28 AGRICULTURAL AND.COMMERCIAL 



Ireland, Belgium, Switzerland and Russia would produce 

 greater quantities of flax, and East India and Russia 

 would export more hemp and jute. 



The committee reports, &quot; enough is shown by the facts 

 to establish an important point : that the extent of con 

 sumption, up to this time, has been controlled by the 

 extent of production ; and we must, therefore, look to 

 other causes for the ruinous depression in price to which 

 we have so often submitted.&quot; It is true, that the con 

 sumption will always be ruled by production ; it is a fact, 

 scarcely needing elucidation, produce less cotton and 

 there is less to be consumed, produce more and more will 

 be consumed.* The greater quantity produced the lower 

 the price, and the lower the price of cotton the more it 

 will be economical for wear instead of silk, woolen or 

 linen. Limit the quantity, raise the price, and, as a 

 matter of economy, place it on a par with silks, woolens 

 and linens, and then cotton cloths would go out of use 

 in geometrical proportion as their price be raised com 

 pared with the above. And, instead of cotton sheets, 

 towels, &c., we will have linen ones. Instead of muslin 

 dresses, there will be more silk ones, and more silk and 



* For instance, &quot;the failure of the American crop in year 1846, as 

 in the very last season (1850), caused a considerable rise in the price 

 of cotton ; and it was calculated that, in that year, an advance in price 

 of two pence per pound, required an increased payment by this coun 

 try of 4,000,000 ($20,000,000). In this year the increase in price 

 has caused many spinners and manufacturers of coarse yarns and 

 heavy goods either to stop their mills or to work but a short time. It 

 has been well ascertained, that, with high prices of the raw material, 

 the present enormous production of cotton manufactures will not, 

 and cannot, be taken off by the markets of the world.&quot; Manchester 

 Guardian, July 23r&amp;lt; 1850 /rom Mr. Royle s work. 



