5H 



COTTON 



The average rate of wages paid in 1887 was about 

 80 per cent, more than in 1839, 69 per cent, more 

 than in 1849, and 55 per cent, more than in 1859. 

 In the meantime, the hours of labour have been 

 reduced from 69 per week to 56 per week. 



Continental Europe. Up to within about fifteen 

 years from the close of the last century, the quan- 

 tity of cotton consumed on the Continent was 

 certainly larger than the weight spun in England ; 

 but at the close of the century, thanks to the 

 mechanical inventions to which reference has 

 already been made, England unquestionably stood 

 first. Severe penalties were inflicted upon any 

 one found guilty of either enticing cotton opera- 

 tives or of exporting cotton machinery to foreign 

 countries. Nevertheless, both operatives and 

 machinery found their way to various portions of 

 the Continent ; and cotton-spinning on the English 

 plan was introduced into Russia in 1799, Switzer- 

 land in 1800, Belgium in 1801, and France in 1803. 

 Germany, Holland, Spain, Italy, and Austria 

 followed later on. Between 1801 and 1821 France 

 increased its consumpt from 42,000 bales (of 400 Ib.) 

 to 80,000, and the rest of the Continent from 33,000 

 to 80,000. 



The chief increase on the Continent between 1811 

 and 1821 was gained after the peace of 1815. The 

 consumption in France in 1816 was only about 

 65,000 bales. France held the lead on the Con- 

 tinent until the war of 1870, since which she has 

 been passed by Russia and Germany. The follow- 

 ing table shows the progress made by each country 

 since 1830. It gives the consumption of cotton in 

 the years named in 1000's of bales of the uniform 

 weight of 400 Ib. each. 



Countries. 1830. 



Russia 10 



Sweden 2 



Germany 40 



Austria 50 



Switzerland 22 



Holland 5 



Belgium 20 



France 170 



Spain 15 



Italy 10 



1840. 



36 

 4 



66 



85 



45 



10 



40 

 291 



35 



20 



1850. 



119 

 20 



115 



145 

 60 

 12 

 55 



350 

 85 

 40 



1860. 



218 



40 



350 



235 



76 



16 



72 



565 



130 



65 



243 



40 



367 



240 



98 



24 



88 



550 



125 



66 



1880. 1886. 

 550 660 



62 

 715 

 350 

 122 



50 

 125 

 500 

 220 

 160 



70 

 890 

 4liO 

 130 



60 

 130 

 600 

 275 

 260 



Total 344 632 1001 1767 U341 2854 3535 



The large increase between 1840 and 1850, especially 

 in Russia, was partly due to the repeal (1843) of 

 the enactment which prohibited the export of cotton 

 machinery from this country. The figures for 

 1869 are given instead of those for 1870, because 

 the movements of trade in the last-named year 

 were disturbed by the Franco-German war. The 

 small general increase between 1860 and 1869, 

 compared with that in the previous decade, was 

 due to the cotton famine incidental to the American 

 war. In 1871, 1,500,000 spindles (those of Alsace) 

 were transferred from France to Germany. This 

 accounts for the decrease in the quantity of cotton 

 consumed in France in 1880 as compared with 1869, 

 and for part of the exceptionally large increase in 

 quantity consumed in Germany. The total number 

 of spindles in France in 1869 was 6,120,000; in 1870, 

 4,620,000. As less than 1,600,000 people had been 

 transferred along with the 1,500,000 spindles, the 

 4,620,000 remaining spindles had to supply yarn 

 for a population of 46,000,000. The consequence 

 was considerable activity in mill-building or en- 

 larging, and by 1872 the number of spindles had 

 increased to 5,011,000. During the subsequent 

 ten years there was very little change, except the 

 substitution of new for old spindles, which enabled 

 the spinners to turn off a greater weight of yarn. 

 In 1884 there were in France 5,111,000 spindles, of 

 which 227,000 were idle, against 5,011,000 and 

 385,000 respectively in 1872. The number at work 

 in 1884 was 4,884,000 against 4,626,000 in 1872. 

 The cotton industry of Switzerland has been almost 



stationary of late years, owing to the adverse influ- 

 ence of foreign competition and hostile tariffs, and 

 there are no more spindles at work than there were 

 ten years ago, while the number in existence is 

 smaller owing to mills burned down not having been 

 rebuilt. The figures for Italy are exclusive of cotton 

 grown in Italy itself, of the extent of which there 

 are no authentic records. The quantity lias been 

 quite small, however, during the past fifteen years. 

 Besides the countries mentioned above, there are 

 about 24,000 bales of 400 Ib. used in Portugal, and 

 about 18,000 bales spun in Greece. 



The following is a statement of the number of 

 spindles and the weight of cotton spun in each 

 country in 1886 : 



Country. 





Russia ................ 4,400,000 



Sweden .......... . ..... 320,000 



Germany .............. 5,150,000 



Austria ................ 2,085,000 



Switzerland ............ 1,850,000 



Holland ............... 260,000 



Belgium .............. 840,000 



France ................ 4,900,000 



Spain ................. 2,035,000 



Portugal .............. 140,000 



Italy .................. 1,210,000 



Greece... 65,000 



Cotton Consumed. 



Per Spindle. 

 60-0 

 87-5 

 691 

 88-2 

 28-1 

 92-3 

 61-9 

 48-9 

 64-0 

 71-4 

 85-1 

 110-0 



264,000,000 



28,000,000 



356,000,000 



184,000,000 



52,000,000 



24,000,000 



52,000,000 



240,000,000 



110,000,000 



10,000,000 



104.000,000 



7,150,000 



Total 23,255,000 1,431,150,000 



61-1 



The Russian figures are exclusive of cotton 

 received from Asia, estimated at 100,000 bales of 

 400 Ib. per annum. The variations in the average 

 weight of cotton per spindle are occasioned by the 

 differences in the counts of yarn spun, or in the 

 number of hours Avorked per day. Switzerland 

 consumes only a small weight of cotton per spindle 

 because she produces very fine yarns, similar to 

 those spun at Bolton. 



America. The first cotton-mill built in the 

 United States was put up in 1793. Others followed 

 at short intervals, but the progress was not very 

 rapid until during the war of 1812-14, which led 

 to such an extraordinary rise in prices, that cotton 

 goods similar to those which had been imported 

 From England at 20 cents per yard rose to 75 cents 

 per yard. This stimulated mill-building to such 

 an extent, that when the war was over, and impor- 

 tations resumed, prices fell back to a lower point 

 than ever, and the new domestic industry suffered 

 so severely that an agitation was at once com : 

 menced in favour of increased import duties. 

 Hitherto the tariff on imported textiles had been 

 only from "\ to 10 per cent. ; but in 1816 the duties 

 were raised all round to 25 per cent. , and henceforth 

 the protected industry made rapid progress : the 

 consumption of cotton advancing from 80,000 bales 

 of 400 Ib. in 1820, to 340,000 in 1840, and 968,000 

 bales in 1860. Thence to 1870 there was only a 

 slight increase ; the quantity consumed in that year 

 being only 996,000. In 1880 it reached 1,920,000 

 bales ; ancl in 1887, 2,795,000 bales. The census re- 

 turns of 1880 gave the amount of capital employed in 

 the cotton manufacturing industry as 41,756,000, 

 including 3,533,000 in the South ; the number of 

 spindles as 10,678,516, including 583,696 in the 

 South; the number of looms as 227,156, including 

 12,194 in the South. In 1887 there were 13,500,000 

 spindles in the States, including 1,225,000 in the 

 South. The consumption of cotton represented 

 30 per cent, of the crop against about the same in 

 1880, but against only 18 per cent, in 1860, and 17 

 per cent, in 1840. The New England manufac- 

 turers have hitherto been unable successfully to 

 compete with the old country in the outside 

 markets of the world ; the value of the entire 

 exports of cotton products in 1887 being only 

 2,986,000, against 1,996,000 in 1880, 757,000 in 

 1870, 2,187,000 in 1860, 947,000 in 1850, and 

 710,000 in 1840. 



