The news-democrat. (Providence, R.I.) 1906-1909, 1907-01-18
BIG MARKET FOR
COTTONS IN 1HE
CHINESE EMPIRE

Washington. Jan. 1s.-In a con-
sular report Special Agent W. a.
Graham Clark states that the United
States having secured supremacy in
the cotton sheeting trade OF China, in
order to extend the cotton cloth mar
kets there. should take UP the still
larger held OF gray and white shirt
ings. He writes:
/ have been struck by the fact that
America, while having a large market
in cotton piece goods in China, com
petes only on coarse. unfinished goods,
and drops out OF the race when the
competition Is on fine or finished goods.
on drills and sheetings we control, on
gray shirtings we compete TO a small
extent, but when IL comes to white
shirtings. prints, sateens, Italians, last
ings, fancy woven cottons. etc. the re-
turns very often do not specify the
United States" but class US among
"other countries" In fact In general
terms IL may be said that the United
States competes abroad in no cotton
goods in which labor is an element.
on coarse goods, such as heavy
drills and sheetings, II is safe TO say
that the raw material will be one-helf
to two-thirds the cost OF manufac-
ture. say 60 per cent; labor will be
probably % per cent, and other ex-
penses 10 per cent. on white shirt
ings, however, the raw cotton may not
take more than 40 10 80 per cent,
say 45 per cent labor 40 per cent
and expenses is per cent. In the first
case, where labor is, say, one-quar-
ter OF the total cost OF manufacture,
we compete; in the second case, where
the labor item may be one-half of
the total. we fall behind Even though
niSanNantaRp
for labor this labor has gradually be-
come more efficient, and. with the
rapid multiplication in labor saving
devices, there is no sound reason why
the American manufacturer should not
be able to compete on finer goods.
The greatest single item of cotton
piece goods imported into China today
is American sheeting, and of this the
great majority is the standard 2S5
and three-yard sheetings. as by as.
Sheetings, OF course, are always 80
inches wide and 40 inches long. The
English cannot deliver light-sized
sheetings at price TO seriously COM
pete with the American product. There
is more reason to fear Japanese than
English competition on this line be-
cause Of the cheapness OF their manu-
featuring costs and their lower freight
rates. But the Japanese cloth though
sold much cheaper. is Of inferior quail
and cannot equal the American brands.
There have been some complaints
recently rs to the quality of some
American brands deteriorating. but, IL
our manufacturers are careful as TO
maintaining the present standard, they
will continue to control the sheeting
market.
Next to sheetings gray shirtings is
the largest itom in the cloths import
cd into China. Here we find the con-
ditions reversed. and whereas on sheet
ings America controls the trade, i'm
porting i'm 1906 7.g43.S60 out OF n total
OF 9,42s,SS0 pieces England supplying
only 479,250 pieces. on gray shirtings
for the same year England supplied
6,119,5O3 out OF n total OF 6,S27.9 969
pieces, America supplying only
449.365 pieces This Is n striking con-
trast and for practical purposes it
may he said that America supplies all
the gray sheetings used in China and
that England supplies all the gray
shlrtings used. The reason or this divi-
sion OF trade is not clear. except that
so far America has found sheetings
more profitable.
The gray shirtings sold in China are
the regular standard 3Sts Inch plain
wides, such as are made by many
American mills, especially in Massa-
chusetts. There Is no insurmountable
reason why these mills should not
build up as large q foreign trade on
these goods as the southern mills have
on sheetings. The amount consumed
in China is almost as large; in fact,
taking gray and white shirtings to-
gether. China uses more shirtings than
she does sheetings.