COTTON 



511 



cotton into all Europe (in bales of t/ie uniform 

 weiff/tt of 400 Ib.) in and since 1800 : 



tan 



is. i 

 uu 



1804 

 1806 

 1888 



1867 



ia0a 

 laoo 



1870 

 1871 

 1872 

 1873 

 1374 

 1875 

 1876 

 1877 

 1878 

 1879 

 ISM) 

 1881 

 1-s-j 



ISSl 



Is-.', 

 1886 

 1887 



ton 

 oon 



102 

 168 

 241 

 Ml 



IBM 



i ;:.; 

 1946 

 l.-,s:i 



2:H :. 



:t4< 

 2234 

 BOB 

 3177 

 3112 

 3461 

 BMO 



4:!-J 

 4520 

 4815 

 4457 

 5104 

 4681 

 4371 

 6025 

 5320 



4^ 



H 

 H 



n 



127 

 \M 



HI 



22> i 



ooo 



2*1 

 J17 

 Jsl 



:t77 

 i!4:t 

 Otl 



21.i 



ir,:i 

 14:' 



H 



47 



18 

 |M 



u w 

 1.-.4 

 l.'iii 



00 

 H 

 008 



180 



I'M 



IM 



487 



f.4;i 



at 

 tot 



866 

 068 



on 



:t:i 

 4s;t 

 4s4 



OH 

 661 



7 III 

 ;_;- 



4:.S 

 IHC, 



188 



72H 



. r >:t7 

 <;>(> 

 70:1 



SOS 



7"0 

 7!i4 



B 

 H 

 H 



1--7 

 1-S 



too 



11,1 



12' 



107 



i:;r, 

 11 :i 

 188 



lt:t 



H 

 H 

 H 

 H 



51 



n 



81 



H 

 H 



L>4 



H 

 N 

 18 



41 



i. 



H 



18 



H 

 H 

 uu 

 si 



77 



too 



H 

 M 

 7:1 

 l;;o 

 121 

 H6 



H 



n 



:f7 

 7:f 

 M 

 H 

 H 

 82 

 30 

 H 

 H 

 80 

 H 



India. 



M 



662 

 040 

 1010 

 1170 

 1374 

 1231 

 1706 

 1880 

 1476 

 1678 

 1067 

 1884 

 1526 

 1155 

 1317 

 1420 

 1134 

 930 

 813 

 868 

 1074 

 1098 

 1677 

 1520 

 1553 

 948 

 1306 

 1575 



is; f 7 

 4248 

 1 i:i: 

 1947 

 HH 



2860 

 4016 

 ::SIM; 

 4316 

 4094 

 4218 

 5719 

 4886 

 1088 

 5469 

 6467 

 5657 

 4993 

 5318 

 5933 

 6312 

 6843 

 iKM-,7 

 7452 

 7159 

 6315 

 7212 

 7915 



Of the total quantity of cotton imported into 

 Europe in 1860, no less than 83 '9 per cent, came 

 from the United States. For a number of years it 

 had averaged about 75 per cent. This virtual 

 dependence of a vast incfustrial system upon one 

 source of supply for the raw material necessary to 

 keep its labour and machinery fully employed, had 

 long been regarded with considerable anxiety ; the 

 more so as it was known that sooner or later a 

 great crisis would, for a period of more or less 

 duration, dislocate the agricultural industry of the 

 South ; but all attempts to escape from so undesir- 

 able a state of things were frustrated by the one 

 important fact that no other cotton-producing 

 country had been able successfully to compete with 

 America in either quality or price. The war, by 

 raising values to a famine level, led to a largely 

 increased production of cotton in India, Egypt, 

 South America, &c.; but even after the conflict 

 ha<l lasted four years, scarcely half of the decrease 

 in the imports from the South had been made up by 

 increased receipts from all the world l)esides. The 

 average import from America in the two years 

 1860-61 was 3,566,000 bales of 400 Ib., but in 

 1864-65 only 381,000, showing a loss of 3,185,000 

 bales. The average import from all other sources 

 in 1860-61 was 976,000, and in 1864-65, 2,366,000, 

 showing a gain of only 1,390,000 bales, or barely 

 46 per cent, of the deficit in the supply from the 

 States. After peace had been restored, and cotton- 

 planting at the South had been resumed, prices 

 rapidly declined ; but for ten years after the war 

 they remained considerably above the rates current 

 prior to 1861, and yet the import of cotton into 

 Europe from countries other than America never 

 exceeded 2,651,000 bales of 400 Ib. ( 1872), while the 

 annual average for the ten years ended 1875 was 

 only 2,309,000 bales, against 2,366,000 in 1864-65. 

 Between 1875 and 1880, with a fall to ante-war 

 prices, the imports from countries other than the 

 United States fell to an average of only 1,767,000 

 bales, while those from the South rose to 3,875,000 

 bales, and in 1881 the receipts from America repre- 

 sented 70 per cent of the total imports into Europe. 

 In 1886 the proportion was 694 per cent., and in 

 1887, 67 per cent. 



Prior to the American war, very exaggerated 

 notions prevailed respecting the quantity of cotton 



produced in India : the current estimate* being 

 5,000,000 to 6,000,000 bales of American weight 

 (450 Ib.), while sonii; computation ran an high a 

 10,000,000 hairs. Hut the fact that famine price* 

 attracted to Europe' only about a million and a 

 quarter bales per annum in the three yean en<l<-d 

 1865, proved that the crop wait much Hinaller than 

 had previously l>een calculated upon, and the 

 investigations and inquiries made by the govern- 

 ment in 1867-68 showed that the annual yid'l 

 could not at any time have exceeded 2$ to '2 A 

 million bales of 400 Ib. The consumption of 



weight of goods and yarn ini]M>rted into India 

 averaged 390,000,000 Ib., of which about 70,000,000 

 Ib. were re-exported, leaving 320,000,000 Ib. for 

 consumption. The consumption of native- made 

 goods would therefore be about 330,000,000 11.. 

 This item, added to 90,000,000 Ib. Indian yam and 

 goods exported, and 550,000,000 raw cotton ex- 

 ported, gives a total of 970,000,000 Ib. as the 

 probable extent of the cotton crop in 1885-87. 

 This calculation cannot be far astray inasmuch as 

 the area under cotton did not exceed 14,000,000 

 acres, which at 70 Ib. per acre (the estimated 

 average yield) gives a total of 980,000,000 Ib., 

 or 2,450,000 bales of 400 Ib. 



No cotton was received from China (except occa- 

 sional small samples) until prices had risen to 

 about 2s. per Ib., and even this extravagant figure 

 brought to Europe only 380,000 bales of 400 Ib. dur- 

 ing the four years of the famine, a proof that the 

 cotton crop of China is much smaller than even 

 that of India. Assuming the consumption of 

 cotton fabrics to be at the rate of 2$ Ib. per head, 

 and allowing for yarns, goods, and raw cotton 

 imported, the crop cannot exceed 1,500,000 bales of 

 400 Ib. A similar calculation for Japan, Java, &c., 

 gives a crop of 130,000 bales. 



Small imports of cotton are received every year 

 from Africa, but they rarely exceed a few hundred 

 bales. The plant is cultivated throughout the 

 continent, and if the per capita consumption 

 averages only half that in India and China, the 

 200,000,000 inhabitants will require 250,000,000 Ib. 

 of cotton fabrics ; but as 100,000,000 Ib. of goods 

 are imported, the crop required would be only 

 150,000,000 Ib., or 375,000 bales of 400 Ib. 



The crops of the various countries and districts 

 of the world in 1887 were, as nearly as can be ascer- 

 tained, as follows (in bales of the uniform weight 

 of 400 Ib.): 



Bale*. 



United States of America 7,425,000 



South America, West Indies, &c.. 430,000 



East Indies 2,600,000 



China 1,600,000 



Japan, &c. 130,000 



Turkey and Persia 120,000 



Asiatic Russia 100,000 



r, r Om '. 

 65-81 

 3-24 

 1870 

 1127 

 0-98 



Egypt 718.000 



Africa (except Egypt) 876 000 



Italy and Greece 10,000 



Australia, Fiji, &c. 2,000 



Total for the world 13,305,000 



0-75 

 6-86 



100-01 



It will be observed that the United States produce 

 more than half the cotton grown in the world, 

 although they only commenced the business about 

 one hundred years since. 



(4) Consumptioii. Great Britain. It is not pos- 

 sible to ascertain with certainty the first beginnings 

 of the trade in Europe. It existed in Spain in the 

 10th century, and no doubt quite as early in Italy 

 and Greece. The first recorded import 'of cotton 

 into England was in the 13th century, and quite 

 as early imports took place into France through 

 Marseilles. The first mention of the industry in 

 connection with Germany, Holland, and Switzer- 



