The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-03-08
READY FOR SYNTHETIC
 COTTON MAKER
Millions Waiting for Man Who Can Make Artificial
 Cotton

Manchester, Eng. Mar. S.-In an address before the Textile Institute on the cotton industry, Prof. J. A. Todd told the British Association of Managers of Textile Workers that the two most important events of last year were the Worlds Cotton Confer ence at New Orleans and the report of the Empire Cotton Growing Com mittee. Their joint result had been strong movement in Lancashire to raise funds for the encouragement of cotton growing within ts-s Empire. That was gratifying, and it might be thought that all we had to do now was to act vigorously; that to talk further on the subject was merely to flog dead horse. The fact was, however, that the present position and the immediate prospects for the next year or two remained to be faced The American crop, though a little better, showed no improve ment in quality. That was as bad as it could be. A considerable increase had taken place in the Indian crop, which had also yielded a greater quantity per acre than in previous years. but although we might expect a material increase we were not justified in. accepting the latest re- turns as indicative of what would happen in the future. The great de- mand for tire fabric in America was already making itself felt.
 He had been charged Professor Todd continued, with eXaggerating the importance Of this question, but he had been assured that his esti- mates were not far from the mark. The demand was an increa sing one and it was the lower grade cotton which was affected. Already we were actually in sight of a scarcity. If present prices were maintained we ought to have a greater acreage in America Everything depended upon what happened in the next month or two. If prices came down, it would be the worst thing that could happen, because it would mean a reduction of the American acreage. In Egypt two things could be done to increase 1 the acreage. One was to adopt still more vigorous measures against the depredanons of the pink bole insect 1 and in this respect the situation 1 was hopefu1-and the other was to deal adequately with the drainage system. The operations with regard 1 to drainage, however, did not appear | to be going ahead. A new committee , had been appointed to consider the whole question, but the delay was re- i grettabIe. If the Delta drainage sys- 1 tems had been completed it would 1 have resulted in very considerable 1 difference in the output of Egyptian | cotton.
 With regard to the Empire cotton ' growing scheme, it was not going to
 produce what we wanted
 lated millions of cotton-for a num-
 Der of years. From India and Egypt
 alone could we look for su bstantial { relief, and unless we changed our i attitude toward Indian cotton, and were prepared to pay what others
 paid for it, it would go to Japan and elsewhere. We have to face the fact
 that we still depended upon America for our cotton, and would continue to
 do so for a good many years.
 ! In America a general campaign o1 l education was wanted. Better seed i better methods Of cultivation and a 1 better way of ba1ing and harding l cotton was required. In fact, the ! whole question of the agriculture methods needed Investigation; and the American cotton grower was as
 conservative as the English farmer
 His marketing conditions were irregu.
 lar, and there was no adjustment be-
 tween quality and prices. For years
 to come we were not going to ge l IO pI0 WdL CO1iulllOIS5 II
 America During the next few year.
 every effort must be made to elimin
 ate waste. Lower grade cotton mus , be resorted to wherever possible, ant
 every pound must be made to go a!
 far as it could.
 If anyone could invent artfhcia
 cotton, was Professor Todd's fna
 suggestion, his fortune would bt
 made. He had seen beautiful fabric
 of artificial silk and wool, silk ant
 cotton, and silk and paper, and i
 was not improbable that the salvation
 of the industry lay in the invention
 of an artificial fabric such as he haG
 suggested. Looking back over tn,
 past years and forward to the future
 he could see little hope. We coulC
 take all the cotton we used now eacI
 year, and 10O,000,000 bales more, be
 cause the world had not yet conn
 within sight of it's requirements. IT
 whatever extent production increased
 the demand would outstrip it. Tn,
 question was not settled by determin ] ing to encourage Empire cotton grow
 ing. It had troubled our fathers anC
 grandfathers, and he ventured to pre-
 dict would prove as great difficult,
 to our children and grandchildren.