sn 



COTTON TRADE AND CONSUMPTION. 



COTTON TRADE AND CONSUMPTION. 



at Liverpool, connected with the importation of cotton ; the vast 

 monetary dealing! between the Lira-pool merchant* and the Man- 

 cheater manufacturer* ; the expenditure of capital in beginning to 

 corer Lancashire with a network of railway*, montly for the accom- 

 modation of thu particular trade ; the mills, the machine*, the work- 

 people, employed in the trade all had now advanced to such a degree 

 of importance, ai to render it im|x>il>lo for statesmen to ignore the 

 fact that a new power had arisen in the north, which must influence 

 the legislation of the country. It was this power, more than any 

 other which can be named, that brought about the systematic change 

 of the import dutius on foreign commodities, and especially on corn. 

 The importation of cotton in 1845 was about 1,850,000 bales : 

 equivalent, with the average weight of bales at that time, to about 

 722,000,000 of pounds ; of which 43,000,000 were re-exported. Owing 

 partly to a lessening of supply, and partly to the re-action after a 

 prriod of excitement, the import of cotton in 1850 exhibited a falling 

 off ; it amounted to 1 ,760,000 bales, or 664,000,000 of pounds, of which 

 102,000,000 were re-exported. In reference to. the total quantity of 

 yarn and twist manufactured, the portion of this quantity which was 

 exported to foreign countries, the length of woven piece goods exported, 

 and the value of both kinds of exports, the two yean in question ex- 

 hibited the following figures : 



Yarn and Twist Yrn and Twist 



manufactured. exported. 



Ibs. Ibs. 



184S . 495,000,000 131,000,000 



1850 . 529,000,000 124,000,000 1,358,000,000 



Piece Good Value of 



exported. export*. 



Yards. 



1,092,000,000 26,000,000 



28,000,000 



The price of cotton fell in 1845 to a level never before known, and 

 this was one cause of the large importation in that year. Average 

 United States cotton was at 4\d. per lb., Brazilian at 6Jrf., and \-'.;^i 

 Indian at Zrl. This was a year for large profits among the Lancashire 

 manufacturers ; they had an abundance of cotton at a low price, and 

 sent out their manufactured goods to all accessible quarters. The 

 intense desire to gain admission to additional foreign markets, for the 

 sale of English manufactured cottons, was one reason for the vigorous 

 agitation which led soon afterwards to the revision of Customs' duties ; 

 on the ground that if foreign countries were permitted to send their raw 

 produce nearly or quite duty free to England, they might the more 

 readily admit English manufactured goods on fair and moderate terms 

 into their own ports. By the year 1850, the price of cotton had risen 

 considerably ; the three kinds above named exhibiting averages of 

 7\d., 8rf., and M., respectively. Concerning the operatives by whom 

 the cotton was worked up, there was an estimate in 1846 that the 

 cotton mills of the United Kingdom employed 316,327 persons ; of 

 whom 134,091 were males, and 182,236 females. A more detailed 

 estimate, applicable to the year 1850, gave the following figures : 

 cotton mills, 1932; moving-power therein, 83,000 horse-power; spindles, 

 21,000,000 ; power-looms, 247,000; children employed in cotton-mills, 

 1 4,993 ; young persons and adults, 815,931 ; total mill-hands, 330,924 ; 

 of whom 189,423 were females. 



1851 to 1859. We now come to those recent years in the history of 

 the British cotton manufacture which have been marked by great 

 agitation and uneasiness ; owing mainly to the extraordinary way in 

 which England is dependent on the United States for a supply of 

 cotton, and to the alarming degree in which any diminution in this 

 supply augments the price of the raw material. It has just been 

 shown that, in the year 1850, the quantity of raw cotton imported was 

 about 664,000,000 Ibs. Without touching upon the intermediate 

 years, we will at once proceed to the three most recent years con- 

 cerning which returns are yet obtainable 1856, 1857, and 1858 : 



From United States 

 Brazil 



Kart Indies . 

 Other countries 



1856. 1857. 1858. 



cwts. cwU. cwts. 



6,964,643 5,846,054 7,439,62.1 



194,197 2<i7,061 196,321 



307,134 219,038 341,300 



1,611,577 2,235.162 1,185,023 



63,571 87,318 102,061 



'9,141,112 8,654,1133 9,265,28* 



Here wo see that the Board of Trade returns introduce an additional 

 complexity ; we have not only to deal with bal'* and /.nmn/x of 

 hut in this instance with hundrtdvcigtUt. Without calculating the 

 probable number of bales, it will suffice to convert these quantities 

 Into poundn,and then we find them to amount in round numbers to the 

 foil. >wing astounding totals: 1023,000,000 Ibs. in 1856; 970,000,000 Ibs. 

 in 1857; 1034,000,000 Ibs. in 1858. The relative falling off in East 

 India cotton in 1858 may doubtless be attributed to the disturbance 

 i*try and commerce occasioned by the mutiny. A portion of 

 raw cotton, as we have before seen, is sold again l.y English dealers to 

 foreign countries, chiefly in the north of Euri>|>c; this | portion amounted, 

 in the three years aln to about one-seventh <.f the total 



quantity imported. The ratios from different, countries, in tlie first of 

 these three yean, were as follow : 71 per cent, of {'int. ,1 si.,t. 

 19 per cent, of East Indian, 6 jicr cent, of Brazilian, 4 4 per cent, of 

 Egyptian, and 4 per cent, from miscellaneous source*. The next table 

 relates to the exports of manufactured cottons, in 1868, in which it 



will be desirable to distinguish the chief countries to which the 

 good* were sent : 



CAUCOU, CAMiaica, Mcauifa, Pcrruire, AXD MIXED ftrcrr*. 

 Countries. 18SS. 







HanM TOWM 929,466 



Holland 440,450 



Portugal 71,2 



Turkey 1,779,227 



Syria 621,904 



Kfypt 770,078 



United States 2,613,588 



Foreign West Indict I16,4i6 



Braill 1,839,425 



IturnM Aym 



Chill 



Peru . . . 



China 



Jata . 



Gibraltar . 



BritUh North America 



liriu.h West Indlei . 



Bait Indies . 



Australia . 



440,417 

 414,156 

 W1,MI 



1,821,570 



410,466 

 450,780 



MS,M 



,Ht, IM 



.',.! . 



Other countries ...... 5,335,998 



Cotton yarn 



Cotton Blockings, thread, lace net, and 

 Tares . . . . . 



32,006,715 

 9,573,320 



null 1 j Jg7 

 I 



42,967,584 



In 1856, the total amount had been 38,232,74 1 /.; in 1857, it was 

 39,073,420*. 



It will be seen that, according to this remarkable table (excluding 

 the entry " Other countries," which is made up of many small r 

 the largest customers for British cotton manufactured goods are tl> 

 Indies, the United States, Turkey, Brazil, and China; these take 

 rather more than half of the whole quantity. Yarn, on the other hand, 

 as the spun material for weaving, is exported most largely to those 

 European countries in which weaving is carried on to a considerable 

 extent; thus, the Hanse Towns and Holland alone purchased 

 yarn from England to the average annual value of about 4,000,11007. 

 during the years 1856-7-8. It is necessary to remark, however, tint 

 the Hanne Towns (Hamburg, Lubeck, Bremen, &c.) are not in them- 

 selves cotton manufacturing towns to any great extent; tin 

 simply the ports at which cotton is landed, for distribution in Prussia 

 and North Germany. 



This will be a convenient place in which to advert to a source of con- 

 fusion likely to lead to error, in comparing English and American 

 statistics. In England the commercial year ends on December '<! ; 

 but in the United States the date August 31 is adopted being that on 

 which the total amount of the summer's crop is ascertained. The 

 total crop for the twelve months ending August 31, 1859, was the 

 largest on record, being more than 3,700,000 bales ; and England, it i 

 known, took a larger quantity than in any former period of equal 

 extent, being more than 2,000,000 bales ; but we cannot compare these 

 numbers strictly with English estimates for 1857 and 1858, for the 

 reasons Pjust stated ; and also because it is not certain that the bales 

 present the same average weights as before. 



Concerning the mill-industry of recent years, we have two compu- 

 tations, one for 1851 and one for 1856. In 1851, the cotton-mills of 

 the United Kingdom arc said to have employed 470,31 7 persons ; of 

 whom 222,612 were males, and 247,705 females. In 1856, the foil 

 figures were exhibited: cotton-mills, 2210; moving power tli 

 97,000 horse-power; spindles, 28,000,000; power looms, 2!'!' 

 children employed, 24,684; young persons and adults, 354,666 ; Mai 

 mill-hands, :i7iO.M!', of whom 2L"-V':>7 '[MMed, 



although there an- no means of accurately determining this | point, that 

 the totiil quantity of j-.irn spun in 1857 was about 740,000,000 Ibs. ; of 

 which about '2 1 ]>cr cent, was exported in the state of yarn, and the 

 remaining 7<i ycr cent, worked up in this coiuitry into woven and 

 other goods. 



There are features connected with these statistical returns, coupled 

 with those of the preceding decennial period, which have excited 

 anxious attention among the Lancashire manufacturers. From 1841 

 to 1848 there was, at the end of each year, an average stock of cotton 

 on hand, at Livery pol (almost the only port of landing : < Jla.-gnw l'ing 

 the next in rank), equal to more than half a \ .imption for 



the whole of the United Kingdom; but from 1849 to 1857, the stock 

 in Inn. I Ip.nely reached eighteen weeks' consumption ; and in 1 sflfl, it 

 was as low as twelve weeks'. In 1845, which was a golden year for 

 manufacturers, after paying 10,000,0007. for raw cotton, they re. 

 '"i 'p 1 . for \ am and manufactured cotton goods; leaving 35,00' - 

 for i ..... Inn. iy.' fuel, dyeing, bleaching, printing, wages, 

 capital, and profit. Twelve y an ;ii(.i wards a contrast was cxhi' 

 very unsatisfactory to the manufacturers. In 1857, th< \ paid tin 

 nious sum of 26,000,0007. for raw cotton, not so much on accoi. 

 the increase of quantity as the increase of price ; the money ot>< 



