6 KNAPP METHOD OF GROWING COTTON 



business industries of the South that it took 

 almost two decades to get back to the produc- 

 tion of 1860. Since 1880 the increase has been 

 continuous and rapid. The average yearly 

 production, for the twenty-six years ending 

 1904 was 7,500,000 bales. The average for the 

 past ten years has been 12,300,000 bales. The 

 crop of 1911 was over 16,000,000 bales, the 

 largest of any yet grown. The highest average 

 prices for thirty years have been paid for the 

 last five crops, averaging more than 12,000,000 

 bales each. The cotton mills of the world now 

 handle more than 15,000,000 bales of cotton 

 annually. Even with this enormous supply, 

 it is claimed that half the people on the globe 

 know nothing of modern-made cotton goods. 

 One statistician has estimated that if all the 

 people in the world used as much cotton goods 

 as the civilized nations, it would take more than 

 40,000,000 bales to supply the demand. The 

 progress of some of the most populous countries 

 toward higher standards of living will doubtless 

 cause the demand to grow faster than the 

 supply unless there is some readjustment of 

 labor conditions in cotton-producing countries. 

 The United States has special advantages 



