The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-08-24
Our Place in the Cotton Business.

Our Place I'm the Cotton Business.
Mr.. SAMUEL s. DALE's comment on
our place in the cotton business is only q
repetition Of arguments now threadbare
and generally repudiated by experts,
authorities and thoughtful observers.
1t is, however, a lamentable fact that the
persistent use Of those arguments has
left on the public mind a general impress
sion of their truth and soundness.
Mr.. DALE asserts that the right COM
bination Of soil and climate for the growth
Of the cotton plant is lacking in other
countries. Asia and Africa produced
cotton centuries before anybody eve
heard OF America. Without having yet
reached the limit Of their possibilities
India o produces some 5000, 900 bales
annually and Egypt some I 200, 900 bales.
Africa has millions Of acres AZ suitable
for cotton production rs are u South
ern fields. Brazil has vast areas upon
which cotton can be grown. The absent
factors in Africa and South America are
high standards Of individual industry,
capital and transportation facilities. The
United States to-day holds the large
share OF the cotton production of the
world, but has no permanent and certain
monopoly of it.
The argument that our exports OF
manufactured cotton goods are limited
by reason of higher cost due to higher
wages and higher standards OF living
holds only within certain limitations.
We do export cotton goods, but we do
not export as much as we should, nor as
much rs we might. The fact Of sales Is
an argument of possible increase In those
sales by ordinary business methods. We
sold last year to Central America s 1 ,SO0,-
900 worth. to South America $500. 900
worth, to the countries Of the Far East,
exclusive of the Philippines, nearly
$40, ZOO, 900 worth, and to British Africa
$4,000 worth. A recent report from
our consulate in Singapore calls atten-
ton to the fact that while we do a con-
siderable cotton business in southern
China our share last year Of the Singa-
pore trade of $40, 900, 900 worth OF cotton
goods was SIS, 29s.
The only sound cause for congratulate
ing ourselves OF our place in the cotton
business is that we are better of by ed
son Of our sales of the raw material than
we would be if four or five thousand
bales was the limit of u possible pro-
duction. The export of finished prod
ucts rather than raw materials is n Of
the important points of differentiation
between high and low civilization. The
miserable peon of the Brazilian forest
gets crude rubber. We buy it and con-
vert it into millions of dollars worth Of
articles now indispensable in civilized
communities. From the ~impecunious
and ignorant p~easantry of Japan, Italy
and China we buy $7O,OOO,O 900 worth an
nually of raw silk. 1t would be better
for those lands and far worse for us if
we could buy from them only manufac-
tured silk cloth and other articles. Can
ada would prefer to sell us lumber rather
than logs and paper rather than pulp.
We claim, and with every sound reason
for the claim, a great advantage in our
huge and increasing importation Of raw
materials for conversion into finished
products. There is equal s~oundness in
claims for our advantage in the treat
ment of our domestic products and their
sale abroad in finished forms. It is
vastly better for us to export, az we did
last year, or locomotives than to export
their gross weight in iron ore. 1t is bet
ter for us to export -four than to export
wheat, better to export boots and shoes
and saddles than to export raw hides,
and better to export drills and denims,
| sheetings and c~alicoes than to export raw
cotton in bales. As an economic propo-
sition this is absolutely indisputable.
The S,72l 1903 bales of cotton exported
last year are a huge monument erected
to a neglected opportunity. II is not
that we cannot export manufactured
goods, but that we do not because we
will not make what is wanted-wil not
pack and ship our goods as required and
will not meet the credit conditions of a
market in which we might have a large
place by going after it and doing bust
ness in a business way.