4: 
PKEFACE. 
To one and all from whom lie has received in- 
formation lie returns his sincere thants, and begs 
leave to express the hope that this volume may be 
a hand-book of intelligence on the subject of which 
it treats. The author has endeavored to present 
the most important matters connected with the pro- 
duction, distribution, and consumption of our great 
staple in a plain and systematic style^ fruited to the 
wants and wishes of the great army of industry 
occupying the country from the Atlantic to the 
Rio Grande. The Cotton question is one of deep 
and abiding importance, and it is one in which are 
involved the hopes and the interests of millions of ^ 
the human race. 
Let the Almighty blast the crop growing from 
California to China. Think of the result! Com- 
merce would drop the sceptre, manufacturers stand 
crippled, capitalists look aghast, and nake'd myriads 
cry for bread. 
But, if this be fancy's sketch, let us suppose 
another case. Let a government seek, by unjust 
legislation, to crush the only remaining hope of au 
oppressed people — to tie the hands of honest indus- 
try, to sicken the heart and madden the head of the 
toiling multitude — ^to enact the drama of Pharaoh 
and the land of Goshen— to restore, to its fullest 
extent, the policy of the lord and master of the 
