COTTON 1 69 



of which will demand increasing supplies of cotton 

 clothing. 



Consideration must also be given to the fact that cotton 

 lias entered into many new uses in Europe. It is in great 

 demand for the making of motor-car tyre covers, 

 bagging, ropes, aeroplane cloth, etc.; and, as a result 

 of the discovery of the mercerizing process, in the manu- 

 facture of certain classes of goods, cotton has replaced 

 silk to a considerable extent. As soon as the fashionable 

 ladies of Europe revert from the " hobble " skirt to the 

 fuller skirt and fashion seems to be developing in this 

 direction large additional supplies of cotton will be 

 wanted. Spinning and weaving machinery has extended 

 to meet the increased demand, and this extension will 

 continue; but the cotton industry must obtain an annual 

 increase of about 1,000,000 bales of raw material. 



As a further example of the growing consumption of 

 cotton by the European countries, I may state that, 

 according to Government figures, the consumption per 

 head of population in Germany has increased from not 

 quite J Ib. in 1840 to 16 Ib. in 1912. Whilst the figures 

 for the consumption of wool show a decline, the cotton 

 consumption is more than twenty-five times bigger than 

 70 years ago. 



This enormous and ever-increasing demand for raw 

 cotton secures the cultivator for many years to come a 

 remunerative price for his cotton crop, and not only the 

 Government of India, but every other Government is 

 fully justified in encouraging the cultivation of cotton in 

 face of this regularly increasing demand. 



It is not yet twenty years since Middling American 

 cotton was 3d. per Ib., but for the past few years it has 

 rarely fallen below 6d. per Ib. 



The demand outside India for the cotton grown there 

 comes principally from Japan and the Continent of 

 Europe; Lancashire and the United States of America 

 are only small consumers. On the European Continent 

 Indian cottons of superior qualities are being employed 

 more and more to take the place of American cotton, 

 and the statistical compilations of the International 

 Cotton Federation, showing the stocks of cotton in the 



