The Savannah morning news., 1904-01-30
COTTON IN BRITISH EMPIRE.
Plan to Supply own Raw Material
to the Mills.
From the London Daily Mail.

From the London Daily Mail.
Next to agriculture. cotton is the
greatest industry of England. The
mills of Lancashire represent a CAPT.
tai of a hundred millions sterling.
they produce ninety million pounds
worth of goods every year and export
seventy millions, while three millions
of people are dependent directly on the
prosperity of the trade. On what sort
of a basis does this prosperity rest?
The whole cotton trade of the world,
as a Manchester man said the other
day, depends absolutely on the success
or failure of the American crop, which
is being more and more absorbed by
the American manufacturers.
The worlds demand for cotton is
increasing year by year, and in some
foreign countries at a very rapid rate:
but the American supply is not keep
ing pace with it. AS the United States
supply so per cent, of the whole
worlds crop, and as the price is so
largely affected by the reports of the
exports and of the Government Blu
reau (Which have singular habit of
being pessimistic), the New York spec
ulator practically commands the sit
uation. The effect of the shortage of
supply and of the manipulation of
prices consequent upon that situation
has been abundantly evident in Ian
cashire, and it is estimated by those
in the best position to judge that the
workmen have lost 900 in wages
in the last year.
While Lancashire-wh owns half
the spindles and a third of all the
looms in the worlds thus hit. the
Americans are pushing on the manu-
facture of cotton in the Southern States
by the erection of mills near the cot
ton fields.
Lancashire depends on the cheapness
of American cotton for the bulk of its
great export to India. When the price
of raw cotton goes beyond 31sd. per
pound, it is difficult to sell the finished
article at a price which the native
of India can afford to pay. The spec
ulators have left that price far be-
hind, and as the available American
export diminishes they will tighten
their grip.
The men of Lancashire have resolved
to balk them in this design by grow
ing the fiber they require in the colo
MES of Great Britain. They have met
with encouraging success, they have
sent out experts to the colonies to
teach the natives the cultivation of
cotton, and they have proved beyond
doubt that large proportion of our
requirements. if not indeed the whole,
could be supplied from our own pos
sessions. On the west coast of Africa
are millions of acres of land suitable
for the growth of cotton. The climate
is favorable and labor can be had in
abundance at siXDence per day
From Northern Nigeria a sample has
been sent to Liverpool with the init
NATION that If
ny per pound. The reply was that if
it could be delivered in Lancashire at
flvepence the demand would be large
and constant. Experts have proved
the possibility of growing cotton at a
profit in Lagos, and 10000 acres are
being cultivated. On the Gold Coast,
in Sierra Leone, in South Nigeria and
in Uganda the same results have fol-
lowed experiments. To Gambia and
the Soudan the missionaries of COM
merce have gone, and in the Soudan
they have found that a cotton superior
to Egyptian can be grown over an i'm
mense area of the territory which has
just been rescued from barbarsm. The
railway from the Nile to Suakim will
open up this country and provide cheap
transport. 1t has been promised them
that the work will be pushed on with
all convenient speed. Only the other
week sample of cotton grown in the
Soudan was valued by Liverpool ex-
perts as being worth from Cd. to 91ad
per pound.
One of the most splendid fields is the
West India Islands. Barbados is the
home of the prize sea islands cotton,
whose long staple and fine texture make
it the most valuable of all. A sample
which was brought to England recent
ly was declared to be one of the finest
ever seen in Liverpool, and it was val
ued at the astonishing price of Is Adj
to Is. Cd. per pound. Honduras has
been developing on this line, Jamaica
has all the conditions requisite. and
many of the other islands in the Carib-
bean are trying cotton. So general has
been the movement, and so evident the
value of it, that in the coming year
10000 acres will be under cotton in the
islands.
With all these opportunities why
should our greatest industry remain at
the caprice of the speculator, the plan
ter and the manufacturer of the United
States? Evidently we can grow all the
cotton we want within the empire.
BY doing so we shall be developing the
huge estate we have acquired at enor-
nous cost, we shall be helping our fell
low subjects and at the same time
opening UP new markets for British
manufacturers. The wealth that will
accrue to these colonies, to black and
white population alike, will mean a
greater potentiality for the purchase of
goods, and we may expect that these
will be British SO we shall, or ought
TO, gain both ways. Besides. the evil
dences are that in many parts of Afri-
ca we should be able to produce cot
ton even cheaper than the Americans.
and in that way Lancashire would be
armed for the international struggle
which lies ahead.
The one obstacle to the development
of this national idea is the cost of be-
ginning Lancashire Notwithstanding
that the industry means an output OF
600, 900 900 a year, has responded to the
appeal of the British Cotton Growing
Association with paltry sum of f34,-
000 Capital, wages and profit indeed,
the whole prosperity, perhaps the ex-
istence of the industry, depend on a
supply of cotton sufficient to smother
the speculator, and Lancashire offers
this petty price for its salvation! 1t
invites the government to come to the
rescue, forgetting that governments
help only those who help themselves.
There are probably millions of money
in the idea for Lancashire mill owners
x,aV nsNf find n