COMMERCE OF THE UNITED STATES. 



131 



The price of printing-cloths commenced at 

 4 T \ cents per yard in the beginning of Septem- 

 ber, 1879 ; declined to 3 cents at the end of 

 the month ; ruled the same the first week of 

 October ; rose by gradual stages to 4 cents at 

 the end of October, and 4|f cents at the end 

 of November; remained at 4 cents during 

 the greater part of December and January, ad- 

 vancing to 5 cents in the middle of February, 

 and to 5- cents in the middle of March, which 

 was the highest point touched during the year. 

 After this the price steadily declined till the 

 middle of August, standing at 5f cents at the 

 beginning of April, at 5 cents at the end of that 



month, at 4 cents in the middle of May, and 

 then descending by eighths and sixteenths to 4 

 cents in the middle of June, which price ruled 

 firm until the beginning of August. In the 

 middle of August the declension was arrested 

 at 3 cents, the lowest rate since the 13th of 

 October, 1879. The price was then raised to 

 4 cents, and then fell off again an eighth, stand- 

 ing at 3|. at the close of August, 1880. The 

 relative prices of materials and goods are pre- 

 sented in the following tabulated review of the 

 selling rates for ordinary milling cotton, and for 

 sheetings and printing-cloths, on the first day 

 of every month of the last three crop years : 



At the close of the calendar year, low mid- 

 dling upland cotton was quoted at 11 cents 

 in the New York Cotton Exchange, printing- 

 cloths were selling for 4^ cents, and standard 

 sheetings for 8- cents. 



The prevailing rates during the cotton year 

 1879-'80 were exceedingly favorable for the 

 millers. The cost of manufacturing standard 

 sheetings per pound is approximately, when 

 the price of raw cotton is 12 cents a pound, 

 21 cents, counting the waste 2-2 cents, and the 

 expense of manufacture and marketing 6'3 

 cents ; making the cost per yard 7'37, reckon- 

 ing 2*85 yards to the pound of piece goods: 

 the approximate profit of the manufacturer at 

 the rates which have prevailed is therefore 4f 

 cents per pound or If cents per yard. On 

 printing-cloths the profit is 1 cent per yard and 

 7 cents per pound, when the cotton costs 12 

 cents per pound, and the goods are sold at 4'84 

 cents, the average rates for the year, counting 

 the waste in manufacture 2*12 cents per yard, 

 and the cost of making and selling 12-76 cents. 

 The prices in the home market being thus 

 favorable, the export trade has languished, 

 while the mills have been pushed to the extent 

 of their capacity, and manufacturing facilities 



augmented. Over half a million spindles have 

 been added during the year in the Northern 

 mills, the total number in the United States 

 aggregating nearly 11,000,000, as determined 

 by the census enumeration, which makes the 

 total about 500,000 less than the computations 

 published periodically by the New York " Com- 

 mercial and Financial Chronicle." The export 

 trade, though likely for some time to fluctuate 

 with the home demand, and to fall off when the 

 domestic market is higher than the export price 

 at which the Orientals will buy, is governed to 

 a large extent by the price of raw cotton, the 

 price of the material being a relatively greater 

 factor in the cost of cotton goods, of which 2 '85 

 yards go to the pound, than in those manufac- 

 tured in Manchester for the China trade, of 

 which a pound of cotton will make six yards. 

 In December the goods market was somewhat 

 weakened by a decline in cotton, but began 

 to rally at the close of the month. 



The following report, made to the Census 

 Bureau, exhibits the manufacturing facilities, 

 the consumption of cotton, and persons em- 

 ployed in the manufacture of cotton goods 

 proper in each manufacturing State, and the 

 aggregates for the whole United States : 



