178 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



March i, 1907. 



COTTON PRODUCTION AND PRICES. 



A FBOFOSED INVESTIGATION. 



WIAT controls the price of cotton? The United States con- 

 gress is determined to find out, an inquiry to this end 

 having been introduced by a member from Massachusetts, the 

 leading American state in the cotton goods industry. The effect 

 upon the trade of cotton exchanges will be gone into, but the 

 inquiry will not stop at this. The Southern Cotton Association — 

 composed of growers — is likewise to be investigated. 



It may be recalled that at the third annual convention of the 

 Cotton Growers' Association, at Birmingham, Alabama, on Jan- 

 uary 17 last, its president, Harvie Jordan, asserted that at the 

 time of the first meeting (in 1905) "the price of the great staple 

 crop of the South had been depressed to 66 cents per pound, 

 through the manipulation of speculative influences, and financial 

 wreck and ruin faced the agricultural, industrial, and financial in- 

 stitutions of the South." After reviewing the work of the asso- 

 ciation and its effect in advancing prices, "in the face of the 

 largest crop ever grown," Mr. Jordan continued : "This associa- 

 tion has within two years established a fixed minimum basis of 10 

 cents a poimd for American cotton, and that price is now recog- 

 nized as unalterable throughout the entire cotton spinning area 

 of the world." 



COTTON IN BRITISH WEST AFRICA. 



At the ceremonies attending the opening of the new Liverpool 

 Cotton Exchange, the dominant note of the speaker was 

 that the result of the efforts already put forth for the cultivation 

 of cotton in the British colonies gave promise that the British 

 cotton industry in time would become practically, if not wholly, 

 independent of foreign countries for the supply of raw material. 

 The British Cotton Growing Association, with the support of the 

 Lancashire cotton spinners, has been active lately in promoting 

 cotton culture in West Africa. Britain obtained from her col- 

 onies there 1,241,408 pounds of cotton in 1905, against only 14,000 

 pounds in 190X. The colony of Lagos alone, which supplied 2,834 

 bales in 1905, produced 5,843 bales of a high quality last year. 

 The Duke of Marlborough and his cousin, Mr. Winston Church- 

 ill, M. P. (of the British colonial ofiice), have been particularly 

 active in encouraging the work of the Cotton Growers' Associa- 

 tion. But vastly more must be done before Britain's consumption 

 of cotton can be supplied by her colonies, as will be seen by this 

 comparative statement of British imports of cotton : 



1901. 1905. 



Total imports— pounds 1,829,710,064 2,203.595,520 



From British colonies 38,105,864 51,626,512 



This table does not include Egyptian cotton as British grown. 

 India supplied the greater part of the cotton classed here as 

 colonial. 



FBODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION. 



The United States Census Bureau has issued a bulletin on the 

 "Supply and Distribution of Cotton." containing >nmc facts 

 of interest in cormection with a recent suggestion in these pages 

 that the high prices of cotton are a direct result of the increasing 

 demand for this material, as compared with production. 



Dealing with the world-wide position the report says : "Dur- 

 ing the year [ending .August 31, 1906], the production of cotton 

 for factory consumption was about 16.500,000 bales, whereas the 

 consumption was 17,879,137 bales, indicating that the year's 

 growth was inadequate to the requirements of the year by about 

 1.400,000 bales. The shortage in the production was made good 

 by drawing upon accumulated stocks." 



The distribution of the cotton industry is very widespread, and 

 cotton is produced in many countries, but two-thirds of the total 

 supply, it is estimated, is furnished by the United States. The 

 question now, however, is to what extent the world's increasing 

 demand for cotton is to be met by the other producing countries. 



The production in Egypt is often mentioned, but this appears not 

 10 be increasing. At least, the United States Census Bureau re- 

 ports that the Egyptian crop for 1905 was 1,180,641 bales (of 500 

 pounds), while the average for the preceding eight years was 

 1,216,039 bales. 



On the whole, the increase in production of cotton abroad ap- 

 pears to correspond closely to that in the United States, accord- 

 ing to the excellent annual publication, "Cotton Movement and 

 Fluctuation" (New York: Latham, Alexander & Co.). It sup- 

 plies these figures for two periods, twenty years apart : 



1885-86, 1905-06. 



United States production — bales 5,984,000 11,048,000 



.•Ml other countries 2,234,000 4,772,000 



Total 8,218,000 15.820,000 



The figures given by different statisticians differ somewhat, as 

 might be expected, but all authorities are agreed upon the 

 growth of production of cotton outside the United States. It is 

 to be remembered that cotton was known and widely used before 

 the discovery of America, and that the English cotton industry 

 was established before the United States began to export cotton. 



ONE KEMPSHALL GOLF BALL PATENT VOID. 



A PATENT on a playing ball (United States No. 761,590) 

 ■'^ was granted on May i, 1904, to Eleazer Kempshall, then 

 president of the Kempshall Manufacturing Co. The core of the 

 ball, designed primarily for golf, was built up of a continuous 

 winding, in miscellaneous directions, of cured rubber strip; with 

 hair or fibrous material interspersed in said windings ; said strip 

 being continued into tense windings in miscellaneous directions to 

 form a tense layer over the center piece, after which the ball 

 was completed by the addition of a shell. The product was 

 called the "Kempshall flyer click ball," and made at Kempshall 

 Company's factory, at Arlington, N. J. 



Subsequently (November 18, 1904) the then secretary of the 

 compan}-, Mr. Royce, filed an application for a patent on the 

 same invention, claiming to be the true inventor, the details of 

 which he had communicated to Kempshall. with no idea that he 

 (Kempshall) would apply for a patent. The examiners in chief 

 at the patent office, upon the proofs submitted, awarded priority 

 of invention to Royce, which decision was appealed from. Com- 

 missioner Allen, on a hearing of the appeal, has affirmed the de- 

 cision of the examiners. 



A POPULAR SCIENTIST ON TIRES. 



T^HE scientific editor of the New York Evening Post thus 

 ■*■ discourses on the subject of vulcanizing rubber tires: "The 

 old process was to vulcanize them at the usual temperature — 

 280 degrees. Such a fierce heat did not tend to strengthen the 

 rubber any. One day a bright idea entered a man's head : 

 namely, that if the rubber was allowed to cook slowly it would 

 probably be much more durable and wear longer. This was 

 tried, and it is now vulcanized at a temperature of 40 degrees, 

 taking five hours instead of half an hour at 280 degrees. 



Outside the Evening Post office it is supposed that vulcaniza- 

 tion cannot be accomplished at a temperature below the melting 

 point of sulphur, which is 238° F. 



Uncertainty. — Discussing rubber prospects, TIic Times of 

 Ceylon says: "But the question of price is one which rests upon 

 the knees of the gods, and all that we can do is to argue as 

 reasonably as possible from a given set of probabilities and 

 possibilities. 



