232 



COTTON. 



val of industry here, the requirements for or- 

 dinary spinning purposes will also be speedily 

 enlarged." The mills of the country have made 



a further considerable advance in the amount 

 taken from the crop, as is shown by the follow- 

 ing statement : 



In their Annual Eeview of the European 

 cotton trade, Messrs. Ellison & Co., of Liver- 

 pool, report that the season closing September 

 30, 1877, like that of 1875-'76, was one of the 

 most disappointing and unsatisfactory periods 

 in the recent experience of the cotton industry. 

 Apparently, Europe was just beginning to re- 

 cover from the effects of the wide-spread crisis 

 of 1873, brought about by the excessive trading 

 and extravagant speculations of 1870-'72 ; and 

 during the first three or four months of the 

 past season there were symptoms of renewed, 

 healthy activity in various directions. But 

 these movements were based upon the expecta- 

 tion that the threatened outbreak of hostili- 

 ties between Russia and Turkey would be 

 averted ; and when war became certain, a re- 

 action ensued which left the state of trade in 

 a worse condition even than it was before. 

 During the last eight or nine months of the 



COTTON WORM, 



season the markets were in a chronic state of 

 over-supply. The after-effects of the commer- 

 cial and financial disasters which commenced 

 in 1872-'73 were everywhere visible, in the 

 shape of forced reduced expenditure, which led 

 to a curtailed consumption of all kinds of man- 

 ufactures. The consumption of cotton goods 

 did not perhaps diminish, nor did it keep very 

 far behind, production ; but it did keep behind, 

 and this slight excess in production, com- 

 bined with constantly dragging markets, made 

 selling a one-sided bargain, and almost invaria- 

 bly compelled the producer to part with his 

 goods at unremunerative rates. It was ac- 

 cepted as certain, that peace-and settled poli- 

 tics would instantly reverse the positions of 

 buyer and seller, especially as there was a 

 deficit in the supply of the raw material ; and 



this caused producers to keep up the out-turn 

 of their mills, and go on selling what they 

 could at the best prices they could get, until 

 the loss became so great, and the stocks of 

 goods so burdensome, that (chiefly in July, Au- 

 gust, and part of September) short time was 

 adopted in the leading manufacturing districts, 

 while the effort to reduce production was fur- 

 ther helped by a strike at Bolton. By means 

 of these measures stocks were greatly reduced, 

 and the margin between cotton and goods ma- 

 terially improved so much so, at all events, 

 that it became less unremunerative to work full 

 than short time, and, with few exceptions (aside 

 from the mills closed at Bolton), short time 

 was practically abandoned by the close of Sep- 

 tember. 



The fluctuation in the price per pound of 

 middling upland cotton in the Liverpool mar- 

 ket during the year was as follows : January 

 8th, ^d. January 17th, 6ffd. ; January 20th, 

 Td. ; February 8th, &&d. ; February 13th, 6d. ; 

 March 22d, 6i<Z. ; April 27th, 5\%d. ; May 15th, 

 5fd.; June 14th, bfrA. ; July 19th, 6fd.; Au- 

 gust 23d, 5}|d.; September 29th, 6f<2. The 

 average price for the season was 6%d., against 

 6<Z. for the preceding year. 



The imports and stock of the whole of Eu- 

 rope for the past two seasons were as follows, 

 in thousands of bales : 



The estimated amount of cotton consumed 

 in Great Britain was, 1,273,256,000 Ibs. in 1876- 

 '77; 1,270,287,000 Ibs. in 1875-'76 ; 1,224,377,- 

 OOOlbs.inl874-'75; 1,259,836,000 Ibs. in 1873- 

 '74; and 1,227,453,000 Ibs. in 1872-'73. 



The following is a comparative statement 

 of the deliveries, in thousands of bales, during 

 the past seven seasons, with the weight in 

 pounds : 



