New-York tribune., 1922-05-21
Cotton Comment
BY William Wh;ttsm


ourlns the year 1920 Mexico. ho,ob.
nearly S2os 100000 worth OF merchsn'
aIss lrorn the United States. being
satner more than 2.5 per cent of ouT
.osal safes to foreign countries in thai
year. We have always enioyed Ina
,oh share OF the trade OF our NOV.
DOOR neighhor TO the eouth. and az wa
10 De expected. the World War iu
creased the proportion. 1t will never
w: however. Tor Us to sleep at the
swi1sh, TOR IN THAI republic. as else.
wserc. the manutacturing nations of
Europe are leaving no stone unturnea
70 regsin their pre-wa, standing, or
eet1ef 1t. An examination OF the stu;
At!on IN cotton piece goods bears on,
this Contention
Our principal competitor in tho Mex-
'ean market, outside the domestic
masufacsuYer.. is, Of course, England.
And "hue she - long way from her
1918 volume of business she is Gil the
Ny ana at our expense. In that wear
her sales Of cotton goods in Mexico
were 22,ssa. .0oo yards, IN 1919 thcv had
dropped TO 5,1as.0o0 yards. but 1929
SAY tnem increased to i0,3;7 900 yards.
Whlle the figures covering Anner,can
exports Tor 1918 are not available al
Lbs moment, those fo~ 1918 show eA-
PORTS Of "T,667,00o wards, falling to 90
ao1,ooo yards in 1920. In other words.
England gained some i've million yards
while We lost seven million yards.
Mexico has also made commendabie
better grade. Ii: the Pacific Coast re-
sion the growing Of Caravonca cotton
is making remarkable progress. This
variety is the result Of long series
OF experiments conducted in Mexico,
Australia and ether cotton countries. Ii
was produced b. crossing iine long-
stap!ed NeAican cotton with q coarse
.ong-stap!ed Peruvian variety. Expert
mants in the United States and many
other cotton growing countries did not
turn out very well although in South
Mexico the plant thrives ard its pro
duction on large commercil scale has
ssen undertaken by number 81
planters.
1t has become the fashion during the
last few years TO attempt to frightep
the American cotton manufacturer with
the bugbear of japanese competition
N both the domestic and foreign mar
kcts. particularly the latter. The jap
anese is not such q formidable rival as
he is generally painted, if We are TO
report written some time ago by ".
a. Graham Clark for the Bureau of
Foreign and Domestic Commerce which
showed tina. Japan was paying twice
as much as England and nearly twice
as much as America 20 put up cotton
mill. But, as a matter Of fact, this
was an underestimate, according to s..
Mute, a japanese cotton spinner. He
AYERS chat at the time Of Mr.. Clark's
investigation the capitalization Of mod
ern factories in Japan was actually
1900 yen per loom \about $26O) more
than the report showed. Also, japanese
mill owners are compelled to spend
, large sums in welfare work "a we'll as
pay the great advances in the wages
Of workers, which rose 1aS per cent in
the case Of women and 293 per cent for
men between 1908 and 1919.
That the lace trade in Nottingham,
which is the center OF that industry IN
Ensland, views the possibility Of
Oriental competition rather complac-
emily may be gathered from the journal
OF the Chamber Of Commerce OF that
city, which in recent issue brushes
aside the forebodings by saying:
"Chinese merchants have been lately
very active and have sent to this coun
try quite creditable specimens Of hand
made lsce with requests for orders.
Low CO3tS Oh pFOUuCttCH III SouScGue!Cc
of the employment CT cheap labour
make it possible for them to quote rela
lively reasonable prices. Certain houses
in India, too, have entered the market.
But apart from the curious fascination
which foreign, and especially Oriental
products, appear to possess for Euro.
peans. such goods are not calculated
TO sell in any quantity. Lace produc-
tion BY hand is not an art in which the
Eastern nations excel, and when placed
side by side with Nottingham goods of
a similar character Chinese lace and
Indian embroidery have little to com
mend them to European users
The same may, think, be said Of the
American user when the values of
Oriental hand-workers and American
lace factories are compared.