COTTON 165 



United States of America. Cotton planters of the 

 United States of America, and others interested in land, 

 often assure us there is no need to look elsewhere for 

 the supplies to meet the increasing wants of the cotton 

 industry. I would say, in reply to this contention, that 

 it would be unwise for the world's spinners to depend 

 upon one source of supply only, especially when, as. in 

 the case of the United States, there is a climate which, 

 judging from the alarmist reports issued every year, 

 seems to be the most uncertain in the world. Further, 

 the cotton districts in the United States are suffering 

 severely from lack of labour. Several experts who have 

 recently visited the country state that in 1911, when the 

 cotton crop of the United States reached 16,000,000 bales, 

 much more was grown, but that it had to be left to rot 

 in the fields, as there were no people to pick it. Some 

 authorities maintain that wages have increased of late 

 to such an extent that the growing" of cotton is becoming 

 unremunerative, and that unless cotton can be sold by 

 the planter at 6d. per lb., which means that the spinners 

 will have to pay considerably more, cotton cultivation 

 in the United States of America will decline. As an 

 example of the recent wages paid in the United States I 

 am able to state that, whilst the " piece rate " for picking 

 in Texas usually began -at 50 to 60 cents per 100 lb. of 

 seed-cotton, rising later, as the crop became thinner and 

 more difficult to gather, to over 100 cents, during the 

 early part of last season pickers could not be got in Texas 

 below 70 cents, and the 100 cents rate was reached very 

 quickly. If we remember that it takes about 300 lb. of 

 seed-cotton to make 100 lb. of lint cotton, the cost of 

 picking works out at ijd. per lb. Under these condi- 

 tions, countries outside the sphere of such high wages 

 seem to have an excellent opportunity of competing with 

 the United States of America, even if the climatic con- 

 ditions are not as favourable. Experts seem more and 

 more of the opinion that cotton growing in the United 

 States will only be remunerative in the case of long- 

 stapled cottons, such as are produced in the Mississippi 

 Delta, whose value is much above the ordinary type. 



These considerations seem to justify the prevalent 



