The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-11-17
AMERICAN COTTON FABRICS.
Their Competition Abroad Consider ed by the British Commercial
 Agent in the United States.
WashlnRton Special.

| Washington Special.
 The competition of Amerioan cotton | world is attracting considerable attention 1 among the great cotton manufacturing | countries of Europe, as is indicated by
 the following extracts from a paper re | gently read at meeting of British cot | ton manufacturers by the British com
 mercial agent in the United States ThS paper itself was considered so important | that portions of 1t were forwarded to tht | commercial Intelligence branch of the
 Board of Trade of London, and that body i announces that 1t may be examined by
 those interested "sny day between the | hours of 10 q. m. and D. m.'
 Extracts from this discussion of Amer ioan cotton manufacturing have been re- ceived by the Treasury Bureau of Sta
 tisties as follows:
 Speaking broadly, the standard makes to a limited extent in most foreign couR-
 tries, and in some few markets they can be disposed of in considerable volume.
 notably China and Mexico; however, \
 can be positively stated that in the great
 CT number of foreign trade centers our
 goods are too high in price. due princi-
 pally to the fact that they are pure
 sized" 1. e., they are only given such
 treatment in the slashing process as will
 enable them to be easily woven no at
 tention being given to the addition of
 adulterants as such. I am now speak
 ing specifically of brown goods. thr a"-
 gregate trade in this case of merchandise being very large
 Having the data, which as manufactur-
 CTS we should need In order to produce the goods one would naturally carefully examine the particulars to discover if any
 radical changes would have to be made ip the machinery or eouipment of the mill 10 enable one to produce them.
 Having in mind many of our Northern mills and the large proportion of the fac tories of the Southern States that are
 organized and equipped to manufacture coarse. heavy fabrics, it can be said that with a few inexpensive additions to the apparatus for mixing and storing the size, the heavy and medium sized gray goods, so largely purchased by non-manufactur. ing nations, can be made satisfactorily { nd prCtltably and at competitive cost
 Such fabrics contain maximum of raw materials (cotton and si2e), and q mini mum of labor is required in their produc- tion. Present conditions In the industrial centers of the South are more faVora ble for their remunncative manufacture than iny any other manufacturing country in the world with which We shall have to Immediately we step outside our domestic markets to dispose of the pro- duct of our looms.
 I1xccpticnalY hard twisted warp yarns are the rule in American mills, although every unnecessary turn of twist put into yarn means an unavoidable expenditure and loss of production. It is also surely known to many of you that no small quota of our mills use a much better grade Of cotton than Is really necessary to produce a good. merchantable fabric which will compare favorably with simi- lar goods made hy European competitors
 To one who has closely watched the de- veIopment and progress of our cotton misunderstanding industry during the last few years it is nalpably obvious that we must very soon enlarge the present out lets for our goods. or. with our rapidlv cxra ndIng productive capacity. have our busi-, ee 'riodi lily suffer from disas- | tvous ovornrodTction and trade stagna- ton. and 1t must never be forgotten that | the y.tel tterHsts of almost every mem- | Der of this body are involved in the pros 1 peritv of the cotton industry
 Tn q n: rer on "LlIn-A nerican Trade in | Cotton Fabrics" which recently pre- sented to VOL, the construction of the standard English print cloth is given. ConibaTfsoD will show that it differs in the two very essential particulars of widtt and weight from the standard A n,eri an fabric If our printers had sim liar goods. their export trade could be very cr reidarlbv aUwnented especially f. their c7lrrs and designs met the taste of the ,ypart trad. The cotton trade -F tHr world is as yet untouched by ls while " koep on building new mills and erlaig;ug existing ones at a great ate ard meanwhile we are doing prac- ticalIv thlng at all to enlarge our mar Set for tre goods made by these addi- ions to our industry.