The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1893-08-28

1
The household manufactures Of Hindu
stan have In part survived to supply the
wants OF Indian communities and the Ind
ian Government has, within two years
estimated that the hand-loom Industry still
requires $4,000 tons of raw cotton per an
num- yet the lessened demand resulting
from the dispersion OF the great establish.
ments OF the displaced and impoverished
native princes has had the effect OF destroy.
ing many thriving centres OF the finer tex.
tile Industries. while the practical cessation
of exports to Europe aud America has
caused the scattering Of the weavers who
had gathered around the earlier European
settlements.
The change In Europe from the hand to
the power loom has worked no lasting
hardship to any large body Of people In the
Western world: but it has wrought cruel
hardship for the Indian weaver. and caused
the partial abandonment OF an Indian in
dustry that supported millions, whom it
has forced into the ranks OF agricultural
labor. a calling which was already greatly
overcrowded and In which the wage was SO
low as to barely enable the soul to keep
company with the body.
When the textile industries Of India
seemed to have reached the lowest possible
ebb, and the myriad population appeared rs
but lay figures to be- draped with Man
chester cottons, n change was wrought by
those who were shrewd enough TO discern
the possibilities and exceptional advantages
| which would attend a combination OF the
| raw material Of India, the machinery OF Lam
cashire transplanted to that country. and the
cheap labor and deft fingers OF the Sudra in
an effort to wrench from England the
| supremacy Of the Eastern cotton-consum-
| ing world.
| Some thirty years ago the first cotton
| mill adapted to the use Of modern machin-
cry was erected in the Bombay district; and
80 phenomenal was the success OF the
undertaking. 80 great wero the profits.
so wide was the field. and SO
many and obvious were the advan-
tages Of the halloween over his European
and American competitors. that tho number
Of cotton mills-somo Of which are Of very
great capacity-in operation In the Bombay
district has increased to 81. Those OF all
India now number 1876, with some twenty
others In construction; and the mill con-
sumption OF raw cotton has increased more
than 800 per cent. in the last ten years.
1t Is difficult to conceive all that this In
dustrial revolution means for Manchester
and other English manufacturing centres,
as up to this time the competition Of India
has been confined to yarns. twist. and the
coarser fabrics suited to the Indian. Chinese.
and other eastern Asiatic markets. From
these the mills Of India appear to be rap
idly driving European and American goods.
and they seem likely to monopolize all this
trade when their facilities for manufac-
ture shall have been SO increased as to ena-
Bile Indian merchants to meet the entire
demands Of the Eastern world.
The Baniahs OF Gujerat, the Marwarl OF
Rajputana. and the Parsis Of Bombay. are
born merchants. and have quite as keen q
scent for profitable enterprise as any Eu-
ropean or Yankee: and they are quite sure to
make the most Of the immense advantages
which they have not been slow to discover
they possess in the economic. industrial,
and currency conditions OF India. conditions
that assure them the cheapest OF raw ma
terlal and an abundance of the lowest priced
labor in the world.
1tmay be true that owing to the defective
mechanical aids with which 1t works. this
labor is very much less efficient in agricul-
ture and in railway construction than that
of Europe; but In the modern cotton mill 1t
is equipped with machinery OF the best
European construction. is directed by
trained European experts. is subjected to
European discipline, and Is far more tracta-
bio than the average European operative
and quite as deft. soon learns all that Is need
full under the modern division Of labor. yet |
has never learned to strike. Moreover.
the hours Of labor are longer. and the wage
less than a fourth that OF the operative who |
performs the same task in England.
Great as are these advantages. there Ia a |
small offset In the cost of fuel used to gen.
crate power. For Bombay and the most |
of western and southern India. this is |
brought from England. but the cost OF |
carriage is very low. as it serves for ballast.
Even this difficulty is likely to be obviat-
ed at an early day. as excellent coal Is
now mined In Assam, and such has been
the recent development OF Indian coal
fields that tho output has more than dou-
bled since 1855. Heretofore tho trouble has
been that Indian Goals were not only very
inferior. but were mined in such insufficient
quantities as largely to preclude their use.
Measured by the water evaporated by n
given weight, the value Of the coal hereto
fore mined in India to that Of the coal i'm
ported from England has been as 10 10 to 49,
SO great and apparently irremovable are
the peculiar advantages possessed by tho
Indian millowncr. in raw cotton at his door.
that save him large sums in the way OF
frelghts two ways In interest, In insurance.
and in brokerage; in the cheapest and most
abundant supply OF labor to DO found; in
the ability to use the silver rupee at Its face
value as payment for both material and
labor: In enormous savings. as COM
pared with his competitors. in exchange
upon the money received for his wares
from the silver-using peoples OF Asia.
that notwithstanding his fuel costs more
than that of his competitors. he Is enabled
to secure returns from his investments
ranging from 10 to 80 per cent per annum.
Only such OF the older Indian mills as have
failed to adopt the latest improvements in
spinning and weaving pay dividends Of less
han 90 per cent
Strange features are connected with the
,otton onndc two Ia ~ tha AaI world opI