The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-12-02
FUTURE COTTON SUPPLY
ENGLAND GREATLY INTERESTED
 IN THE MATTER.
Liverpool Seems Not to Wefry, bes Anxiety is Felt h Manchesser
 and the other Towns of Lancashire.

v
 There Is perhaps no subject or greater
 interest to cotton growers and manu'
 lecturers than Great Britan's cotton
 supply and her cotton manufactures. A timely communication pertinent to this
 interest has just come to the Depart ment of Commerce and Labor from the United States Consul at Liverpool James E. Boyle. It Is as follows; |q without . doubt therone great ques- tion in regard to cotton in this coun- try is that of the supply. quite apart from the source=--a supply constant, re- liable, plentiful, cheap. and free from control by manipuiators. It has be- come almost automatic that the Amer ican supply now fails to meet these requirements, fact bewailed in Lam cashire.
 | What of the future?
 Here a peculiar situation presents It. self. The Liverpool cotton men do not seem to worry much about the future. They decline to become enthusiastic over the possibilities of "British-g grown cotton Some openly pooh-pooh the efforts of the gentlemen who have em- parked upon this enterprise. and the general local attitude in the trade seems to be that of indifference. For the present, the American sup ply and the rises and falls" of the Americana Liverpool market are ail-
 sufficiently absorbing for the trade
 here, and of the comparatively few who
 are looking far ahead, the majority be-
 lieve that there isN still sufficient un-
 used cotton land in the Southern States
 to meet the requirements of the world
 for a long period; but apart from Liv-
 erpool, there Is throughout Lancashire.
 and especially in Manchester, a genu-
 inc feeling of anxiety as to the future
 supply of cotton. There Is to be noted a distinct difference as to the point of
 view held by the Liverpool middlemen and speculator and that by the actual consumer, the spinner. Hence 1t Is that in Lancashire, apart from Liverpool, there is intense interest in the possi- bilities of British grown cotton" There are indications that the cot l ton trade of the United States very lgenerally shares the views Cor, as Is possibly more correct. the lack of views) of the bulk of the Liverpool trade as to the movement inaugurated by the British Cotton Growing Asso- citation. It may as we'll be recognised, however, that this organization means business. It is receiving earnest sup port from the actual spinners of Lan- cashire and has the backing of the Co., lonial Office, with all its notifications throughout those portions of the British Empire where it is believed cotton can be commercially grown. Recently it received a royal charter. So far it's work has been altogether experimental, and there have been but meager re- turns to the over-enthusiastic .proph- ecies of some of those Interested in the | enterprise.
 Occasionally a small parcel of cotton tcomes from Africa or the West Indies, and generally the quality is pronounced to be good-sometimes exceptionally
 so, But nowhere in all the many places selected for experiment has cot ton growing yet been established as a
 regular industry, and the probabilities
 are that even though there be the most | favorable progress as to cultivation, labor and transportation, it will be fully ten years before British grown
 cotton will be an appreciabfe factor in
 the Liverpool market.
 | The movement for short time" was effective so far as it went In steady Il ing and conserving the interests of the trade, and at this writing there is a
 much more cheerful tone than existed
 some months ago. Still the movement was only a makeshift.
 l For some years past there have been propositions. indefinite and without ap- parent real business enterprise back
 of them, however. for the shipment of
 cotton direct from the American pro- ducer to the Lancashire spinner. A new movement in this direction is just
 announced. It is reported that the general manager of the Merchants and | Farmers Cotton Company, with large plantations between Memphis and New 1 Orleans. has arranged to forward large lconsignments of cotton direct to mills over here.