THE COTTON INDUSTRY AND TRADE 435 



(as weaving is technically termed) and then pass on to spinning. It is notable, as re- 

 gards manufacturing, that there are still no signs of an extensive adoption of the auto- 

 matic loom in Lancashire, though its success in America appears to be assured. It is 

 hardly conceivable that the main explanation is any lack of enterprise on the part of 

 Lancashire manufacturers. The main explanation is far more likely to be (as is com- 

 monly alleged in Lancashire) that the automatic loom is not at any rate, under the 

 conditions now prevailing suited to the character of the bulk of the British output. 



The results of the British census of 191 1 with respect to occupations are not yet available; 

 but, in considering the changes in numbers employed in the cotton industry in the United 

 Kingdom, we have factory inspectors' returns to fall back upon. These show as follows: 



Cotton Operatives in the United Kingdom in Thousands. 

 Half-timers. Under 18. Over 18. Males. Females. Total. 



1896 29.5 I2i ',-,,-.382 204 329 533 



1901 21.0 115 387 194 329 523 



1904 17.7 109 396 196 327 523 



1907 19.1 131 426 218 359 577 



The advance since 1904 is substantial and bears out the view that recent years have 

 witnessed an accelerated growth of the British cotton industry. The inspectors' returns for 

 1907 are corroborated by the returns made for the census of production, which reveal a total 

 of 560,500 wage earners occupied, on an average, on the last Wednesdays of January, April, 

 July and October. Of these 560,500 wage earners about 14,000 were at work in Scotland. 

 The returns of the census of production show that the number of salaried persons engaged 

 in. the cotton industry in the United Kingdom was 12,400. 



Among the operatives the proportion of males to females has remained about the same, 

 males being in each period between 37 and 38 per cent of the total. Under 18 the proportion 

 of males is less; which is, of course, to be explained by the fact that many women give up 

 factory work when they marry. The augmentation of numbers between 1904 and 1907 is 

 naturally most marked among those under 18. This does not necessarily mean that the 

 young are substantially displacing adults; for, as a rule, when an industry suddenly requires 

 more labour, the bulk of the new recruits are of the plastic age. Those already in the industry 

 get promoted younger than they would have been otherwise, and fresh labour, new to the 

 industry, tends to take the places vacated at the bottom. 



The Cotton Trade. In 1908 the cotton trade of the world was thrown into a state of 

 collapse; for by that time the trade boom of the previous years had worked itself out and 

 reaction had set in, particularly in the United States, where a severe financial crisis 

 occurred in the autumn of 1907. From this collapse, however, the cotton trade had by 

 1912 recovered entirely, with the result, as regards the United Kingdom, that the high 

 figure of exports of cotton goods in 1907 was actually surpassed in 1911 (and again in 

 1912). The fact must be allowed for that all over the world the general level of prices has 

 been rising, so that values for 1911 must be somewhat reduced to bring them into relation 

 with those for 1907; but they still show an appreciable excess. The following figures 

 represent approximately the recent foreign cotton trade of the four leading countries: 

 Foreign Trade in Cotton Goods in Million Pounds Sterling. 



1 The pinnacle was reached in 1906 in America with exports over 10,000,000. 



In connection with the varying trade of the world, it is worthy of mention that it is 

 usual in the British cotton industry for short time to be agreed upon when margins be- 



