339 



prices received were the highest (Hi the list. Compariag, then, the India cotton 

 alone with ours, it is found that the average price, from January to July, 1 86G, 

 was 22 cents per pound, 12^ cents per pound less than the cotton of the United 

 States. Be.sides, the time of transportation is so much longer from India, that 

 these prices are relatively higher than they otherwise would be, responding 

 more slowly to the demands of a falling market. 



Another fact is shown by this table, which illustrates the policy of England. 

 A decrease is indicated from Egypt and China, and an increase from Brazil and 

 India, the latter a colony, and i3razil a non-manufticturing country, whose in- 

 creasing trade is fostered and courted. 



The following, from the Bombay Gazette of August 6, confirms the views 

 above expressed relative to the competition of India cotton : 



" When the American war shut off the supply of cotton from that coutiuent, Indian cotton 

 came at once into demand, and the price rose with the increased demtiud. From four pence 

 to twenty-four pence per pound the staple advanced with scarcely a check or a fall. If 

 prices receded at times, it was only to recover themselves almost immediately, so that ship- 

 pers in Bombay had little or nothing to fear from falling prices ; and all, or nearly all, the 

 shipments resulted in large profits. For three years this was the state of the cotton trade in 

 Bombay— years of small risks and large profits. Bombay became immensely rich, money 

 decreased in value, and there was general prosperity. With the close of the war and the 

 opening of the American ports Indian cotton began to fall fitfully but steadily. And dmiug 

 receding prices the conditions of the trade in Bombay became reversed — heavy risks and 

 heavy losses. Even now, though a singular good fortune has attended upon ludiau cotton, 

 maintaining prices far above what must be regarded as their normal limit, the tendency 

 upon the whole is downwards. And as the few exceptional circumstances which yet remain 

 to give more than ordinary vitality to the Indian cotton trade are removed or borne away 

 by increasing supplies from other quarters, prices in all probability will continue to recede 

 until they reach that limit at which the Indian ryot can atford to undersell his competitors ; 

 this limit is believed to be about 100 rupees per candy." 



This limit, expressed in our currency, would be about nine cents per pound. 



The following table exhibits the pitiable show made by the United Stales in 

 supplying England with her breadstuff's : 



