149 



of 100,000 hectares (247,000 acres) in India. Germany expects to 

 make from 50,000,000 to 60,000,000 marks (£3,000,000) value of arti- 

 ficial indigo per annum. The appearance of this artificial indigo on 

 the market, chemically similar to the chemical substance extracted 

 from the plant, brought down prices to an alarming extent. In 

 1897 the product containing 60 per cent, of pure indigo sold at 

 fr.30 per kilo. (10s. lod. per lb.), in 1883 prices came down to 

 20 fr. per kilo. (js. 2d. per lb.). Prices now ruling are 17 fr. 50c. 

 per kilo. (6s. ^d. per lb.) delivered free at consumers works. 

 It costs the manufacturer about 10 fr. per kilg. (3s. jd. per lb.) 

 Mark the profit. The plant of the Badische Anilin und Soda 

 Fabrik cost no less than £900,000. Acetic acid, one of the 

 chemical substances required in the process, which is obtained from 

 wood, is used to the extent of 2,000 tons anually. This means 

 a consumption of 130,000 cubic yards of wood. The reader of 

 these notes will thus be able to get a fair idea of the colossal 

 nature of this German enterprise, the object of which is to 

 wrest from the British Indian Empire the indigo market. With the 

 discovery of new processes of manufacture by competing German 

 firms, and inevitable lowering of prices will follow, which natural 

 indigo will find it hard to cope with. But the lowering of prices 

 will not greatly affect the German industry, for pure indigotine could 

 be sold in France at 12 fr. per killo. (4s. ^d. per lb ) at a profit. 

 There can be no question of any rise in the prices of the substance 

 it is extracted from of sufficient importance to cause a rise in in- 

 digotine, the supply of coal-tar being illimitable. The demand for 

 indigotine is already very great. One of the firms mentioned, the 

 Badische Anilin und Soda Fabrik, have sold, 1,000,000 fr. worth 

 (£40,000) of artificial indigo in one year in France. Both firms 

 now operating in France cannot keep pace with the demand. As I 

 have said above, both German firms are now manufacturing their 

 indigo in France. 



Conclusions. 



It must be confessed that the outlook for Indian growers of in- 

 digo appears black enough almost to warrant their following the 

 example of the planters in Java, who have given up indigo for 

 tobacco and sugar. 



Some importers here are of opinion that the substitution of arti- 

 ficial for natural indigo is only a matter of time. It is to the inter- 

 est of the consumers to favour a product that will put a stop to the 

 two great variations in prices of a dye owing to the nature of the 

 year's crop. They think that natural indigo will still hold its own 

 for some time against its competitor owing to its durability as a fast 

 dye. Madder had to give way to alizarine red, and cheapness, the 

 dangerous weapon in all German competitive struggles, is an in- 

 ducement very difficult to resist. If the dye will last the cloth, 

 as in cotton print and woollen fabrics not exposed, like uniforms to 

 sun and rain, what advantage can the manufacturer on the Conti- 

 nent find in a dearer though better dye, if the cheaper be more attrac- 

 tive to the eye and gives so much greater profit. 



