The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1928-02-27
BRITISH TEXTILE CRISIS
Workers Suffer Wage Cuts, Long Hours
By LOUIS ZOOBOCK.

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prolonged depression accompanied by
fierce competition at home and
abroad which has afflicted the great
heavy trades, such as iron and steel,
engineering and shipbuilding, have
tended to draw away the attention
from the no less serious condition OF
what is, after all, one of the greatest
Of England's exporting industries,
namely, the textile industry.
For over five years Lancashire has
been suffering from the worst SPELL
of bad trade. It's trade has fallen to
about two-thirds of its pre-war
volume and rather less than three
quarters of its pre-war value. In
other words Lancashire has to
marked extent lost the predominance
which she possessed in the markets
f the world. Before the war Great
Britain supplied about 70 per cent of
he cotton piece goods entering into
international trade; during the period
l921-1925 the proportion of British
export had fallen to 81 per cent.
The chief factor in this alarming
decline in the cotton industry, of
course, has been the falling off of
the great markets of the Far East
India, China, etc. In 1918 the Far
Eastern markets imported from Eng
land 4,357 I'll 900 yards of piece
goods. In 1925 the figure had fallen
o considerably less than half that
uantity-namely to bear A per
cent. At present the percentage is
still lower. Both in India and China
there has been very large increase
in home production, and in both coun-
ries the rapidly expanding japanese
industry had tended to displace i'm
ports from Great Britain.
Worsteds Hard Hit.
Like the cotton industry of Lam
cashire the wofsted wooden industries
Of the West Riding have been suffer-
ing from a long spell of depression.
Exports, especially of worsted manu-
features, have shown a disquiting
tendency to contract, and complaints
have yearly been growing louder of
an invasion Of the home market by
increasing imports of foreign goods
Exports of wooden tissues to the
five principal European customers
Germany, Holland, Belgium, France
and Italy-have declined by nearly
so per cent, and of worsteds by
nearly 80 per cent.
Lost markets and decreasing ex-
ports; short time working and I'M
employment; overcapitalization and
indebtedness; the failure of the EN-
ployers to bring their technique up to
date; grouping exports of textile
machinery which help to increase the
competition from other countries; the
multiplicity of small firms which in
crease to great extent the chaos
existing in the industry; the ex-
ploitation of native labor forcing
down wages at home; low wages to
Bombay mill workers bringing unem-
ployment in Lancashire, etc. All
these are symptoms.
The Lancashire workers are now
more than ever learning by bitter ex-
perience what British imperialism
means to them. The wages of cotton
workers in Bombay, the best paid dis
trict in India, in 1926 were for
women 81. IS. Cd. to 81. 6s. per
month, and for men 92. rs. I'd. to So.
lbs. per month. Boys and girls re-
ceived from 12s. to les. per month.
The working week is 60 hours. In
China wages vary from IS to IFS.
per week for men; wages for women
are still lower, while children earn
from IS. to 5s. per week according to
age.
These facts speak volumes about
the social conditions that British i'm
perialism have brought to the work
ers of India and China British capt.
talism' is exploiting the sweated la
Dor of thousands of coolies as a
means Of breaking down the living
conditions of textile workers.
tAnOther article by Louis Zoo
book analyzing the situation in the
British textile industry, will appear
tomorrow.