Evening star., 1927-05-30
DEMAND INCREASES
FOR COTTON GOODS
Price Starts Upward as Sales
GroW-Fine Material
First Affected.

NEW YORK, May 30.--Cotton
goods, the most widely used material
for clothing in the world are on their
way upward in price. Better still
however, from the viewpoint of the
cotton grower and the textile manu-
facturer, is the fact that the demand
is advancing at an even faster pace.
Actual sales from January | to date
show an improvement of fully 35 to
40 per cent above those for the first
five months of 1926, and indications
point to continued active business.
Most of the mills now are operating
at a profit, whereas in many cases
they have been manufacturing at a
loss for months. Raw cotton prices
have risen some 3 cents a pound, and
goods prices have not quite kept pace,
but many mills are we'll stocked with
lowpriced cotton.
Attributed to Quality.
The activity in domestic demands
for cotton seems attributable largely
to the improved quality and style
which have been injected into the
cotton goods lines by the rayon mix
lures. The improvement has been
more striking in the Northern mills,
since the latter were in poorer shape.
but the Southern mills have prospered
equally. Many mills are sold as far
ahead as July. Untitled orders of the
cotton textile merchants of New York
total approximately Ats, 100000 yards,
while surplus stocks held by New York
merchants are nearly 00,000,000 yards
lower than a year ago.
The combining of cotton and rayon
was a long time coming about. since
many of the old-time mills declined to
take the step. It's effect has been fully
apparent, especially in hosiery Nearly
tWo-thirds of the stockings manufac.
tured in the United States now are Of
cotton or cotton mixtures. The pro-
duction of all-cotton hose fell off II
per cent from the ouput of 1923, but
the production of all-sill and all-wool
hose fell off a. per cent. These losses
were offset by the increase in cotton
and rayon stockings.
Make Airplane Covering.
Perhaps the most celebrated fabric
made this year was the cotton cover
ing for the Spirit of st. Louis, the air.
plane used by Capt. Charles A. Lind
bergh. About 125 yards of fabric and
400 yards of tape of the same weave
were used on this machine and fabric
cb
aeronautical engineers.
More than ESQ, 100000 square yards
of cotton fabrics have been sold from
January | to date. Some of this was
ear-marked for export and the fact
that foreign demand has revived is
one of the most satisfactory indica-
tions of the trade. The tire output
of America this year is expected to be
at least 10 per cent higher than in
1926 and fully so per cent of tire out
put will be of the balloon type.
This means improved demand for
cotton fabrics used in the manufacture
of these commodities, and has led to
increased capacity and production in
many plants devoted to tire fabric
manufacture.
Shows i'm Finer Goods.
The increase in the cost of cotton
fabrics, according to textile men, will
be more apparent in the finer goods
than in the coarser cloths. This Is
due to the fact that the flood damage
in the Mississippi Valley has chiefly
affected long staple cotton. If the
waters recede in time, a part Of a
crop of this finer grade cotton may be
put in.
The extent Of the increase in the de-
mand for rayon for use alone and in
combination with cotton can be esti-
mated from the fact that new plant
production in this country will be in
creased by 20,000,000 pounds this year.
This will increase present capacity
about 33 per cent.