Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1885-06-25
rHE aREAT COTTON PRonLEnI

The APPEAL has stated from time to /
time what is doing with respect to the |
construction Of ship canal in England,
from Liverpool to Manchester, so as to |
allow American cotton, instead of being |
landed and warehoused at Liverpool, to |
be delivered to the manufacturers at |
Manchester and Oldham direct from the |
ships side. 1t is natural that Liverpool |
and the railroad interest concerned
should oppose the application made to
Parliament to sanction the proposed ca
nal, but so palpably invalid are the rea-
sons urged against it, and Sc manifestly
the result of mere rivalry opposition,
that there is little doubt Manchester
will carry the day. If so, the cotton
business in this country will, in some
respects, feel the influence of the
change. 1t is considered probable that
less of the cotton would 60 to New York
and more of it be shipped from New Or
leans, Norfolk, Savannah Mobile, Bruins
wick, Charleston and other Southern
ports. This appears probable from the
fact that there is an increasing tendency
among the English manufacturers to buy
their cotton direct from the Southern
markets, rather than at second hand
from the Liverpool dealers. To buy in
our markets and send the bales directly
to the spot where the mills are situated,
and to convey them directly to the mills
from the ships decks, would certainly
save much in handling, and in warehouse,
agents and. other incidental expenses
4 decreased dependence upon New York,
and its gambling, manipulating way of
doing business, could hardly fail of be-
! ing Of advantage to our cotton dealers,
and of course to the planters themselves;
| the less going out for incidental expenses,
| the more likelihood of better profits to
| the grower. But there is another view
of all this subject that ought to strike
every reader at all oonversaut with cotton
affairs. If it viii pay Manchester to 60
to the very vast expense of building
ship canal Of about forty-fve miles in
| length, spacious enough and deep enough
to permit the large steamers that cross
the ocean from America to Europe to
pass up and down, will it not pay those
who can manufacture cotton in the very
midst of the fields where it grows to do
! SOP It costs no more to send the finish
ed products to Europe than the raw ma
terial, but the difference in value
| Is so immense that surely what
has built up gorgeous cities in
England, and has made the Man
chester cotton lord" power in
even that powerful land, could be made
to pay among the Southern cotton fields.
There is something that looks like out
rage upon our people that we should
have such gigantic source Of wealth IN
our possession, take only the lowestshare
! of the immensely Of its value, and then
without remo1se, without shame, apathet
ically and indiiTsrently, hand over the
wealth producing prize TO aliens and
strangers. II there are obstructive laws
in our way, they can be swept from the
statute book. If we are not up to Eng
lish skill il building the necessary
machinery and constructing the required
bleaching yards, lighthouses, and so on,
that skill can be acquired as other kinds
of skill have been acquired, and we know
that the skill and art once attained
our American workmen will, By their in
ventiye faculty, improve upon whatever
| English capacity has accomplished. To
think what millions are lying idle in New
York banks, and here is a commodity that
enriches as no gold mine ever enriched a
country in the world. and yet with all our
millions, all our enterprise, al our inge-
nuity, all our capacity in manufactures.
and all our aptitude in commerce, We
must allow a material Of value so vast to
| slip into the hands OF the English to en-
rich them. Have we no genius, no pa
tient, persevering, sagacious man among
us who can take up this grand problem
and solve it. 50 that we, and not aliens,
shall reap the treasuFes that lie in the
cotton bales we now send alphabetically
/ aWav2