l68 COTTON 



I now turn to the question of the demand for raw 

 cotton. It has been said that a demand for cotton goods 

 is one of the first signs of civilization. 



Mr. Alexander J. Kusnetzoff, one of Russia's leaders 

 of the cotton industry, stated at the Seventh Inter- 

 national Cotton Congress at Brussels (1910) that of the 

 1,500,000,000 inhabitants of the earth, there are only 

 500,000,000 completely clothed, whilst 750,000,000 are 

 partly clothed, and 250,000,000 do not possess any cloth- 

 ing whatever, and that in order to provide clothing for 

 the whole of humanity, at least 42,000,000 bales of cotton, 

 or 15^ Ib. for every human being, were annually required. 



The world's consumption of cotton has increased from 

 1909 to 1913 at the rate of almost one million bales per 

 annum ! These figures are based upon the statistics 

 issued by the International Cotton Federation, compiled 

 from the individual returns of the spinners. 



Russia has increased its consumption of cotton as 

 follows : 



Consumption Ib. (English) Consumption Ib. (English) 



1855 ... 54,195,000 I9OI ... 603,371,000 



i860 ... 90,325,000 1902 ... 541,950,000 



1870 . . 144,520,000 1903 ... 794,860,000 



1875 

 1880 

 1886 

 1890 

 1894 



162,585,000 1904 ... 726,213,000 



307,105,000 1905 ... 614,210,000 



361,300,000 1906 ... 755,117,000 



252,910000 1907 ... 751,504,000 



444,399,000 icoS ... 794,860,000 



The weight of cotton cloths produced on power looms, 

 and consumed in India has increased from 536,960,200 Ib. 

 in 1896-97 to 988,027,318 Ib. in 1912-13. The consumption 

 per head of the population in India is equal to 3*63 Ib., 

 or roughly 14 yards. The clothing of the people of India 

 requires at present 3! million bales of cotton (including 

 waste), but every additional yard used per head of the 

 poDtilation represents an increase of about 232,000 bales 

 of 500 Ib. each. The increased prices which the culti- 

 vators of India are receiving, not only for their cotton, 

 but also for other produce, are bound to place them in 

 an improved financial position, which will undoubtedly 

 lead to an increased expenditure on clothing. 



But besides Russia and India there are other vast 

 countries, such as China, Africa, Central Asia, etc., all 



