Jlly 1, 1920] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



641 



acres. Throughout the wh.ilc cotton territory of Eg>'pt cuUi- 

 vatiou can be carried on only by the aid of irrigation. This 

 has certain definite disadvantages which are not always con- 

 nected with irrigation in other parts of the world. If the Nile 

 is low or falls early in the autumn, the period of water scarcity 

 begins early the next spring, and if this is followed by a late 

 Nile, the period of scarcity is still more prolonged during the 

 next summer. So even with the protection of the Nile water, 

 scarcity may arise. But in addition, there is also the danger of 

 an oversupply of water, an example of which was given during 

 the year 1908 when one-third of the cotton crop was ruined owing 

 to over watering. Therefore, to make the water supply of Egypt 

 not only permanent but also safe for the consumer, it will be- 

 come necessary to execute vast schemes of storage and irriga- 

 tion of which only a beginning is made. 



All irrigation is expensive and increases the cost of production. 

 The cost of adding to Egypt's irrigation facilities may be very 

 high and the cotton of that country must feel the effect. The 

 Cotton Growing Committee proposes to open by irrigation a 

 large part of the available land in the delta which would permit 

 the production of an additional 800,000 bales of cotton. The cost 

 of this enterprise is estimated at $180,000,000 or, as the report 

 says, the value of one year's crop at present prices. The addition 

 to the supply might be well worth the expense, but the plan can- 

 not be completed before 20 years at least. So, whatever may be 

 the outlook for our old age, the present does not seem to be 

 materially improved. Finally, Egyptian cotton is attacked just 

 as readily by insect pests as that in the United States. The 

 Egyptian cotton has an enemy of its own, the seed boll worm. 

 It appeared, providentially for its own propagation, during the 

 year 1913, and has not been fought very energetically by the 

 British authorities in view of the more important battles on hand 

 by the summer of 1914. The result is that notwithstanding irri- 

 gation, the Egyptian cotton crop is smaller to-day than in former 

 years, a fact that will affect very seriously the tire industry of 

 the world. 



ENGLISH TIRE INDUSTRY WILL HAVE FIRST CALL UPON 

 EGYPTIAN COTTON. 



The English have a tire industry of their own. If Egyptian 

 cotton should run below the requirements of that industry there 

 is just a possibility that England will provide first for the needs 

 of her own manufacturers and let the others shift for themselves. 

 It is open to England to protect her cotton resources against the 

 foreign consumer by various means without interfering seriously 

 with the general organization of the Empire. An example of 

 what might be done is the recent act of the Indian Council levy- 

 ing an export duty of IS per cent upon the export of certain 

 classes of Indian hides if exported to points outside the British 

 Empire. With the world running short of long-staple cotton 

 and Egypt being the only source of supply, some similar ex- 

 pedient may suggest itself to the Egyptian Government, and no 

 other source would be left to our tire manufacturers outside our 

 own small production and the not very plentiful supply of 

 Peruvian cotton. 



No doubt this situation cannot be permitted to exist for any 

 length of time, and especially when it is considered that all the 

 india rubber consumed by the United States tire industry is also 

 supplied from outside the United States. What such a depen- 

 dence of an industry upon foreign sources of raw material may 

 mean to any country has been illustrated most recently in the 

 case of our own rubber industry when a special arrangement had 

 to be made with England for the supply of rubber in the early 

 days of the war, and still more by Germany, where whol" in- 

 dustries were destroyed from the same cause. 



The .American tire industry can correct the cotton situation 

 only by aiding in increasing the supply. .\s the United States 

 is a cotton-producing country and able to produce a long-staple 



cotton that serves all the purposes of the tire fabric industry, 

 there is no reason why greater efforts toward adding to its supply 

 should not be made at home. The present need is real and it 

 does not permit much further delay. There is an apparent short- 

 age of 70,000,000 pounds in our own industry alone, and the 

 whole tire-producing world is out for whatever can be had of 

 the material. The present shortage will be felt just as severely 

 in Europe. Unfortunately for the consumer, it does not affect the 

 raw material alone but also extends to the industrial equipment. 



MORE SPINNING AND WEAVING FACILITIES REQUIRED. 



The demand has outgrown the facilities for handling the pro- 

 duction. Even if our cotton growers could be prevailed upon to 

 increase the acreage of long-staple cotton and add the required 

 70.000,000 pounds, it is still doubtful whether we could hold in 

 readiness the spindles and looms necessary for the manufacture 

 of the fabrics. This is a feature of the situation that must not 

 be left unattended. There are sufficient examples in our own 

 economic history where groups of producers were induced to 

 increase their production only to find that the added quantities 

 could not be made ready for the market. Prices declined as the 

 result of such an occurrence and the producer lost confidence 

 in his advisers. The following year less of the product was 

 made available by the farmers than in the years preceding the 

 increase. The same might happen to our cotton growers. There- 

 fore let more equipment be ready in time. Getting additional 

 industrial equipment is more difficult to-day than increasing 

 agricultural production. The main difficulty in the way of ac- 

 complishing this is that the tire makers will not be able to pay 

 much higher prices or even the present ones for fabrics in the 

 future. What, then, will be the inducement for the cotton fabric 

 producers to add to the output? Opinions differ as to whether 

 the price of long-staple cotton will be the only factor likely to 

 bring about the desired adjustment of demand and supply. 



The production of long-staple cotton offers to the planter a 

 special inducement because, when once firmly established, it 

 brings a better result for the labor and cost expended upon its 

 production than any lower-grade cotton. There will always be 

 planters ready to make a special effort in favor of the better- 

 priced product and if our tire makers are willing to offer to 

 those producers a steady market they will probably find enough 

 cotton forthcoming for their purpose. Such a development, how- 

 ever, cannot be expected to take place inside a year or two. If 

 may take three or even four years before the farmers have caught 

 up with their opportunity and in the meantime the rapidly grow- 

 ing automobile industry may have enormously increased the 

 demand for tires. 



TRADE RECIPROCITY SUGGESTED. 



In the meantime foreign long-staple cotton must be induced 

 to come to us, and owing to the foreign exchange situation we 

 are fortunately able to pay a comparatively good price for im- 

 ported cotton without greatly increasing our own expense. Pro- 

 vided, therefore, our fabric makers do find an open market they 

 should be able to secure foreign long-staple cotton, Egyptian or 

 other, at rates commensurate with the existing selling prices for 

 fabrics. 



There is, however, another aspect to the present situation. 

 Long-staple cotton for tire fabrics being a product that, at the 

 present time at least, must be imported in limited quantities 

 equal to the consumption, deserves the special protection of those 

 in charge of the foreign trading activities of the nation. The 

 sources from which this cotton can be obtained must be held 

 open to all who require it. Free access to the raw materials of 

 the world has been proclaimed as one of the reasons why the 

 .'American nation joined the war. It is now to be seen that this 

 right is not taken away from us and that we should be able to 

 buy our long-staple cotton wherever we please, under conditions 

 very much the same as those applying to our foreign competitors. 



