
10 IN the above letter:
GILLIAN IMPORTS OF COTTON GOODS.


Within a few days there has been published
a suggestive list of the cotton mills that nave
stopDed work. They represent 4.1b3,O0O SPIN.
dles-nearly one-half Of the 1921, lA spndles
engaged in cotton manufacture as given Dy
United States census Of 1880.
The address Of Hon. George Il. LOrlng at the
| opening of the New England Manufacturers
| Institute Fair in this city on sept. ) states
| that the annual production OF our cotton mus
| Is $2lO, $3.50, 1885, of which we export S9,So LIS
Attention was specially called TO the iact that
of the s.. 1865, $40, 1911 of our manufactured pro-
| ducts only $50, 75S, 1872 40 per cent.-Was
| exported This fact was cited as proof OF the
enormous cOnsumptive capacity OF our coun-
| try. But no reference was made to the sig
nifcant fact that at that moment one-han OF
the cotton machinery was IDLE, ana SlOO,UOO,UOO
of caDitaI was invested in those idle cotton
mills, because the domestic consumption was
not sufficient to absorb the production OF our
cotton mills at paying prices.
Every one knows that prices adjust them
selves by the relation of supply to demand;
that il the price falls below cost OF produc-
ton, production is eurtalled. Curtalllng pro
duction is brought about by stopping our
mills to prevent accumulation OF surplus
prOtlucts If we had foreign markets Tor the
surplus production OF our cotton MUS, we
ghould not suffer from these periods OF stag
Snation Mr., LOrinV referred to the parallel
between England and the United states, ana
remarked that Englands colonies are 10 Eng
land what our Western AMI Southern states
are to the manufacturing states OF the Allan
tic coast-the great market for her surplus
manufactures.
ENGLAND has vast colonial possessions; the
largest of these. and the richest, is British
InGia Her trade with India IN 1882 amount
Ell to $500, 100000; the whole trade OF brush
India in 1882 amounted to Tl',5OO,OOO, 1eJ
we can see an American India IN spanish
America whose foreign commerce exceeds
SOC, COO. 600. But instead of IT being an India
TOR us il actually is a second lndla Tor Eng
land; in 1882, Englands trade with spanish
America excluding the West Indies) amount
ed to 5000. OOO, 001 or two thirds as much rs
with British India, Fleets OF British steam
ers ply to and from Central and South AmeTl-
can ports, carrying on this valuable trade.
But few are the American steamers to be seen
in those waters.
An example of our commercial policy in
thissrcspcct may DC found in the history OF
the Great Pacific Steam Navigation Com
pany of the South Pacific. William Wheel
wright of NeWburypOrt, in whose honor
bronze statues have been raised in Nalpa-
raise and BuenOs Ayrca, came back from
South America in 1878 to endeaVOr TO obtain
a subsidy from Congress for steamer line
from the west coast of South America TO the
United States. All he asked for was 100000
a year. After three years of frultless effort
TO persuade our government Of the lmpor-
tanCc to our commerce Of such suOsldlzcd
steamer line, he went to England, where a
much larger subsidy was at once granted.
That is the origin of the Pacific Steam Navi-
cation Company, whose weekly steamers con
meet England with the west coast OF south
America. That company hdu recently hllN-
four steamers on the South American coast:
their tonnage was 10000 tons. It is the larg-
est steamer company in the world. Thus
England has fairly won her commercial pre-
eminCncc in South America, and at our eN-
pense. For when Mr.. Wheelwright sought to
secure this pre- commence for his native cOun-
try. our share was almost as large as Eng
lands in the west coast trade. In 1882, after
thirty years of neglect, our share was per
cent. and England's co per cent!
But let us confine our attention now to the
Gillian market and especially for cotton
goods. Chill in 1882 imported S52,000,000, of
which Sl6,OOO,OO0 was textile goods and $780,
OOO, 600 was cotton goods. Seventy-five per
cent. of those cotton goods came from Eng
land, per cent. from the United states. The
CHILEAN market aDsOrbs every year an amount
of manufactured cotton equal to our entire
annual export Of cotton goods. There, then,
is a market worth trying for, market whose
consumptive capacity is increasing as rapidly
as that Of our own West.
To give a clear insight of this market for our
cotton manufactures, the following facts are
tabulated from the commercial statistics Of
Chill for 1882, showing the imports of cotton
goods from the United States and European
countries. The values are those upon which
duties were paid at the CHILEAN custom house:
COTTON GOODS IMPORTED INTO CHILL