a low range of variability in each one of those characters which go 

 to make up the spinning value of a cotton. 



Herein is to be found the third consideration to which we are 

 led by our enquiry from the manufacturers' point of view. While 

 diversity of class is required, uniformity within the class is of equal 

 importance. 



The value of cotton is dependent, however, on other characteristics 

 than those which affect its behaviour in the mill, and the more important 

 of these is colour. The importance of colour lies in the fact that 

 Egyptian cotton, till recently, possessed a characteristic brown colour 

 by which it was distinguishable at a glance from other cottons. The 

 point was recognized by the trade, and the colour imparted to the 

 cloth was accepted as a ready means of determining the fulfilment 

 of contracts, the specification for which includes the use of Egyptian 

 cotton. Such a ready method is valuable, and there exists a natural 

 conservatism in favour of the retention of that colour character. 

 Colour has, however, no further significance. A premium will, for 

 a time no doubt, be paid for colour owing to the lag which finds its 

 basis in such conservatism. But here, again, the market is flexible 

 and is capable of adaptation to the supply. 



I have so far dealt with the trade aspect of Egyptian cotton in 

 its present-day form. It is, as must be the case with any highly 

 organized manufacture involving highly specialized mechanical 

 adaptations, very conservative. When, however, we are concerned 

 with problems the solution of which may take years to accomplish, 

 it is desirable to attempt, however imperfectly, to forecast the probable 

 future demand. Such an attempt I have been at some pains to make 

 during .my visit to Manchester. The problem is complex, and it 

 is impossible to dogmatize. Nevertheless there appears to be a distinct 

 opinion as to the general trend of this demand. This I will attempt 

 to outline. 



The complexity arises from two considerations. In the first place 

 the trade is, as we have seen, so highly specialized that prices are 

 affected by the relation of supply to demand within the class, and it 

 is not possible to deal with the Egyptian crop as an entity. We must 

 go lower than this to find the unit. Secondly, the monopoly which 

 Egypt has hitherto possessed as the sole producer of special classes 

 of cotton is gradually passing. Recently, cottons which possess 

 the characteristics of Egyptian have been produced in the dry zones 

 of America. Mesopotamia, again, and possibly Scind, offer fields 

 which may develop into rivals of Egypt. The monopolist position 

 is thus already threatened, and there is little 'doubt that it will at 

 no distant date cease to exist. Such widening of the source of supply 

 must inevitably affect the balance which now exists between the 

 various classes of Egyptian cotton. 



