New-York tribune., 1922-11-26
Turkey as Factor
I'm the American,
Cotton Markets
Took Large Amount of
Gioti and Yarn Before
War; u. S. Sales Have
shown Steady Increase

~ FCdACS kAdSG e
shown Steady Increase
Ihose whose business it is to grind
cut daily market letters describing the
past, present and probable future be~
n@vaor OF the cotton markets Of the
world are finding in the unfortunate
turkish situation q fruitful source of
conjecture on which each can base
his particular brand of prophesy. 1t 10
quite true that In every division of
what was the Turkish Empire OF pre-
| war days cotton manufactures consti-
tutes the chief item of value in tho
import classiAcations. And, although
in the ordinary course Of events fig
ures ten years old would be very
ancient history, che upset of the last
eight years has from the force Of
necessity made reference to statistics
Of trade Immediately prior TO 1914 the
only available point Of vantage about
which 3 rational comparison of inter-
national commercial activities can be
centered.
cerned, since Turkey is non-manu-
featuring nation, 1t is especially i'm
portant to, keep in mind that after
China and India 1t is, or rather was,
the most important importing country
for both cloth and yarns. This Is
strikingly shown by the fact that to-
gether with the adjacent countries Of
Rumania and Bulgaria the Ottoman
Empire received "a per cent of the
yarn and more than 80 per cent Of
the cotton cloth imported into Com
tinental Europe in the pre-war period.
The yarn that is imported is used
largely on hand looms In the peasant
homes. Although there Is unavoidable
be found, because the data for both
European and Asiatic Turkey are often
grouped under one head, 1t will serve
the purpose of the present brief survey
to say that during the years 1911 and
1912 Turkey proper took 26 per cent
of the cotton yarn and cloth imported
into Continental Europe.
The figures OF more recent years ore
not comparable, although there are
significant statistics which show how
badly the trade of the country has
suffered of late. IT is necessary to ex-
anime the figures Of exporting coun-
obtainabie from Turkey are no longer
TO be had. Consider, first, the exports
Of the United Kingdom since that
country dominated the cotton yarn and
goods trade Of the old empire. British
exports to Turkey Of cotton piece goods
Of all kinds during the year 1918 were
$50, TAI, 700 linear yards. For 1920 they
were 3s8,30s,300 square yards (the
measurement Of exports in both the
United Kingdom and the United States
is now expressed in square yards, hav-
ing been changed from the misleading
''linear" unit year or two ago), but
ingly low figure of 56,444,300 square
yards. So with English exports of cot
ton yarn TO Turkey. For the year 1918
they were .9,763 900 pounds, falling to
5.724,o00 pounds in 1920 and reaching
the low point of l,784,500 pounds in
1921, This Is more than straw point
ing to one cause Cor the lessened mill
taking of American cotton, since these
goods are, almost without exception,
made from raw material grown In the
United States.
American Exports Increase
Whatever the reason, whether po-
litical preference is momentarily in
Auencing trade or not, the interesting
fact Of the recent years is that while
British exports have fallen away at
such great rate American exports Of
cotton cloth to Turkey have grown
tremendously, though by no means at
such a place as warrants the conclusion
that they are completely taking the
place Of those of British manufacture.
American exports to Asiatic Turkey
we're 2,114,260 square yards of un-
bleached cotton goods and 6,977,ss8
square yards of the same sort Of fab
rics to European Turkey, making a
total Of 9,092,13s yards during the cal
endar year 1920, compared with 1887
s42 yards TO Asiatic and 24,6A4, 1856
yards to European Turkey. a total OF
25,9S2,527 square yards for the year
1921. 1t is significant that the largest
item in England exports is that of
"bleached" cloth and that "printed''
and dyed cloths are also important
classihcations. The quantities Of goods
Of these sorts sent from the United
States to Turkey is SO insignificant that
they 90 not appear separately in the
government returns. The same applies
TO cotton yarn, the quantity being so
small that it Is not separately shown.
II the trouble in the Near East is
settled soon and the people allowed to
resume production and the interchange
Of comm odities they will then resume
their purchases of clothing, which is
mainly cotton, ON something approach
ing che old time scale, for after the
pangs OF hunger are satisfied, These
impoverished people must turn to COW
ering their semi mi-nakedness. And cot
ton still remains the cheapest material
&t their dlsposal.--W. W.