sen 



COTTON TRADE AND CONSUMPTION. 



COTTON TRADE AND CONSUMPTION. 



270 





may briefly be mentioned. In the year 1700 there were about 

 1,000,000 Ibs. of cotton used in Great Britain, requiring the services of 

 25,000 persons to work it up clearly indicating, by the large ratio of 

 labour to material, a period of hand-spinning and hand-weaving. In 

 1720, the consumption was 2,200,000 Ibs. ; and in 1764, about 

 3,900,000. In 1775, before Arkwright's patent became established, the 

 consumption was 4,800,000, which doubled by the year 1781. With 

 1786 began the new order of things. In the next following year the 

 consumption was 23,000,000 Ibs. ; to work up which there were 143 

 cotton factories, 550 mule-jennies, 50,000 mule-spindles, 20,070 hand- 

 jennies, 1,600,000 jenny-spindles, and 60,000 operatives. In 1790, the 

 consumption was nearly 31,000,000 Ibs. ; and in 1800 upwards of 

 51,000,000 Ibs. Before the year 1775, only low numbers, or coarse 

 yarn, could be spun, and in a quantity insufficient for the wants of the 

 weavers ; but the great inventions of Arkwright, Hargreaves, and 

 Crompton enabled the spinners to overtake the weavers until Cart- 

 wright invented power-loom weaving, when the balance turned the 

 other way. About the year 1790 the British manufacturers began to 

 look out for an increased supply of foreign cotton ; they felt that they 

 could work up the raw material more rapidly than it was at that tune 

 obtainable. The East Indies effected a little, but only a little, towards 

 augmenting the supply. The United States made an energetic 

 response to the appeal. Eli Whitney's newly invented cotton-gin 

 enabled the planters to clean their cotton for the market with a 

 rapidity greatly exceeding that of the previous process ; and thus, 

 with an increased demand and an increased power of supply, the 

 United States cotton trade spread in the way already indicated. 

 During the last ten years of the century, the price of United States 

 cotton varied from about Is. 3rf. to Is. 6d. per Ib. on an average of all 

 the qualities. 



1801 to 1810. The present century opened with every indication of 

 a rapid extension of the potton manufacture of Great Britain ; and the 

 result fully corresponded with the symptoms. The consumption was 

 54,000,000 Ibs. in 1801, and 58,000,000 in 1806 ; a small portion was 

 re-exported to other countries, in addition to the above, so that the 

 total import was somewhat larger. The price of cotton gradually 

 lowered ; but the British manufacture had not yet extended to the 

 degree which would leave any considerable surplus for exportation ; 

 nearly nil the woven cotton goods were used at home. 



1811 to 1820. The consumption rose from 90,000,000 lb. to 

 150,000,000 Ibs. per annum, during this period, after making allowance 

 for a small re-export of raw cotton. Already had United States cotton 

 attained such an ascendancy in the market, that towards the close of 

 this decennial period, it constituted 53 per cent of all the cotton used 

 in Great Britain the remainder being 31 per cent, from Brazil, 10 

 per cent, from the East Indies, and 6 per cent, from the West Indies. 

 British manufacturers had by this time discovered the valuable fact, 

 that, if the East India Company would afford trading faculties, India 

 was quite willing to take in large quantities the produce of our looms. 

 About 800,000 yards of British cotton goods were sent to India in 

 1814; in 1818 the quantity was 1,600,000 yards; and in 1820 no 

 less than 9,000,000 yards. Altogether, it is supposed that, in 1820, 

 our manufacturers found foreign purchasers for 218,000,000 yards of 

 cottc pti piece-goods, and 23,000,000 Ibs. of cotton-yarn, sold to be worked 

 up in countries where they could weave more cheaply than spin. 



1821 to 1830. There are conflicting accounts of the quantity of 

 cotton used in Great Britain during these ten years. One authority 

 gets down the quantity imported in 1821 at 157,000,000 Ibs., and in 

 1830 at no less than 264,000,000 Ibs. ; in each year all except 5,000,000 

 or 6,000,000 4 lbs. were worked up in our own mills and workshops. 

 Another authority gives higher figures. One cause of this discrepancy 

 is, that many computers give their statistical entries in balet, and then 

 guess at the probable number of pounds in an average bale of the 

 period in question. The prices of cotton at Liverpool, during this 

 decade, varied from Id. to 12rf. for average United States growths, 

 8d. to 15rf. for Brazilian, and 5d. to 8d. for East Indian. It has been 

 computed that in 1830 there were 223,000,000 Ibs. of yarn and twist 

 made in Great Britain, 64,000,000 Ibg. of this quantity exported, and 

 442,000,000 yards of cotton piece goods exported the value of these 

 exports being about 19,000,000i. 



1831 to 1840. We now arrive at a decennial period during which 

 the workers in our cotton mills had become so numerous as to enlist 

 the sympathies of the nation, in so far as regarded the unprotected 

 or ill-protected women and children comprised among the number. 

 What was the nature of the legislative interference, will be noticed 

 under FACTORIES ; a few particulars concerning actual numbers will 

 suffice in the present case. The quantity of cotton imported in- 

 creased with gigantic stride* ; it was 364,000,000 Ibs. in 1835, and 



V.iJ.iMMi. ]!- in 1840. A steady increase took place at the same 



time in the quantity re-exported for manufacture in foreign countries ; 

 Ms portion continued to bear a very small ratio to the whole 

 weight. By the year 1840 the United States bad acquired a greater 

 ascendancy than at any former period in the supply of cotton to 

 Uritriin; not only had their quota increased, but the increase 

 had been more rapid than that in other countries. Of all the cotton 

 purchased by Great Britain in that year, no less than 76 per cent, 

 was from the United States the other ratios being, 14 per cent, 

 from the East Indies, 6 per cent, from Brazil, 2$ per cent, from Egypt, 



and l^ per cent, from the West Indies and miscellaneous countries. 

 There had been an advance of ratio in quantities in East Indian and 

 Egyptian, and a decline in Brazilian and West Indian. Prices, which 

 in 1835, averaged lOJrf. for United States cotton, 14 \d. for Brazilian, 

 and 7Jrf. for East Indian, fell in 1840 to 6rf., 9Jd, and 4f <i, respectively. 

 This was a highly flourishing state of things for the manufacturers ; 

 they obtained cotton cheaply and abundantly ; they had the command 

 of the best machinery, and an ample supply of labour ; and a long con- 

 tinuance of peace maiutained a wide field of foreign trade open to them. 

 It was estimated that 281,000,000 Ibs. of cotton yarn and twist were 

 spun in Great Britain in 1835, and 407,000,000 in 1840; of these large 

 quantities, 83,000,000 and 118,000,000 Ibs. respectively, were exported. 

 The exports also included 558,000,000 yards of cotton piece goods in 

 1835, and 791,000,000 in 1840. Piece goods and yarn together, the 

 values were supposed to be 22,000,000^. in 1835, and 25,000,000^. in 

 1840 though some computers have made these figures much higher. 

 As to the amount of fixed capital invested, Mr. M'Culloch, Mr. Baines, 

 and Mr. Kennedy, all endeavoured to make separate estimates about the 

 year 1835 ; they proceeded on different bases, and their results were 

 not in harmony ; nevertheless, they did not depart very far from a 

 medium estimate of 34,000,000?. Mr. Woodbury, an American authority, 

 in comparing the cotton manufacturing operations of different countries 

 for the year 1833, put down Great Britain at 9,500,000 spindles, and 

 1,500,000 persons directly or indirectly supported by the cotton manu- 

 facture. The last-named kind of estimate is one that must always be 

 received with caution ; for unless we know the limits which a com- 

 putor assumes, we can never be sure of the meaning of his results. 

 For instance, there are first the actual workers in the spinning and 

 weaving mills ; then there are the hand-loom weavers out of the mills ; 

 next come the bleachers, dressers, dyers, printers, and calenderers, who 

 finish the woven goods for the market ; another group comprises those 

 who manufacture cotton into hosiery, lace, bobbin net, aud various 

 other articles ; to these must (or may) be added the artisans employed 

 in making the spinning and weaving machines and implements ; and 

 lastly, there are the wives aud children or other dependents (them- 

 selves not engaged in earning money) of men employed in the above- 

 named trades. Computers not only differ in the number of the 

 groups which they include, but they do not always render it clear how 

 far their estimates extend. In the instance of Mr. Woodbury, it is 

 evident that he must have given a very wide extension to the meaning 

 of the terms " supported by the cotton manufacture." The actual 

 workers in cotton factories, in 1835, amounted to 220,134; and the 

 number of power-looms in the mills was 109,626. The obtainable 

 power of those looms, if all fully employed throughout the year upon 

 a somewhat heavy class of goods, was estimated at 700,000,000 yards 

 woven in a year ; although the real produce was of course much below 

 this. The number of hand-looms at that time could only be guessed 

 at ; it was roughly estimated from 200,000 to 250,000. It affords a 

 curious illustration of the vastness of the manufacture, that the 

 cotton weavers in that year used 650,000 bushels of flour, for the mere 

 purpose of dressing the warp-threads before weaving. The factories 

 were ascertained to be 1304 in number that is, the spinning aud 

 weaving mills, in which the 220,134 operatives were engaged; the 

 total number supported by the manufacture, in the wide acceptation 

 above adverted to, was set down at 1,400,000, being less than Mr. Wood- 

 burr's estimate made two years before. The commissioners appointed 

 to inquire into the circumstances connected with the employment of 

 women and children in factories (preparatory to legislation on that 

 subject), made a valuable analysis of the mode in which labour was 

 distributed in the mills ; from which the following table was prepared, 

 showing the number employed and the wages earned in each depart- 

 ment : 



Number of Not Monthly 

 bands. earnings. 





 Cleaning and spreading; . . 4,998 8,6?2 



Carding 40,484 75,276 



Mule-spinning .... 65,216 139,661 



Throstle-spinning . . . . 7,709 11,010 



Reeling 14,638 22,817 



Wearing 75,055 168,064 



Holler-covering .... 725 1,765 



Engineers, &c 3,975 15,987 



The aggregate docs not exactly correspond with the 220,134 for 

 the year 1885; but the periods were perhaps not quite identical. Of 

 the total number, 60,393 were men, 65,774 women, and the rest 

 children. The average wages paid at that time to children and youug 

 persons, was from 2. 9d. per week for boys nine years of age, to 

 8. 2d. for young persons of eighteen ; adult wages varied greatly, 

 according to the degree of skill required in the several processes. The 

 cotton yarns woven at that period varied in price between the wide 

 limits of 1. perlb. (for No. 12 water-twist) to 27. per Ib. (for 

 No. 250 mule-twist). 



1841 to 1850. The arrival of this period was marked by a notable 

 tniiuiiV.-tation of the influence possessed by the cotton manufacturers 

 and merchants of Engknd. The ' cotton interest ' or ' Manchester 

 interest" was now so great, that statesmen began to bend to it in a 

 manner never before exhibited. The immense shipping arrangements 



