The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-03-28
Capitol Clothing Store.
BUSY LANCASHIRE
RUSH OF TRADE TO ENGLISH COT
 TON MILLS.
Every MtIl and Weaving Shed Work ing at Highest Capacfty-Brttish and American Competition Mr. Andrew Caird's Inter- estlnG Comment on
 the Revival of
 Trade.

UT the situation at LancaSntre ana the outlook for the spinning industry there. MT. Andrew Caird, writing for The London Daily Mail of March II, says:
 Not in this generation has Lanea- shire witnessed such a boom as the cotton trade Is experiencing Ntoday.
 Every mill and weaving shed in its valleys and towns Is working at Its highest a,S capacity and manufactureFs rnns May and June of next year. The old est merchants on Manchester Exchange have never seen anything like the rush the last few months. have consulted merchants, manufacturers, spinners and bankers, and they all agree that the foreign demand for Lancashire goods is unprecedented within their experi- ence. The productive power of tho most wonderful manufacturing coun- try in the world is exceeded by the de- mand, and new mills are going up on every hand. Some thirty mills, with three million spindles, are in course of erection or being fioated-
 The cotton trade employs some 50O,- 900 operatives directly in spinning and weaving. and it Is reckoned that the subsidiary industries depending on 1t for existence maintain as many more. The foreign trade is the important ele- ment aS d@% for oo1 o%t of an average production 70.000,000 pounds worth is shipped abroad. and only 20.000,oo0, or less than quarter, retained at homA When 1t is remembered that nearly all comes from the United States, whose mills are in constant competition with our own. Lancashire appears justified in its claim to possession of the most wonderful industry in the world.
 Business PrOdiglOus.
 The present boom" arises largely out of the recent depression For three years in succession the American crop was short SOeculatOFs raised nrices the mills resorted to short time to dis tribute work and wages fairly, and the price of manufactures rose 75 per cent home and in India, China and South America thought the rise temporary. and bought from hand to mouth, hop ing for better times. Then in septem- crop would be abnormally large. In December the Washington bGreau came out with the astounding estimate ped 2d per pound. and In the fabric of high prices for manufactured goods was knocked on the head.
 Buyers abroad wakened up to the fact that their warehouses were empty, and that they had only small supplies com ing. They rushed in with orders to shippers. The shippers made demands on the. manufacturers. who turned to the spinners with orders for yarn, and the whole trade began to hustle with business. Week after week the stream of orders flowed in with increasing force from India and China and South AmerIca, in particular from China Buyers bid against each other for early delivery, and have gone on doing so until now. The total amount of busi- Eess on the books of Lancashire fac tories Is prodigious. The margin of profit, both for spinner and manufac- field, ex-chairman of the Cotton Asso- citation. tells me that Lancashire will be put in a position as to capital for continuing its trade for two or three years to come.
 India and China's Demands. The value of India as market may be gauged by the fact that 1t takes well over 40 per cent of the cotton goods for India during the last few months has been enormous, and the market was surprised the other day to hear of a single order for half a million pieces. But the brightest spot in the foreign market at present Is China. It has for months been buy ing heavy cloth to an unprecedented extent, and makers of shirting. bro cades and satteens are deeply sold. Japan is probably buying cotton in China, though its own demands have also increased, and that may account to some extent for the remarkable or ders of Chinese buyers. At any rate, the war has not had the adverse in
  was anticipated, but rather a stimulat- ing effect. It might be thought that the manufacturers of the United States l-who are able to work up the cotton in the country where 1t grows, and so save the double Atlantic freights- would be supreme in the South Amer jean market. They have made at tempts to capture that trade. but Lam cashire still finds an expanding field for enterprise in the Southern conti- nent, and heavy orders are coming thence, as well as from the Far East.
 The only section of manufacture which has not felt the full pressure of the boom" is the home trade, though merchants tell me that it is at last showing signs of improvement. Some of those orders which serve as a "ba- rometer'' were received last week and this week. and they look forward con- fldently to share the prosperity. The long spell of short wages compelled economy on the part of the workpeo- pie; they incurred debts to tradesmen and had to pledge furniture for food. These debts and pledges have to be cleared off before they begin to buy clothes. Now their accounts are being squared, and the money will flow in its accustomed channels. increasing still more the volume of business.
 The Crop Estimate.
 It was thought that Lancashire had largely lost its export trade in Ameri- can yarns. which foreigners buy for