Evening star., 1952-07-25
Geographical Pattern
OF Textile Industry
Changing Radically
By John Horrimon

North American Newspaper Alliance
BOSTON, July Is. Dramatic
changes appear in the offlng for
the textile industry.
Synthetic fiberS are working
their own quiet revolution. par
ticularly in worsteds and woolenS.
Brand names merchandising OF
mill products is coming to the
fore. And, above all. the geo.
graphical pattern Of the industry
is changing as new and lusty
competitors crowd in on every
hand. Witness the announcement
recently of a new mill in Java
owned and controlled by japanese
interests.
Back before World War I, three
areas produced 70 per cent OF the
world cottons and woolens: Great
Britain, the United States and
Western Europe.
In the 192Os. Japan joined the
family of producers and became a
mighty rival Of ourselves and the
British.
India Is in Forefront.
The late 1940s saw a host Of
other nations following suit. with
India right up in the forefront as
a big exporter Of cottons-the
worlds largest, actually, in 1949.
Today throughout Latin Amer
ica. Asia, Africa. Indonesia and
Australia the call is out for more
and more textile mills so that va
rious individual nations shall be
free of the need to import.
In the new, small country OF
Pakistan, for instance. the con-
struction of At new cotton mills
is under way.
At the same time, Japan which
was knocked out of production by
World War II, is coming back in
a really big way. Cut down to
around l million cotton spindles
in 1916. Japan now has almost
million spindles, the great bulk
of which are new and of the most
modern and efficient kind.
Japan Leading Today.
Once more that country has
Joined with the British. the In
dians and ourselves in the battle
for export markets. Indeed,
Japan today is leading, with over
billion metric yards last year,
against 870 million for the Brit
ish. 760 million for the Indians
and 807 million for the United
States.
Most textile economists agree
that this emergence of new tex
tile industries in many countries
throughout the world means that
the world industry is heading
rapidly for some sort of a calam-
itous showdown. And it is the
hope of avoiding this that an in
ternational cotton goods confer
ence has been called to meet In
London on September II.
Japan Is in large measure de-
pendent on cotton goods exports.
without which she cannot long ex-
ist. Britain, too, finds both cotton
and woolens vital earners of for
eign exchange. 4
Market Is Shrinking.
AS for this country, cotton men
here have their sights on keeping
at least $50 million to 700 million
yards OF the rich export market,
while Indian manufacturers have
about the same objective in mind.
Thus we have the four leading
exporters struggling for a world
market that is shrinking steadily
as other countries build up their
domestic industry. And this means
sooner or later something is going
to have to give.
Most textile men agree that if
Japan wanted to she could in time
walk of with most of the world
export markets, for her mills are
modern, her management ex.
tremely efficient and her labor
cheap.
1t is probably the hope of the
Forthcoming London conference to
persuade the japanese that such
Is not, however, the course Of
wisdom.
After all, that was what Japan
tried in the 1930s, with the re-
suit that Is different countries
raised high barriers against jap
anese imports. and the Japanese.
by these artificial restrictions.
were forced to retire.
Sa.a:1. E-L