The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-01-20

clared to be one of the finest ever seen in Liverpool. and it was valued at the astonishing price of Is 4d to Is 6d per pound. Honduras has been developing on this line. Jamaica has all the condl- tions requisite, and many Of the other islands in the Caribbean are trying cot ton So general has been the movement and so evident the value of 1t, that in the coming year 20Go0 acres will be under cot ton in the islands.
 Empire Is Self-Sufficent.
 With all these opportunities why should our greatest industry remain at the ea- price of the speeulator, the planter 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 enormous cost, we shall be helping our fellow subjects and ct the same time opening up new marKets for British manufacturers. The wealth thGt 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 te British. So we shall. or ought to, gain both ways. Besides, the evidences are that in many parts of Africa we should be able to produce cotton even cheaper than the Americans and in that way Lam cashire would be armed for the interna- tioral struggle which lies ahead.
 The one obstacle to the development of this national idea Is the cost of beginning Lancashire. notwithstanding that the in dustry means an output of e90O00,0O0 a year, has responded to the appeal of the British Cotton Growing association with paltry sum of R34.00Oi Capital, wages and profit indeed the whole prosperity perhaps the existence of the industry. de- pend on a supply of cotton sufficient to smother the speculator. and Lancashire offers this petty price for its salvation! It 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 i idea for Lancashire mill owners and op- ! eratlves vet they cannot find hundred thousand pounds to carry out an experi- ment which would pay as 1t goes along. Assistance Is Given.
 | Through the influence Of Mr. Chamber lain the authorities in West Africa have helped the cotton association with money and land for cultivation. The West Af | rican railways are carrying the cotton free for two years, and the Elder-Demp- ster Shipping company is bringing it to England free of charge. Sir Alfred Jones
 
 can afford to. because he has faith that by so encouraging the new industry the company will be amply repaid in the crea- | tion of a new carrying trade Africa alone. with her millions of acres and her millions of people, he says. "could cul- | tivate cotton sufficient not only for Ian- cashier and America. but for the whole worldn Sir William Macgregor also holds | that Africa is capable of giving up all we want
 1 To realize this prospect 1t is first of all | necessary to improve the means of trans | port within the West African colonies Manchester men ask for new railway | from the navigable waters of the Niger | to Zaria and thence to <ano. They want roads made to feed the line; and, again. | they ask for steamers from the railway down the river to the sea. The railways have to be extended. and everywhere roads and water transport are needed. If | that were provided Lancashire might do | the rest in the way of supplying seeds. | gins and presses and experts so supervise l As soon as the business began to pay there would be no lack of enterprise. Meanwhile Lancashire asks the govern ment to spend million to provide the transport facilities.
 It is significant that the Germans have put 5O.OOO acres of their West African ter | ritory under cotton. and that the French have been moving in the same direction | in upper Dahomey and on the upper NJ ger. Russia has so thoroughly developed the cottcn fields of Siberia that she now | gets half of her supplies from her own | territory Are we to learn from Germany | and Russia? Or. what is far worse' are wa not to learn?