COTTON. 



THE WORK OF THE BRITISH COTTON GROWING 

 ASSOCIATION, 



By J. ARTHUR HUTTON. 



Chairman of the Council of the British Cotton Growing 

 Association. 



It would be quite impossible in a short paper to give 

 a full account of the work carried on by the British Cotton 

 Growing Association during the last twelve years, and, 

 therefore, on this occasion I do not propose to go into any 

 detail, but rather to give a general idea of our. successes 

 and our failures. Naturally in all pioneering work one 

 must make mistakes in learning the best methods of work- 

 ing, but I can say with pride, that the Council have never 

 been afraid of publishing their failures, for they have 

 rightly regarded them as the means of ultimately attain- 

 ing success. 



Before dealing with the work of the Association 1 

 propose to give you a short account of the formation of 

 that body. In January, 1901, at the Annual Dinner of the 

 Oldham Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Benjamin Crapper, 

 one of the most active members of the Council and the 

 Chairman of the East African Committee- of the Associa- 

 tion, drew attention to the dangerous position of the Lan-. 

 cashire cotton industry, owing to the fact that it was de- 

 pendent on the United States for the bulk of its supplies of 

 the raw material, and, therefore, that the industry was at 

 the mercy of the vagaries of the weather in one particular 

 part of the world I need not dwell on the sufferings 

 which were subsequently caused when the mills had to be 

 put on short time owing to the failure of the American 

 crop, nor need I do more than draw attention to the ob- 

 vious fact that the only way by which such calamities 

 can be avoided in the future is by the establishment of 

 cotton growing in all parts of the world. If the basis of 

 supply is broadened, and if' cotton is grown in quantity in 

 Africa and other countries as well as in India, Egypt, and 

 the United States, one can regard the failure of the crop 



