2 7 6 



example of the millers, who have raised the quality and clean- 

 ness of Indian wheat very much during the last seven years 

 by insisting on only getting clean wheat. If the spinners 

 would follow their example by saying that they will only buy 

 cotton which has not been in water, the result will very soon 

 be that ginners in India will not find it worth while to water 

 the cotton, because they will not be able to sell it. It is a 

 matter which rests more with the spinners who buy the cotton 

 than with the cultivators, or even, in a sense, with the ginners. 

 Generally speaking, I agree with Mr. Schmidt's paper, and 

 I am very pleased to find that the arrangements introduced in 

 Lord Curzon's time have turned out very advantageous to the 

 cotton of India, and therefore to the cotton spinners and to the 

 consumers throughout the world. 



The PRESIDENT : If there are no other remarks on the paper, 

 I will ask you to accord a very hearty vote of thanks to Mr. 

 Schmidt, whose paper is full of interest to those concerned in 

 the advancement of cotton cultivation in India. 



Mr. SCHMIDT : Mr. President I beg to thank the Congress 

 for the kind expression of appreciation. 



I would like to take this opportunity of saying, in reply to 

 the remarks of Lord Derby, that the same advantages that I 

 advocate as resulting for the Lancashire spinners from an 

 extension and improvement of the Indian cotton-growing 

 industry were used by his own Association in the circular of 

 1904 of which he spoke. 



As regards the remarks of Sir James Wilson, I can con- 

 scientiously say that the climate in India during the last season 

 has certainly not been specially favourable to the growing of 

 cotton, and there is no reason whatsoever why we should not 

 be able to count upon India supplying six million tales next 

 season, and possibly more. If the sale of cotton seed on the 

 credit system, which Lord Kitchener has introduced into 

 Egypt, were adopted in India, the yield per acre would 

 undoubtedly be increased and the quality improved. 



The remarks made by Sir James upon the question of 

 artificial damping are naturally those which theory would 

 dictate. As a matter of fact, it is almost impossible for the 

 spinner to find out who has ginned his cotton. It is bought 

 and sold in the open market, and a bale may often change 

 hands twenty or thirty times. The spinner cannot detect the 

 damp in the cotton until he opens the bale and uses it. Bales 

 are sometimes stored three, four, or five months in the mill, 

 and it is too late then to endeavour to trace the perpetrator 

 of the fraud. The damping of cotton rots the fibres, and 

 where not much water has been used it stains the cotton and 

 reduces its value. 



