Title: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 5 - "Cosway" to "Coucy"
Author: Various
Language: English
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*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 5 - "Cosway" to "Coucy"" ***


Transcriber's notes:

(1) Numbers following letters (without space) like C2 were originally
      printed in subscript. When letters are subscripted, they are
      preceded by an underscore, like C_n.

(2) Characters following a carat (^) were originally printed in
      superscript.

(3) Side-notes were relocated to function as titles of their respective
      paragraphs.

(4) The following typographical errors have been corrected:

    COTTINGTON: "He signed the surrender of Oxford in July 1646, and
      being excepted from the indemnity retired abroad." 'indemnity'
      amended from 'idemnity'.

    COTTON: "Also, inside the young bolls which had been pierced a
      similar proliferation or growth of the tissue was set up ..."
      'proliferation' amended from 'poliferation'.

    COTTON: "Cotton Buying Company, which, constituted originally of
      twenty to thirty limited cotton-spinning companies ..." 'thirty'
      amended from 'thrity'.

    COTTON: "Though there are local rivalries there is nothing in
      competitive division to compare with the northern and southern
      sections in America ..." 'competitive' amended from 'cempetitive'.

    COTTON: "a good many small manufacturers exist who have little
      capital and are practically financed by their agents or customers."
      'financed' amended from 'financied'.

    COTTON MANUFACTURE: "It is calculated by Professor Hasbach that the
      daily wages of spinners are about 5/10 to 6/10 at Oldham ..."
      '6/10' amended from '6/'.

    COTTON-SPINNING MACHINERY: "Open reeling forms lease, and seven of
      these are united in one hank by a lease band which retains the
      divisions." 'lease' amended from 'leas'.



          ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA

  A DICTIONARY OF ARTS, SCIENCES, LITERATURE
           AND GENERAL INFORMATION

              ELEVENTH EDITION


            VOLUME VII, SLICE V

              Cosway to Coucy



Articles in This Slice:


  COSWAY, RICHARD                   COTTER
  COTA DE MAGUAQUE, RODRIGO         COTTESWOLD HILLS
  CÔTE-D'OR                         COTTET, CHARLES
  COTES, ROGER                      COTTII REGNUM
  CÔTES-DU-NORD                     COTTIN, MARIE
  COTGRAVE, RANDLE                  COTTINGTON, FRANCIS COTTINGTON
  CÖTHEN                            COTTON (Anglo-Indian administrators)
  COTMAN, JOHN SELL                 COTTON, CHARLES
  COTONEASTER                       COTTON, GEORGE EDWARD LYNCH
  COTOPAXI                          COTTON, JOHN
  COTRONE                           COTTON, SIR ROBERT BRUCE
  COTTA (German publishers)         COTTON
  COTTA, BERNHARD VON               COTTON MANUFACTURE
  COTTA, GAIUS AURELIUS             COTTON-SPINNING MACHINERY
  COTTABUS                          COTYS
  COTTBUS                           COUCH, DARIUS NASH
  COTTENHAM, CHARLES PEPYS          COUCY, LE CHÂTELAIN DE



COSWAY, RICHARD (c. 1742-1821), English miniature painter, was baptized
in 1742; his father was master of Blundell's school, Tiverton, where
Cosway was educated, and his uncle mayor of that town. He it was who, in
conjunction with the boy's godfather, persuaded the father to allow
Richard to proceed to London before he was twelve years old, to take
lessons in drawing, and undertook to support him there. On his arrival,
the youthful artist won the first prize given by the newly founded
Society of Arts, of the money value of five guineas. He went to Thomas
Hudson for his earliest instruction, but remained with him only a few
months, and then attended William Shipley's drawing class, where he
remained until he began to work on his own account in 1760. He was one
of the earliest members of the Royal Academy, Associate in 1770 and
Royal Academician in 1771. His success in miniature painting is said to
have been started by his clever portrait of Mrs Fitzherbert, which gave
great satisfaction to the prince of Wales, and brought Cosway his
earliest great patron. He speedily became one of the most popular
artists of the day, and his residence at Schomberg House, Pall Mall, was
a well-known aristocratic rendezvous. In 1791 he removed to Stratford
Place, where he lived in a state of great magnificence till 1821, when
after selling most of the treasures he had accumulated he went to reside
in Edgware Road. He died on the 4th of July 1821, when driving in a
carriage with his friend Miss Udney. He was buried in Marylebone New
church.

He married in 1781 Maria Hadfield, who survived him many years, and died
in Italy in January 1838, in a school for girls which she had founded,
and which she had attached to an important religious order devoted to
the cause of female education, known as the Dame Inglesi. She had been
created a baroness of the Empire on account of her devotion to female
education by the emperor Francis I. in 1834. Her college still exists,
and in it are preserved many of the things which had belonged to her and
her husband.

Cosway had one child who died young. She is the subject of one of his
most celebrated engravings. He painted miniatures of very many members
of the royal family, and of the leading persons who formed the court of
the prince regent. Perhaps his most beautiful work is his miniature of
Madame du Barry, painted in 1791, when that lady was residing in Bruton
Street, Berkeley Square. This portrait, together with many other
splendid works by Cosway, came into the collection of Mr J. Pierpont
Morgan. There are many miniatures by this artist in the royal collection
at Windsor Castle, at Belvoir Castle and in other important collections.
His work is of great charm and of remarkable purity, and he is certainly
the most brilliant miniature painter of the 18th century.

  For a full account of the artist and his wife, see _Richard Cosway,
  R.A._, by G. C. Williamson (1905).     (G. C. W.)



COTA DE MAGUAQUE, RODRIGO (d. c. 1498), Spanish poet, who flourished
towards the end of the 15th century, was born at Toledo. Little is known
of him save that he was of Jewish origin. The _Coplas de Mingo Revulgo_,
the _Coplas del Provincial_, and the first act of the _Celestina_ have
been ascribed to him on insufficient grounds. He is undoubtedly the
author of the _Dialogo entre el amor y un viejo_, a striking dramatic
poem first printed in the _Cancionero general_ of 1511, and of a
burlesque epithalamium written in 1472 or later. He abjured Judaism
about the year 1497, and is believed to have died shortly afterwards.

  See "Épithalame burlesque," edited by R. Foulché-Delbosc, in the
  _Revue hispanique_ (Paris, 1894), i. 69-72; A. Bonilla y San Martín,
  _Anales de la literatura española_ (Madrid, 1904), pp. 164-167.



CÔTE-D'OR, a department of eastern France, formed of the northern region
of the old province of Burgundy, bounded N. by the department of Aube,
N.E. by Haute-Marne, E. by Haute-Saône and Jura, S. by Saône-et-Loire,
and W. by Nièvre and Yonne. Area, 3392 sq. m. Pop. (1906) 357,959. A
chain of hills named the Plateau de Langres runs from north-east to
south-west through the centre of the department, separating the basin of
the Seine from that of the Saône, and forming a connecting-link between
the Cévennes and the Vosges mountains. Extending southward from Dijon is
a portion of this range which, on account of the excellence of its
vineyards, bears the name of Côte-d'Or, whence that of the department.
The north-west portion of the department is occupied by the calcareous
and densely-wooded district of Châtillonais, the south-west by spurs of
the granitic chain of Morvan, while a wide plain traversed by the Saône
extends over the eastern region. The Châtillonais is watered by the
Seine, which there takes its rise, and by the Ource, both fed largely by
the _douix_ or abundant springs characteristic of Burgundy. The Armançon
and other affluents of the Yonne, and the Arroux, a tributary of the
Loire, water the south-west.

The climate of Côte-d'Or is temperate and healthy; the rainfall is
abundant west of the central range, but moderate, and, in places,
scarce, in the eastern plain. Husbandry flourishes, the wealth of the
department lying chiefly in its vineyards, especially those of the
Côte-d'Or, which comprise the three main groups of Beaune, Nuits and
Dijon, the latter the least renowned of the three. The chief cereals are
wheat, oats and barley; potatoes, hops, beetroot, rape-seed, colza and a
small quantity of tobacco are also produced. Sheep and cattle-raising is
carried on chiefly in the western districts. The department has
anthracite mines and produces freestone, lime and cement. The
manufactures include iron, steel, nails, tools, machinery and other iron
goods, paper, earthenware, tiles and bricks, morocco leather goods,
biscuits and mustard, and there are flour-mills, distilleries, oil and
vinegar works and breweries. The imports of the department are
inconsiderable, coal alone being of any importance; there is an active
export trade in wine, brandy, cereals and live stock and in manufactured
goods. The Paris-Lyon-Méditerranée railway serves the department, its
main line passing through Dijon. The canal of Burgundy, connecting the
Saône with the Yonne, has a length of 94 m. in the department, while
that from the Marne to the Saône has a length of 24 m.

Côte-d'Or is divided into the arrondissements of Dijon, Beaune,
Châtillon and Semur, with 36 cantons and 717 communes. It forms the
diocese of the bishop of Dijon, and part of the archiepiscopal province
of Lyons and of the 8th military region. Dijon is the seat of the
educational circumscription (_académie_) and court of appeal to which
the department is assigned. The more noteworthy places are Dijon, the
capital, Beaune, Châtillon, Semur, Auxonne, Flavigny and Cîteaux, all
separately treated. St Jean de Losne, at the extremity of the Burgundy
canal, is famous for its brave and successful resistance in 1636 to an
immense force of Imperialists. Châteauneuf has a château of the 15th
century, St Seine-l'Abbaye, a fine Gothic abbey church, and Saulieu, a
Romanesque abbey church of the 11th century. The château of Bussy
Rabutin (at Bussy-le-Grand), founded in the 12th century, has an
interesting collection of pictures made by Roger de Rabutin, comte de
Bussy, who also rebuilt the château. Montbard, the birthplace of the
naturalist Buffon, has a keep of the 14th century and other remains of a
castle of the dukes of Burgundy. The remarkable Renaissance chapel
(1536) of Pagny-le-Château, belonging to the château destroyed in 1768,
contains the tomb of Jean de Vienne (d. 1455) and that of Jean de Longwy
(d. 1460) and Jeanne de Vienne (d. 1472), with alabaster effigies. At
Fontenay, near Marmagne, a paper-works occupies the buildings of a
well-preserved Cistercian abbey of the 12th century. At Vertault there
are remains of a theatre and other buildings marking the site of the
Gallo-Roman town of Vertilium.



COTES, ROGER (1682-1716), English mathematician and philosopher, was
born on the 10th of July 1682 at Burbage, Leicestershire, of which place
his father, the Rev. Robert Cotes, was rector. He was educated at
Leicester school, and afterward at St Paul's school, London. Proceeding
to Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1699, he obtained a fellowship in
1705, and in the following year was appointed Plumian professor of
astronomy and experimental philosophy in the university of Cambridge. He
took orders in 1713; and the same year, at the request of Dr Richard
Bentley, he published the second edition of Newton's Principia with an
original preface. He died on the 5th of June 1716, leaving unfinished a
series of elaborate researches on optics, and a large amount of
unpublished manuscript. He contributed two memoirs to the _Philosophical
Transactions_, one, "Logometria," which discusses the calculation of
logarithms and certain applications of the infinitesimal calculus, the
other, a "Description of the great fiery meteor seen on March 6th,
1716." After his death his papers were collected and published by his
cousin and successor in the Plumian chair, Dr Robert Smith, under the
title _Harmonia Mensurarum_ (1722). This work included the "Logometria,"
the trigonometrical theorem known as "Cotes' Theorem on the Circle" (see
TRIGONOMETRY), his theorem on harmonic means, subsequently developed by
Colin Maclaurin, and a discussion of the curves known as "Cotes'
Spirals," which occur as the path of a particle described under the
influence of a central force varying inversely as the cube of the
distance. In 1738 Dr Robert Smith published Cotes' _Hydrostatical and
Pneumatical Lectures_, a work which was held in great estimation. The
exceptional genius of Cotes earned encomiums from both his
contemporaries and successors; Sir Isaac Newton said, "If Mr Cotes had
lived, we should have known something."



CÔTES-DU-NORD, a maritime department of the north-west of France, formed
in 1790 from the northern part of the province of Brittany, and bounded
N. by the English Channel, E. by the department of Ille-et-Vilaine, S.
by Morbihan, and W. by Finistère. Pop. (1906) 611,506. Area, 2786 sq. m.
In general conformation, Côtes-du-Nord is an undulating plateau
including in its more southerly portion three well-marked ranges of
hills. A granitic chain, the Monts du Méné, starting in the south-east
of the department runs in a north-westerly direction, forming the
watershed between the rivers running respectively to the Channel and the
Atlantic Ocean. Towards its western extremity this chain bifurcates to
form the Montagnes Noires in the south-west and the Montagne d'Arrée in
the west of the department. The rivers of the Channel slope are the
Rance, Arguenon, Gouessan, Gouet, Trieux, Tréguier and Léguer, while the
Blavet, Meu, Oust and Aulne belong to the southern slope. Off the coast,
which is steep, rocky and much indented, are the Sept-Iles, Bréhat and
other small islands. The principal bays are those of St Malo and St
Brieuc.

The climate is mild and not subject to extremes; in the west it is
especially humid. Agriculture is more successful on the coast, where
seaweed can be used as a fertilizer, than in the interior. Cereals are
largely grown, wheat, oats and buck-wheat being the chief crops.
Potatoes, flax, mangels, apples, plums, cherries and honey are also
produced. Pasture and various kinds of forage are abundant, and there is
a large output of milk and butter. The horses of the department are in
repute. It produces slate, building-stone, lime and china-clay.
Flour-mills, saw-mills, sardine factories, tanneries, iron-works,
manufactories of polish, boat-building yards, and rope-works employ many
of the inhabitants, and cloth, agricultural implements and nails are
manufactured. The chief imports are coal, wood and salt. Exports include
agricultural products (eggs, butter, vegetables, &c.), horses, flax and
fish. The chief commercial ports are Le Légué and Paimpol; and Paimpol
also equips a large fleet for the Icelandic fisheries. The coast fishing
is important and large quantities of sardines are preserved. The
department is served by the Ouest-État railway; its chief waterway is
the canal from Nantes to Brest which traverses it for 73 m.

Côtes-du-Nord is divided into the five arrondissements of St Brieuc,
Dinan, Guingamp, Lannion and Loudéac, which contain 48 cantons and 390
communes. Bas Breton is spoken in the arrondissements of Guingamp and
Lannion, and in part of those of Loudéac and St Brieuc. The department
belongs to the ecclesiastical province, the académie (educational
division), and the appeal court of Rennes, and in the region of the X.
army corps. St Brieuc, Dinan, Guingamp, Lamballe, Paimpol and Tréguier,
the more noteworthy towns, are separately treated. Extensive remains of
an abbey of the Premonstratensian order, dating chiefly from the 13th
century, exist at Kerity; and Lehon has remains of a priory, which dates
from the same period. The department is rich in interesting churches,
among which those of Ploubezre (12th, 14th and 16th centuries),
Perros-Guirec (12th century), Plestin-les-Grèves (16th century) and
Lanleff (12th century) may be mentioned. The church of St Mathurin at
Moncontour, which is a celebrated place of pilgrimage, contains fine
stained glass of the 16th century, and the mural paintings of the chapel
of Kermaria-an-Isquit near Plouha, which belongs to the 13th and 14th
centuries, are celebrated. Near Lannion (pop. 5336), itself a
picturesque old town, is the ruined castle of Tonquédec, built in the
14th century and sometimes known as "the Pierrefonds of Brittany," owing
to its resemblance to the more famous castle. At Corseul are a temple
and other Roman remains.



COTGRAVE, RANDLE (?-1634), English lexicographer, came of a Cheshire
family, and was educated at Cambridge, entering St John's College in
1587. He became secretary to Lord Burghley, and in 1611 published his
French-English dictionary (2nd ed., 1632), a work of real historical
importance in lexicography, and still valuable in spite of such errors
as were due to contemporary want of exact scholarship.



CÖTHEN, or KÖTHEN, a town of Germany, in the duchy of Anhalt on the
Ziethe, at the junction of several railway lines, 42 m. N.W. of Leipzig
by rail. Pop. (1905) 22,978. It consists of an old and a new town with
four suburbs. The former palace of the dukes of Anhalt-Cöthen, in the
old town, has fine gardens and contains collections of pictures and
coins, the famous ornithological collection of Johann Friedrich Naumann
(1780-1857), and a library of some 20,000 volumes. Of the churches the
Lutheran Jakobskirche (called the cathedral), a Gothic building with
some fine old stained glass, is noteworthy. Besides the usual classical
and modern schools (Gymnasium and Realschule) Cöthen possesses a
technical institute, a school of gardening and a school of forestry. The
industries include iron-founding and the manufacture of agricultural and
other machinery, malt, beet-root sugar, leather, spirits, &c.; a
tolerably active trade is carried on in grain, wool, potatoes and
vegetables. Among others, there is a monument to Sebastian Bach, who was
music director here from 1717 to 1723.

In the 10th century Cöthen was a Slav settlement, which was captured and
destroyed by the German king Henry I. in 927. By the 12th century it had
secured town rights and become a considerable centre of trade in
agricultural produce. In 1300 it was burned by the margrave of Meissen.
In 1547 the town was taken from its prince, Wolfgang (a cadet of the
house of Anhalt), who had joined the league of Schmalkalden, and given
by the emperor Charles V., with the rest of the prince's possessions, to
the Spanish general and painter, Felipe Ladron y Guevara (1510-1563),
from whom it was, however, soon repurchased. Hahnemann, the founder of
homoeopathy, lived and worked in Cöthen. From 1603 to 1847 Cöthen was
the capital of the principality, later duchy, of Anhalt-Cöthen.



COTMAN, JOHN SELL (1782-1842), English landscape-painter and etcher, son
of a well-to-do silk mercer, was born at Norwich on the 16th of May
1782. He showed a talent for art and was sent to London to study, where
he became the friend of Turner, T. Girtin and other artists. He first
exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1800. In 1807 he went back to Norwich
and joined the Norwich Society of Artists, of which in 1811 he became
president. In 1825 he was made an associate of the Society of Painters
in Water-colours; in 1834 he was appointed drawing-master at King's
College, London; and in 1836 he was elected a member of the Institute of
British Architects. He died in London on the 24th of July 1842. Cotman's
work was not considered of much importance in his own day, and his
pictures only procured small prices; but he now ranks as one of the
great figures of the Norwich school. He was a fine draughtsman, and a
remarkable painter both in oil and water-colour. One of his paintings is
in the National Gallery. His fine architectural etchings, published in a
series of volumes, the result of tours in Norfolk and Normandy, are
valuable records of his interest in archaeology. He married early in
life, and had five children, his sons, Miles Edmund (1810-1858) and
Joseph John (1814-1878), both becoming landscape-painters of merit; and
his younger brother Henry's son, Frederic George Cotman (b. 1850), the
water-colour artist, continued the family reputation.



COTONEASTER, a genus of the rose family (Rosaceae), containing about
twenty species of shrubs and small trees, natives of Europe, North
Africa and temperate Asia. C. _vulgaris_ is native on the limestone
cliffs of the Great Orme in North Wales. Several species are grown in
shrubberies and borders, or as wall plants, mainly for their clusters of
bright red or yellow berry-like fruits. Plants are easily raised by
seeds, cuttings or layers, and grow well in ordinary soil.



COTOPAXI, a mountain of the Andes, in Ecuador, South America, 35 m.
S.S.E. of Quito, remarkable as the loftiest active volcano in the world.
The earliest outbursts on record took place in 1532 and 1533; and since
then the eruptions have been both numerous and destructive. Among the
most important are those of 1744, 1746, 1766, 1768 and 1803. In 1744 the
thunderings of the volcano were heard at Honda on the Rio Magdalena,
about 500 m. distant; in 1768 the quantity of ashes ejected was so great
that it covered all the lesser vegetation as far as Riobamba; and in
1803 Humboldt reports that at the port of Guayaquil, 160 m. from the
crater, he heard the noise day and night like continued discharges of a
battery. There were considerable outbursts in 1851, 1855, 1856, 1864 and
1877. In 1802 Humboldt made a vain attempt to scale the cone, and
pronounced the enterprise impossible; and the failure of Jean Baptiste
Boussingault in 1831, and the double failure of M. Wagner in 1858,
seemed to confirm his opinion. In 1872, however, Dr Wilhelm Reiss
succeeded on the 27th and 28th of November in reaching the top; in the
May of the following year the same feat was accomplished by Dr A.
Stübel, and he was followed by T. Wolf in 1877, M. von Thielmann in 1878
and Edward Whymper in 1880.

Cotopaxi is frequently described as one of the most beautiful mountain
masses of the world, rivalling the celebrated Fujiyama of Japan in its
symmetry of outline, but overtopping it by more than 7000 ft. It is more
than 15,000 ft. higher than Vesuvius, over 7000 ft. higher than
Teneriffe, and nearly 2000 ft. higher than Popocatepetl. Its slope,
according to Orton, is 30°, according to Wagner 29°, the north-western
side being slightly steeper than the south-eastern. The apical angle is
122° 30'. The snowfall is heavier on the eastern side of the cone which
is permanently covered, while the western side is usually left bare, a
phenomenon occasioned by the action of the moist trade winds from the
Atlantic. Its height according to Whymper is 19,613 ft., and its crater
is 2300 ft. in diameter from N. to S., 1650 ft. from E. to W., and has
an approximate depth of 1200 ft. It is bordered by a rim of trachytic
rock, forming a black coronet above the greyish volcanic dust and sand
which covers its sides to a great depth. Whymper found snow and ice
under this sand. On the southern slope, at a height of 15,059 ft., is a
bare cone of porphyritic andesite called _El Picacho_, "the beak," or
_Cabeza del Inca_, "the Inca's head," with dark cliffs rising fully 1000
ft., which according to tradition is the original summit of the volcano
blown off at the first-known eruption of 1532. The summit of Cotopaxi is
usually enveloped in clouds; and even in the clearest month of the year
it is rarely visible for more than eight or ten days. Its eruptions
produce enormous quantities of pumice, and deep layers of mud, volcanic
sand and pumice surround it on the plateau. Of the air currents about
and above Cotopaxi, Wagner says (_Naturw. Reisen im trop. Amerika_, p.
514): "On the Tacunga Plateau, at a height of 8000 Paris feet, the
prevailing direction of the wind is meridional, usually from the south
in the morning, and frequently from the north in the evening; but over
the summit of Cotopaxi, at a height of 18,000 ft., the north-west wind
always prevails throughout the day. The gradually-widening volcanic
cloud continually takes a south-eastern direction over the rim of the
crater; at a height, however, of about 21,000 ft. it suddenly turns to
the north-west, and maintains that direction till it reaches a height of
at least 28,000 ft. There are thus from the foot of the volcano to the
highest level attained by its smoke-cloud three quite distinct regular
currents of wind."



COTRONE (anc. _Croto, Crotona_), a seaport and episcopal see on the E.
coast of Calabria, Italy, in the province of Catanzaro, 37 m. E.N.E. of
Catanzaro Marina by rail, 143 ft. above sea-level. Pop. (1901) town,
7917; commune, 9545. It has a castle erected by the emperor Charles V.
and a small harbour, which even in ancient times was not good, but
important as the only one between Taranto and Reggio. It exports a
considerable quantity of oranges, olives and liquorice.



COTTA, the name of a family of German publishers, intimately connected
with the history of German literature. The Cottas were of noble Italian
descent, and at the time of the Reformation the family was settled in
Eisenach in Thuringia.

JOHANN GEORG COTTA (1) (1631-1692), the founder of the publishing house
of J. G. Cotta, married in 1659 the widow of the university bookseller,
Philipp Braun, in Tübingen, and took over the management of his
business, thus establishing the firm which was subsequently associated
with Cotta's name. On his death, in 1692, the undertaking passed to his
only son, Johann Georg (2); and on his death in 1712, to the latter's
eldest son, also named Johann Georg (3), while the second son, Johann
Friedrich (see below), became the distinguished theologian.

Although the eldest son of Johann Georg (3), Christoph Friedrich Cotta
(1730-1807), established a printing-house to the court at Stuttgart, the
business languished, and it was reserved to his youngest son, JOHANN
FRIEDRICH, FREIHERR COTTA VON COTTENDORF (1764-1832), who was born at
Stuttgart on the 27th of April 1764, to restore the fortunes of the
firm. He attended the gymnasium of his native place, and was originally
intended to study theology. He, however, entered the university of
Tübingen as a student of mathematics and law, and after graduating spent
a considerable time in Paris, studying French and natural science, and
mixing with distinguished literary men. After practising as an advocate
in one of the higher courts, Cotta, in compliance with his father's
earnest desire, took over the publishing business at Tübingen. He began
in December 1787, and laboured incessantly to acquire familiarity with
all the details. The house connexions rapidly extended; and, in 1794,
the _Allgemeine Zeitung_, of which Schiller was to be editor, was
planned. Schiller was compelled to withdraw on account of his health;
but his friendship with Cotta deepened every year, and was a great
advantage to the poet and his family. Cotta awakened in Schiller so warm
an attachment that, as Heinrich Döring tells us in his life of Schiller
(1824), when a bookseller offered him a higher price than Cotta for the
copyright of _Wallenstein_, the poet firmly declined it, replying "Cotta
deals honestly with me, and I with him." In 1795 Schiller and Cotta
founded the _Horen_, a periodical very important to the student of
German literature. The poet intended, by means of this work, to infuse
higher ideas into the common lives of men, by giving them a nobler human
culture, and "to reunite the divided political world under the banner of
truth and beauty." The _Horen_ brought Goethe and Schiller into intimate
relations with each other and with Cotta; and Goethe, while regretting
that he had already promised _Wilhelm Meister_ to another publisher,
contributed the _Unterhaltung deutscher Ausgewanderten_, the _Roman
Elegies_ and a paper on Literary Sansculottism. Fichte sent essays from
the first, and the other brilliant German authors of the time were also
represented. In 1798 the _Allgemeine Zeitung_ appeared at Tübingen,
being edited first by Posselt and then by Huber. Soon the editorial
office of the newspaper was transferred to Stuttgart, in 1803 to Ulm,
and in 1810 to Augsburg; it is now in Munich. In 1799 Cotta entered on
his political career, being sent to Paris by the Württemberg estates as
their representative. Here he made friendships which proved very
advantageous for the _Allgemeine Zeitung_. In 1801 he paid another visit
to Paris, also in a political capacity, when he carefully studied
Napoleon's policy, and treasured up many hints which were useful to him
in his literary undertakings. He still, however, devoted most of his
attention to his own business, and, for many years, made all the entries
into the ledger with his own hand. He relieved the tedium of almost
ceaseless toil by pleasant intercourse with literary men. With Schiller,
Huber, and Gottlieb Konrad Pfeffel (1736-1809) he was on terms of the
warmest friendship; and he was also intimate with Herder, Schelling,
Fichte, Richter, Voss, Hebel, Tieck, Therese Huber, Matthisson, the
brothers Humboldt, Johann Müller, Spittler and others, whose works he
published in whole or in part. In the correspondence of Alexander von
Humboldt with Varnhagen von Ense we see the familiar relations in which
the former stood to the Cotta family. In 1795 he published the
_Politischen Annalen_ and the _Jahrbücher der Baukunde_, and in 1798 the
_Damenalmanach_, along with some works of less importance. In 1807 he
issued the _Morgenblatt_, to which Schorn's _Kunstblatt_ and Menzel's
_Literaturblatt_ were afterwards added. In 1810 he removed to Stuttgart;
and from that time till his death he was loaded with honours. State
affairs and an honourable commission from the German booksellers took
him to the Vienna congress; and in 1815 he was deputy-elect at the
Württemberg diet. In 1819 he became representative of the nobility; then
he succeeded to the offices of member of committee and (1824)
vice-president of the Württemberg second chamber. He was also appointed
Prussian _Geheimrat_, and knight of the order of the Württemberg crown;
King William I. of Württemberg having already revived the ancient
nobility in his family by granting him the patent of Freiherr (Baron)
Cotta von Cottendorf. Meanwhile such publications as the _Polytechnische
Journal_, the _Hesperus_, the _Württembergische Jahrbücher_, the
_Hertha_, the _Ausland_, and the _Inland_ issued from the press. In
1828-1829 appeared the famous correspondence between Schiller and
Goethe. Cotta was an unfailing friend of young struggling men of talent.
In addition to his high standing as a publisher, he was a man of great
practical energy, which flowed into various fields of activity. He was a
scientific agriculturist, and promoted many reforms in farming. He was
the first Württemberg landholder to abolish serfdom on his estates. In
politics he was throughout his life a moderate liberal. In 1824 he set
up a steam printing press in Augsburg, and, about the same time, founded
a literary institute at Munich. In 1825 he started steamboats, for the
first time, on Lake Constance, and introduced them in the following year
on the Rhine. In 1828 he was sent to Berlin, on an important commission,
by Bavaria and Württemberg, and was there rewarded with orders of
distinction at the hands of the three kings. He died on the 29th of
December 1832 leaving a son and a daughter as coheirs.

His son, JOHANN GEORG (4), FREIHERR COTTA VON COTTENDORF (1796-1863),
succeeded to the management of the business on the death of his father,
and was materially assisted by his sister's husband, Freiherr Hermann
von Reischach. He greatly extended the connexions of the firm by the
purchase, in 1839, of the publishing business of G. J. Göschen in
Leipzig, and in 1845 of that of Vogel in Landshut; while, in 1845,
"Bible" branches were established at Stuttgart and Munich. He was
succeeded by his younger son, Karl, and by his nephew (the son of his
sister), Hermann Albert von Reischach. Under their joint partnership,
the before-mentioned firms in Leipzig and Landshut, and an artistic
establishment in Munich passed into other hands, leaving on the death of
Hermann Albert von Reischach, in 1876, Karl von Cotta the sole
representative of the firm, until his death in 1888. In 1889 the firm of
J. G. Cotta passed by purchase into the hands of Adolf and Paul Kröner,
who took others into partnership. In 1899 the business was converted
into a limited liability company.

  See Albert Schäffle, _Cotta_ (1895); _Verlags-Katalog der J. G.
  Cotta'schen Buchhandlung, Nachfolger_ (1900); and Lord Goschen's _Life
  and Times of G. J. Göschen_ (1903).

JOHANN FRIEDRICH COTTA (1701-1779), the theologian, was born on the 12th
of March 1701, the son of Johann Georg Cotta (2). After studying
theology at Tübingen he began his public career as lecturer in Jena
University. He then travelled in Germany, France and Holland, and, after
residing several years in London, became professor at Tübingen in 1733.
In 1736 he removed to the chair of theology in the university of
Göttingen, which had been instituted as a seat of learning, two years
before, by George II. of England, in his capacity as elector of Hanover.
In 1739, however, he returned, as extraordinary professor of theology,
to his Alma Mater, and, after successively filling the chairs of
history, poetry and oratory, was appointed ordinary professor of
theology in 1741. Finally he died, as chancellor of Tübingen University,
on the 31st of December 1779. His learning was at once wide and
accurate; his theological views were orthodox, although he did not
believe in strict verbal inspiration. He was a voluminous writer. His
chief works are his edition of Johann Gerhard's _Loci Theologici_
(1762-1777), and the _Kirchenhistorie des Neuen Testaments_ (1768-1773).



COTTA, BERNHARD VON (1808-1879), German geologist, was born in a
forester's lodge near Eisenach, on the 24th of October 1808. He was
educated at Freiberg and Heidelberg and from 1842 to 1874 he held the
professorship of geology in the Bergakademie of Freiberg. Botany at
first attracted him, and he was one of the earliest to use the
microscope in determining the structure of fossil plants. Later on he
gave his attention to practical geology, to the study of ore-deposits,
of rocks and metamorphism; and he was regarded as an excellent teacher.
His _Rocks classified and described: a Treatise on Lithology_
(translated by P. H. Lawrence, 1866) was the first comprehensive work on
the subject issued in the English language, and it gave great impetus to
the study of rocks in Britain. He died at Freiberg on the 14th of
September 1879.

  PUBLICATIONS.--_Geognostische Wanderungen_ (1836-1838); _Grundriss der
  Geognosie und Geologie_ (1846); _Geologische Briefe aus den Alpen_
  (1850); _Praktische Geologie_ (1852); _Geologische Bilder_ (1852, ed.
  4, 1861); _Die Gesteinslehre_ (1855, ed. 2, 1862).



COTTA, GAIUS AURELIUS (c. 124-73 B.C.), Roman statesman and orator. In
92 he defended his uncle P. Rutilius Rufus, who had been unjustly
accused of extortion in Asia. He was on intimate terms with the tribune
M. Livius Drusus, who was murdered in 91, and in the same year was an
unsuccessful candidate for the tribunate. Shortly afterwards he was
prosecuted under the _lex Varia_, directed against all who had in any
way supported the Italians against Rome, and, in order to avoid
condemnation, went into voluntary exile. He did not return till 82,
during the dictatorship of Sulla. In 75 he was consul, and excited the
hostility of the optimates by carrying a law that abolished the Sullan
disqualification of the tribunes from holding higher magistracies;
another law _de judiciis privatis_, of which nothing is known, was
abrogated by his brother. In 74 Cotta obtained the province of Gaul, and
was granted a triumph for some victory of which we possess no details;
but on the very day before its celebration an old wound broke out, and
he died suddenly. According to Cicero, P. Sulpicius Rufus and Cotta were
the best speakers of the young men of their time. Physically incapable
of rising to passionate heights of oratory, Cotta's successes were
chiefly due to his searching investigation of facts; he kept strictly to
the essentials of the case and avoided all irrelevant digressions. His
style was pure and simple. He is introduced by Cicero as an interlocutor
in the _De oratore_ and _De natura deorum_ (iii.), as a supporter of the
principles of the New Academy. The fragments of Sallust contain the
substance of a speech delivered by Cotta in order to calm the popular
anger at a deficient corn-supply.

  See Cicero, _De oratore_, iii. 3, _Brutus_, 49, 55, 90, 92; Sallust,
  _Hist. Frag._; Appian, _Bell. Civ._ i. 37.

His brother, LUCIUS AURELIUS COTTA, when praetor in 70 B.C. brought in a
law for the reform of the jury lists, by which the judices were to be
eligible, not from the senators exclusively as limited by Sulla, but
from senators, equites and _tribuni aerarii_. One-third were to be
senators, and two-thirds men of equestrian census, one-half of whom must
have been _tribuni aerarii_, a body as to whose functions there is no
certain evidence, although in Cicero's time they were reckoned by
courtesy amongst the equites. In 66 Cotta and L. Manlius Torquatus
accused the consuls-elect for the following year of bribery in connexion
with the elections; they were condemned, and Cotta and Torquatus chosen
in their places. After the suppression of the Catilinarian conspiracy,
Cotta proposed a public thanksgiving for Cicero's services, and after
the latter had gone into exile, supported the view that there was no
need of a law for his recall, since the law of Clodius was legally
worthless. He subsequently attached himself to Caesar, and it was
currently reported that Cotta (who was then quindecimvir) intended to
propose that Caesar should receive the title of king, it being written
in the books of fate that the Parthians could only be defeated by a
king. Cotta's intention was not carried out in consequence of the murder
of Caesar, after which he retired from public life.

  See Cicero, Orelli's _Onomasticon_; Sallust, _Catiline_, 18;
  Suetonius, _Caesar_, 79; Livy, _Epit._ 97; Vell. Pat. ii. 32; Dio
  Cassius xxxvi. 44, xxxvii. 1.



COTTABUS (Gr. [Greek: kottabos]), a game of skill for a long time in
great vogue at ancient Greek drinking parties, especially in the 4th and
5th centuries B.C. It is frequently alluded to by the classical writers
of the period, and not seldom depicted on ancient vases. The object of
the player was to cast a portion of wine left in his drinking cup in
such a way that, without breaking bulk in its passage through the air,
it should reach a certain object set up as a mark, and there produce a
distinct noise by its impact. Both the wine thrown and the noise made
were called [Greek: latax]. The thrower, in the ordinary form of the
game, was expected to retain the recumbent position that was usual at
table, and, in flinging the cottabus, to make use of his right hand
only. To succeed in the aim no small amount of dexterity was required,
and unusual ability in the game was rated as high as corresponding
excellence in throwing the javelin. Not only was the cottabus the
ordinary accompaniment of the festal assembly, but at least in Sicily a
special building of a circular form was sometimes erected so that the
players might be easily arranged round the basin, and follow each other
in rapid succession. Like all games in which the element of chance found
a place, it was regarded as more or less ominous of the future success
of the players, especially in matters of love; and the excitement was
sometimes further augmented by some object of value being staked on the
event.

Various modifications of the original principle of the game were
gradually introduced, but for practical purposes we may reckon two
varieties, (1) In the [Greek: Kottabos di oxybaphôn] shallow saucers
([Greek: oxybapha]) were floated in a basin or mixing-bowl filled with
water; the object was to sink the saucers by throwing the wine into
them, and the competitor who sank the greatest number was considered
victorious, and received the prize, which consisted of cakes or
sweetmeats. (2) [Greek: Kottabos kataktos][1] is not so easy to
understand, although there is little doubt as to the apparatus. This
consisted of a [Greek: rhabdos] or bronze rod; a [Greek: plastinx], a
small disk or basin, resembling a scale-pan; a larger disk ([Greek:
lekanis]); and (in most cases) a small bronze figure called [Greek:
manês]. The discovery (by Professor Helbig in 1886) of two sets of
actual apparatus near Perugia and various representations on vases help
to elucidate the somewhat obscure accounts of the method of playing the
game contained in the scholia and certain ancient authors who, it must
not be forgotten, wrote at a time when the game itself had become
obsolete, and cannot therefore be looked to for a trustworthy
description of it.

The first specimen of the apparatus found at Perugia resembles a
candelabrum on a base, tapering towards the top, with a blunt end, on
which the small disk (found near the rod), which has a hole near the
edge and is slightly hollow in the middle, could be balanced. At about a
third of the height of the rod is a large disk with a hole in the centre
through which the rod runs; in a socket at the top is a small bronze
figure, with right arm and right leg uplifted. In the second specimen
there is no large disk, and the figure is holding up what is apparently
a rhyton or drinking-horn.

According to Prof. Helbig in _Mittheilungen des deutschen
archäologischen Instituts_ (Römische Abtheilung i., 1886) three games
were played with this apparatus. In the first the smaller disk was
placed on the top of the rod, and the object of the player was to
dislodge it with a cast of the wine, so that it would fall with a
clatter on the larger disk below. In the second (as in the third) the
bronze figure was used; the smaller disk was placed above the figure,
upon which it fell when hit, and thence on to the larger disk below. In
the third, there was no smaller disk; the wine was thrown at the figure,
and fell on to the larger disk underneath. Another supposed variety, in
which two scales were balanced in such a manner that the weight of the
liquid cast into either scale caused it to dip down and touch the top of
an image placed under each, probably had no real existence, but is due
to a confusion of the [Greek: plastinx] with a scale-pan by reason of
its shape. The game appears to have been of Sicilian origin, but it
spread through Greece from Thessaly to Rhodes, and was especially
fashionable at Athens. Dionysius, Alcaeus, Anacreon, Pindar,
Bacchylides, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, Antiphanes,
make frequent and familiar allusion to the [Greek: kottabos]; but in the
writers of the Roman and Alexandrian period such reference as occurs
shows that the fashion had died out. In Latin literature it is almost
entirely unknown.

  The most complete treatise on the subject is C. Sartori's _Das
  Kottabos-Spiel der alten Griechen_ (1893), in which a full
  bibliography of ancient and modern authorities is given. English
  readers may be referred to an article by A. Higgins on "Recent
  Discoveries of the Apparatus used in playing the Game of Kottabos"
  (_Archaeologia_, li. 1888); see also "Kottabos" in Daremberg and
  Saglio's _Dictionnaire des antiquités_, and L. Becq de Fouquières,
  _Les Jeux des anciens_ (1873).


FOOTNOTE:

  [1] The epithet [Greek: kataktos] (let down) may refer to
    the rod, which might be raised or lowered as required; to the lower
    disk, which might be moved up and down the stem; to the moving up and
    down of the scales, in the supposed variety of the game mentioned
    below.



COTTBUS, a town of Germany, in the kingdom of Prussia, on the Spree, 72
m. S.E. of Berlin by the main railway to Görlitz, and at the
intersection of the lines Halle-Sagan and Grossenhain-Frankfort-on-Oder.
Pop. (1905) 46,269. It has four Protestant churches, a Roman Catholic
church and a synagogue. The chief industry of the town is the
manufacture of cloth, which has flourished here for centuries and now
employs more than 6000 hands. Wool-spinning, cotton-spinning and the
manufacture of tobacco, machinery, beer, brandy, &c., are also carried
on. The town is also a considerable trading centre, and is the seat of a
chamber of commerce and of a branch of the Imperial Bank (_Reichsbank_).
In the Stadtwald, close to the town, is a women's hospital for diseases
of the lungs, a government institution in connexion with the state
system of insurance against incapacity and old age. At Branitz, a
neighbouring village, are the magnificent château and park of Prince
Pückler-Muskau.

At one time Cottbus formed an independent lordship of the Empire, but in
1462 it passed by the treaty of Guben to Brandenburg. From 1807 to 1813
it belonged to the kingdom of Saxony.



COTTENHAM, CHARLES CHRISTOPHER PEPYS, 1st EARL OF (1781-1851), lord
chancellor of England, was born in London on the 29th of April 1781. He
was the second son of Sir William W. Pepys, a master in chancery, who
was descended from John Pepys, of Cottenham, Cambridgeshire, a
great-uncle of Samuel Pepys, the diarist. Educated at Harrow and Trinity
College, Cambridge, Pepys was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in
1804. Practising at the chancery bar, his progress was extremely slow,
and it was not till twenty-two years after his call that he was made a
king's counsel. He sat in parliament, successively, for Higham Ferrars
and Malton, was appointed solicitor-general in 1834, and in the same
year became master of the rolls. On the formation of Lord Melbourne's
second administration in April 1835, the great seal was for a time in
commission, but eventually Pepys, who had been one of the commissioners,
was appointed lord chancellor (January 1836) with the title of Baron
Cottenham. He held office until the defeat of the ministry in 1841. In
1846 he again became lord chancellor in Lord John Russell's
administration. His health, however, had been gradually failing, and he
resigned in 1850. Shortly before his retirement he had been created
Viscount Crowhurst and earl of Cottenham. He died at Pietra Santa, in
the duchy of Lucca, on the 29th of April 1851.

Both as a lawyer and as a judge, Lord Cottenham was remarkable for his
mastery of the principles of equity. An indifferent speaker, he
nevertheless adorned the bench by the soundness of his law and the
excellence of his judgments. As a politician he was somewhat of a
failure, while his only important contribution to the statute-book was
the Judgments Act 1838, which amended the law for the relief of
insolvent debtors.

The title of earl of Cottenham descended in turn to two of the earl's
sons, Charles Edward (1824-1863), and William John (1825-1881), and then
to the latter's son, Kenelm Charles Edward (b. 1874).

  AUTHORITIES.--Campbell, _Lives of the Lord Chancellors_ (1869); E.
  Foss, _The Judges of England_ (1848-1864); E. Manson, _Builders of our
  Law_ (1904); J. B. Atlay, _The Victorian Chancellors_ (1906).



COTTER, COTTAR, or COTTIER, a word derived from the Latin _cota_, a cot
or cottage, and used to describe a man who occupies a cottage and
cultivates a small plot of land. This word is often employed to
translate the _cotarius_ of Domesday Book, a class whose exact status
has been the subject of some discussion, and is still a matter of doubt.
According to Domesday the _cotarii_ were comparatively few, numbering
less than seven thousand, and were scattered unevenly throughout
England, being principally in the southern counties; they were occupied
either in cultivating a small plot of land, or in working on the
holdings of the _villani_. Like the _villani_, among whom they were
frequently classed, their economic condition may be described as "free
in relation to every one except their lord."

  See F. W. Maitland, _Domesday Book and Beyond_ (Cambridge, 1897); and
  P. Vinogradoff, _Villainage in England_ (Oxford, 1892).



COTTESWOLD HILLS, or COTSWOLDS, a range of hills in the western midlands
of England. The greater part lies in Gloucestershire, but the system
covered by the name also extends into Worcestershire, Warwickshire,
Oxfordshire, Wiltshire and Somersetshire. It extends on a line from N.E.
to S.W., forming a part of the great Oolitic belt extending through the
English midlands. On the west the hills overlook the vales of Evesham,
Gloucester and Berkeley (valleys of the Worcestershire Avon and the
Severn), with a bold escarpment broken only by a few abrupt spurs, such
as Bredon hill, between Tewkesbury and Evesham. On the east they slope
more gently towards the basins of the upper Thames and the Bristol Avon.
The watershed lies close to the western line, except where the Stroud
valley, with the Frome, draining to the Severn, strikes deep into the
heart of the hills. The principal valleys are those of the Windrush,
Lech, Coln and Churn, feeders of the Thames, the Thames itself, and the
Bristol Avon. The last, wherein lie Bath and Bristol, forms the southern
boundary of the Cotteswolds; the northern is formed by the valleys of
the Evenlode (draining to the Thames) and the Stour (to the
Worcestershire Avon), with the low divide between them. The crest-line
from Bath at the south to Meon Hill at the north measures 57 m. The
breadth varies from 6 m. in the south to 28 towards the north, and the
area is some 300 sq. m. The features are those of a pleasant sequestered
pastoral region, rolling plateaus or wolds and bare uplands alternating
with deep narrow valleys, well wooded and traversed by shallow, rapid
streams. The average elevation is about 600 ft., but Cleeve Cloud above
Cheltenham in the Vale of Gloucester reaches 1134 ft., and Broadway
Hill, in the north, 1086 ft. These heights command splendid views over
the rich vales towards the distant hills of Herefordshire and the Forest
of Dean. The picturesque village of Broadway at the foot of the hill of
that name is much in favour with artists.

In the soil of the hill country is so much lime that a liberal supply of
manure is required. With this good crops of barley and oats are
obtained, and even of wheat, if the soil is mixed with clay. But the
poorest land of the hill country affords excellent pasturage for sheep,
the staple commodity of the district; and the sainfoin, which grows
wild, yields abundantly under cultivation. The Cotteswolds have been
famous for the breed of sheep named from them since the early part of
the 15th century, a breed hardy and prolific, with lambs that quickly
put on fleece, and become hardened to the bracing cold of the hills,
where vegetation is a month later than in the vales. Improved by
judicious crossing with the Leicester sheep, the modern Cotteswold has
attained high perfection of weight, shape, fleece and quality. An
impulse was given to Cotteswold farming by the chartering in 1845 of the
Royal Agricultural College at Cirencester.

A number of small market-towns or large villages lie on the outskirts of
the hills, but in the inner parts of the district villages are few. The
"capital of the Cotteswolds" is Cirencester, in the east. In the north
is Chipping Campden, its great Perpendicular church and the picturesque
houses of its wide street commemorating the wealth of its wool-merchants
between the 14th and 17th centuries. Near this town, in the parish of
Weston-sub-Edge, Robert Dover, an attorney, founded the once famous
Cotteswold games early in the 17th century. Horse-racing and coursing
were included with every sort of athletic exercise from quoits and
skittles to wrestling, cudgels and singlestick. The games were
suppressed by act of parliament in 1851.

  See _Proceedings of the Cotteswold Naturalists' Field Club, passim_;
  W. H. Hutton, _By Thames and Cotswold_ (London, 1903).



COTTET, CHARLES (1863-   ), French painter, was born at Puy. He studied
at the École des Beaux-Arts, and under Puvis de Chavannes and Roll. He
travelled and painted in Egypt, Italy, and on the Lake of Geneva, but he
made his name with his sombre and gloomy, firmly designed, severe and
impressive scenes of life on the Brittany coast. His signal success was
achieved by his painting of the triptych, "_Au pays de la mer_," now at
the Luxembourg museum. The Lille gallery has his "Burial in Brittany."



COTTII REGNUM, a district in the north of Liguria, including a
considerable part of the important road which led over the pass (6119
ft.) of the Alpis Cottia (Mont Genèvre) into Gaul. Whether Hannibal
crossed the Alps by this route is disputed, but it was certainly in use
about 100 B.C. (see PUNIC WARS). In 58 B.C. Caesar met with some
resistance on crossing it, but seems afterwards to have entered into
friendly relations with Donnus, the king of the district; he must have
used it frequently, and refers to it as the shortest route. Donnus's son
Cottius erected the triumphal arch at his capital Segusio, the modern
Susa, in honour of Augustus. Under Nero, after the death of the last
Cottius, it became a province under the title of "Alpes Cottiae," being
governed by a _procurator Augusti_, though it still kept its old name
also.



COTTIN, MARIE [called SOPHIE] (1770-1807), French novelist, _née_
Risteau (not Ristaud), was born in Paris in 1770. At seventeen she
married a Bordeaux banker, who died three years after, when she retired
to a house in the country at Champlan, where she spent the rest of her
life. In 1799 she published anonymously her _Claire d'Albe_. _Malvina_
(1801) was also anonymous; but the success of _Amélie Mansfield_ (1803)
induced her to reveal her identity. In 1805 appeared _Mathilde_, an
extravagant crusading story, and in 1806 she produced her last tale, the
famous _Élisabeth, ou les exilés de Sibérie_, the subject of which was
treated later with an admirable simplicity by Xavier de Maistre.
Sainte-Beuve asserted that she committed suicide on account of an
unfortunate attachment. This story is, however, unauthenticated. She
died at Champlan (Seine et Oise) on the 25th of April 1807.

  A complete edition of her works, with a notice by A. Petitot, was
  published, in five volumes, in 1817.



COTTINGTON, FRANCIS COTTINGTON, BARON (1578-1652), English lord
treasurer and ambassador, was the fourth son of Philip Cottington of
Godmonston in Somersetshire. According to Hoare, his mother was Jane,
daughter of Thomas Biflete, but according to Clarendon "a Stafford
nearly allied to Sir Edward Stafford," through whom he was recommended
to Sir Charles Cornwallis, ambassador to Spain, becoming a member of his
suite and acting as English agent on the latter's recall, from 1609 to
1611. In 1612 he was appointed English consul at Seville. Returning to
England, he was made a clerk of the council in September 1613. His
Spanish experience rendered him useful to the king, and his bias in
favour of Spain was always marked. He seems to have promoted the Spanish
policy from the first, and pressed on Gondomar, the Spanish ambassador,
the proposal for the Spanish in opposition to the French marriage for
Prince Charles. He was a Roman Catholic at least at heart, becoming a
member of that communion in 1623, returning to Protestantism, and again
declaring himself a Roman Catholic in 1636, and supporting the cause of
the Roman Catholics in England. In 1616 he went as ambassador to Spain,
making in 1618 James's proposal of mediation in the dispute with the
elector palatine. After his return he was appointed secretary to the
prince of Wales in October 1622, and was knighted and made a baronet in
1623. He strongly disapproved of the prince's expedition to Spain, as an
adventure likely to upset the whole policy of marriage and alliance, but
was overruled and chosen to accompany him. His opposition greatly
incensed Buckingham, and still more his perseverance in the Spanish
policy after the failure of the expedition, and on Charles's accession
Cottington was through his means dismissed from all his employments and
forbidden to appear at court. The duke's assassination, however, enabled
him to return. On the 12th of November 1628 he was made a privy
councillor, and in March 1629 appointed chancellor of the exchequer. In
the autumn he was again sent ambassador to Spain; he signed the treaty
of peace of the 5th of November 1630, and subsequently a secret
agreement arranging for the partition of Holland between Spain and
England in return for the restoration of the Palatinate. On the 10th of
July 1631 he was created Baron Cottington of Hanworth in Middlesex.

In March 1635 he was appointed master of the court of wards, and his
exactions in this office were a principal cause of the unpopularity of
the government. He was also appointed a commissioner for the treasury,
together with Laud. Between Cottington and the latter there sprang up a
fierce rivalry. In these personal encounters Cottington had nearly
always the advantage, for he practised great reserve and possessed great
powers of self-command, an extraordinary talent for dissembling and a
fund of humour. Laud completely lacked these qualities, and though
really possessing much greater influence with Charles, he was often
embarrassed and sometimes exposed to ridicule by his opponent. The aim
of Cottington's ambition was the place of lord treasurer, but Laud
finally triumphed and secured it for his own nominee, Bishop Juxon, when
Cottington became "no more a leader but meddled with his particular
duties only."[1] He continued, however, to take a large share in public
business and served on the committees for foreign, Irish and Scottish
affairs. In the last, appointed in July 1638, he supported the war, and
in May 1640, after the dismissal of the Short Parliament, he declared it
his opinion that at such a crisis the king might levy money without the
Parliament. His attempts to get funds from the city were unsuccessful,
and he had recourse instead to a speculation in pepper. He had been
appointed constable of the Tower, and he now prepared the fortress for a
siege. In the trial of Strafford in 1641 Cottington denied on oath that
he had heard him use the incriminating words about "reducing this
kingdom." When the parliamentary opposition became too strong to be any
longer defied, Cottington, as one of those who had chiefly incurred
their hostility, hastened to retire from the administration, giving up
the court of wards in May 1641 and the chancellorship of the exchequer
in January 1642. He rejoined the king in 1643, took part in the
proceedings of the Oxford parliament, and was made lord treasurer on the
3rd of October 1643. He signed the surrender of Oxford in July 1646, and
being excepted from the indemnity retired abroad. He joined Prince
Charles at the Hague in 1648, and became one of his counsellors. In
1649, together with Hyde, Cottington went on a mission to Spain to
obtain help for the royal cause, having an interview with Mazarin at
Paris on the way. They met, however, with an extremely ill reception,
and Cottington found he had completely lost his popularity at the
Spanish court, one cause being his shortcomings and waverings in the
matter of religion. He now announced his intention of remaining in Spain
and of keeping faithful to Roman Catholicism, and took up his residence
at Valladolid, where he was maintained by the Jesuits. He died there on
the 19th of June 1652, his body being subsequently buried in Westminster
Abbey. He had amassed a large fortune and built two magnificent houses
at Hanworth and Founthill. Cottington was evidently a man of
considerable ability, but the foreign policy pursued by him was opposed
to the national interests and futile in itself. According to Clarendon's
verdict "he left behind him a greater esteem of his parts than love of
his person." He married in 1623 Anne, daughter of Sir William Meredith
and widow of Sir Robert Brett. All his children predeceased him, and his
title became extinct at his death.

  BIBLIOGRAPHY.--Article in the _Dict. of Nat. Biography_ and
  authorities there quoted; Clarendon's _Hist. of the Rebellion,
  passim_, and esp. xiii. 30 (his character), and xii., xiii. (account
  of the Spanish mission in 1649); Clarendon's _State Papers and Life_;
  Strafford's _Letters_; Gardiner's _Hist. of England and of the
  Commonwealth_; Hoare's _Wiltshire_; Laud's _Works_, vols, iii.-vii.;
  Winwood's _Memorials: A Refutation of a False and Impious Aspersion
  cast on the late Lord Cottington_; Dart, _Westmonasterium_, i. 181
  (epitaph and monument).     (P. C. Y.)


FOOTNOTE:

  [1] Strafford's _Letters_, ii. 52.



COTTON, the name of a well-known family of Anglo-Indian administrators,
of whom the following are the most notable.

SIR ARTHUR THOMAS COTTON (1803-1899), English engineer, tenth son of
Henry Calveley Cotton, was born on the 15th of May 1803, and was
educated at Addiscombe. He entered the Madras engineers in 1819, served
in the first Burmese war (1824-26), and in 1828 began his life-work on
the irrigation works of southern India. He constructed works on the
Cauvery, Coleroon, Godavari and Kistna rivers, making anicuts (dams) on
the Coleroon (1836-1838) for the irrigation of the Tanjore, Trichinopoly
and South Arcot districts; and on the Godivari (1847-1852) for the
irrigation of the Godavari district. He also projected the anicut on the
Kistna (Krishna), which was carried out by other officers. Before the
beginning of his work Tanjore and the adjoining districts were
threatened with ruin from lack of water; on its completion they became
the richest part of Madras, and Tanjore returned the largest revenue of
any district in India. He was the founder of the school of Indian
hydraulic engineering, and carried out much of his work in the face of
opposition and discouragement from the Madras government; though, in the
minute of the 15th of May 1858, that government paid an ample tribute to
the genius of Cotton's "master mind." He was knighted in 1861. Sir
Arthur Cotton believed in the possibility of constructing a complete
system of irrigation and navigation canals throughout India, and devoted
the whole of a long life to the partial realization of this project. He
died on the 24th of July 1899.

  See Lady Hope, _General Sir Arthur Cotton_ (1900).

SIR HENRY JOHN STEDMAN COTTON (1845-   ), Anglo-Indian administrator,
son of J. J. Cotton of the Madras Civil Service, was born on the 13th of
September 1845, and was educated at Magdalen College school and King's
College, London. He entered the Bengal Civil Service in 1867, and held
various appointments of increasing importance until he became chief
secretary to the Bengal government (1891-1896), acting home secretary to
the government of India (1896), and chief commissioner of Assam
(1896-1902). He retired in 1902, and soon became known as the leading
English champion of the Indian nationalists. In 1906 he entered
parliament as Liberal member for East Nottingham. He was the author of
_New India_ (1885; revised 1904-1907).

His brother, JAMES SUTHERLAND COTTON (1847-   ), was born in India on
the 17th of July 1847, and was educated at Magdalen College school and
Trinity College, Oxford. For many years he was editor of the _Academy_;
he published various works on Indian subjects, and was the English
editor of the revised edition of the _Imperial Gazetteer of India_
(1908).



COTTON, CHARLES (1630-1687), English poet, the translator of Montaigne,
was born at Beresford in Staffordshire on the 28th of April 1630. His
father, Charles Cotton, was a man of marked ability, and counted among
his friends Ben Jonson, John Selden, Sir Henry Wotton and Izaak Walton.
The son was apparently not sent to the university, but he had as tutor
Ralph Rawson, one of the fellows ejected from Brasenose College, Oxford,
in 1648. Cotton travelled in France and perhaps in Italy, and at the age
of twenty-eight he succeeded to an estate greatly encumbered by lawsuits
during his father's lifetime. The rest of his life was spent chiefly in
country pursuits, but from his _Voyage to Ireland in Burlesque_ (1670)
we know that he held a captain's commission and was ordered to that
country. His friendship with Izaak Walton began about 1655, and the fact
of this intimacy seems a sufficient answer to the charges sometimes
brought against Cotton's character, based chiefly on his coarse
burlesques of Virgil and Lucian. Walton's initials made into a cipher
with his own were placed over the door of his fishing cottage on the
Dove; and to the _Compleat Angler_ he added "Instructions how to angle
for a trout or grayling in a clear stream." He married in 1656 his
cousin Isabella, who was a sister of Colonel Hutchinson. It was for his
wife's sister, Miss Stanhope Hutchinson, that he undertook the
translation of Corneille's _Horace_ (1671). His wife died in 1670 and
five years later he married the dowager countess of Ardglass; she had a
jointure of £1500 a year, but it was secured from his extravagance, and
at his death in 1687 he was insolvent. He was buried in St James's
church, Piccadilly, on the 16th of February 1687. Cotton's reputation as
a burlesque writer may account for the neglect with which the rest of
his poems have been treated. Their excellence was not, however,
overlooked by good critics. Coleridge praises the purity and
unaffectedness of his style in _Biographia Literaria_, and Wordsworth
(_Preface_, 1815) gave a copious quotation from the "Ode to Winter." The
"Retirement" is printed by Walton in the second part of the _Compleat
Angler_. His masterpiece in translation, the _Essays of M. de Montaigne_
(1685-1686, 1693, 1700, &c.), has often been reprinted, and still
maintains its reputation; his other works include _The Scarronides, or
Virgil Travestie_ (1664-1670), a gross burlesque of the first and fourth
books of the Aeneid, which ran through fifteen editions; _Burlesque upon
Burlesque, ... being some of Lucian's Dialogues newly put into English
fustian_ (1675); _The Moral Philosophy of the Stoicks_ (1667), from the
French of Guillaume du Vair; _The History of the Life of the Duke
d'Espernon_ (1670), from the French of G. Girard; the _Commentaries_
(1674) of Blaise de Montluc; the _Planter's Manual_ (1675), a practical
book on arboriculture, in which he was an expert; _The Wonders of the
Peake_ (1681); the _Compleat Gamester_ and _The Fair one of Tunis_, both
dated 1674, are also assigned to Cotton.

  William Oldys contributed a life of Cotton to Hawkins's edition (1760)
  of the _Compleat Angler_. His _Lyrical Poems_ were edited by J. R.
  Tutin in 1903, from an unsatisfactory edition of 1689. His translation
  of Montaigne was edited in 1892, and in a more elaborate form in 1902,
  by W. C. Hazlitt, who omitted or relegated to the notes the passages
  in which Cotton interpolates his own matter, and supplied his
  omissions.



COTTON, GEORGE EDWARD LYNCH (1813-1866), English educationist and
divine, was born at Chester on the 29th of October 1813. He received his
education at Westminster school, and at Trinity College, Cambridge. Here
he joined the Low Church party, and was also the intimate friend of
several disciples of Thomas Arnold, among whom were C. J. Vaughan and W.
J. Conybeare. The influence of Arnold determined the character and
course of his life. He graduated B.A. in 1836, and became an
assistant-master at Rugby. Here he worked devotedly for fifteen years,
inspired with Arnold's spirit, and heartily entering into his plans and
methods. He became master of the fifth form about 1840 and was
singularly successful with the boys. In 1852 he accepted the appointment
of headmaster at Marlborough College, then in a state of almost hopeless
disorganization, and in his six years of rule raised it to a high
position. In 1858 Cotton was offered the see of Calcutta, which, after
much hesitation about quitting Marlborough, he accepted. For its
peculiar duties and responsibilities he was remarkably fitted by the
simplicity and strength of his character, by his large tolerance, and by
the experience which he had gained as teacher and ruler at Rugby and
Marlborough. The government of India had just been transferred from the
East India Company to the crown, and questions of education were eagerly
discussed. Cotton gave himself energetically to the work of establishing
schools for British and Eurasian children, classes which had been
hitherto much neglected. He did much also to improve the position of the
chaplains, and was unwearied in missionary visitation. His sudden death
was widely mourned. On the 6th of October 1866 he had consecrated a
cemetery at Kushtea on the Ganges, and was crossing a plank leading from
the bank to the steamer when he slipped and fell into the river. He was
carried away by the current and never seen again.

  A memoir of his life with selections from his journals and
  correspondence, edited by his widow, was published in 1871.



COTTON, JOHN (1585-1652), English and American Puritan divine, sometimes
called "The Patriarch of New England," born in Derby, England, on the
4th of December 1585. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge,
graduating B.A. in 1603 and M.A. in 1606, and became a fellow in
Emmanuel College, Cambridge, then a stronghold of Puritanism, where,
during the next six years, according to his friend and biographer, Rev.
Samuel Whiting, he was "head lecturer and dean, and Catechist," and "a
dilligent tutor to many pupils." In June 1612 he became vicar of the
parish church of St Botolphs in Boston, Lincolnshire, where he remained
for twenty-one years and was extremely popular. Becoming more and more a
Puritan in spirit, he ceased, about 1615, to observe certain ceremonies
prescribed by the legally authorized ritual, and in 1632 action was
begun against him in the High Commission Court. He thereupon escaped,
disguised, to London, lay in concealment there for several months, and,
having been deeply interested from its beginning in the colonization of
New England, he eluded the watch set for him at the various English
ports, and in July 1633 emigrated to the colony of Massachusetts Bay,
arriving at Boston early in September. On the 10th of October he was
chosen "teacher" of the First Church of Boston, of which John Wilson
(1588-1667) was pastor, and here he remained until his death on the 23rd
of December 1652. In the newer, as in the older Boston, his popularity
was almost unbounded, and his influence, both in ecclesiastical and in
civil affairs, was probably greater than that of any other minister in
theocratic New England. According to the contemporary historian, William
Hubbard, "Whatever he delivered in the pulpit was soon put into an order
of court, if of a civil, or set up as a practice in the church, if of an
ecclesiastical concernment." His influence, too, was generally
beneficent, though it was never used to further the cause of religious
freedom, or of democracy, his theory of government being given in an
oft-quoted passage: "Democracy, I do not conceyve that ever God did
ordeyne as a fitt government eyther for church or commonwealth.... As
for Monarchy and aristocracy they are both for them clearly approved,
and directed in Scripture yet so as (God) referreth the sovereigntie to
himselfe, and setteth up Theocracy in both, as the best form of
government." He naturally took an active part in most, if not all, of
the political and theological controversies of his time, the two
principal of which were those concerning Antinomianism and the expulsion
of Roger Williams. In the former his position was somewhat equivocal--he
first supported and then violently opposed Anne Hutchinson,--in the
latter he approved Williams's expulsion as "righteous in the eyes of
God," and subsequently in a pamphlet discussion with Williams,
particularly in his _Bloudy Tenent, Washed and made White in the Blood
of the Lamb_ (1647), vigorously opposed religious freedom. He was a man
of great learning and was a prolific writer. His writings include: _The
Keyes to the Kingdom of Heaven and the Power thereof_ (1644), _The Way
of the Churches of Christ in New England_ (1645), and _The Way of
Congregational Churches Cleared_ (1648), these works constituting an
invaluable exposition of New England Congregationalism; and _Milk for
Babes, Drawn out of the Breasts of Both Testaments, Chiefly for the
Spirituall Nourishment of Boston Babes in either England, but may be of
like Use for any Children_ (1646), widely used for many years, in New
England, for the religious instruction of children.

  See the quaint sketch by Cotton Mather, John Cotton's grandson, in
  _Magnalia_ (London, 1702), and a sketch by Cotton's contemporary and
  friend, Rev. Samuel Whiting, printed in Alexander Young's _Chronicles
  of the First Planters of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay from 1623 to
  1636_ (Boston, 1846); also A. W. McClure's _The Life of John Cotton_
  (Boston, 1846), a chapter in Arthur B. Ellis's _History of the First
  Church in Boston_ (Boston, 1881), and a chapter in Williston Walker's
  _Ten New England Leaders_ (New York, 1901).     (W. WR.)



COTTON, SIR ROBERT BRUCE, Bart. (1571-1631), English antiquary, the
founder of the Cottonian library, born at Denton in Huntingdonshire on
the 22nd of January 1571, was a descendant, as he delighted to boast, of
Robert Bruce. He was educated at Westminster school under William Camden
the antiquary, and at Jesus College, Cambridge. His antiquarian tastes
were early displayed in the collection of ancient records, charters and
other manuscripts, which had been dispersed from the monastic libraries
in the reign of Henry VIII.; and throughout the whole of his life he was
an energetic collector of antiquities from all parts of England and the
continent. His house at Westminster had a garden going down to the river
and occupied part of the site of the present House of Lords. It was the
meeting-place in the last years of Elizabeth's reign of the antiquarian
society founded by Archbishop Parker. In 1600 Cotton visited the north
of England with Camden in search of Pictish and Roman monuments and
inscriptions. His reputation as an expert in heraldry led to his being
asked by Queen Elizabeth to discuss the question of precedence between
the English ambassador and the envoy of Spain, then in treaty at Calais.
He drew up an elaborate paper establishing the precedence of the English
ambassador. On the accession of James I. he was knighted, and in 1608 he
wrote a _Memorial on Abuses in the Navy_, that resulted in a navy
commission, of which he was made a member. He also presented to the king
an historical _Inquiry into the Crown Revenues_, in which he speaks
freely about the expenses of the royal household, and asserts that
tonnage and poundage are only to be levied in war time, and to "proceed
out of good will, not of duty." In this paper he supported the creation
of the order of baronets, each of whom was to pay the crown £1000; and
in 1611 he himself received the title.

Cotton helped John Speed in the compilation of his _History of England_
(1611), and was regarded by contemporaries as the compiler of Camden's
_History of Elizabeth_. It seems more likely that it was executed by
Camden, but that Cotton exercised a general supervision, especially with
regard to the story of Mary queen of Scots. The presentation of his
mother's history was naturally important to James I., and Cotton himself
took a keen interest in the matter. He had had the room in Fotheringay
where Mary was executed transferred to his family seat at Connington.
Meanwhile he was enlarging his collection of documents. In 1614 Arthur
Agarde (q.v.) left his papers to him, and Camden's manuscripts came to
him in 1623. In 1615 Cotton, as the intimate of the earl of Somerset,
whose innocence he always maintained, was placed in confinement on the
charge of being implicated in the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury; he
confessed that he had acted as intermediary between Sarmiento, the
Spanish ambassador, and Somerset, and had altered the dates of
Somerset's correspondence. He was released after about eight months'
imprisonment without formal trial, and obtained a pardon on payment of
£500. His friendship with Gondomar, Spanish ambassador in England from
1613 to 1621, brought further suspicion, probably undeserved, upon
Cotton, of unduly favouring the Catholic party. From Charles I. and
Buckingham Cotton received no favour; his attitude towards the court had
begun to change, and he became the intimate friend of Sir John Eliot,
Sir Simonds d'Ewes and John Selden. He had entered parliament in 1604 as
member for Huntingdon; in 1624 he sat for Old Sarum; in 1625 for
Thetford; and in 1628 for Castle Rising, Norfolk. In the debate on
supply in 1625 Cotton provided Eliot with full notes defending the
action of the opposition in parliament, and in 1628 the leaders of the
party met at Cotton's house to decide on their policy. In 1626 he gave
advice before the council against debasing the standard of the coinage;
and in January 1628 he was again before the council, urging the summons
of a parliament. His arguments on the latter occasion are contained in
his tract entitled _The Danger in which the Kingdom now standeth and the
Remedy_. In October of the next year he was arrested, together with the
earls of Bedford, Somerset, and Clare, for having circulated, with
ironical purpose, a tract known as the _Proposition to bridle
Parliament_, which had been addressed some fifteen years before by Sir
Robert Dudley to James I., advising him to govern by force; the
circulation of this by Parliamentarians was regarded as intended to
insinuate that Charles's government was arbitrary and unconstitutional.
Cotton denied knowledge of the matter, but the original was discovered
in his house, and the copies had been put in circulation by a young man
who lived after him and was said to be his natural son. Cotton was
himself released the next month; but the proceedings in the star chamber
continued, and, to his intense vexation, his library was sealed up by
the king. He died on the 6th of May 1631, and was buried in Connington
church, Huntingdonshire, where there is a monument to his memory.

  Many of Cotton's pamphlets were widely read in manuscript during his
  lifetime, but only two of his works were printed, _The Reign of Henry
  III_. (1627) and _The Danger in which the Kingdom now Standeth_
  (1628). His son, Sir Thomas (1594-1662), added considerably to the
  Cottonian library; and Sir John, the fourth baronet, presented it to
  the nation in 1700. In 1731 the collection, which had in the interval
  been removed to the Strand, and thence to Ashburnham House, was
  seriously damaged by fire. In 1753 it was transferred to the British
  Museum.

  See the article LIBRARIES, and Edwards's _Lives of the Founders of the
  British Museum_, vol. i. Several of Cotton's papers have been printed
  under the title _Cottoni Posthuma_; others were published by Thomas
  Hearne.



COTTON (Fr. _coton_; from Arab, _qutun_), the most important of the
vegetable fibres of the world, consisting of unicellular hairs which
occur attached to the seeds of various species of plants of the genus
_Gossypium_, belonging to the Mallow order (Malvaceae). Each fibre is
formed by the outgrowth of a single epidermal cell of the testa or outer
coat of the seed.

_Botany and Cultivation._--The genus _Gossypium_ includes herbs and
shrubs, which have been cultivated from time immemorial, and are now
found widely distributed throughout the tropical and subtropical regions
of both hemispheres. South America, the West Indies, tropical Africa and
Southern Asia are the homes of the various members, but the plants have
been introduced with success into other lands, as is well indicated by
the fact that although no species of _Gossypium_ is native to the United
States of America, that country now produces over two-thirds of the
world's supply of cotton. Under normal conditions in warm climates many
of the species are perennials, but, in the United States for example,
climatic conditions necessitate the plants being renewed annually, and
even in the tropics it is often found advisable to treat them as annuals
to ensure the production of cotton of the best quality, to facilitate
cultural operations, and to keep insect and fungoid pests in check.

Microscopic examination of a specimen of mature cotton shows that the
hairs are flattened and twisted, resembling somewhat in general
appearance an empty and twisted fire hose. This characteristic is of
great economic importance, the natural twist facilitating the operation
of spinning the fibres into thread or yarn. It also distinguishes the
true cotton from the silk cottons or flosses, the fibres of which have
no twist, and do not readily spin into thread, and for this reason,
amongst others, are very considerably less important as textile fibres.
The chief of these silk cottons is kapok, consisting of the hairs borne
on the interior of the pods (but not attached to the seeds) of
_Eriodendron anfractuosum_, the silk cotton tree, a member of the
Bombacaceae, an order very closely allied to the Malvaceae.

_Classification._--Considerable difficulty is encountered in attempting
to draw up a botanical classification of the species of _Gossypium_.
Several are only known in cultivation, and we have but little knowledge
of the wild parent forms from which they have descended. During the
periods the cottons have been cultivated, selection, conscious or
unconscious, has been carried on, resulting in the raising, from the
same stock probably, in different places, of well-marked forms, which,
in the absence of the history of their origin, might be regarded as
different species. Then again, during at least the last four centuries,
cotton plants have been distributed from one country to another, only to
render still more difficult any attempt to establish definitely the
origin of the varieties now grown. Under these circumstances it is not
surprising to find that those who have paid attention to the botany of
the cottons differ greatly in the number of species they recognize.
Linnaeus described five or six species, de Candolle thirteen. Of the two
Italian botanists who in comparatively recent years have monographed the
group, Parlatore (_Le Specie dei cotoni_, 1866) recognizes seven
species, whilst Todaro (_Relazione sulla culta dei cotoni_, 1877-1878)
describes over fifty species: many of these, however, are of but little
economic importance, and, in spite of the difficulties mentioned above,
it is possible for practical purposes to divide the commercially
important plants into five species, placing these in two groups
according to the character of the hairs borne on the seeds. Sir G.
Watt's exhaustive work on _Wild and Cultivated Cotton Plants of the
World_ (1907) is the latest authority on the subject; and his views on
some debated points have been incorporated in the following account.

[Illustration: From Strasburger's _Lehrbuch der Botanik_, by permission
of Gustav Fischer.

FIG. 1.--Seed-hairs of the Cotton, _Gossypium herbaceum_. A, Part of
seed-coat with hairs; B_1, insertion and lower part; B_2, middle part;
and B_3, upper part of a hair.]

A seed of "Sea Island cotton" is covered with long hairs only, which are
readily pulled off, leaving the comparatively small black seed quite
clean or with only a slight fuzz at the end, whereas a seed of "Upland"
or ordinary American cotton bears both long and short hairs; the former
are fairly easily detached (less easily, however, than in Sea Island
cotton), whilst the latter adhere very firmly, so that when the long
hairs are pulled off the seed remains completely covered with a short
fuzz. This is also the case with the ordinary Indian and African
cottons. There remains one other important group, the so-called "kidney"
cottons in which there are only long hairs, and the seed easily comes
away clean as with "Sea Island," but, instead of each seed being
separate, the whole group in each of the three compartments of the
capsule is firmly united together in a more or less kidney-shaped mass.
Starting with this as the basis of classification, we can construct the
following key, the remaining principal points of difference being
indicated in their proper places:--

  i.  Seeds covered with long hairs only, flowers yellow, turning to red.

       A. Seeds separate.
          Country of origin, Tropical America--(1) _G. barbadense_, L.
       B. Seeds of each loculus united.
          Country of origin, S. America--(2) _G. brasiliense_, Macf.

  ii. Seeds covered with long and short hairs.

       A. Flowers yellow or white, turning to red.
              a. Leaves 3 to 5 lobed, often large. Flowers white.
                 Country of origin, Mexico--(3) _G. hirsutum_, L.
              b. Leaves 3 to 5, seldom 7 lobed. Small. Flowers yellow.
                 Country of origin, India--(4) _G. herbaceum_, L.
       B. Flowers purple or red. Leaves 3 to 7 lobed.
            Place of origin, Old World--(5) _G. arboreum_, L.

1. _G. barbadense_, Linn. This plant, known only in cultivation, is
usually regarded as native to the West Indies. Watt regards it as
closely allied to _G. vitifolium_, and considers the modern stock a
hybrid, and probably not indigenous to the West Indies. He classifies
the modern high-class Sea Island cottons as _G. barbadense_, var.
_maritima_. Whatever may be its true botanical name it is the plant
known in commerce as "Sea Island" cotton, owing to its introduction and
successful cultivation in the Sea Islands and the coastal districts of
South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. It yields the most valuable of all
cottons, the hairs being long, fine and silky, and ranging in length
from 3/8 to 2½ in. By careful selection (the methods of which are
described below) in the United States, the quality of the product was
much improved, and on the recent revival of the cotton industry in the
West Indies American "Sea Island" seed was introduced back again to the
original home of the species.

Egyptian cotton is usually regarded as being derived from the same
species. Watt considers many of the Egyptian cottons to be races or
hybrids of _G. peruvianum_, Cav. Egyptian cotton in length of staple is
intermediate between average Sea Island and average Upland. It has,
however, certain characteristics which cause it to be in demand even in
the United States, where during recent years Egyptian cotton has
comprised about 80% of all the "foreign" cottons imported. These special
qualities are its fineness, strength, elasticity and great natural
twist, which combined enable it to make very fine, strong yarns, suited
to the manufacture of the better qualities of hosiery, for mixing with
silk and wool, for making lace, &c. It also mercerizes very well. The
principal varieties of Egyptian cotton are: _Mitafifi_, the best-known
and most extensively grown, hardy and but little affected by climatic
variation. It is usually regarded as the standard Egyptian cotton; the
lint is yellowish brown, the seeds black and almost smooth, usually with
a little tuft of short green hairs at the ends. _Abassi_, a variety
comparatively recently obtained by selection. The lint is pure white,
very fine and silky, but not so strong as Mitafifi cotton. _Yannovitch_,
a variety known since about 1897, yields the finest and most silky lint
of the white Egyptian cottons. _Bamia_, yielding a brown lint, very
similar to Mitafifi, but slightly less valuable. _Ashmouni_, a variety
principally cultivated in Upper Egypt. The lint is brown and generally
resembles Mitafifi but is less valuable.

Other varieties are _Zifiri_, _Hamouli_ and _Gallini_, all of minor
importance.

2. _G. brasiliense_, Macf. (_G. peruvianum_, Engler), or kidney cotton.
Amongst the varieties of cotton which are derived from this species
appear to be Pernambuco, Maranham, Ceara, Aracaty and Maceio cottons.
The fibre is generally white, somewhat harsh and wiry, and especially
adapted for mixing with wool. The staple varies in length from 1 to
about 1½ in.

3. _G. hirsutum_, Linn. Although _G. barbadense_ yields the most
valuable cotton, _G. hirsutum_ is the most important cotton-yielding
plant, being the source of American cotton, i.e. Upland, Georgia, New
Orleans and Texas varieties. The staple varies usually in length between
¾ and 1¼ in. According to Watt there are many hybrids in American
cottons between _G. hirsutum_ and _G. mexicanum_.


4. _G. herbaceum_, Linn. Levant cotton is derived from this species. The
majority of the races of cotton cultivated in India are often referred
to this species, which is closely allied to _G. hirsutum_ and has been
regarded as identical with it. Amongst the cottons of this source are
Hinganghat, Tinnevelly, Dharwar, Broach, Amraoti (Oomras or
Oomrawattee), Kumta, Westerns, Dholera, Verawal, Bengals, Sind and
Bhaunagar. Watt dissents from this view and classes these Indian cottons
as _G. obtusifolium_ and _G. Nanking_ with their varieties. The Indian
cottons are usually of short staple (about ¾ in.), but are probably
capable of improvement.

5. _G. arboreum_, Linn. This species is often considered as indigenous
to India, but Dr Engler has pointed out that it is found wild in Upper
Guinea, Abyssinia, Senegal, etc. It is the "tree cotton" of India and
Africa, being typically a large shrub or small tree. The fibre is fine
and silky, of about an inch in length. In India it is known as Nurma or
Deo cotton, and is usually stated to be employed for making thread for
the turbans of the priests. Commercially it is of comparatively minor
importance.

The following table, summarized from the _Handbook to the Imperial
Institute Cotton Exhibition_, 1905, giving the length of staple and
value on one date (January 16, 1905), will serve to indicate the
_comparative_ values of some of the principal commercial cottons. The
actual value, of course, fluctuates greatly.

                              Length of Staple.  Value
                                   Inches.       Per lb.
  Sea Island Cotton--                             s. d.
    Carolina Sea Island             1.8           1  3
    Florida   "     "               1.8           1  0
    Georgia   "     "               1.7             11¼
    Barbados  "     "               2.0           1  3

  Egyptian Cottons--
    Yannovitch                      1.5              9¼
    Abassi                          1.5              8¾
    Good Brown Egyptian (Mitafifi)  1.2              7½

  American Cotton--
    Good middling Memphis           1.3              4-2/5
    Good middling Texas             1.0              4-1/5
    Good middling Upland            1.0              4

  Indian Cottons--
    Fine Tinnevelly                 0.8              4¼
    Fine Bhaunagar                  1.0              3-7/8
    Fine Amraoti                    1.0              3-7/8
    Fine Broach                     0.9              3-13/16
    Fine Bengal                     0.9              3-11/16
    Fine ginned Sind                0.8              3-11/16
    Good ginned Kumta               1.0              3½

The close relationship between the length of the staple and the market
price will be at once apparent.

_Cultivation._--Cotton is very widely cultivated throughout the world,
being grown on a greater or less scale as a commercial crop in almost
every country included in the broad belt between latitudes 43° N. and
33° S., or approximately within the isothermal lines of 60° F.

The cotton plant requires certain conditions for its successful
cultivation; but, given these, it is very little affected by seasonal
vicissitudes. Thus, for example, in the United States the worst season
rarely diminishes the crop by more than about a quarter or one-third;
such a thing as a "half-crop" is unknown. Various climatic factors may
cause temporary checks, but the growing and maturing period is
sufficiently long to allow the plants to overcome these disturbances.

Cotton requires for its development from six to seven months of
favourable weather. It thrives in a warm atmosphere, even in a very hot
one, provided that it is moist and that the transpiration is not in
excess of the supply of water. An idea of the requirements of the plant
will perhaps be afforded by summarizing the conditions which have been
found to give the best results in the United States.

During April (when the seed is usually sown) and May frequent light
showers, which keep the ground sufficiently moist to assist germination
and the growth of the young plants, are desired. Three to four inches of
rain per month is the average. The active growing period is from early
June to about the middle of August. During June and the first fortnight
in July plenty of sunshine is necessary, accompanied by sufficient rain
to promote healthy, but not excessive, growth; the normal rainfall in
the cotton belt for this period is about 4½ in. per month. During the
second portion of July and the first of August a slightly higher
rainfall is beneficial, and even heavy rains do little harm, provided
the subsequent months are dry and warm. The first flowers usually appear
in June, and the bolls ripen from early in August. Picking takes place
normally during September and October, and during these months dry
weather is essential. Flowering and fruiting go on continually, although
in diminishing degree, until the advent of frost, which kills the
flowers and young bolls and so puts an end to the production of cotton
for the season.

In the tropics the essential requirements are very similar, but there
the dry season checks production in much the same way as do the frosts
in temperate climates. In either case an adequate but not excessive
rainfall, increasing from the time of sowing to the period of active
growth, and then decreasing as the bolls ripen, with a dry picking
season, combined with sunny days and warm nights, provide the ideal
conditions for successful cotton cultivation. In regions where climatic
conditions are favourable, cotton grows more or less successfully on
almost all kinds of soil; it can be grown on light sandy soils, loams,
heavy clays and sandy "bottom" lands with varying success. Sandy uplands
produce a short stalk which bears fairly well. Clay and "bottom" lands
produce a large, leafy plant, yielding less lint in proportion. The most
suitable soils are medium grades of loam. The soil should be able to
maintain very uniform conditions of moisture. Sudden variations in the
amount of water supplied are injurious: a sandy soil cannot retain
water; on the other hand a clay soil often maintains too great a supply,
and rank growth with excess of foliage ensues. The best soil for cotton
is thus a deep, well-drained loam, able to afford a uniform supply of
moisture during the growing period. Wind is another important factor, as
cotton does not do well in localities subject to very high winds; and in
exposed situations, otherwise favourable, wind belts have at times to be
provided.

_Cultivation in the United States._--The United States being the most
important cotton-producing country, the methods of cultivation practised
there are first described, notes on methods adopted in other countries
being added only when these differ considerably from American practice.

The culture of cotton must be a clean one. It is not necessarily deep
culture, and during the growing season the cultivation is preferably
very shallow. The result is a great destruction of the humus of the
soil, and great leaching and washing, especially in the light loams of
the hill country of the United States. The main object, therefore, of
the American cotton-planter is to prevent erosion. Wherever the planters
have failed to guard their fields by hillside ploughing and terracing,
these have been extensively denuded of soil, rendering them barren, and
devastating other fields lying at a lower level, which are covered by
the wash. The hillsides have gradually to be terraced with the plough,
upon almost an exact level. On the better farms this is done with a
spirit-level or compass from time to time and hillside ditches put in at
the proper places. In the moist bottom-lands along the rivers it is the
custom to throw the soil up in high beds with the plough, and then to
cultivate them deep. This is the more common method of drainage, but it
is expensive, as it has to be renewed every few years. More intelligent
planters drain their bottom-lands with underground or open drains. In
the case of small plantations the difficulties of adjusting a
right-of-way for outlet ditches have interfered seriously with this
plan. Many planters question the wisdom of deepbreaking and subsoiling.
There can be no question that a deep soil is better for the
cotton-plant; but the expense of obtaining it, the risk of injuring the
soil through leaching, and the danger of bringing poor soil to the
surface, have led many planters to oppose this plan. Sandy soils are
made thereby too dry and leachy, and it is a questionable proceeding to
turn the heavy clays upon the top. Planters are, as a result, divided in
opinion as to the wisdom of subsoiling. Nothing definite can be said
with regard to a rotation of crops upon the cotton plantation. Planters
appreciate generally the value of broad-leaved and narrow-leaved plants
and root crops, but there is an absence of exact knowledge, with the
result that their practices are very varied. It is believed that the
rotation must differ with every variety of soil, with the result that
each planter has his own method, and little can be said in general. A
more careful study of the physical as well as the chemical properties of
a soil must precede intelligent experimentation in rotation. This
knowledge is still lacking with regard to most of the cotton soils. The
only uniform practice is to let the fields "rest" when they have become
exhausted. Nature then restores them very rapidly. The exhaustion of the
soil under cotton culture is chiefly due to the loss of humus, and
nature soon puts this back in the excellent climate of the
cotton-growing belt. Fields considered utterly used up, and allowed to
"rest" for years, when cultivated again have produced better crops than
those which had been under a more or less thoughtful rotation. In spite
of the clean culture, good crops of cotton have been grown on some soils
in the south for more than forty successive years. The fibre takes
almost nothing from the land, and where the seeds are restored to the
soil in some form, even without other fertilizers, the exhaustion of the
soil is very slow. If the burning-up of humus and the leaching of the
soil could be prevented, there is no reason why a cotton soil should not
produce good crops continuously for an indefinite time. Bedding up land
previous to planting is almost universal. The bed forms a warm seed-bed
in the cool weather of early spring, and holds the manure which is
drilled in usually to better advantage. The plants are generally left 2
or 3 in. above the middle of the row, which in four-foot rows gives a
slope of 1 in. to the foot, causing the plough to lean from the plants
in cultivating, and thus to cut fewer roots. The plants are usually cut
out with a hoe from 8 to 14 in. apart. It seems to make little
difference exactly what distance they are, so long as they are not wider
apart on average land than 1 ft. On rich bottom-land they should be more
distant. The seed is dropped from a planter, five or six seeds in a
single line, at regular intervals 10 to 12 in. apart. A narrow deep
furrow is usually run immediately in advance of the planter, to break up
the soil under the seed. The only time the hoe is used is to thin out
the cotton in the row; all the rest of the cultivation is by various
forms of ploughs and so-called cultivators. The question of deep and
shallow culture has been much discussed among planters without any
conclusion applicable to all soils being reached. All grass and weeds
must be kept down, and the crust must be broken after every rain, but
these seem to be the only principles upon which all agree. The most
effective tool against the weeds is a broad sharp "sweep," as it is
called, which takes everything it meets, while going shallower than most
ploughs. Harrows and cultivators are used where there are few weeds, and
the mulching process is the one desired.

The date of cotton-planting varies from March 1 to June 1, according to
situation. Planting begins early in March in Southern Texas, and the
first blooms will appear there about May 15. Planting may be done as
late as April 15 in the Piedmont region of North Carolina, and continue
as late as the end of May. The first blooms will appear in this region
about July 15. Picking may begin on July 10 in Southern Texas, and
continue late into the winter, or until the rare frost kills the plants.
It may not begin until September 10 in Piedmont, North Carolina. It is a
peculiarity of the cotton-plant to lose a great many of its blooms and
bolls. When the weather is not favourable at the fruiting stage, the
otherwise hardy cotton plant displays its great weakness in this way. It
sheds its "forms" (as the buds are called), blooms, and even half-grown
bolls in great numbers. It has frequently been noted that even
well-fertilized plants upon good soil will mature only 15 or 20% of the
bolls produced. No means are known so far for preventing this great
waste. Experts are at an entire loss to form a correct idea of the
cause, or to apply any effective remedy.

Cotton-picking is at once the most difficult and most expensive
operation in cotton production. It is paid for at the rate of from 45 to
50 cents per cwt. of seed cotton. The work is light, and is effectually
performed by women and even children, as well as men; but it is tedious
and requires care. The picking season will average 100 days. It is
difficult to get the hands to work until the cotton is fully opened, and
it is hard to induce them to pick over 100 lb. a day, though some
expert hands are found in every cotton plantation who can pick twice as
much. The loss resulting from careless work is very serious. The cotton
falls out easily or is dropped. The careless gathering of dead leaves
and twigs, and the soiling of the cotton by earth or by the natural
colouring matter from the bolls, injure the quality. It has been
commonly thought that the production of cotton in the south is limited
by the amount that can be picked, but this limit is evidently very
remote. The negro population of the towns and villages of the cotton
country is usually available for a considerable share in cotton-picking.
There is in the cotton states a rural population of over 7,000,000, more
or less occupied in cotton-growing, and capable, at the low average of
100 lb. a day, of picking daily nearly 500,000 bales. It is evident,
therefore, that if this number could work through the whole season of
100 days, they could pick three or four times as much cotton as the
largest crop ever made. Great efforts have been made to devise
cotton-picking machines, but, as yet, complete success has not been
attained. Lowne's machine is useful in specially wide-planted fields and
when the ground is sufficiently hard.

_Cotton Ginning._--The crop having been picked, it has to be prepared
for purpose of manufacture. This comprises separating the fibre or lint
from the seeds, the operation being known as "ginning." When this has
been accomplished the weight of the crop is reduced to about one-third,
each 100 lb. of seed cotton as picked yielding after ginning some 33
lb of lint and 66 lb. of cotton seed. The actual amounts differ with
different varieties, conditions of cultivation, methods of ginning, &c.;
a recent estimate in the United States gives 35% of lint for Upland
cotton and 25% for Sea Island cotton as more accurate.

The separation of lint from seed is accomplished in various ways. The
most primitive is hand-picking, the fibre being laboriously pulled from
off each seed, as still practised in parts of Africa. In modern
commercial cotton production ginning machines are always used. Very
simple machines are used in some parts of Africa. The simplest cotton
gin in extensive use is the "churka," used from early times, and still
largely employed in India and China. It consists essentially of two
rollers either both of wood, or one of wood and one of iron, geared to
revolve in contact in opposite directions; the seed cotton is fed to the
rollers, the lint is drawn through, and the seed being unable to pass
between the rollers is rejected. With this primitive machine, worked by
hand, about 5 lb. of lint is the daily output. In the Macarthy roller
gin, the lint, drawn by a roller covered with leather (preferably walrus
hide), is drawn between a metal plate called the "doctor" (fixed
tangentially to the roller and very close to it) and a blade called the
"beater" or knife, which rapidly moves up and down immediately behind,
and parallel to, the fixed plate. The lint is held by the roughness of
the roller, and the blade of the knife or beater readily detaches the
seed from the lint; the seed falls through a grid, while the lint passes
over the roller to the other side of the machine. A hand Macarthy roller
gin worked by two men will clean about 4 to 6 lb. of lint per hour. A
similar, but larger machine, requiring about 1½ horse-power to run it,
will turn out 50 to 60 lb. of Egyptian or 60 to 80 lb. of Sea Island
cleaned cotton per hour. By simple modifications the Macarthy gin can be
used for all kinds of cotton. Various attempts have been made to
substitute a comb for the knife or beater, and one of the latest
productions is the "Universal fibre gin," in which a series of blunt
combs working horizontally replace the solid beater and so-called knife
of the Macarthy gin.

Opposed to the various types of roller gins is the "saw gin," invented
by Eli Whitney, an American, in 1792. This machine, under various
modifications, is employed for ginning the greater portion of the cotton
grown in the Southern States of America. It consists essentially of a
series of circular notched disks, the so-called saws, revolving between
the interstices of an iron bed upon which the cotton is placed: the
teeth of the "saws". catch the lint and pull it off from the seeds, then
a revolving brush removes the detached lint from the saws, and creates
sufficient draught to carry the lint out of the machine to some
distance. Saw gins do considerable damage to the fibre, but for
short-stapled cotton they are largely used, owing to their great
capacity. The average yield of lint per "saw" in the United States, when
working under perfect conditions, is about 6 lb. per hour. Some of the
American ginners are very large indeed, a number (_Bulletin of the
Bureau of the Census on Cotton Production_) being reported as containing
on the average 1156 saws with an average production of 4120 bales of
cotton. Saw gins are not adapted to long-stapled cottons, such as Sea
Island and Egyptian, which are generally ginned by machines of the
Macarthy type.

The machine which will gin the largest quantity in the shortest time is
naturally preferred, unless such injury is occasioned as materially to
diminish the market value of the cotton. This has sometimes been to the
extent of 1d. or 2d. per lb. and even more as regards Sea Island and
other long-stapled cottons. The production, therefore, of the most
perfect and efficient cotton-cleaning machinery is of importance alike
to the planter and manufacturer.

_Baling._--The cotton leaves the ginning machine in a very loose
condition, and has to be compressed into bales for convenience of
transport. Large baling presses are worked by hydraulic power; the
operation needs no special description. Bales from different countries
vary greatly in size, weight and appearance. The American bale has been
described in a standard American book on cotton as "the clumsiest,
dirtiest, most expensive and most wasteful package, in which cotton or
any other commodity of like value is anywhere put up." Suggestions for
its improvement, which if carried out would (it is estimated) result in
a monetary saving of £1,000,000 annually, were made by the Lancashire
Private Cotton Investigation Commission which visited the Southern
States of America in 1906.

The approximate weights of some of the principal bales on the English
market are as follows:--

  United States           500 lb.
  Indian                  400 lb.
  Egyptian                700 lb.
  Peruvian                200 lb.
  Brazilian               200 to 300 lb.

With baling the work of the producer is concluded.

_Cultivation in Egypt._--Climatic conditions in Egypt differ radically
from those in the United States, the rainfall being so small as to be
quite insufficient for the needs of the plant, very little rain indeed
falling in the Nile Delta during the whole growing season of the crop:
yet Egypt is in order the third cotton-producing country of the world,
elaborate irrigation works supplying the crop with the requisite water.
The area devoted to cotton in Egypt is about 1,800,000 acres, and
nine-tenths of it is in the Nile Delta. The delta soil is typically a
heavy, black, alluvial clay, very fertile, but difficult to work;
admixture of sand is beneficial, and the localities where this occurs
yield the best cotton. Formerly in Egypt the cotton was treated as a
perennial, but this practice has been generally abandoned, and fresh
plants are raised from seed each year, as in America; one great
advantage is that more than one crop can thus be obtained each year. The
following rotation is frequently adopted. It should be noted that in
Egypt the year is divided into three seasons--winter, summer and "Nili."
The two first explain themselves; Nili is the season in which the Nile
overflows its banks.

  +----------------+---------------+-----------+---------------+
  |                |    Winter.    |  Summer.  |     Nili.     |
  |                +---------------+-----------+---------------+
  | First year     |Clover         |   Cotton  |      ..       |
  | Second year    |Beans or wheat |     ..    |Corn or fallow |
  +----------------+---------------+-----------+---------------+

For cotton cultivation the land is ploughed, carefully levelled, and
then thrown up into ridges about 3 ft. apart. Channels formed at right
angles to the cultivation ridges provide for the access of water to the
crop. The seeds, previously soaked, are sown, usually in March, on the
sides of the ridges, and the land watered. After the seedlings appear,
thinning is completed in usually three successive hoeings, the plants
being watered after thinning, and subsequently at intervals of from
twelve to fifteen days, until about the end of August when picking
commences. The total amount of water given is approximately equivalent
to a rainfall of about 35 in. The crop is picked, ginned and baled in
the usual way, the Macarthy style action roller gins being almost
exclusively employed.

_Cotton Seed._--The history of no agricultural product contains more of
interest and instruction for the student of economics than does that of
cotton seed in the United States. The revolution in its treatment is a
real romance of industry. Up till 1870 or thereabouts, cotton seed was
regarded as a positive nuisance upon the American plantation. It was
left to accumulate in vast heaps about ginhouses, to the annoyance of
the farmer and the injury of his premises. Cotton seed in those days was
the object of so much aversion that the planter burned it or threw it
into running streams, as was most convenient. If the seed were allowed
to lie about, it rotted, and hogs and other animals, eating it, often
died. It was very difficult to burn, and when dumped into rivers and
creeks was carried out by flood water to fill the edges of the flats
with a decaying and offensive mass of vegetable matter. Although used in
the early days to a limited extent as a food for milch cows and other
stock, and to a larger extent as a manure, no systematic efforts were
made anywhere in the South to manufacture the seed until the later
'fifties, when the first cotton seed mills were established. It is said
that there were only seven cotton oil mills in the South in 1860. The
cotton-growing industry was interrupted by the Civil War, and the
seed-milling business did not begin again until 1868. After that time
the number of mills rapidly increased. There were 25 in the South in
1870, 50 in 1880, 120 in 1890, and about 500 in 1901, about one-third
being in Texas.

Experience shows that 1000 lb. of seed are produced for every 500 lb
of cotton brought to market. On the basis, therefore, of a cotton crop
of 10,000,000 bales of 500 lb. each, there are produced 5,000,000 tons
of cotton seed. If about 3,000,000 tons only are pressed, there remain
to be utilized on the farm 2,000,000 tons of cotton seed, which, if
manufactured, would produce a total of $100,000,000 from cotton seed. In
contrast with the farmers of the 'sixties, the southern planter of the
20th century appreciates the value of his cotton seed, and farmers, too
remote from the mills to get it pressed, now feed to their stock all the
cotton seed they conveniently can, and use the residue either in compost
or directly as manure. The average of a large number of analyses of
Upland cotton seed gives the following figures for its fertilizing
constituents:--Nitrogen, 3.07%; phosphoric acid, 1.02%; potash, 1.17%;
besides small amounts of lime, magnesia and other valuable but less
important ingredients. Sea Island cotton seed is rather more valuable
than Upland: the corresponding figures for the three principal
constituents being nitrogen 3.51, phosphoric acid 1.69, potash 1.59%.
Using average prices paid for nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash when
bought in large quantities and in good forms, these ingredients, in a
ton of cotton seed, amount to $9.00 worth of fertilizing material.
Compared with the commercial fertilizer which the farmer has to buy,
cotton seed possesses, therefore, a distinct value.

The products of cotton seed have become important elements in the
national industry of the United States. The main product is the refined
oil, which is used for a great number of purposes, such as a substitute
for olive oil, mixed with beef products for preparation of compound
lard, which is estimated to consume one-third of cotton seed oil
produced in the States. The poorer grades are employed in the
manufacture of soap, candles and phonograph records. Miners' lamp oil
consists of the bleached oil mixed with kerosene. Cotton seed cake or
meal (the residue after the oil is extracted) is one of the most
valuable of feeding stuffs, as the following simple comparison between
it and oats and corn will show:--


  +-----------------+----------+--------------+-------+----------­+
  |                 | Proteins |Carbohydrates |       |Ash or Bone|
  |Average Analyses.| or Flesh | or Fuel and  | Fats. |  Makers.  |
  |                 | Formers. |Fat Suppliers.|       |           |
  +-----------------+----------+--------------+-------+----------­+
  |Cotton seed meal |   43.26  |     22.31    | 13.45 |    7.02   |
  |Corn             |   10.5   |     70.0     |  5.5  |    1.02   |
  |Oats             |   17.0   |     65.0     |  8.0  |    1.2    |
  +-----------------+----------+--------------+-------+----------­+

Cotton seed meal, though poor in carbohydrates, the fat- and
energy-supplying ingredients, is exceedingly rich in protein, the nerve-
and muscle-feeding ingredients. But it still contains a large amount of
oil, which forms animal fat and heat, and thus makes up for part of its
deficiency in carbohydrates. The meal, in fact, is so rich in protein
that it is best utilized as a food for animals when mixed with some
coarse fodder, thus furnishing a more evenly-balanced ration. In
comparative valuations of feeding stuffs it has been found that cotton
seed meal exceeds corn meal by 62%, wheat by 67%, and raw cotton seed by
26%. Cotton seed meal, in the absence of sufficient stock to consume it,
is also used extensively as a fertilizer, and for this purpose it is
worth, determining the price on the same basis as used above for the
seed, from $19 to $20 per ton. But it has seldom reached this price,
except in some of the northern states, where it is used for feeding
purposes. A more rational proceeding would be to feed the meal to
animals and apply the resulting manure to the soil. When this is done,
from 80 to 90% of the fertilizing material of the meal is recovered in
the manure, only 10 to 20% being converted by the animal into meat and
milk. The profit derived from the 20% thus removed is a very large one.
These facts indicate that we have here an agricultural product the
market price of which is still far below its value as compared, on the
basis of its chemical composition, either with other feeding stuffs or
with other fertilizers. Though it is probably destined to be used even
more extensively as a fertilizer before the demand for it as a feeding
stuff becomes equal to the supply, practically all the cotton seed meal
of the south will ultimately be used for feeding. One explanation of
this condition of things is that there is still a large surplus of
cotton seed which cannot be manufactured by the mills. Another reason is
found in the absence of cattle in the south to eat it.

With the consideration of cotton seed oil and meal we have not, however,
exhausted its possibilities. Cotton seed hulls constitute about half the
weight of the ginned seed. After the seed of Upland cotton has been
passed through a fine gin, which takes off the short lint or linters
left upon it by the farmer, it is passed through what is called a
sheller, consisting of a revolving cylinder, armed with numerous knives,
which cut the seed in two and force the kernels or meats from the
shells. The shells and kernels are then separated in a winnowing
machine. This removal of the shell makes a great difference in the
oilcake, as the decorticated cake is more nutritious than the
undecorticated. For a long time these shells or hulls, as they are
called, were burned at oil mills for fuel, 2½ tons being held equal to a
cord of wood, and 4-1/3 tons to a ton of coal. The hulls thus burned
produced an ash containing an average of 9% of phosphoric acid and 24%
of potash--a very valuable fertilizer in itself, and one eagerly sought
by growers of tobacco and vegetables. It was not long, however, before
the stock-feeder in the South found that cotton seed hulls were an
excellent substitute for hay. They are used on a very large scale in the
vicinity of oil mills in southern cities like Memphis, New Orleans,
Houston, and Little Rock, from 500 to 5000 cattle being often collected
in a single yard for this purpose. No other feed is required, the only
provision necessary being an adequate supply of water and an occasional
allowance of salt. Many thousands of cattle are fattened annually in
this way at remarkably low cost.

Careful attention is now given to the employment of the seed in new
cotton countries, and oil expression is practised in the West Indies.
Hull is the principal seat of the industry in Great Britain, and
enormous quantities of Indian and Egyptian cotton seed are imported and
worked up.

The following diagram, modified from one by Grimshaw, in accordance
with the results obtained by the better class of modern mills, gives an
interesting _résumé_ of the products obtained from a ton of cotton
seed:--

  _Products from a Ton of Cotton Seed._

                          Cotton seed, 2000 pounds.
                              +------+------------------------+------
                              |      |                        |
                              |   Linters, 23 pounds.         |
                              |   -------------------         |
                              |                               |
           Meats, 1090 pounds.                      Hulls, 888 pounds.
           --------+-----------+----                +---+------+-----
                   |           |                    |   |      |
            Cake, 800 pounds.  |                    |   |      |
            ---+---------------+                    |   |      |
               |               |                    |   |      |
             Meal.             |            Fibre.  |   |    Bran.
  -----------------------------+          -----+----+   |    --+--
  (Feeding stuff.  Fertilizer.)|               |        |      |
  -----------------------------+               |        |      |
                               |     ----------+--------+------+-------
            Crude oil, 290 pounds.   (High-grade paper.)|(Cattle food.)
            -----+-------+--------   -------------------+--------------
                 |       |                              |
         Summer Yellow.  |Soap stock.        (Fuel.)    |
  +--------+------------  +--+--------       ---+-------+-------+
  |(Winter | Cotton seed     |                  |               |
  |yellow  |  stearin.)    Soaps.             Ashes.            |
  +--------+-----------    ------             --+---       -----+-------
  |                                             |          (Cattle food)
  |                                             |          with the meal.
  |    Salad oil.                          Fertilizer.          |
  +-------------------                                   These together,
  |  Summer white.                                       a very valuable
  +-------+-----------                                       manure.
  |       |
  | Lard. |
  +-------+
  |
  | Cottolene (with beef stearin, cooking oil).
  +--------------------------------------------
  |
  | Miners' oil.
  +-------------
  |
  | Soap.
  +------

_Pests and Diseases of the Cotton Plant._

_Insect Pests._--It is common knowledge that when any plant is cultivated
on a large scale various diseases and pests frequently appear. In some
cases the pest was already present but of minor importance. As the supply
of its favourite food plant is increased, conditions of life for the pest
are improved, and it accordingly multiplies also, possibly becoming a
serious hindrance to successful cultivation. At other times the pest is
introduced, and under congenial conditions (and possibly in the absence
of some other organism which keeps it in check in its native country)
increases accordingly. Some idea of the enormous damage wrought by the
collective attacks of individually small and weak animals may be gathered
from the fact that a conservative estimate places the loss due to insect
attacks on cotton in the United States at the astounding figure of
$60,000,000 (£12,000,000) annually. Of this total no less than
$40,000,000 (£8,000,000) is credited to a small beetle, the cotton boll
weevil, and to two caterpillars. The best means of combating these
attacks depends on a knowledge of the life-histories and habits of the
pests. The following notes deal only with the practical side of the
question, and as the United States produce some seven-tenths of the
world's cotton crop attention is especially directed to the principal
cotton pests of that country. Those of other regions are only referred to
when sufficiently important to demand separate notice.

The cotton boll weevil (_Anthonomus grandis_), a small grey weevil often
called the Mexican boll weevil, is the most serious pest of cotton in
the United States, where the damage done by it in 1907 was estimated at
about £5,000,000. It steadily increased in destructiveness during the
preceding eight years. Attention was drawn to it in 1862, when it caused
the abandonment of cotton cultivation about Monclova in Mexico. About
1893 it appeared in Texas, and then rapidly spread. It is easily
transported from place to place in seed-cotton, and for this reason the
Egyptian government in 1904 prohibited the importation of American
cotton seed. Not only is the pest carried from place to place, but it
also migrates, and in 1907 it crossed from Louisiana, where it first
appeared in 1905, to Mississippi. That the insect is likely to prove
adaptable is perhaps indicated by the fact that in 1906 it made a
northward advance of about 60 m. in a season with no obvious special
features favouring the pest. Its eastern progress was also rapid. "The
additional territory infested during 1904 aggregates about 15,000,000
sq. m., representing approximately an area devoted to the culture of
cotton of 900,000 acres" (_Year-book, U.S. Dept. Agriculture_, 1904). In
1906 the additional area invaded amounted to 1,500,000 acres (_Ibid._,
1906).

The adult weevils puncture the young flower-buds and deposit eggs; and
as the grubs from the eggs develop, the bud drops. They also lay eggs
later in the year in the young bolls. These do not drop, but as the
grubs develop the cotton is ruined and the bolls usually become
discoloured and crack, their contents being rendered useless.

No certain remedy is known for the destruction on a commercial scale of
the boll weevil, but every effort has been made in the United States to
check the advance of the insect, to ascertain and encourage its natural
enemies, and to propagate races of cotton which resist its attacks.
Special interest attaches to the investigations made by Mr O. F. Cook,
of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, in Guatemala. The Indians in part of
Guatemala raise cotton, although the boll weevil is abundant.
Examination showed that although the weevil attacked the young buds
these did not drop off, but that a special growth of tissue inside the
bud frequently killed the grub. Also, inside the young bolls which had
been pierced a similar proliferation or growth of the tissue was set up,
which enveloped and killed the pest. Probably by unconscious selection
of surviving plants through long ages this type has been evolved in
Guatemala, and experiments have been made to develop weevil-resistant
races in the United States. Mr Cook also found that the boll weevil was
attacked, killed and eaten by an ant-like creature, the "kelep."
Attempts have been made to introduce this into the infested area in
Texas; but owing to the winter proving fatal to the "kelep" its
usefulness may be restricted to tropical and subtropical regions.

The cotton boll worm (_Chloridea obsoleta_, also known as _Heliothis
armiger_) is a caterpillar. The parent moth lays eggs, from which the
young "worms" hatch out. They bore holes and penetrate into flower-buds
and young bolls, causing them to drop. Fortunately the "worms" prefer
maize to cotton, and the inter-planting at proper times of maize, to be
cut down and destroyed when well infested, is a method commonly employed
to keep down this pest. Paris green kills it in its young stages before
it has entered the buds or bolls. The boll worm is most destructive in
the south-western states, where the damage done is said to vary from 2
to 60% of the crop. Taking a low average of 4%, the annual loss due to
the pest is estimated at about £2,500,000, and it occupies second place
amongst the serious cotton pests of the U.S.A. The boll worm is widely
spread through the tropical and temperate zones. It may occur in a
country without being a pest to cotton, e.g. in India it attacks various
plants but not cotton. It has not yet been reported as a cotton pest in
the West Indies.

The Egyptian boll worm (_Earias insulana_) is the most important insect
pest in Egypt and occurs also in other parts of Africa. Indian boll
worms include the same species, and the closely related _Earias fabia_,
which also occurs in Egypt.

The cotton worm (_Aletia argillacea_)--also called cotton caterpillar,
cotton army worm, cotton-leaf worm--is also one stage in the
life-history of a moth. It is a voracious creature, and unchecked will
often totally destroy a crop. In former years the annual damage done by
it in the United States was assessed at £4,000,000 to £6,000,000.
Dusting with Paris green is, however, an efficient remedy _if promptly
applied at the outset of the attack_. The annual damage was in 1906
reduced to £1,000,000 to £2,000,000, and this on a larger area devoted
to cotton than in the case of the estimate given above. It is the most
serious pest of cotton in the West Indies. The Egyptian cotton worm is
_Prodenia littoralis_.

The caterpillars ("cut worms") of various species of _Agrotis_ and other
moths occur in all parts of the world and attack young cotton. They can
be killed by spreading about cabbage leaves, &c., poisoned with Paris
green.

Locusts, green-fly, leaf-bugs, blister mites, and various other pests
also damage cotton, in a similar way to that in which they injure other
crops.

The "cotton stainers," various species of _Dysdercus_, are widely
distributed, occurring for example in America, the West Indies, Africa,
India, &c. The larvae suck the sap from the young bolls and seeds,
causing shrivelling and reduction in quantity of fibre. They are called
"stainers" because their excrement is yellow and stains the fibre; also
if crushed during the process of ginning they give the cotton a reddish
coloration. The Egyptian cotton seed bug or cotton stainer belongs to
another genus, being _Oxycarenus hyalinipennis_. Other species of this
genus occur on the west coast of Africa. They do considerable damage to
cotton seed.

_Fungoid Diseases._--"Wilt disease," or "frenching," perhaps the most
important of the fungoid disease of cotton in the United States, is due
to _Neocosmospora vasinfecta_. Young plants a few inches high are
usually attacked; the leaves, beginning with the lower ones, turn
yellow, and afterwards become brown and drop. The plants remain very
dwarf and generally unhealthy, or die. The roots also are affected, and
instead of growing considerably in length, branch repeatedly and give
rise to little tufts of rootlets. There is no method known of curing
this disease, and all that can be done is to take every precaution to
eradicate it, by pulling up and burning diseased plants, isolating the
infected area by means of trenches, and avoiding growing cotton, or an
allied plant such as the ochro (_Hibiscus esculentus_), in the field.
Fortunately the careful work of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and
of planters such as Mr E. L. Rivers of James Island, South Carolina, has
resulted in the production of disease-resistant races. In one instance
Mr Rivers found one healthy plant in a badly affected field. The seed
was saved and gave rise to a row of plants all of which grew healthily
in an infected field, whereas 95% of ordinary Sea Island cotton plants
from seed from a non-infected field planted alongside as a control were
killed. The resistance was well maintained in succeeding generations,
and races so raised form a practical means of combating this serious
disease.

In "Root rot," as the name implies, the roots are attacked, the fungus
being a species of _Ozonium_, which envelops the roots in a white
covering of mould or mycelium. The roots are prevented from fulfilling
their function of taking up water and salts from the soil; the leaves
accordingly droop, and the whole plant wilts and in bad attacks dies. It
has yearly proved a more serious danger in Texas and other parts of the
south-west of the United States, and the damage due to it in Texas
during 1905 was estimated at about £750,000. No remedy is known for the
disease, and cotton should not be planted on infected land for at least
three or four years.

"Boll rot," or "Anthracnose," is a disease which may at times be
sufficiently serious to destroy from 10 to 50% of the crop. The fungus
which causes it (_Colletotrichum gossypii_) is closely related to one of
the fungi attacking sugar-cane in various parts of the world. Small
red-brown spots appear on the bolls, gradually enlarge, and develop into
irregular black and grey patches. The damage may be only slight, or the
entire boll may ripen prematurely and become dry and dead.

Many other diseases occur, but the above are sufficient to indicate some
of the principal ones in the most important cotton countries of the
world.


_Improvement of Cotton by Seed Selection._

In the cotton belt of the United States it would be possible to put a
still greater acreage under this crop, but the tendency is rather
towards what is known as "diversified" or mixed farming than to making
cotton the sole important crop. Cotton, however, is in increasing
demand, and the problem for the American cotton planter is to obtain a
better yield of cotton from the same area,--by "better yield" meaning an
increase not only in quantity but also in quality of lint. This ideal is
before the cotton grower in all parts of the world, but practical steps
are not always taken to realize it. Some of the United States planters
are alert to take advantage of the application of science to industry,
and in many cases even to render active assistance, and very successful
results have been attained by the co-operation of the United States
Department of Agriculture and planters. With the improvement of cotton
the name of Mr Herbert J. Webber is prominently associated, and a full
discussion of methods and results will be found in his various papers in
the _Year-books_ of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The principle on
which the work is based is that plants have their individualities and
tend to transmit them to their progeny. Accordingly a selection of
particular plants to breed from, because they possess certain desirable
characteristics, is as rational as the selection of particular animals
for breeding purposes in order to maintain the character of a herd of
cattle or of a flock of sheep.

Inspection of a field of cotton shows that different plants vary as
regards productiveness, length, and character of the lint, period of
ripening, power of resistance to various pests and of withstanding
drought. A simple method of increasing the yield is that practised with
success by some growers in the States. Pickers are trained to recognize
the best plants, "that is, those most productive, earliest in ripening,
and having the largest, best formed and most numerous bolls." These
pickers go carefully over the field, usually just before the second
picking, and gather ripe cotton from the best plants only; this selected
seed cotton is ginned separately, and the seed used for sowing the next
year's crop.

A more elaborate method of selection is practised by some of the Sea
Island cotton planters in the Sea Islands, famous for the quality of
their cotton. A field is gone over carefully, and perhaps some 50 of the
best plants selected; a second examination in the field reduces these
perhaps to one half, and each plant is numbered. The cotton from each is
collected and kept separately, and at the end of the season carefully
examined and weighed, and a final selection is then made which reduces
the number to perhaps five; the cotton from each of these plants is
ginned separately and the seed preserved for sowing. The simplest
possible case in which only one plant is finally selected is illustrated
in the diagram.

  1st. Year       2nd. Year    3rd. Year     4th. Year     5th. Year
                  +------+     +-------+     +-------+
   Select (1) --->| 500  | --->|5 Acres| --->|General|
   Plant          |Plants|     |       |     | Crop  |
                  +------+     +-------+     +-------+
                      |
                      |
                     \/        +-------+     +-------+     +-------+
        Select Plant (1) ----->| 500   | --->|5 Acres| --->|General|
                               | Plants|     |       |     | Crop  |
                               +-------+     +-------+     +-------+
                                   |
                                   |
                                  \/         +-------+     +-------+
                     Select Plant (1) ------>| 500   | --->|5 Acres|
                                             | Plants|     |       |
                                             +-------+     +-------+
                                                 |
                                                 |
                                                \/         +-------+
                                   Select Plant (1) ------>| 500   |
                                                           | Plants|
                                                           +-------+
                                                               |
                                                               |
                                                              \/
                                                 Select Plant (1)

  After Webber, _Year-book, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture_, 1902.

  Improvement of Cotton by Seed Selection.

From the seeds of the selected plant of the 1st year about 500 plants
can be raised in the next year. One plant is selected again from these
500, and the general crop of seed is used to sow about five acres for
the 3rd year, from which seed is obtained for the general crop in the
4th year. One special plant is selected each year from the 500 raised
from the previous season's test plant, and in four years' time the
progeny of this plant constitutes the "general crop." The practice may
be modified according to the size of estate by selecting more than one
plant each year, but the principle remains unaltered. This method is in
actual use by growers of Sea Island cotton in America and in the islands
off the coast of S. Carolina; the greatest care is taken to enhance the
quality of the lint, which has been gradually improved in length,
fineness and silkiness. Mr Webber, in summing up, says, "When Sea Island
cotton was first introduced into the United States from the West Indies,
it was a perennial plant, unsuited to the duration of the season of the
latitude of the Sea Islands of S. Carolina; but, through the selection
of seed from early maturing individual plants, the cotton has been
rendered much earlier, until now it is thoroughly adapted to the
existing conditions. The fibre has increased in length from about 1¾ to
2½ in., and the plants have at the same time been increased in
productiveness. The custom of carefully selecting the seed has grown
with the industry and may be said to be inseparable from it. It is only
by such careful and continuous selection that the staple of these
high-bred strains can be kept up to its present superiority, and if for
any reason the selection is interrupted there is a general and rapid
decline in quality."

When selection is being made for several characters at the same time,
and also in hybridization experiments, where it is important to have
full records of the characters of individual plants and their progeny,
"score cards," such as are used in judging stock, with a scale of
points, are used.

The improvements desired in cotton vary to some degree in different
countries, according to the present character of the plants, climatic
conditions, the chief pests, special market requirements, and other
circumstances. Amongst the more important desiderata are:--

1. Increased Yield.

2. Increase in Length of Lint.--Webber records the case of Stamm
Egyptian cotton imported into Columbia, in which by simple selection, as
outlined above, during two years plants were obtained uniformly earlier,
more productive, and yielding longer and better lint.

3. Uniformity in Length of the Lint.--This is important especially in
the long-stapled cottons, unevenness leading to waste in manufacture,
and consequently to a lower price for the cotton.

4. Strength of Fibre.--Long-stapled cottons have been produced in the
States by crossing Upland and Sea Island cotton. These hybrids produce a
lint which is long and silky, but often deficient in strength: selection
for strength amongst the hybrids, with due regard to length, may
overcome this.

5. Season of Maturing.--Seed should be selected from early and late
opening bolls, according to requirements. Earliness is especially
important in countries where the season is short.

6. Adaptation to Soil and Climate.--High-class cottons often do not
flourish if introduced into a new country. They are adapted to special
conditions which are lacking in their new surroundings, but a few will
probably do fairly well the first year, and the seeds from these
probably rather better the next, and so on, so that in a few years' time
a strain may be available which is equal or even superior to the
original one introduced.

7. Resistance to Disease.--The method employed is to select, for seed
purposes, plants which are resistant to the particular disease. Thus
sometimes a field of cotton is attacked by some disease, perhaps "wilt,"
and a comparatively few plants are but very slightly affected. These are
propagated, and there are instances as described above of very
successful and commercially important results having been attained.
Special interest attaches to experiments made in the United States to
endeavour to raise races of cotton resistant to the boll weevil.

8. Resistance to Weather.--Strong winds and heavy rains do much damage
to cotton by blowing or beating the lint out of the bolls. In some
instances a slight difference in the shape, mode of opening, &c., of the
boll prevents this, and accordingly seed is selected from bolls which
suffer least under the particular adverse conditions.

Attention has been paid in the West Indies to seed selection, by the
officers of the imperial Department of Agriculture, with the object of
retaining for West Indian Sea Island cotton its place as the most
valuable cotton on the British market.

In India, where conditions are much more diversified and it is more
difficult to induce the native cultivator to adopt new methods,
attention has also been directed during recent years to the improvement
of the existing races. Efforts have been made in the same direction in
Egypt, West Africa, &c.


_The World's Commercial Cotton Crop._

It is impossible to give an exact return of the total amount of cotton
produced in the world, owing to the fact that in China, India and other
eastern countries, in Mexico, Brazil, parts of the Russian empire,
tropical Africa, &c., considerable--in some eases very large--quantities
of cotton are made up locally into wearing apparel, &c., and escape all
statistical record. It is estimated that the amount thus used in India
exclusive of the consumption of mills is equivalent to about 400,000
bales. Neglecting, however, these quantities, which do not affect the
world's market, the annual supplies of cotton are approximately as
follows:--

  +---------------------------+------------------+-----------+
  |                           |   Approximate    |           |
  |         Country           |    Production.   |Percentage.|
  |                           | Bales of 500 lb. |           |
  |---------------------------+------------------+-----------+
  | United States of America  |    11,000,000    |   68.75   |
  | India                     |     3,000,000    |   18.75   |
  | Egypt                     |     1,000,000    |    6.25   |
  | All other countries       |     1,000,000    |    6.25   |
  |                           +------------------+-----------+
  | Total                     |    16,000,000    |  100.00   |
  +---------------------------+------------------+-----------+

In 1905 the world's crop closely approximated to 16,000,000 bales,
whilst in 1904 it was nearly 19,000,000 bales and in 1906 nearly
20,000,000 bales. The United States produced very nearly seven-tenths of
the total "visible" cotton crops of the world. This, however, is quite a
modern development, comparatively speaking. "During the period from 1786
to 1790 the West Indies furnished about 70% of the British supply, the
Mediterranean countries 20%, and Brazil 8%; whilst the quantity
contributed by the United States and India was less than 1% and Egypt
contributed none. In 1906 the United States contributed 65% of the
commercial cotton, British India 19%, Egypt 7%, and Russia 3%. Of the
countries which were prominent in the production of cotton in 1790,
Brazil and Asiatic Turkey alone remain" (_U.S.A. Bureau of the Census,
Bulletin No. 76_). The actual figures for the chief countries for
1904-1906, taken from the same source, are as follows:--

  _The World's Commercial Cotton Crop._ (In 500 lb. Bales.)

  +-----------------+------------+------------+------------+
  |    Country.     |    1904.   |    1905.   |    1906.   |
  +-----------------+------------+------------+------------+
  | United States   | 13,085,000 | 10,340,000 | 13,016,000 |
  | British India   |  2,843,000 |  2,519,000 |  3,708,000 |
  | Egypt           |  1,258,000 |  1,181,000 |  1,400,000 |
  | Russia          |    554,000 |    585,000 |    675,000 |
  | China           |    468,000 |    415,000 |    418,000 |
  | Brazil          |    210,000 |    258,000 |    275,000 |
  | Mexico          |    114,000 |    125,000 |    130,000 |
  | Peru            |     40,000 |     55,000 |     55,000 |
  | Turkey          |    100,000 |    107,000 |    107,000 |
  | Persia          |     45,000 |     47,000 |     47,000 |
  | Japan           |     16,000 |     15,000 |     11,000 |
  | Other countries |     70,000 |    100,000 |    100,000 |
  +-----------------+------------+------------+------------+
  | Total           | 18,803,000 | 15,747,000 | 19,942,000 |
  +-----------------+------------+------------+------------+

This title serves to indicate the principal countries contributing to
the world's supply of cotton. The following notes afford a summary of
the position of the industry in the more important countries.

_United States of America._--The cultivation of cotton as a staple crop
in the United States dates from about 1770,[1] although efforts appear
to have been made in Virginia as far back as 1621. The supplies
continued to be small up to the end of the century. In 1792 the quantity
exported from the United States was only equivalent to 275 bales, but
by the year 1800 it had increased to nearly 36,000 bales. At the close
of the war in 1815 the revival of trade led to an increased demand, and
the progress of cotton cultivation in America became rapid and
continuous, until at length about 85% of the raw material used by
English manufacturers was derived from this one source. With a capacity
for the production of cotton almost boundless, the crop which was so
insignificant when the century began had in 1860 reached the enormous
extent of 4,824,000 bales. This great source of supply, when apparently
most abundant and secure, was shortly after suddenly cut off, and
thousands were for a time deprived of employment and the means of
subsistence. In this period of destitution the cotton-growing resources
of every part of the globe were tested to the utmost; and in the
exhibition of 1862 the representatives of every country from which
supplies might be expected met to concert measures for obtaining all
that was wanted without the aid of America. The colonies and
dependencies of Great Britain, including India, seemed well able to grow
all the cotton that could be required, whilst numerous other countries
were ready to afford their co-operation. A powerful stimulus was thus
given to the growth of cotton in all directions; a degree of activity
and enterprise never witnessed before was seen in India, Egypt, Turkey,
Greece, Italy, Africa, the West Indies, Queensland, New South Wales,
Peru, Brazil, and in short wherever cotton could be produced; and there
seemed no room to doubt that in a short time there would be abundant
supplies independently of America. But ten years afterwards, in the
exhibition of 1872, which was specially devoted to cotton, a few only of
the _thirty-five_ countries which had sent their samples in 1862 again
appeared, and these for the most part only to bear witness to
disappointment and failure. America had re-entered the field of
competition, and was rapidly gaining ground so as to be able to bid
defiance to the world. True, the supply from India had been more than
doubled, the adulteration once so rife had been checked, and the
improved quality and value of the cotton had been fully acknowledged,
but still the superiority of the produce of the United States was proved
beyond all dispute, and American cotton was again king. Slave labour
disappeared, and under new and more promising auspices a fresh career of
progress began. With rare combination of facilities and advantages, made
available with remarkable skill and enterprise, the production of cotton
in America seems likely for a long series of years to continue to
increase in magnitude and importance. The total area of the
cotton-producing region in the States is estimated at 448,000,000 acres,
of which in 1906 only about one acre in fifteen was devoted to cotton.
The potentialities of the region are thus enormous.

  +------------------+---------------------------+----------------------+------------+
  |   States and     |       Upland Cotton.      |  Sea Island Cotton.  |   Total    |
  |  Territories.    +--------------+------------+-----------+----------+   Value.   |
  |                  |   Quantity.  |   Value.   | Quantity. |   Value. |            |
  +------------------+--------------+------------+-----------+----------+------------+
  |                  |      lb.     |     $      |    lb.    |    $     |     $      |
  | Alabama          |  603,651,989 | 60,425,564 |     ..    |    ..    | 60,425,564 |
  | Arkansas         |  450,991,361 | 45,144,235 |     ..    |    ..    | 45,144,235 |
  | Florida          |   17,876,133 |  1,789,401 | 9,031,896 | 2,587,638|  4,377,039 |
  | Georgia          |  750,762,910 | 75,151,367 | 9,950,634 | 2,850,857| 78,002,224 |
  | Indian Territory |  196,648,765 | 19,684,542 |     ..    |    ..    | 19,684,542 |
  | Kansas           |        9,844 |        985 |     ..    |    ..    |        985 |
  | Kentucky         |    1,008,290 |    100,930 |     ..    |    ..    |    100,930 |
  | Louisiana        |  473,222,310 | 47,369,553 |     ..    |    ..    | 47,369,553 |
  | Mississippi      |  732,755,978 | 73,348,874 |     ..    |    ..    | 73,348,874 |
  | Missouri         |   26,040,093 |  2,606,613 |     ..    |    ..    |  2,606,613 |
  | New Mexico       |       74,340 |      7,442 |     ..    |    ..    |      7,442 |
  | North Carolina   |  276,215,506 | 27,649,172 |     ..    |    ..    | 27,649,172 |
  | Oklahoma         |  233,396,905 | 23,363,030 |     ..    |    ..    | 23,363,030 |
  | South Carolina   |  415,386,362 | 41,580,175 | 2,723,859 |   999,656| 42,579,831 |
  | Tennessee        |  146,569,434 | 14,671,600 |     ..    |    ..    | 14,671,600 |
  | Texas            |2,001,181,289 |200,318,247 |     ..    |    ..    |200,318,247 |
  | Virginia         |    6,609,963 |    661,657 |     ..    |    ..    |    661,657 |
  +------------------+--------------+------------+-----------+----------+------------+
  | Total--United    |6,332,401,472 |633,873,387 |21,706,389 | 6,438,151|640,311,538 |
  |    States        | (=12,644,803 |    ..      |  (=43,413 |    ..    |     ..     |
  |                  |    bales)    |    ..      |    bales) |    ..    |     ..     |
  +------------------+--------------+------------+-----------+----------+------------+

Cotton is now the second crop of the United States, being surpassed in
value only by Indian corn (maize). The area devoted to this crop in 1879
was 14,480,019 acres, and the total commercial crop was 5,755,359
bales. In 1899 the acreage had increased to 24,275,101 and the crop to
9,507,786 bales. In 1906 the total area was 28,686,000 acres and the
crop 13,305,265 bales.

The preceding table gives the quantity, value and character of the crop
for each of the cotton-growing states in 1906, as reported by the Bureau
of the Census.

_Mexico._--Cotton is extensively grown in Mexico, and large quantities
are used for home consumption. The cultivation is of very old standing.
Cortes in 1519 is said to have received cotton garments as presents from
the natives of Yucatan, and to have found the Mexicans using cotton
extensively for clothing. From 1900 to 1905 the crop was about 100,000
bales per annum; the whole is consumed in local mills, and cotton is
imported also from the United States.

_Brazil._--The cotton-growing region in Brazil comprises a belt some 200
m. in width, in the north-eastern portion of the country, and a strip
along the valley of the San Francisco, where a large amount of the
present crop is produced. The cotton is known in commerce under the name
of the place of export, e.g. Maceio, Pernambuco or Pernam, Ceãra, Rio
Grande, &c. The export fluctuates greatly.

              Bales of 500 lb.    Approx. Value.
  1901             53,002            £500,000
  1902            143,963           1,200,000
  1903            126,896           1,300,000
  1904             59,413             800,000
  1905            107,887           1,000,000
  1906            142,972           1,500,000

The total production in 1906 was estimated at about 275,000 bales, but
only a portion was available for export, there being an increasing
consumption in Brazil itself.

_Peru._--Cotton is an important crop in Peru, where it has long been
cultivated. Most of the crop is grown in the irrigated coastal valleys.
With more water available, the output could be considerably increased,
e.g. in the Piura district. "Rough Peruvian," the produce of one of the
tree cottons, has a special use, as being rather harsh and wiry it is
well adapted for mixing with wool. Egyptian cotton is also grown. The
annual export is about 30,000 bales.

_Cotton Production in the British West Indies_: 1905-1906.[2]

  +-------------------------+--------+----------+---------+----------+
  |                         |        | Yield =  | Average | Value of |
  |         Island.         |Area in | Bales of |  Price  | Lint and |
  |                         | Acres. |  500 lb. |in Pence |   Seed.  |
  |                         |        |          | per lb. |          |
  +-------------------------+--------+----------+---------+----------+
  | Barbados.               |  2,000 |    959   |   15.2  | £33,557  |
  | St Vincent.             |    790 |    330   |   18.0  |  13,557  |
  | Grenada (mostly _Marie_ |  3,600 |    623   |    5.0  |   8,400  |
  |   _galante_ cotton).    |        |          |         |          |
  | St Kitts                |  1,000 |    241   |   15.0  |   8,380  |
  | Nevis                   |  1,700 |    240   |   13.0  |   8,364  |
  | Anguilla                |  1,000 |    161   |   15.0  |   5,280  |
  | Antigua                 |    700 |    200   |   14.2  |   6,522  |
  | Montserrat              |    770 |    196   |   15.0  |   6,789  |
  | Virgin Islands          |     40 |     14   |    ..   |     400  |
  | Jamaica                 |  1,500 |    123   |    ..   |   4,025  |
  +-------------------------+--------+----------+---------+----------+
  |          Total          | 12,900 |   3087   |    ..   | £95,274  |
  +-------------------------+--------+----------+---------+----------+

_British West Indies._--Cotton was cultivated as a minor crop in parts
of the West Indies as long ago as the 17th century, and at the opening
of the 18th century the islands supplied about 70% of all the cotton
used in Great Britain. Greater profits obtained from sugar caused the
industry to be abandoned, except in the small island of Carriacou. In
1900 the Imperial Department of Agriculture and private planters began
experiments with the object of reintroducing the cultivation, owing to
the decline in value of sugar. The department was actively assisted by
the British Cotton Growing Association, and the results have been very
successful, as was shown at an exhibition held in Manchester in 1908. A
supply of seed of a high grade of Sea Island cotton was obtained from
Colonel Rivers's estate in the Sea Islands, S. Carolina, and so
successful has the cultivation been that from some of the islands West
Indian Sea Island cotton obtains a higher price than the corresponding
grade of cotton from the Sea Islands themselves.

In 1902 the total area under cotton cultivation in the British West
Indies was 500 acres. The industry made rapid progress. In 1903 it was
4000; in 1905-1906 it was 12,900; and for 1906-1907 it was 18,166 acres.
The table indicates the chief cotton-producing islands, the acreage in
each, yield, average value per pound and total value of the crop in
1905-1906.

The whole of this crop was Sea Island cotton, with the exception of the
"Marie galante" grown in Carriacou. Marie galante is a harsh cotton of
the Peruvian or Brazilian type. The low yield per acre in this island,
and also the low value of the lint per lb. compared with the Sea Island
cotton, is clearly apparent.

In 1906-1907 the acreage was substantially increased in many of the
islands, e.g. Barbados from 2000 to 5000; St Vincent 790 to 1533; St
Kitts and Anguilla 1000 to 1500 each; Antigua 700 to 1883. In Jamaica,
on the other hand, it was reduced from 1500 to 300 acres.

_Spain._--Cotton was formerly grown in southern Spain on an extensive
scale, and as recently as during the American Civil War a crop of 8000
to 10,000 bales was obtained. It is considered that with facilities for
irrigation Andalusia could produce 150,000 bales annually. The former
industry was abandoned as other crops became more remunerative. The
government is encouraging recent efforts to re-establish the
cultivation.

_Malta._--Cotton has long been cultivated in Malta, but the acreage
diminished from 1750 acres in 1899 to 670 acres in 1906. A considerable
quantity of the produce is spun and woven locally; e.g. in 1904 the
export was equivalent to about 120 bales out of a total production of
330 bales, and in 1905 to 258 out of 333 bales (of 500 lb. each).

_Cyprus_ has a soil and climate suited to cotton, which was formerly
grown here on a large scale. The rainfall is uncertain and low, however,
never exceeding 40 in., and on the supply of water by irrigation the
future of the industry mainly depends. The exports dwindled from 3600
bales in 1865 to 946 in 1905; great fluctuations occur, the export in
1904, for example, being only 338 bales. The cotton grown is rather
short-stapled and goes mainly to Marseilles and Trieste. Some is used
locally in the manufacture of cloth.

_Egypt._--The position of Egypt as the third cotton-producing country of
the world has already been pointed out, and the varieties grown and the
mode of cultivation described. The introduction of the exotic varieties
dates from the beginning of the 19th century. The industry was actively
promoted by a Frenchman named Jumel, in the service of Mehemet Ali, from
1820 onwards with great success. The area under cotton is about
1,800,000 acres.

  _Cotton Production in Egypt._

  1850             87,200 bales of 500 lb.
  1865            439,000    "      "
  1890            798,000    "      "
  1904          1,258,000    "      "
  1905          1,250,000    "      "
  1906          1,400,000    "      "

_The Egyptian Sudan._--Egyptian cotton was cultivated in the Sudan to
the extent of 21,788 acres in 1906 chiefly on non-irrigated land. The
exports, however, are small, almost all the crop being used locally. The
chief difficulties are the supply of water, labour and transport
facilities. Lord Cromer in his report on the Sudan for 1906 remarks
that: "There seems to be some reason for thinking that the future--or at
all events the immediate future--of Sudan agriculture lies more in the
direction of cultivating wheat and other cereals than in that of
cultivating cotton."

_West Africa._--Cotton has long been grown in the various countries on
the west coast of Africa, ginned by hand or by very primitive means,
spun into yarn, and woven on simple looms into "country cloths"; these
are often only a few inches wide, so that any large cloths have to be
made by sewing the narrow strips together. These native cloths are
exceedingly durable, and many of them are ornamented by using dyed yarns
and in other ways.

Southern Nigeria (Lagos) and northern Nigeria are the most important
cotton countries amongst the British possessions on the coast. From the
former there has been an export trade for many years which fluctuates
remarkably according to the demand. Northern Nigeria is the seat of a
very large native cotton industry, to supply the demand for cotton robes
for the Mahommedan races inhabiting the country. The province of Zaria
alone is estimated to produce annually 30,000 to 40,000 bales, all of
which is used locally. Northern Nigeria contributes to the cotton
exported from Lagos. The country offers a fairly promising field for
development, especially now that arrangements have been made for
providing the necessary means of transport by the construction of the
new railways. The profits obtained from ground-nuts (_Arachis hypogea_)
in Gambia, gold mining in the Gold Coast, and from products of the oil
palm (_Elaeis guineensis_) in the palm-oil belt serve to prevent much
attention being given to cotton in these districts.

  _Exports of Cotton from Lagos._

  1865            868 bales of 500 lb.
  1869           1785    "      "
  1900             48    "      "
  1901             15    "      "
  1902             25    "      "
  1903            582    "      "
  1904           1725    "      "
  1905           2578    "      "


  _Exports of Cotton from British West Africa_, 1904, 1905 and 1906.

  +----------------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
  |                            |   1904.   |   1905.   |   1906.   |
  +----------------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
  |                            |   Bales   |   Bales   |  Bales    |
  |                            | (500 lb). | (500 lb). | (500 lb). |
  | Gambia                     |    120    |      5    |      0    |
  | Sierra Leone               |     56    |    139    |    176    |
  | Gold Coast                 |    115    |     50    |    186    |
  | Southern Nigeria and Lagos |   2296    |   2771    |   5392    |
  | Northern Nigeria           |    574    |    250*   |    712    |
  |                            +-----------+-----------+-----------+
  |           Total            |   3161    |   3215    |    6466   |
  +----------------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
    *Approximately.

_Nyasaland (British Central Africa).--_The cultivation of cotton on a
commercial scale is quite new in Nyasaland, and although general
conditions of soil and climate appear favourable the question of
transport is serious and labour is not abundant. The exports were
equivalent to 2 bales of 500 lb. in 1902-1903, 114 bales in 1903-1904,
570 bales in 1904-1905, 1553 bales in 1905-1906 and 1052 bales in
1906-1907. In the lower river lands Egyptian cotton has been the most
successful, whilst Upland cotton is more suited to the highlands.

_British East Africa and Uganda.--_In these adjoining protectorates wild
cottons occur, and suitable conditions exist in certain localities.
Experimental work has been carried on, and in 1904 Uganda exported about
43 bales of cotton, and British East Africa about 177 bales. In 1906 the
combined exports had risen to 362 bales, including a little from German
East Africa. In 1904-1905 there were some 300 acres under cotton in
British East Africa. Lack of direct transport facilities is a
difficulty. Some of the native cottons are of fair quality, but Egyptian
cotton appears likely to be best suited for growing for export.

_India_ is probably the most ancient cotton-growing country. For five
centuries before the Christian era cotton was largely used in the
domestic manufactures of India; and the clothing of the inhabitants then
consisted, as now, chiefly of garments made from this vegetable product.
More than two thousand years before Europe or England had conceived the
idea of applying modern industry to the manufacture of cotton, India had
matured a system of hand-spinning, weaving and dyeing which during that
vast period received no recorded improvement. The people, though
remarkable for their intelligence whilst Europe was in a state of
barbarism, made no approximation to the mechanical operations of modern
times, nor was the cultivation of cotton either improved or considerably
extended. Possessing soil, climate and apparently all the requisite
elements from nature for the production of cotton to an almost boundless
extent, and of a useful and acceptable quality, India for a long series
of years did but little towards supplying the manufactures of other
countries with the raw material which they required. Between the years
1788 and 1850 numerous attempts were made by the East India Company to
improve the cultivation and to increase the supply of cotton in India,
and botanists and American planters were engaged for the purpose. One
great object of their experiments was to introduce and acclimatize
exotic cottons. Bourbon, New Orleans, Upland, Georgia, Sea Island,
Pernambuco, Egyptian, &c., were tried but with little permanent success.
The results of these and similar attempts led to the conclusion that
efforts to improve the indigenous cottons were most likely to be
rewarded with success. Still more recently, however, experiments have
been made to grow Egyptian cotton in Sind with the help of irrigation.
Abassi has given the best results, and the experiments have been so
successful that in 1904-1905 an out-turn of not less than 100,000 bales
"was prophesied in the course of a few years" (Report of Director, Land
Records and Agriculture). The average annual production in India
approximates to 3,000,000 bales. The area under cotton in all British
India is about 20,000,000 acres, the crop being grown in a very
primitive manner. The bulk of the cotton is of very short staple, about
three-quarters of an inch, and is not well suited to the requirements of
the English spinner, but very large mills specially fitted to deal with
short-stapled cottons have been erected in India and consume about
one-half the total crop, the remainder being exported to Germany and
other European countries, Japan and China. In 1906 the United Kingdom
took less than 5% of the cotton exported.

  _Cotton Production in British India._[3]

  1859         1,316,800 bales of 500 lb.
  1904         3,172,800   "       "
  1905         2,848,800   "       "
  1906         4,038,400   "       "

About 50% of the cotton produced is consumed in Indian mills and the
remainder is exported.

_China._--Cotton has not been cultivated in China from such early times
as in India, and although cotton cloths are mentioned in early writings
it was not until about A.D. 1300 that the plant was grown on any
considerable scale. There are no figures obtainable as to the
production, but it must be very large, considering that the crop
provides clothing for a large proportion of the population of China.
During recent years a considerable quantity of cotton has been exported,
but more than a compensating amount of raw cotton, yarns and textiles,
is imported. An estimate of the crop puts it at about 1,500,000 bales.

_Korea_ is stated to have originally received its cotton plants from
China some 500 years ago. Conditions are well adapted to the cultivation
of the plant, and since the cessation of the Russo-Japanese War the
Japanese have undertaken the development of the industry. Figures are
difficult to obtain, but an official report from the Japanese Residency
General in 1907 estimated the crop at about 214,000 bales, all being
used locally. In the future Korea may become an important source of
supply for Japan, especially if, as appears likely, Korea proves suited
to the cultivation of American cotton.

_Japan_ received cotton from India before China, and the plant is
extensively grown, especially in West and Middle Japan. The production
is not sufficient to meet the home demand; during the five years of
normal trade before the war with Russia Japan imported annually about
800,000 bales of cotton, chiefly from British India, China and the
United States, and during the same period exported each year some 2000
bales, mainly to Korea.

_Dutch East Indies._--In Java and other Dutch possessions in the East
cotton is cultivated. A considerable amount is used locally, and during
the six years ending in 1907 the surplus exported ranged from about
24,000 to 40,000 bales per annum.

_Russia._--Some cotton is produced in European Russia in the southern
Caucasus, but Turkestan in central Asia is by far the more important
source of Russian-grown cotton. In this region cotton has been
cultivated from very early times to supply local demands, and to a minor
degree for export. Since about 1875 the Russians have fostered the
industry, introducing American Upland varieties, distributing seed free,
importing gins, providing instruction, and guaranteeing the purchase of
the crops. The Trans-Caspian railway has been an important factor;
almost all the cotton exported passes over this line, and the statistics
of this trade indicate the progress made. The shipments increased from
250,978 bales in 1896-1897 to 495,962 bales in 1901-1902--part, however,
being Persian cotton. The production of cotton in Russia in 1906 was
estimated at 675,000 bales of 500 lb. each. About one-third of the
cotton used in Russian mills is grown on Russian territory, the
remainder coming chiefly from the United States.

_Asia Minor._--Smyrna is the principal centre of cotton cultivation in
this region. A native variety known as "Terli," and American cotton, are
grown. The general conditions are favourable. According to the Liverpool
_Cotton Gazette_, Asiatic Turkey produced in 1906 about 100,000 bales,
and Persia about 47,000 bales. Cotton was formerly cultivated profitably
in Palestine.

_Australasia._--The quantity of cotton now produced in Australasia is
extremely small. Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia possess
suitable climatic conditions, and in the first-named state the cotton
has been grown on a commercial scale in past years, the crop in 1897
being about 450 bales. Considerable interest attaches to the
"Caravonica" cotton raised in South Australia, which has been
experimented with in Australia, Ceylon and elsewhere. It is probably a
hybrid between Sea Island and rough Peruvian cotton, but lacks most of
the essential features of Sea Island.

In _Fiji_ the cotton exported in the 'sixties and 'seventies was worth
£93,000 annually; but the cultivation has been practically abandoned. In
1899 about 60 bales, and in 1900 about 6 bales, were exported. During
1901-1903 there were no exports of cotton, and in 1904 only 70 bales
were sent out.

Into the _Society Islands_ Sea Island cotton was introduced about
1860-1870. Up to the year 1885 there was an average yearly export
equivalent to about 2140 bales of 500 lb., after which date the export
practically ceased. The industry has, however, been revived, and in 1906
over 100 bales, valued at £1052, were exported.     (W. G. F.)


MARKETING AND SUPPLY

  Moving the harvest to the ports.

In the days of slave-grown cotton, the American planters, being men of
wealth farming on a large scale, consigned the bulk of their produce as
a rule direct to the ports. Now, however, a large proportion of the crop
is sold to local store-keepers who transfer it to exporting firms in
neighbouring cities. The cultivators, whether owners of the plantations,
as is usual in some districts, or tenants, as is customary in others,
are financed as a rule by commission agents. The decline of "spot" sales
at the ports, partly but not entirely in consequence of the appearance
of the small cultivator, has proceeded steadily. Hammond[4] has
constructed a table from information supplied by the secretaries of the
cotton exchanges at New York, Charleston, Savannah, Mobile, New Orleans
and Galveston, showing the sales of "spot" cotton at those ports for the
twenty-two years between 1874-1875 and 1895-1896, and in all cases an
absolute decline is evident. The receipts of cotton in the season
1904-1905 at the leading interior towns and ports of the United States
are given below.

  _Receipts of Cotton at 28 Interior Towns._
  (In Thousand Statistical Bales of 500 lb. each.)

  Brenham, Tex.        17  |  Memphis, Tenn.       984
  Dallas, Tex.         96  |  Nashville, Tenn.      19
  Shreveport, La.     256  |  Selma, Ala.          126
  Little Rock, Ark.   219  |  Montgomery, Ala.     211
  Helena, Ark.         91  |  Eufaula, Ala.         29
  Vicksburg, Miss.    100  |  Columbus, Ga.         74
  Columbus, Miss.      57  |  Macon, Ga.            87
  Natchez, Miss.       76  |  Albany, Ga.           35
  Atlanta, Ga.        134  |  Houston, Tex.      2,423
  Rome, Ga.            72  |  Meridian, Miss.      133
  Augusta, Ga         446  |  Cincinnati, Ohio     167
  Columbia, S.C.       68  |  Yazoo City, Miss.     65
  Newberry, S.C.       17  |                      ----
  Charlotte, N.C.      21  |  Total               6712
  Raleigh, N. C.       19  |                     -----
  St Louis, Mo.       672  |  Crop.             13,565

  _Receipts of Cotton at American Ports._
  (In Thousand Statistical Bales of 500 lb. each.)

   Galveston, Tex.  2,879  |  Boston, Mass.          84
   New Orleans, La. 2,690  |  Philadelphia, Pa.      14
   Mobile, Ala.       330  |  Brunswick, Ga.        200
   Savannah, Ga.    1,877  |  Pensacola, Fla.       187
   Charleston, S.C.   225  |  Minor Ports           518
   Wilmington, N.C.   375  |                     ------
   Norfolk, Va.       820  |    Total            10,295
   Baltimore, Md.      62  |                     ------
   New York            34  |    Crop             13,565

Galveston and Savannah have risen considerably in relative importance of
late years.


  Ginning and packing.

Before the Civil War each planter would have his own gin-house. Now,
however, ginning is a distinct business, and one gin will serve on an
average about thirty farmers. Moveable gins were tried for a time in
some places; they were dragged by traction engines from farm to farm,
like threshing machines in parts of England, but the plan proved
uneconomical because, among other reasons, farmers were not prepared to
meet the cost of providing facilities for storing their cotton. In
addition to the small country ginneries, large modern ginneries have now
been set up in all the leading Southern market towns. The cotton is
pressed locally and afterwards "compressed" into a very small compass.
The bales are usually square, but cylindrical bales are becoming more
common, though their cost is greater. In the latter, the cotton is
arranged in the form of a rolled sheet or "lap." Owing to complaints of
the careless packing of American cotton, attention has been devoted of
late to the improvement of the square bale.


  English ports of entry.

London used to be the chief cotton port of England, but Liverpool had
assumed undisputed leadership before the 19th century began. Some
arrivals have been diverted to Manchester since the opening of the
Manchester ship canal; shipments through the canal from the 1st of
September to the 30th of August in each year for the decade 1894-1895 to
1904-1905 are appended--six to eight times as much is still unloaded at
Liverpool.

A Manchester cotton-importing company was recently formed for increasing
deliveries direct to Manchester, and establishing a "spot" market there,
an end to which the Manchester Cotton Association had directed its
efforts for some time past. The latter association was established at
the end of 1894, with a membership of 265, in the interests of those
spinners who desired importations direct to Manchester. The objects of
the association are officially stated to be: (1) to frame suitable and
authoritative forms of contract, and to make rules and regulations for
the proper conduct of the trade; (2) to supervise and facilitate the
delivery of the importations of cotton at the Manchester docks to the
various consignees; (3) to provide and maintain trustworthy standards of
classification; (4) to procure and disseminate useful information on all
subjects pertaining to the trade; (5) to act in concert with chambers of
commerce and other bodies throughout the world for mutual protection;
(6) to establish a market for cotton at Manchester. Spinning members
preponderate, but almost all the Manchester cotton merchants and cotton
brokers have also joined the association. The importance of the original
spinners' representation on the association is shown by the fact that
they worked over 14,000,000 spindles: in December 1905 the spindles
represented by members had risen to nearly 20,000,000. Some 73,000 looms
are also represented. As most of the Lancashire cotton mills lie far
from Manchester, direct importations to that city do not usually
dispense with a "handling," and frequently save little or nothing in
freight rates, though in some cases the economy derived from direct
importation is considerable. One gain accruing to Lancashire from the
Canal, however, is that its competition has brought down railway
rates.


  Cotton market methods.

Fundamental alterations have been made in the structure of the leading
cotton markets, and in methods of buying and selling cotton, in the last
hundred years. We shall not attempt to trace the changes as they
appeared in every market of importance, but shall confine our attention
to one only, and that perhaps the most important of all, namely, the
market at Liverpool. This selection of one market for detailed
examination does not rob our sketch of generality, as might at first be
thought, since broadly the history of the development of one market is
the history of the development of all, and on the whole the economic
explanation of the evolution that has taken place may be universalized.

  _Cotton landed at the Port of Manchester since the Canal was opened._
     (In thousand Bales.)
  The season is from the 1st of September to the 31st of August each year.

  +-------------------------+---------+----------------------------------+
  |                         |Jan. 1894|              Season              |
  |                         |         +------+------+------+------+------+
  |                         |to Aug.  | 1894-| 1895-| 1896-| 1897-| 1898-|
  |                         |31, 1894.| 1895.| 1896.| 1897.| 1898.| 1899.|
  +-------------------------+---------+------+------+------+------+------+
  |American                 |    21   |  32  | 121  | 211  | 245  | 311  |
  |Egyptian                 |     1.4 |  34  |  68  |  88  |  98  |  84  |
  |East Indian              |    ..   |  ..  |  ..  |  ..  |  ..  |  ..  |
  |West African             |    ..   |  ..  |  ..  |  ..  |  ..  |  ..  |
  |                         +---------+------+------+------+------+------+
  |          Total          |     22  |   66 |  189 |  299 |   344|  395 |
  |                         +---------+------+------+------+------+------+
  |Total American Crop*     |   7,549 | 9,901| 7,157| 8,757|11,199|11,274|
  |Total Egyptian Crop (in  |         |      |      |      |      |      |
  |  bales of 7½ cantars)** |     657 |   615|   703|   783|   872|   745|
  +-------------------------+---------+------+------+------+------+------+
  |                         |                    Season                  |
  |                         +---------+------+------+------+------+------+
  |                         |  1899-  | 1900-| 1901-| 1902-| 1903-| 1904-|
  |                         |  1900.  | 1901.| 1902.| 1903.| 1904.| 1905.|
  +-------------------------+---------+------+------+------+------+------+
  |American                 |   415   | 442  | 421  | 478  | 365  | 552  |
  |Egyptian                 |   136   | 107  | 125  | 145  | 148  | 183  |
  |East Indian              |   ..    |  ..  |  ..  |   2.5|   6  |   1.3|
  |West African             |   ..    |  ..  |  ..  |  ..  |  ..  |    .1|
  |                         +---------+------+------+------+------+------+
  |          Total          |   551   |  549 |  546 | 626  | 519  |  736 |
  |                         +---------+------+------+------+------+------+
  |Total American Crop*     | 9,436   |10,383|10,680|11,011|13,565|10,727|
  |Total Egyptian Crop (in  |         |      |      |      |      |      |
  |  bales of 7½ cantars)** |   868   |   723|   849|   867|   846|   778|
  --------------------------+---------+------+------+------+------+------+
     * Commercial crop.
    ** A cantar is 99.05 lb. avoirdupois.


  Evolution of broking.

Originally cotton was imported by the Liverpool dealer as an agent for
American firms or at his own risk, and then sold by private treaty,
auction, or through brokers, to Manchester dealers, who retailed it to
the spinners. This statement is, of course, only roughly correct. Some
Manchester dealers imported themselves, and some spinners bought direct
from Liverpool importers, but the rule was the arrangement first
described. Early in the 19th century it became customary for Manchester
dealers and Liverpool importers to carry on business with one another
through representatives known as "buying" and "selling" brokers. About
this time the broker of cotton only began to specialize from the ranks
of the brokers who dealt in all kinds of colonial produce. Previously
there had not been enough business done in cotton to make it worth any
person's while to devote himself to the buying and selling on commission
of cotton only. The evolution of the distinct business of cotton broking
is readily comprehensible when we remind ourselves that the
requirements, as regards raw material, of all spinners are much alike
generally, and that no spinner could afford to pay an expert to devote
himself entirely to purchasing cotton for his mill.

So far change had been gradual, but the success of the Manchester and
Liverpool railway undermined beyond repair the old system of doing
business. Spinners could easily run over to Liverpool and buy their
cotton from the large stocks displayed at that port. Before the railway
was opened some spinners had been in the habit of making their purchases
of raw material in Liverpool, but the great inconveniences of the
journey, combined with less easy terms for payment than were usual in
Manchester, prevented any great numbers from departing from the beaten
track. Cotton dealers up to this time had regularly financed the
spinners, who were frequently men of little capital, by allowing long
credit, and had even employed them to spin on commission. As men of
substance increased among the ranks of the spinners, the Manchester
cotton dealers found it impossible to retard a movement set on foot by
the prospects of such appreciable advantages. Ultimately many of the old
Manchester cotton dealers became brokers for their old customers. In
1875 there were said to be upwards of 100 cotton dealers in Manchester,
but from that time onward their members steadily declined. It is
interesting to observe that a later development of transport between
Manchester and Liverpool, namely, the Manchester Ship Canal, has drawn
back into Manchester a part of the cotton market which was attracted
from Manchester into Liverpool by the famous improvement in transport
opened to the public three-quarters of a century ago.

The centralization of the cotton market in Liverpool fixed firmly the
system of buying through brokers, for the Liverpool importer, or his
broker, was in no sense a professional adviser to the spinners,
informally pledged to advance the latter's interests, as the old
Manchester dealers had been. The system was rendered comparatively
inexpensive by the drop in commissions from 1 to ½% which had followed
the adoption of selling by sample. This custom of buying and selling
through brokers continued unshaken until the laying of the Atlantic
cable tempted selling brokers occasionally, and even some buying
brokers, to buy direct from American factors by telegraph and thus
transform themselves into quasi-importers. The temptation was made the
more difficult to resist by the development of "future" dealings. When
the agents of the spinners, that is, the buying brokers, by becoming
principals in some transactions, had acquired interests diametrically
opposed to those of their customers, the consequent feeling of distrust
among spinners gave birth to the Cotton Buying Company, which,
constituted originally of twenty to thirty limited cotton-spinning
companies, represents to-day nearly 6,000,000 spindles distributed among
nearly one hundred firms. Its object was to squeeze out some middlemen
and economize for its members on brokerage. This company, it is said,
helped to attract the brokers back to the spinners, and an informal
understanding was arrived at that the buying broker should not figure
both as agent and principal in the same transaction.


  Cotton-Clearing house, Cotton Bank and periodic settlement of
    "differences."

By 1876 "forward" operations had become so vast and complicated that a
cotton-clearing house had to be established to deal with the confusing
networks of debits and credits created by them. Its principle was
exactly that of the clearing houses used by the railways and the banks,
the cancellation of indebtedness and discharge simply of balances. The
final settlement of a "future" contract involved usually a crowd of
persons, and the passage of large sums of money backwards and forwards,
so that the amount of cash required for circulation on the exchange
became unreasonably excessive and an annoying waste of time was
entailed. The cotton-clearing house substituted book-keeping for the
bulk of these payments. The establishment of the Cotton Bank naturally
followed. Now debts are discharged in the first instance by vouchers.
Dealers pass their debit and credit vouchers into the Cotton Bank and
pay or receive the balances which they owe or are entitled to. In order
to protect dealers against the losses due to the insolvency of those
with whom they have had transactions, weekly settlements on the exchange
have been made compulsory; between brokers and their clients they are
also usual. At the settlement, every member of the exchange receives the
"differences" owing to him and pays those which he has incurred. Thus if
a person holds futures for 10,000 bales which stood at 5.20 on the last
settlement day and now stand at 5.30, and in the course of the previous
week has sold 5000 bales of "futures" at 5.10, he receives 10,000 ×
(10/100)d. on his old holding, and has to pay 5000 × (20/100)d. on his
sales, and therefore on balance neither receives nor pays. Differences
may be very large sums. The unit of a "future" being 100 bales, an
alteration in the price of cotton of .01d. causes a difference on each
unit of £2. Periodic settlements are obviously periodic tests of the
solvency of dealers. If the test of the settlement were not frequently
applied, speculators who were unfortunate would be tempted to plunge
deeper until finally some became insolvent for large sums. As it is, the
speculator who has incurred losses beyond his means tends to be
discovered before his creditors are heavily involved. Settlement days
fall on Thursday, and the closing prices on the preceding Monday are
taken as the basis of the settlement. From all differences interest at
5% is deducted for the time between settlement day and the tenth day of
the second month on which the "future" elapses, since settlement terms
mean that money is paid in instalments before it is actually due. To the
admission of periodic settlements there was for a time vehement
opposition on the ground that the door would be opened to gambling on
"differences." Hence at first, in 1882, they were used only by a section
of the market constituted of members who had voluntarily agreed to do
business with one another upon these terms alone. By 1884, however, the
advantages of "settlement terms" became so evident that they were
adopted by the Cotton Association, at first for fortnightly periods,
with the saving clause originally that they should not be compulsory.


  Origin of Liverpool Cotton Association.

As soon as the clearing house was set up it became evident that
"futures" were an impossibility away from it. At the same time "futures"
were becoming an increasing necessity to importers, because through
"futures" alone could they hedge on their purchases of cotton, or buy
when the market seemed favourable, and they were not prepared to assume
heavy risks. Now from the clearing house importers were rigorously
excluded, and on invoking the aid of "futures," therefore, they were
penalized to the extent of double broker's commission, one commission
being charged on the sale of the "futures" and one on their purchase
back. The importers, therefore, found it necessary to establish a club
of their own, the Liverpool Cotton Exchange, which they as rigorously
guarded against brokers. The split in the market so caused was so
damaging to both parties that a satisfactory arrangement was eventually
agreed upon, and both institutions were absorbed in the Liverpool Cotton
Association.


  Publication of information relating to demand and supply.

A condition of specialist dealers working to the public service is that
they should not act in the dark. They must watch demand, be able to form
reasonable anticipations of its movements, and at the same time know
the existing stocks of cotton, the sales taking place from day to day,
and the best forecasts of the coming supplies. A man accustomed to
devote the whole of his time to the study of demand and supply in
relation to cotton, after some years of experience, will be qualified
ordinarily to form fairly accurate judgments of the prices to be
expected. His success depends upon his ability to interpret rightly the
facts and intangible signs with which he is brought in contact. The
information at the disposal of dealers has steadily enlarged in volume
and improved in trustworthiness, though some of it is not yet invariably
above suspicion, and the time elapsing between an event and the
knowledge of it becoming common property has been reduced to a fraction
of what it used to be, in consequence chiefly of the telegraph and
cables. All sales that take place on the Exchange must be returned.
Estimates are published of the area under cotton cultivation, and
conditions of the American crop are issued by the American agricultural
bureau at the beginning of the months of June, July, August, September
and October of each year. To represent the standard of perfect
healthiness and exemption from injury due to insects, or drought, or any
other causes, one hundred is taken. The estimates for 1901 to 1905 are
given, to illustrate their variations:--

  +-------+----------+----------+----------+-----------+----------+
  | Year. | June 1st.| July 1st.| Aug. 1st.| Sept. 1st.| Oct. 1st.|
  +-------+----------+----------+----------+-----------+----------+
  | 1901  |   81.5   |   81.1   |   77.2   |    71.4   |   61.4   |
  | 1902  |   95.1   |   84.7   |   81.9   |    64.0   |   58.3   |
  | 1903  |   74.1   |   77.1   |   79.7   |    81.2   |   65.1   |
  | 1904  |   83     |   88     |   91.6   |    84.1   |   75.8   |
  | 1905  |   77.2   |   77     |   74.9   |    72.1   |   71.2   |
  +-------+----------+----------+----------+-----------+----------+

These estimates are the averages of separate estimates which are
published for the states of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia,
Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee.
The official figures are supplemented from time to time by numerous
private forecasts, for instance those in "Neild's circular." Ellison, in
his work on the cotton trade of Great Britain, traces in detail the
increase in the volume of information collected and made public. At the
close of the 18th century there was a tacit understanding among brokers
to supply one another with information. There were no printed circulars,
except the monthly prices current of all kinds of produce, but brokers
used to send particulars of business done to their customers in letters.
These letters were the origin of circulars. Messrs Ewart and Rutson
pioneered in 1805 by issuing a weekly account of the sales and imports
of cotton, and three years later three such circulars were on the
market, though Hope's alone was confined to cotton. For the first
associated circular of any importance, the market had to wait until
1832. The issue of this circular by subscribing firms, on the basis of
particulars collected by brokers appointed at a weekly meeting, gave
rise in 1841 to the Cotton Brokers' Association, to which the
development of the market by the systematizing of procedure is largely
due. The rest of the tale may be told in Mr Ellison's own words:--

  "Down to 1864 the leading firms continued to issue weekly market
  reports, but in that year the association commenced the publication of
  an associated circular. This was followed in the same year by the
  _Daily Table_ of sales and imports, which in 1874 was succeeded by the
  present more complete _Daily Circular_. To these publications were at
  various times added the annual report, issued in December, the
  American crop report, issued in September, and the daily advices by
  cable from America, issued every morning."[5]


  Futures.

We shall now enter upon a detailed analysis of "forward" operations. The
term "futures" is used broadly and narrowly: broadly it is a generic
term denoting "futures" in the narrow sense, and also "options" and
"straddles"; narrowly it implies merely contracts for future delivery at
a price fixed in the present. Again we must distinguish between the
"future" contracts for the delivery of a particular kind of cotton,
which may be entered into by spinners and their brokers, and are real
purchases in the sense that the spinners want delivery of the cotton
referred to, and the "futures," which always relate to the same grade
of cotton, and are drawn up according to certain forms and circulate on
the exchange as media for the shifting of risks connected with purchase
and sale. The latter are not "real" purchases in the sense given to that
term above, but fictitious because delivery of the cotton is not
desired. It will no doubt aid the understanding of the functions of the
latter if some explanation is offered of the needs met by the former,
which are sometimes known technically as "deferred deliveries."


  The spinner's risks.

When a spinner is required to quote prices of yarn for delivery in the
future he is fixed on the horns of a dilemma. If he does not at once buy
cotton, but quotes on the assumption that price will remain steady, he
may be involved in serious loss through his estimate being mistaken. If
he determines to buy cotton at once, others who risk more, and trust
their judgment of the future, may secure the contract. On first thoughts
it would seem desirable that all spinners should buy cotton outright to
cover their contracts, but on second thoughts the social disadvantage of
their doing so becomes apparent. Much buying might take place when
stocks were scanty, with the result that prices would be needlessly
forced up; and when stocks were plentiful demand might be weak and
prices, therefore, be unduly depressed. It is evident that the buying of
cotton on the principles suggested would be calculated to cause great
unsteadiness of prices, especially as cotton is not continuously
forthcoming, but is produced periodically in harvests. Demands for yarn
cannot be expected to come always at the most favourable time socially
for the distribution of the cotton. One way out of the difficulty is
that the spinner should exercise his judgment and buy his raw material
at what seems to him the most suitable times. But to this course there
are three objections. The first is that spinners would be performing the
two functions of industrial management and cotton buying (together with
others perhaps), and that in consequence the best industrial men would
not necessarily be able to maintain their position in the trade because
as buyers of cotton they might be unfortunate. The second is that
spinners being required to give attention to two distinct classes of
problems would be less likely as a body to become complete masters of
either. The third, which is not distinct in principle from the two
preceding, is that such limited speculation in cotton buying on the part
of spinners worried with other matters would not be likely to steady the
cotton market in any high degree. It may be assumed as desirable that
the demand for cotton should be so spread as to keep its price as steady
as possible--"steadiness" will be defined more exactly later--and that
to this end it is essential that specialists should devote themselves to
the task of spreading it. Such specialists have appeared in the cotton
brokers and dealers who make their living out of bearing the risks
connected with anticipating demand and supply in relation to cotton.
To-day a spinner who is asked to quote for deliveries of yarn for, say,
the next six months, may obtain from a broker quotations for deliveries
of the cotton that he needs, in quantities as he needs it, for the next
six months, and upon these quotations he may base his own for yarn. If a
spinner is pressed by a shipper to make quotations with refusal for two
or three days to give time for business to be settled by cable, it is
evidently not impossible for the spinner to shift the risk involved by
getting in turn from his broker refusal quotations for cotton. But
spinners do not try always to take the safest course.


  Method of distributing risks.

Now it is evident that brokers in turn require some means of passing on
the risks that they are bearing, or some portion of them from one to
another, or of sharing them with other market experts, as they find
themselves overburdened, and as their judgment of the situation changes.
The means have been provided in the "futures" which circulate on the
Cotton Exchange. The risks of anticipating are carried by those who
create or hold "futures" without a hedge. In order to facilitate
business, "futures" are all drawn in the same unit (100 bales), and are
all based on the same class of cotton, namely Upland cotton of middling
grade of "no staple" (i.e. with a fibre of about ¾ in.) and of the worst
growth. American cotton, we may remind the reader, is graded into a
number of classes, both on the Liverpool and New York Exchanges, and an
attempt is made in each market to keep the grades as fixed as possible.
But what, it may be inquired, is the value of "futures" relating to
"middling" cotton to a broker whose contracts with spinners are not in
"middling" cotton? The answer is that though the ratios between the
prices of the various grades alter, the prices of all of them move
generally together, and that the "futures" of the Exchange at least
provide a hedge against the latter movements. Other things being equal,
the broker would be better off if he could hedge with equal ease against
all his risks. But other things are not equal: the market would be more
confusing and quotations would be complicated if "futures" were in use
for all grades.


  Characteristics of "futures."

We may now examine the exchange "futures" in minuter detail. They are
quoted as a rule for about ten months ahead. Thus in January the futures
quoted will be January (technically termed "current," "present month" or
"near month," "futures"), January-February, February-March, March-April,
April-May, May-June, June-July, July-August, and perhaps two or three
more. Each group, it will be observed, except "current futures,"
culminates in two defined months. The rule is that on the first of the
two months the seller of "futures" may, and before the last day of the
second month must, deliver cotton against them, or, what comes to the
same thing, buy back the "futures" on the basis of the price of "spot"
cotton of middling grade. Various grades of cotton are tenderable
against "futures": if this were not so "futures" would be in danger of
defeating their object, because the price of the grade upon which they
were founded would probably at times be thrown widely out of relation to
the general level of prices in the cotton market. The lowest grade
tenderable used to be "low middling," but since October 1901 "good
ordinary" has also been accepted. Arbitrators report on deliveries and
award allowances on those of grades above "middling" and deductions of
price from those below. A sample is taken from each bale and the "points
on or off" are fixed for each bale separately. If either party is
dissatisfied with the award, he may appeal to an appeals committee on
paying £3:3:0: which is refunded to him by the other party if the appeal
be upheld. The detailed arrangements described above are those of the
Liverpool market. The great bulk of "futures," however, are bought back
and not delivered against.


  Quotations.

Beneath are the official Liverpool quotations of "futures," as they
appeared on the morning of the 19th of April 1906:--

_American Deliveries, any port, basis of middling, good ordinary clause
(the fractions are given in 100ths of a penny)._

  +------------+-----------+---------------------------+---------+
  |            |Yesterday's|   To-day's Early Sales.   |  Values |
  |            |   Close.  |                           |  12.15. |
  +------------+-----------+---------------------------+---------+
  | April      |   6.05    |                           |  6.03   |
  | April-May  |   6.05    |                           |  6.03   |
  | May-June   |   6.05    | 6.06, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 2, 3 |  6.03   |
  | June-July  |   6.05    | 6.05, 2,* 3               |  6.03   |
  | July-August|   6.04    | 6.05, 4, 3, 2             |  6.03   |
  | Aug.-Sept. |   5.98    | 5.99, 8, 6                |  5.97   |
  | Sept.-Oct. |   5.34    | 5.85, 4                   |  5.84   |
  | Oct.-Nov.  |   5.76    | 5.77, 6                   |  5.76   |
  | Nov.-Dec.  |   5.75    | 5.75, 4*                  |  5.75   |
  | Dec.-Jan.  |   5.74    | 5.75*                     |  5.75   |
  | Jan.-Feb.  |   5.75    | 5.75*                     |  5.75   |
  +============+===========+===========================+=========+
  |            |            Late Business.             | Closing |
  |            |                                       | Values. |
  +------------+---------------------------------------+---------+
  | April      |  6.03*                                |  5.98   |
  | April-May  |  6.03                                 |  5.98   |
  | May-June   |  6.03, 4, 3, 2, 1, 2, 0               |  5.99   |
  | June-July  |  6.04, 3, 2                           |  5.99   |
  | July-Aug.  |  6.03, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0,* 1, 2,* 1, 0    |         |
  |            |    5.99, 6.0,* 5.99, 6.0, 5.99, 8     |  5.98   |
  | Aug.-Sept. |  5.98,* 6, 5, 4, 5                    |  5.92   |
  | Sept.-Oct. |  5.84, 2*                             |  5.78   |
  | Oct.-Nov.  |  5.76,* 5,* 4, 3, 4, 3,* 2, 1, 0      |  5.70   |
  | Nov.-Dec.  |  5.70*                                |  5.69   |
  | Dec.-Jan.  |  5.72, 1, 2*                          |  5.69   |
  | Jan.-Feb.  |                                       |  5.69   |
  +------------+---------------------------------------+---------+
    * Transactions of 100 bales only.


  _Egyptian Deliveries, fully good fair (in 64ths of a penny)._

  +----------+-----------+--------------+--------------+--------+
  |          |Yesterday's|   Business   |   To-day's   |Closing |
  |          |  Close.   | before Noon. |   Business   |Values. |
  |          |           |              |  Afternoon.  |        |
  +----------+-----------+--------------+--------------+--------+
  | April    |   10-11   |      ..      |      ..      | 10-1   |
  | May      |   10-12   |9-62, 3, 10-0 |    10-2*     | 10-1   |
  |          |           |9-63, 2, 10-0 |              |        |
  | June     |   10-11   |      ..      |      ..      | 10-0   |
  | July     |   10-9    |9-60, 1, 0*   |9-63,* 10-0,* |  9-62  |
  |          |           |              |   9-63, 2    |        |
  | Aug.     |   10-0    |      ..      |      ..      |  9-54  |
  | Sept.    |    9-58   |      ..      |      ..      |  9-48  |
  | Oct.     |    9-24   |      ..      |      ..      |  9-18  |
  | Nov.     |    8-58   |8-52,* 0, 49  |      ..      |  8-52  |
  | Dec.     |    8-50   |8-39*         |      ..      |  8-42  |
  | Jan.     |    8-44   |8-36          |      ..      |  8-35  |
  +----------+-----------+--------------+--------------+--------+
    * Transactions of 100 bales only.


Egyptian futures, it will be observed, run out in single months. As the
cost of dealing in "futures" is only one shilling on each transaction
for a member of the Cotton Exchange (the outsider is charged in addition
a commission by his broker), it is not surprising that the transactions
taking place in "futures" number legion.

The methods of dealing in cotton are very intricate, and it is necessary
here to interpolate an explanation of the relations between the prices
paid by spinners for cotton and the quoted "spot" prices. We begin by
giving the official quotations of "spot," and statement of business
done, published on the morning of the 19th of April 1906.

                             _Quotations._

              G.O.    L.M.   Mid.  G.M.  F.G.M.   M.F.
  American    5.87    6.05   6.21  6.41  6.49     6.71

                     Mid Fair.    Fair.   Gd. Fair.

  Pernam              5.95        6.35     6.61
  Ceara               6.02        6.40     6.62
  Paraiba             5.94        6.32     6.56
  Maceio              5.96n       6.34n    6.56n

                   Fair.    Gd. Fair.   F.G.F.   Good.     Fine.

  Egyptian br'n    8-7/8    9-7/8      10-1/4    11        11-5/8
      "    Upper    --      9-3/16      9-5/8     9-7/8n   10n

                Gd. Fr.   F.G.F.      Gd.      G.F.      Fine.   S'fine.

  M. G. Broach.    ..       ..      5-7/16    5-19/32   5-3/4      ..
  Bhownuggar    4-9/16n  4-11/16n   4-13/16n  4-15/16n  5-1/16n    ..
  No. 1 Comra   4-9/16n  4-11/16n   4-13/16n  4-15/16n  5-1/16n    ..
  Bengal        3-25/32  3-29/32    4-1/32    4-5/32    4-5/16     4¼
  Tinnevelly    5¼       5-7/16     5-9/16      ..        ..       ..

  _Cotton Ships arrived._
  Boston: Canadian S. Hamburg: Iceland S.

  +-----------------+-------+--------+-------+--------+-------+--------+
  |                 |     Sales.     |   Speculation  | Imports includ-|
  |                 |                |   and Export.  | ing Hull, &c.  |
  |                 +-------+--------+-------+--------+-------+--------+
  |                 |       |Previous|       |Previous|       | Week's |
  |                 |To-day.|  this  |To-day.|  this  |To-day.| Total. |
  |                 |       |  Week. |       |  Week. |       |        |
  +-----------------+-------+--------+-------+--------+-------+--------+
  |American         |  6330 | 18,050 |  500  |  1500  |17,665 | 53,684 |
  |Pernam, &c.      |   150 |    200 |   ..  |   ..   |   ..  |   ..   |
  |Paraiba, &c.     |   460 |    130 |   ..  |   ..   |   ..  |      2 |
  |Ceara and Arac'ty|   ..  |     30 |   ..  |   ..   |   ..  |   ..   |
  |Egyptian         |   500 |   1200 |   ..  |   ..   |   321 |  7,983 |
  |Peruvian         |   460 |    350 |   ..  |   ..   |    32 |     32 |
  |W. I. and African|    50 |     20 |   ..  |   ..   |   ..  |   ..   |
  |Surat            |   ..  |   ..   |   ..  |   ..   | 3,664 |  3,829 |
  |Madras           |    50 |     20 |   ..  |   ..   |   ..  |   ..   |
  |Bengal           |   ..  |   ..   |   ..  |   ..   |   608 |    608 |
  |Sundries         |   ..  |   ..   |   ..  |   ..   |   ..  |   ..   |
  +-----------------+-------+--------+-------+--------+-------+--------+
  |      Total      |  8000 | 20,000 |  500  |  1500  | 2,290 | 66,138 |
  |                 |       |  8,000 |       |   500  |       |        |
  |                 |       +--------+       +--------+       |        |
  |Since Wednesday  |       | 28,000 |       |  2000  |       |        |
  +-----------------+-------+--------+-------+--------+-------+--------+


  "Points on or off."

Purchases for "speculation" remain in the market and therefore figure
again in the sales. These official prices are sometimes prices actually
paid, and sometimes prices settled by a committee according to their
notions of the prices that would have been realized at the close of the
market had business been done. The work of the committee is by no means
simple, as frequently very few transactions take place in the kinds of
cotton of which quotations are given. As regards "middling" American,
the committee fixes "spot" by allowing so many "points on or off"
present month futures. The variations of the gaps between "spot" and
"present month futures" are somewhat mysterious, a matter to which we
shall recur. "Spot" quotations, the reader will now understand, are
partly nominal, and must therefore be taken as affording a general idea
only of movements in the prices of cotton. While quoted "spot" remained
low, the prices paid by most spinners for the special kinds of cotton
that they needed might rise. When the spinner has informed the dealer
exactly what quality of cotton he needs, the dealer quotes so many
"points on or off" the "future" quotations prevailing in Liverpool at
the time of the purchase, which refer to Upland cotton of "middling
grade," of "no staple" and of the worst growth. Then, according as the
spinner wants immediate delivery or delivery in some future month, he
pays the price of current "futures," or of "futures" of the month in
which he requires delivery, plus or minus the "points on or off"
previously fixed.

The considerations which determine the "points on or off" charged to the
spinner may be taken roughly as three:--

1. The grade, i.e. the colour, cleanliness, &c., of the cotton. These
are of importance to the spinner owing to the necessity of his cleaning
machinery being adapted to the condition of the cotton. The lower the
grade the more elaborate and expensive is the machinery required to
clean it, and consequently a spinner is willing to pay a certain amount
extra for high grade cotton in order to save expenditure on preparatory
machinery.

2. The length of the staple. This determines to a large extent the
fineness of the yarn which can be spun. Only the very lowest counts can
be spun from cotton with "no staple," that is, with a fibre of about
three-quarters of an inch. The longer the staple above the minimum the
higher the counts that can be spun.

3. The growth. The best American cotton (Sea Island and Florida cotton
are always considered quite apart) is grown in the Mississippi valley,
the next best in Texas, and the poorest on the Uplands (i.e. in Georgia
and Alabama). Considerations of growth determine to a great extent the
hardness or softness, and strength or weakness, of the fibre, and thus,
indirectly, whether the cotton is suitable for warp or weft.

Some spinners cover their yarn contracts merely by buying "futures," but
the cover thus provided is frequently most inadequate owing to
variations in the "points on or off" for the particular cotton that they
want. For example, after the size of 1904-1905 crops became known, and
the Americans attempted to hold back cotton, the "points on" for many
qualities rose considerably owing to artificial scarcity, though the
price of cotton, as indicated by "spot," remained low. There is a
tendency for cautious spinners in England to run no risks and fix the
prices of their yarn in accordance with quotations for actual cotton of
specified qualities made by their brokers.


  "Options" and "straddles."

We now return to exchange "future" transactions regarded as a genus. In
addition to "futures" proper there are "options" and "straddles."
Options are single ("puts" or "calls") or double (that is, alternative
"puts" or "calls"). The "put" is a right to sell cotton within some
specified time in the future at a price fixed in the present, which need
not, of course, be exercised. The "call" is similar, but relates to
buying. It will be evident that the "put" is a hedge against prices
falling, and the "call" a hedge against their rising. The basis of
"options" is the same as that of ordinary "futures," i.e. middling
American cotton of "no staple," &c. Whether the purchaser of an option
gains or loses depends upon the price that he has paid in relation to
the gain, if any, that he makes out of his power. The price of options
of course varies: that of double options is always highest, but they are
little used. A "straddle" is a speculation on the difference between the
prices of nearer and more distant futures, which varies from time to
time, or on the difference between the prices of different kinds of
cotton. An example will make the nature of the straddle clear. Suppose a
dealer buys April-May "futures" at 4d. a lb. and sells the same quantity
of May-June "futures" at 4-10/64d. a lb. Then, whether prices rise or
fall as a whole, he gains if the difference between the two prices
becomes less than 10/64d., but if it becomes more, he loses. On the
other hand, had the dealer bought May-June at 4-10/64d. and sold
April-May at 4d. he would have gained in the event of the difference
increasing, and lost in the event of its decreasing.


  Measures of steadiness in prices.

A question which has met with a good deal of attention is whether the
speculation, which has been encouraged by the various arrangements made
for facilitating operations in "futures," has steadied or unsteadied
prices. Before we are prepared to answer this question we must be
furnished with a precise conception of what is meant by "steadiness" in
prices. It is sometimes assumed that this is measured perfectly by the
standard deviation,[6] which is obtained by taking the squares of the
differences between the average and the individual prices, summing them
and extracting the square root. But obviously the information given by
the standard deviation is limited: the frequency of movement cannot be
inferred from it; two series might have quite different average
oscillations and yet the same standard deviation; and the range of
movement, or spread of the variations from the average price (though
allowed for in the standard deviation more than in the average error),
is hidden. Now frequency of movement, average daily price variation, and
range of price movements are matters of fundamental importance to the
public. Hence for practical purposes we require several kinds of
measurement of price movements, and it is impossible to weigh exactly
the one against the other in respect of importance. Observe that an
increase of the frequency of movement, or even of the average daily
movement, is not necessarily objectionable, since changes are less
harassing when they take place by small increments than when they are
brought about by a few big variations. The difference between the
highest and lowest price, we may observe, is a very imperfect indication
of the range of movement (though, taken in conjunction with the standard
deviation, it is the best at our disposal), because either of the
extreme prices might be accidental and quite out of relation to all
others. An investigator must be on his guard against using quotations of
this kind. There is also a difficulty about the frequency of movement,
because as a rule many movements take place in one day the total over a
period sufficiently lengthy to yield general results is enormous, and
many are unrecorded. In one day, for instance, when the net drop was 33
points and the range of variation 59 points (namely, 8.45 to 7.86), 150
price fluctuations were recorded. However, the count of frequency of
movement from daily closing prices would probably afford a roughly
satisfactory comparative measurement in markets in which prices
sometimes remain the same for a day or two together. The points just
noted apply also to the average fluctuation and the standard deviation,
but it is probable in these cases that daily or even weekly quotations
would be sufficient to yield the information sought for with sufficient
exactness for purposes of comparison.


  Effect of speculation on steadiness of prices.

Now, supposing dealing to be confined to experts, what effects upon the
course of prices would one expect from the specialism of the cotton
market and improved facilities for dealing, on the assumption that
dealers were governed wholly in their actions by the course of prices
and never tried to manipulate them? The frequency of movement ought to
increase because the market would become more sensitive, but, other
things being equal, the range of movement ought to diminish, and
ultimately the average daily movement also, though at first the latter
might not fall appreciably if, indeed, it did not rise, owing to the
increased frequency of movement. These results would prove beneficial to
the community. May we infer deductively that they have been attained
because of the increase of speculative transactions? By no means, and
for two reasons. In the first place, the public speculates to a large
extent on the cotton exchange, and its speculation (taken as a whole) is
sheer gambling. But, it may be replied, the outsiders, being as a whole
completely ignorant of the forces at work, so that they cannot form
rational anticipations, cannot have any effect either way: by the law of
chance their influences would neutralize one another. This would be so
if people acted independently and without guidance, but actually they
are sometimes misled by published advice and movements in the market
intended to deceive them, and, even when they are not, they watch each
other's attitudes and tend to act as a crowd. The mass becomes unduly
sanguine or weakly surrenders to panic. Hence the law of error does not
apply, and speculation by the public may unsteady prices. Again, dealers
sometimes try to create corners and form powerful syndicates for that
purpose: the dealing syndicate of late years has become a force to be
reckoned with. Many large-scale operations are entered into, not because
prices are relatively high or low, but to make them high or low for
ulterior purposes; i.e. the market is deliberately "bulled or beared."
In consequence of this tampering with the market no certainty can be
felt about the effect even of expert dealing.


  Movement of prices.

What, then, we may profitably inquire next, has actually happened to
price movements generally as the market has developed? This question can
readily be answered as regards the past forty years or so, for which
material has been collected, but the reader must bear in mind that if
improvement can be traced it cannot logically be attributed
unhesitatingly to the perfecting of the machinery of speculation,
whereby a larger use has been made of "futures," since many other
economic changes have taken place concomitantly and they may have
wrought the major effect. The world may be steadying and steeling its
nerves. Now, turning to the actual effects, we discover somewhat
remarkable facts. Expressed both absolutely and as percentages of the
price averaged from the 1st of October to the 31st of July, the range of
movement, standard deviation, and mean weekly movement calculated
between the times mentioned above (October 1st to July 31st), after
diminishing significantly for some years after the later 'sixties, have
risen appreciably on the whole of late years. The figures in the table
below are from the _Journal of the Royal Statistical Society_, June
1906: quotations for August and September were omitted to avoid the
transition movements between the price levels of two crops.

In this table measurements of price movements stated both absolutely and
as percentages of price levels are given, because authorities have
expressed doubts as to whether the former or the latter might be
expected to remain constant, other things being equal, when price rose.
On the one hand, it is argued that speculators are affected only by the
absolute variations in price, while on the other hand it is contended
that a movement of one "point," say, is less influential when the price
is about 8d. than when it is about 4d. In response to the first view it
might be argued that if speculators are influenced only by the
differences for which they become liable, a "point" movement would have
a somewhat slighter effect on their action, other things being equal,
when price was high, because, supplies being relatively short, each of
them would tend to be engaged in a smaller volume of transactions
measured in quantity of cotton, than when supplies were larger. But the
point need not be discussed further here, since both percentage and
absolute indices of unsteadiness have risen of late years. The
explanation of this change in the direction of indices of steadiness
cannot be proved to consist in any peculiarity in the supplies of recent
years. But the dealing syndicate has probably been of late more common
and more powerful--that is, the syndicate which exists to make profits
out of manipulating the market--and the public has probably been
speculating increasingly. It is plausible, then, to suppose that the
dealing syndicate primarily, and the speculations of the public
secondarily (secondarily, because in all likelihood the effect of its
operation would be much less in magnitude), may account for the change.

  Table calculated from Weekly Prices between the 1st of October and the
  31st of July in each Year.

  +--------------------------------------------------------------+--------------------+
  |                                                              | Expressed as Per-  |
  |                                                              | centage of Average |
  |                                                              |(1 Oct. to 31 July) |
  |                                                              |   Weekly Prices.   |
  +---------+---------+---------+---------+--------+------+------+------+------+------+
  |         |         |         |         |Range of|Stan- | Mean |Range |Stan- | Mean |
  |  Year.  | Average |  Lowest | Highest |  Move- |dard  |Weekly|  of  |dard  |Weekly|
  |         |  Price. |  Price. |  Price. |  ment. |Devia-|Move- |Move- |Devia-|Move- |
  |         |         |         |         |        |tion. | ment.|ment. |tion. | ment.|
  +---------+---------+---------+---------+--------+------+------+------+------+------+
  |         |    d.   |    d.   |    d.   |   d.   |  d.  |  d.  |   d. |   d. |  d.  |
  |1867-1868| 9-5/8   | 7-3/8   |12-7/8   | 5½     | 1.74 | 0.31 | 57.1 | 18.1 | 3.22 |
  |1868-1869|11½      |10½      |12-5/8   | 2-1/8  | 0.58 | 0.19 | 18.5 |  5.0 | 1.65 |
  |1869-1870|11-1/8   | 7¾      |12-3/8   | 4-5/8  | 0.92 | 0.23 | 41.6 |  8.3 | 2.07 |
  |1870-1871| 8-1/8   | 7-3/16  | 9-3/16  | 2      | 0.65 | 0.17 | 24.6 |  8.0 | 2.09 |
  |1871-1872|10-7/8   | 9-3/8   |11½      | 2-1/8  | 0.75 | 0.15 | 19.5 |  6.9 | 1.38 |
  |1872-1873| 9¾      | 8¾      |10-5/16  | 1-9/16 | 0.53 | 0.10 | 16.9 |  5.7 | 1.08 |
  |1873-1874| 8-5/16  | 7¾      | 9-1/8   | 1-3/8  | 0.32 | 0.10 | 16.5 |  3.9 | 1.20 |
  |1874-1875| 7-11/16 | 6-15/16 | 8       | 1-1/16 | 0.26 | 0.07 | 13.8 |  3.4 | 0.89 |
  |1875-1876| 6½      | 5-7/8   | 7-1/8   | 1¼     | 0.37 | 0.08 | 19.2 |  5.7 | 1.23 |
  |1876-1877| 6-5/16  | 5-7/8   | 7       | 1-1/8  | 0.33 | 0.11 | 17.8 |  5.2 | 1.74 |
  |1877-1878| 6¾      | 5-7/8   | 6-9/16  | 1-11/16| 0.21 | 0.07 | 11.0 |  3.4 | 1.12 |
  |1878-1879| 6       | 4-15/16 | 7-3/28  | 2¼     | 0.67 | 0.13 | 37.5 | 11.2 | 2.17 |
  |1879-1880| 7       | 6-10/16 | 7-3/8   | 1¾     | 0.24 | 0.12 | 10.7 |  3.4 | 1.71 |
  |1880-1881| 6-5/16  | 5¾      | 6-13/16 | 1-1/16 | 0.34 | 0.08 | 16.8 |  5.4 | 1.27 |
  |1881-1882| 6-5/8   | 6-3/8   | 7-1/16  |  11/16 | 0.15 | 0.07 | 10.4 |  2.3 | 1.06 |
  |1882-1883| 5-13/16 | 5-7/16  | 6-5/8    |1-3/16 | 0.31 | 0.07 | 20.4 |  5.3 | 1.20 |
  |1883-1884| 6-1/16  | 5¾      | 6-7/16  |  11/16 | 0.20 | 0.08 | 11.3 |  3.3 | 1.32 |
  |1884-1885| 5-13/16 | 5-7/16  | 6-1/8   |  11/16 | 0.19 | 0.07 | 11.8 |  3.3 | 1.20 |
  |1885-1886| 5-1/8   | 4¾      | 5-8/16  |  ¾     | 0.18 | 0.07 | 14.5 |  3.5 | 1.35 |
  |1886-1887| 5-7/16  | 5-1/8   | 6       |   7/8  | 0.28 | 0.05 | 16.1 |  5.2 | 0.92 |
  |1887-1888| 5½      | 5-3/16  | 5-11/16 |  ½     | 0.14 | 0.05 |  9.1 |  2.5 | 0.91 |
  |1888-1889| 5¾      | 5-5/16  | 6-3/16  |   7/8  | 0.23 | 0.06 | 15.0 |  4.0 | 1.04 |
  |1889-1890| 6-1/8   | 5-9/16  | 6-11/16 |   1/8  | 0.34 | 0.08 | 18.4 |  5.5 | 1.31 |
  |1890-1891| 5       | 4-3/8   | 5¾      | 1-3/8  | 0.36 | 0.06 | 27.5 |  7.2 | 1.20 |
  |1891-1892| 4-1/8   | 3-6/16  | 4-15/16 | 1-3/8  | 0.36 | 0.07 | 33.3 |  8.7 | 1.70 |
  |1892-1893| 4¾      | 4-1/8   | 5-15/16 | 1-3/16 | 0.37 | 0.09 | 25.0 |  7.8 | 1.89 |
  |1893-1894| 4¼      | 3-29/32 | 4-11/16 |  25/32 | 0.22 | 0.04 | 18.4 |  5.2 | 0.94 |
  |1894-1895| 3-3/8   | 2-31/32 | 3-7/8   |  9/32  | 0.30 | 0.06 | 26.9 |  8.9 | 1.79 |
  |1895-1896| 4-3/8   | 3¾      | 4-27/32 |  3/32  | 0.28 | 0.07 | 25.0 |  6.4 | 1.60 |
  |1896-1897| 4-3/16  | 3-25/32 | 4-11/16 |  29/32 | 0.22 | 0.07 | 21.6 |  5.2 | 1.67 |
  |1897-1898| 3-13/32 | 3-3/16  | 3-13/16 |  5/8   | 0.18 | 0.05 | 18.5 |  5.3 | 1.47 |
  |1898-1899| 3-9/32  | 3       | 3-15/32 |  15/32 | 0.15 | 0.04 | 14.3 |  4.6 | 1.22 |
  |1899-1900| 4-15/16 | 3-29/32 | 6-1/16  |  25/32 | 0.63 | 0.12 | 43.6 | 12.8 | 2.48 |
  |1900-1901| 5-1/8   | 4-5/16  | 6½      | 2-3/16 | 0.53 | 0.13 | 42.7 | 10.3 | 2.54 |
  |1901-1902| 4¾      | 4-9/32  | 5-11/32 | 1-1/16 | 0.24 | 0.09 | 22.4 |  5.0 | 1.89 |
  |1902-1903| 5.35    | 4.42    | 7.12    | 2.70   | 0.78 | 0.13 | 50.5 | 14.6 | 2.43 |
  |1903-1904| 7.04    | 5.78    | 8.92    | 3.14   | 0.91 | 0.33 | 44.4 | 12.9 | 4.83 |
  |1904-1905| 4.86    | 3.63    | 6.01    | 2.38   | 0.71 | 0.15 | 48.9 | 14.6 | 3.09 |
  +---------+---------+---------+---------+--------+------+------+------+------+------+


  Price movements in different markets.

"Futures" are not used in all markets--for instance, they are not to be
found at Bremen; and in those in which they are used they play parts of
different prominence--at Havre, for instance, the transactions in
"futures" are of incomparably less relative importance than they are at
Liverpool. But it is futile to seek the effect of much dealing in
"futures" in the differences between price movements in the various
markets, because (1) demand expresses itself in different ways--in
Germany, for example, spinners buy to hold large stocks--and (2) the
markets are in telegraphic communication, so that their price movements
are kept parallel. Mr Hooker has shown with reference to the wheat
market how close is the correlation between prices in different
places,[7] and the same has been observed of the cotton market, though
the correlations have not been worked out.[8] It is worthy of note that
Liverpool "futures" are largely used for hedging by continental cotton
dealers.

  +----------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+
  |                |     |Jan.-|Feb.-|Mar.-|Apr.-|May-|June-|July-|Aug.-|Sep.-|Oct.-|Nov.-|Dec.|
  |                |Spot.|Feb. |Mar. |Apr. |May. |Jun.|July |Aug. |Sep. |Oct. |Nov. |Dec. |Jan.|
  +----------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+
  |Nov. 18th, 1895 | 4.34| 27  | 28  | 28½ | 29½ | 31 | 32  |  3  | ..  | ..  | ..  | 27  | 27 |
  |Jan. 18th, 1899 | 3.8 |  6½ |  6½ |  7½ |  8½ |  9½| 10½ |  1½ | 12  | 12½ | ..  | ..  |  6½|
  |Sept. 14th, 1899| 3.36| 24½ | 25  | 25½ | 26  | 27 | ..  | ..  | 30  | 28  | 26½ | 25  | 24½|
  +----------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+


  Differences between the prices of near and distant "futures."

Conceivably some indication of the working of "futures" might be gleaned
from observation of the relations of near and distant "futures" to one
another and of both to "spot." The complete explanation of changes in
these relations is still a mystery.[9] Probably an infinitude of subtle
influences came into play, and among these there seems reason to include
the intentional and unintentional "bulling" or "bearing" of the market.
Some examples of the diverse relations to be found, even when all the
"futures" fall in the same crop year, may be quoted here--quotations
running into the new crop year are obviously affected by anticipations
of the new crop.

As we pass from the "future" of the month in which the quotation is made
to the most distant "future" it will be observed that in the first and
second cases price rises continuously, in the second case even passing
"spot," whereas in the third case it falls first and then rises.
Instances might be given of its falling unintermittently. It seems a
plausible conjecture that if "futures" were "bulling" the market in the
first case, they were at least "bulling" it less in the second case
_ceteris paribus_, and probably "bearing" it in the last case. A closer
examination will reveal further that the magnitude of these gaps varies
a great deal; and if the "futures" do "bear" and "bull," as has been
supposed, they probably influence these magnitudes. It might be thought
that the "futures" of different months, being substitutes in proportion
to their temporal proximity to one another, should vary together
exactly; but it would seem to be a sufficient reply that as they are not
perfect substitutes they are in some slight degree independent
variables. The "spot" market might be judged generally as too high, in
view of crops and the probable normal demand of the year, but it might
not therefore drop immediately, owing partly to the pressure of demand
that must be satisfied instantaneously. "Current futures" would be
affected more than "spot" by this impression as to the relation of
"spot" to a conceived normal price for the year, and they might
therefore be expected to drop more than "spot" when this impression was
at all widely entertained. But the fall of "current futures" would be
checked by the demands that must be satisfied in the near future.
Probably the prices of the more distant "futures" are determined in a
higher degree by far-reaching imagination than the prices of nearer
futures. This explains what has been called above the unintentional
"bearing" of "spot" by "futures." And it is immediately evident that the
deliberate "bear" works by selling "futures," and that the effect of his
sales is propagated to "spot." These statements are equally true of
"bulling." The influence of expectations of the new crop on "futures"
running into the new crop is plain on inspection; but owing to the gap
between the two crop years it would be astonishing if "futures" against
which cotton from a new crop could be delivered were not appreciably
independent of "spot" at the time of their quotation. However, it is
noticeable that they are still so closely bound up with "futures"
culminating in the old crop year that the daily movements of the former
are closely correlated with those of the latter. Concluding cautiously,
we may admit the probability of the relations between near and distant
"futures" and "spot" (even in respect of "futures" running out in the
same crop year) indicating sometimes at least the intentional or
unintentional "bulling" or "bearing" or "spot" by "futures." But nothing
has yet been proved from these facts as to the effect "futures" are
having upon the steadiness of prices. In the case of any crop year, if
the relations which are suggested as indicating the "bulling" work of
"futures" usually corresponded with "spot" prices being below the normal
price of the crop year, or of what was left of the crop year, while the
relations which are suggested to indicate the "bearing" work of
"futures" on the whole corresponded with a relatively abnormal height of
"spot," it would be a legitimate inference that "futures" were tending
to smooth prices. However, it is made clear as the result of an
elaborate examination that the generality of these correspondences
cannot be affirmed.[10] The outcome of the whole matter is that the
investigator is still baffled in his attempt to discover what effect the
use of "futures" is having upon prices to-day. The sole piece of
evidence, from which probable conclusions may be drawn, is that three
separate measurements of price fluctuations over some forty years reveal
a growing unsteadiness of late, whether they be expressed absolutely or
as percentages of price.


  Recent attempts to open up new cotton-fields.

The uneasiness caused by the excessive dependence of Great Britain upon
the United States for cotton, coupled with the belief that shortages of
supply are more frequent than they ought to be, and the fear that
diminishing returns may operate in America, occasioned the formation in
England of the British Cotton Growing Association on the 12th of June
1902. The proportions of England's supplies drawn from different fields
is indicated in the table below.

British dependence on American supplies is greater even than that of the
continent of Europe, for Russia possesses some internal supplies, and
more Indian cotton is used in continental countries than in England.

  _Average Quantities of Raw Cotton imported Annually into the United
  Kingdom from the following Countries in the Periods 1896-1900 and
  1901-1904._

  +----------------------------------------+-------------+-------------+
  |                Country                 |  1896-1900. | 1901-1904.  |
  |                                        | Million lb. | Million lb. |
  +----------------------------------------+-------------+-------------+
  | United States                          |   1436      |  1424       |
  | Brazil                                 |     13.8    |    31.5     |
  | Peru                                   |      8.5    |     8.6     |
  | Chile (including the Pacific coast of  |       .8    |     2.2     |
  |   Patagonia)                           |             |             |
  | Venezuela and Republic of Colombia     |       .5    |      .5     |
  | British West Indies and British Guiana |       .3    |      .6     |
  | Turkey (European and Asiatic)          |       .5    |     1.1     |
  | Egypt                                  |    295.7    |   314.4     |
  | British possessions in the East Indies |     40.7    |    61.9     |
  | Australasia                            |       .035  |      .041   |
  | All other countries                    |      2.3    |     3.8     |
  |                                        +-------------+-------------+
  |                     Total              |   1800      |  1849       |
  |                                        +-------------+-------------+
  |                  Re-exported           |    223      |   260       |
  +----------------------------------------+-------------+-------------+

The annual average shipments from Bombay to the European continent and
to Great Britain in 1900-1904 were as follows:--

  To the continent         600 bales of 3½ cwt.
  To Great Britain          50   "    "     "

At the end of the 18th century the bulk of British cotton was obtained
from the West Indies. Approximately the supplies were as follows in
million lb.:--

  British West Indies                   6.6
  French and Spanish settlements        6
  Dutch settlements                     1.7
  Portuguese  "                         2.5
  East Indies "                          .1
  Smyrna or Turkey                      5.7

The British Cotton Growing Association works under the sanction of a
royal charter and has met with valuable official support. Financial
assistance and assurances as to sales and prices have been given
liberally by the association where they are needed; ginning and buying
centres have been established; experts have been engaged to distribute
seed and afford instruction; and some land has been acquired for working
under the direct management of the association. The governments of some
colonies have aided the efforts of the association. Professor Wyndham
Dunstan of the Imperial Institute, on a reference from the government,
made favourable reports as to the possibilities of extending cotton
cultivation. The results may be seen in the approximate estimates below
of cotton grown more or less directly under the auspices of the
association.

  _Bales of 400 lb._

  +-------------------+---------+---------+-----------+-----------+
  |                   |  1903.  |  1904.  |    1905.  |   1906.   |
  +-------------------+---------+---------+-----------+-----------+
  | Gambia            |     50  |    100  |      300  |      ..   |
  | Sierra Leone      |     50  |    100  |      200  |      250  |
  | Gold Coast        |     50  |    150  |      200  |      250  |
  | Lagos             |    500  |  2,000  |    3,200  |    6,300  |
  | Nigeria           |    100  |    200  |      650  |    1,200  |
  |                   |  -----  |  -----  |    -----  |    -----  |
  | West Africa       |    750  |  2,550  |    4,550  |    8,000  |
  | West Indies       |  1,000  |  2,000  |    4,000  |    6,000  |
  | East Africa       |    150  |    850  |    2,000  |    3,500  |
  | Sind              |    ..   |    ..   |      500  |    2,000  |
  | Sundries          |    ..   |    100  |      250  |      500  |
  +-------------------+---------+---------+-----------+-----------+
  |         Total     |  1,900  |  5,500  |   11,300  |   20,000  |
  +-------------------+---------+---------+-----------+-----------+
  | Approximate value |£29,000  |£75,000  | £150,000  | £270,000  |
  +-------------------+---------+---------+-----------+-----------+

In the West Indies results are most favourable, both as regards quantity
and quality of the crops. West Indian grown cotton has realized even
higher prices than American grown Sea Island. In West Africa also
prospects appear encouraging. In Sierra Leone little success has been
met with, but on the Gold Coast some cotton better than middling
American has been grown, and the association has concluded an agreement
with the government for an extension of its work. In Lagos crops
increased rapidly. The cotton is almost entirely grown by natives in
small patches round their villages, and generally it has sold for about
the same price as middling American, though some of it realized as much
as 25 to 30 "points on." The quality in greatest demand in England, it
should be observed, is worth about ¼d. to ½d. per lb. above middling
American. In Southern Nigeria the association has met with only slight
success; in Northern Nigeria, a working arrangement was entered into
with the Niger Company, and a small ginning establishment was set to
work in February 1906. In British Central Africa, the results on the
whole have not been satisfactory. Though planters who confined their
efforts to the lower lying grounds--of which there is a fairly large
tract--succeeded, all the cotton planted on the highlands proved more or
less a failure. In Uganda the association took no steps, but activity in
cotton-growing is not unknown, and some good cotton is being produced.
Arrangements were concluded with the British South Africa Company for
the formation of a small syndicate for working in Rhodesia.

The general movement for the extension of cotton cultivation was
welcomed by the International Congress of representatives of master
cotton spinners and manufacturers' associations at the meeting at Zürich
in May 1904. It placed on record "its cordial appreciation of the
efforts of those governments and institutions which have already
supported cotton-growing in their respective colonies." England is
pre-eminent but not alone in the matter. Germany and France, and in a
less degree Belgium, Portugal and Italy, have taken some steps. Russia,
too, is developing her internal supplies.

The advantages that might accrue from the wider distribution of
cotton-growing are mainly fourfold, (1) Greater elasticity of supply
might be caused. It is probably easier to extend the area under cotton
rapidly when crops are raised from many places in proximity to other
crops than when the mass of the cotton is obtained from a few highly
specialized districts. Possibly the advantages of specialism might be
retained and yet the elasticity of supply be enhanced. (2) Greater
stability of crops in proportion to area cultivated is hoped for. The
eggs are now too much in one basket, and local disease, or bad weather,
or some other misfortune, may diminish by serious percentages the
supplies anticipated. Were there numerous important centres, the bad
fortune of one would be more adequately offset by the good fortune of
another. (3) Desirable variations in the raw material might conceivably
eventuate from the introduction of cotton to spots in the globe where
its growth was previously unknown or little regarded. The results of the
enterprise of Mehemet Ali and Jumel in Egypt prove such an idea to be
not altogether fanciful, and warn us also against hastily arguing that
the plan is too artificial to succeed on a large scale. Without the
active intervention of a strong body of interested parties it is
sometimes unlikely that new industries will be undertaken even in places
well suited for them. (4) Lastly, the countries to which cotton-growing
is carried should gain in prosperity.


  The Cotton Supply Association.

The general difficulties in the way of the British Cotton Growing
Association are many and will be sufficiently evident. Lessons of value
may be learnt from the fate of similar work undertaken by the Cotton
Supply Association, which was instituted in April 1857. According to its
fifth report, it originated "in the prospective fears of a portion of
the trade that some dire calamity must inevitably, sooner or later,
overtake the cotton manufacture of Lancashire, whose vast superstructure
had so long rested upon the treacherous foundation of restricted slave
labour as the main source of supply for its raw material."[11] Its
methods were stated to be: "To afford information to every country
capable of producing cotton, both by the diffusion of printed directions
for its cultivation, and sending competent teachers of cotton planting
and cleaning, and by direct communication with Christian missionaries
whose aid and co-operation it solicits; to supply, gratuitously, in the
first instance, the best seeds to natives in every part of the world who
are willing to receive them; to give prizes for the extended cultivation
of cotton; and to lend gins and improved machines for cleaning and
preparing cotton." Though the association brought about an extension and
improvement of the Indian crop, in which result it was enormously
assisted by the high prices consequent upon the American Civil War, it
sank after a few years into obscurity, and soon passed out of existence
altogether, while the effects of its work dwindled finally into
insignificance. Much the same had been the ultimate outcome of the
spasmodic attempt of the British government to bring about the
introduction of cotton to new districts, after it had been pressed to
take some action a few years prior to the formation of the Cotton Supply
Association. A Mr Clegg, who afterwards interested himself keenly in the
activities of the Cotton Supply Association reported that in the course
of a tour in 1855 through the Eastern countries bordering on the
Mediterranean he had found none of the gins presented by the British
government at work or workable.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.--On the question of cotton supplies, as treated in this
article, the reader may be referred to _Brook's Cotton, its Uses, &c._;
Dabney's _Cotton Plant_ (Department of Agriculture of the United
States); Foaden's _Cotton Culture in Egypt_; Dunstan's _Report on Cotton
Cultivation_ for the British government; Oppel's _Die Baumwolle_;
Leconte's _Le Coton_; publications of the British Cotton Growing
Association; _Report_ of the Lancashire Commission on the possibility of
extending cotton cultivation in the Southern States of North America;
Watt's _Lancashire and the Cotton Famine_; publications of the old
Cotton Supply Association (many will be found in the Manchester public
library in the volume marked "677 I. C. ii."), including their weekly
paper, _The Cotton Supply Reporter_; Hammond's _Cotton Culture and
Trade_. On methods of marketing to certain portions of the above must be
added: Ellison's _Cotton Trade of Great Britain_; Chapman's _Lancashire
Cotton Industry_ (ch. vii.); articles by Chapman and Knoop in the
_Economic Journal_ (December, 1904) and the _Journal of the Royal
Statistical Society_ (April, 1906); Emery's _Speculation on Stock and
Produce Exchanges of the United States_ (small portions of which relate
to cotton). Many statistics will be found in the works mentioned, and
these may be supplemented from the trade publications of different
countries. Many valuable figures of cotton imports, &c., in early years
will be found in Baines' _History of the Cotton Trade_. Recent
statistics bearing upon cotton are collected annually in the two
publications, Shepperson's _Cotton Facts_ and Jones's _Handbook for
Daily Cable Records of Cotton Crop Statistics_. For current information
the following may be added: Nield's, Ellison's and Tattersall's
circulars; _Cotton_ (the publication of the Manchester Cotton
Association); and daily reports and articles in the local press. Price
curves are published by Messrs Turner, Routledge & Co.     (S. J. C.)


COTTON GOODS AND YARN

The two great sections of the cotton industry are _yarn_ and _cloth_,
and in Great Britain the production of both of these is mainly in South
Lancashire, though the area extends to parts of Cheshire, Yorkshire and
Derbyshire, and there is a Scottish branch, besides certain isolated
ventures in other parts of the country. Though there are local rivalries
there is nothing in competitive division to compare with the northern
and southern sections in America, and the British industry is, for its
size, more homogeneous than most of the European industries. Both
operatives and employers are highly organized and both parties are able
to make articulate contribution to the solution of the various problems
connected with the trade.

_Cotton Yarn._--The yarn trade is mainly in the hands of limited
companies, and a private firm is looked upon as something of a survival
from the past. The two great centres of production are Oldham, in which
American cotton is chiefly, though not exclusively, spun, and Bolton,
which spins the finer counts from Egyptian or Sea Island cotton.
Spinning mills are established, however, in most of the large Lancashire
towns as well as in some parts of Cheshire and in Yorkshire, where there
is a considerable industry in doubling yarns. The centre of trade is the
Manchester Royal Exchange, and though some companies or firms prefer to
do business by means of their own salaried salesmen, managers or
directors, most of the yarn is sold by agents. Frequently a single agent
has the consignment of the whole of a company's yarn, but many spinners,
especially those whose business connexion is not perfectly assured,
prefer to have more outlets than can be explored by an individual. At
times of bad trade even those who usually depend on their own resources
seek the aid of experienced agents, who sometimes find a grievance if
their services are rejected when trade improves and sales are made
easily.

Yarn is sold upon various terms, but a regular custom in the home trade
is for the spinner to allow 4% discount, for payment in 14 days, of
which 2½ goes to the buyer, who is commonly a manufacturer, and 1½ to
the agent for sale and guaranteeing the account. In selling yarn for
export it is usual to allow the buyer only 1½% for payment in 14 days,
or in some cases the discount is at the rate of 5% per annum for 3
months, which is equivalent to 1¼%.

The great bulk of the yarn spun in Great Britain ranges between
comparatively narrow limits of count, and such staples as 32^s to 36^s
twist and 36^s to 46^s weft in American, 50^s to 60^s twist and 42^s to
62^s weft in Egyptian, make up a large part of the total. It is
nevertheless the experience of yarn salesmen that Lancashire produces an
increasingly large amount of specialities that indicate a continued
differentiation in trade. The tendency to spin finer counts has been to
some extent counteracted by the development of the flannelette trade,
for which heavy wefts are used, and there has been again a tendency
lately to use "condensor" or waste wefts, which has worked to the
disadvantage of the spinners of the regular coarse counts spun at Royton
and elsewhere. The demand for cloths which require careful handling and
regularity in weaving has helped to develop the supply of ring yarns
which will stand the strain of the loom better than mule twists. A great
amount of doubled and trebled yarn is now sold, though it does not
appear that recent expansions have added much to doubling spindles, and
considerable developments continue in the use of dyed and mercerized
yarns.

Yarns are sold according to their "actual" counts, though when they are
woven into cloth they frequently attain nominal or brevet rank. There
has been a long-continued discussion, which between buyer and seller
sometimes degenerates into a dispute, on the subject of moisture in
yarns, and the difficulty is not confined to the Lancashire industry.
The amount permissible, according to the recommendation of the
Manchester Chamber of Commerce, is 8%, but while it may be assumed that
yarns at the time of their sale rarely contain less than this, they
frequently contain a good deal more. It is a matter of experience that
cotton yarns which when spun contain only a small percentage of moisture
will absorb up to about 8% when they are exposed to what may be rather
vaguely described as natural conditions. The exigencies of competition
prompted the discovery that if yarn were sold by weight fresh from the
spindle its comparative dryness made such early sale less profitable
than if it were allowed to "condition." Between loss and delay the
spinner found an obvious alternative in damping the yarn artificially.
As it was often clearly to the advantage of the buyer that he should
receive immediate delivery he did not object to water in moderation, but
art soon began to run a little ahead of nature. The essentially
dishonest practice of deluging yarn with water, which has sometimes even
degenerated into the use of weighting materials deleterious to weaving,
has been recognized as a great nuisance, but while various attempts have
been made to protect the buyer the question seems to have pretty well
settled itself on the principles which commonly rule the sales of
commodities between those who intend to do business continuously. The
spinner who persists in over-weighting his yarn finds it difficult to
obtain "repeat" orders.

A remarkable point in the Lancashire yarn trade is the looseness of the
contracts between spinner and manufacturer. Doubtless some kind of sale
note or acknowledgment usually passes between them, but in the home
trade at least it is quite usual to leave the question of delivery an
open one. It would not be correct to say that this system or want of
system is satisfactory, but the trade manages to rub along very well
with it, although inconveniences and disagreements sometimes arise when
prices have advanced or declined considerably. Thus when prices have
advanced the manufacturer may find it difficult to obtain delivery of
the yarn that he had bought at low rates, for some spinners have a
curious, indefensible preference for delivering their higher-priced
orders; and, on the other hand, when prices have fallen the manufacturer
sometimes ceases to take delivery of the high-priced yarn and actually
purchases afresh for his needs. Yet positive repudiation is very rare
though compromises are not uncommon, and a good many illogical
arrangements are made that imply forbearance and amity. Litigation in
the yarn trade is very unusual, and Lancashire traders generally have
only vague notions of the bearing of law upon their transactions, and a
wholesome dread of the experience that would lead to better knowledge.

  The average yearly values of the exports of cotton, yarn and cloth
  from Great Britain for the decades 1881-1890 and 1891-1900
  respectively, are given by Professor Chapman in his _Cotton Industry
  and Trade_, in million pounds:--

                      1881-1890.      1891-1900.
    Cloth                £60.4           £57.3
    Yarn                  12.3             9.3
                         -----           -----
              Total      £72.7           £66.6

  During the earlier decade the prices of cotton were comparatively
  high.

  The whole of the cloth exports represent, of course, a corresponding
  home trade in yarns. The following table, taken from the _Manchester
  Guardian_, gives in thousands of lb. the amounts of cotton yarns
  exported from Great Britain during 1903, 1904 and 1905 respectively,
  according to the Board of Trade returns, together with the average
  value per lb. for each of the countries:--

    +-----------------------------+--------------+---------------+--------------+
    |                             |     1903.    |     1904.     |     1905.    |
    |                             +-------+------+-------+-------+-------+------+
    |                             |       |Price |       | Price |       | Price|
    |                             |  lb.* | per  |  lb.* |  per  |  lb.* |  per |
    |                             |       | lb.  |       |  lb.  |       | lb.  |
    +-----------------------------+-------+------+-------+-------+-------+------+
    |                             |       |  d.  |       |   d.  |       |  d.  |
    | Russia                      |    814| 30.22|    713|  30.71|    557| 30.66|
    | Sweden                      |  1,526| 11.00|  1,486|  12.55|  1,512| 11.12|
    | Norway                      |  1,656|  9.54|  1,511|  11.05|  1,606|  9.73|
    | Denmark                     |  2,429|  8.91|  2,368|  10.18|  2,860|  9.51|
    | Germany                     | 27,239| 16.05| 40,295|    .27| 39,513| 16.38|
    | Netherlands                 | 29,591|  9.10| 29,384|  10.48| 37,341|  8.93|
    | Belgium                     |  3,970| 15.89|  5,864|  16.50|  7,205| 16.12|
    | France                      |  3,974| 17.59|  3,084|  20.01|  3,518| 22.64|
    | Italy                       |    204| 21.78|    174|  24.70|    204| 22.21|
    | Austria-Hungary             |  2,662| 11.60|  3,329|  14.36|  3,066| 13.36|
    | Rumania                     |  4,608|  8.55|  5,072|  10.13|  7,856|  9.73|
    | Turkey                      | 12,966|  8.93| 14,253|  10.05| 17,389|  9.37|
    | Egypt                       |  4,590|  8.66|  4,381|   9.83|  4,382|  8.59|
    | China (including Hong-Kong) |  4,660|  9.45|  2,457|  10.24|  8,441|  8.70|
    | Japan                       |  1,406| 12.98|    681|  11.46|  4,071| 13.99|
    | British India--             |       |      |       |       |       |      |
    |   Bombay                    |  6,286| 10.80|  8,145|  11.88| 13,112| 10.86|
    |   Madras                    |  6,683| 11.07|  8,288|  12.48| 10,930| 11.91|
    |   Bengal                    |  6,777| 11.04|  6,596|  12.82| 11,068| 11.20|
    |   Burma                     |  5,611| 12.17|  3,388|  12.39|  4,211| 12.31|
    | Straits Settlements         |  1,945| 10.81|  1,137|  11.57|  2,149| 10.71|
    | Ceylon                      |     33| 11.92|     44|  16.51|     42| 13.55|
    | Other countries             | 21,129| 12.39| 21,252|  13.28| 23,970| 12.43|
    |                             +-------+------+-------+-------+-------+------+
    |        Total and average    |150,758| 11.79|163,901|  13.11|205,001| 12.08|
    +-----------------------------+-------+------+-------+-------+-------+------+
      * 000 omitted.

  It should be understood, however, that in some cases the Board of
  Trade figures represent only an approximation to the ultimate
  distribution, as the exports are sometimes assigned to the
  intermediate country, and in particular it is understood that a
  considerable part of the yarn sent to the Netherlands is destined for
  Germany or Austria. The large business done in yarns with the
  continent of Europe is in some respects an extension of the British
  home trade, though certain countries have their own specialities. A
  considerable business is done with European countries in doubled yarns
  and in fine counts of Egyptian, including "gassed" yarns, which are
  also sent intermittently to Japan. "Extra hard" yarns are sent to
  Rumania and other Near Eastern markets, and Russia, as the average
  price indicates, buys sparingly of very fine yarns. The trade with the
  Far East, which, though not very large for any one market, is
  important in the aggregate, is a good deal specialized, and since the
  development of Indian and Japanese cotton mills some of the trade in
  the coarser counts has been lost. The various Indian markets take
  largely of 40^s mule twist and in various proportions of 30^s mule,
  water twists, two-folds grey and bleached, fine Egyptian counts and
  dyed yarns. China also takes 40^s mule, water twists and two-folds.
  The general export of yarn varies according to influences such as
  tariff charges, spinning and manufacturing development in the
  importing countries and the price of cotton. A particular effect of
  high-priced piece-goods is seen in various Eastern countries that are
  still partly dependent on an indigenous hand-loom industry. The big
  price of imported cloths throws the native consumer to some extent
  upon the local goods, and so stimulates the imports of yarn. It
  appears that as the native industries decline the weaving section
  persists longer than the spinning section.

_Cotton Goods._--Cotton goods are of an infinite variety, and the titles
that experience or fancy have evoked are even more numerous than the
kinds. Descriptions of the following fabrics, which are not of course
invariably made of cotton, will be found in separate articles: BAIZE,
BANDANA, BOMBAZINE, BROCADE, CALICO, CAMBRIC, CANVAS, CHINTZ, CORDUROY,
CRAPE, CRETONNE, DENIM, DIMITY, DRILL, DUCK, FLANNELETTE, FUSTIAN,
GAUZE, GINGHAM, LONGCLOTH, MOLESKIN, MULL, MUSLIN, NANKEEN, PRINT, REP,
TICKING, TWILL, VELVETEEN. The following are notes on other varieties.

_Grey cloth_ is a comprehensive term that includes unbleached cotton
cloth generally. It may be a nice question whether "yellow" would not
have been the more nearly correct description. A very large proportion
of the Lancashire export trade is in grey goods and a smaller yet
considerable proportion of the home trade.

_Shirting_, which has long since ceased to refer exclusively to shirt
cloths, includes a large proportion of Lancashire manufacture. Grey and
white shirtings are exported to all the principal Eastern markets and
also to Near Eastern, European, South American, &c. markets. Certain
staple kinds, such as 39 in. 37½ yd. 8¼ lb. 16 x 15 (threads to the ¼
in.), largely exported to China and India, are made in various
localities and by many manufacturers. The length quoted is to some
extent a conventional term, as the pieces in many cases actually measure
considerably more. The export shirting trade is done mainly on "repeat"
orders for well-known "chops" or marks. These trade marks are sometimes
the property of the manufacturer, but more commonly of the exporter.
Generally the China markets use rather better qualities than the Indian
markets. The principal China market for shirtings and other staple goods
is Shanghai, which holds a large stock and distributes to minor markets.
A considerable trade is also done through Hong-Kong and other Far
Eastern ports. The principal Indian markets are Calcutta, Bombay,
Karachi and Madras.

_Shirt-cloth_ is the term more commonly applied to what is actually used
in the manufacture of shirts, and it may be used for either plain or
fancy goods.

_Sheeting_ has two meanings in the cotton trade: (1) the ordinary bed
sheeting, usually a stout cloth of anything from 45 in. to 120 in. wide
(the extremes being used on the one hand for children's cots or ship
bunks and on the other for old-fashioned four-posters), which may be
either plain or twilled, bleached, unbleached or half-bleached; (2) a
grey calico, heavier than a shirting, sent largely to China and other
markets, usually 36 in. by 40 yd. and weighing about 12 lb. American
sheetings compete with Lancashire goods in the China market. The _Cabot_
is a kind of heavy sheeting, and for the Levant markets the name as a
trade mark is said to be the exclusive property of an American firm,
although the general class is known by the name and supplied by other
firms.

_Mexican_ is a plain, heavy grey calico, sometimes heavily sized. The
origin of the word is doubtful, and it seems to be an arbitrary term.
Mexicans are exported to various markets and also used in the home
trade. For export the dimensions are commonly 32 or 36 in. by 24 yd.,
and a usual count is 18 x 18. In the Mexican the yarns were originally
of nearly the same weight and number of threads to the ¼ in., an
arrangement which gave the cloth an even appearance, thus differing from
the "pin-head" or medium makes. Now, however, Mexicans are often made
with lighter wefts, though the name is usually applied to the better
class of cloths of the particular character. _Punjum_ is a Mexican,
generally 36 yd. in length, sent mainly to the South African market.

_T Cloth_ is a plain grey calico, similar in kind to the Mexican and
exported to the same markets. There is no absolute distinction between
the two cloths, but the T cloth is generally lower in quality than the
Mexican. The name seems to have been originally an arbitrary
identification or trade mark.

_Domestic_, a name originally used in the sense of "home-made," is
applied especially to home-made cotton goods in the United States. In
Great Britain it is employed rather loosely, but commonly to describe
the kind of cloth which if exported would be called a Mexican. It may be
either bleached or unbleached.

_Medium_ is a plain calico, grey or bleached, of medium weight, used
principally in the home and colonial trade. The word is sometimes
particularly applied to cloths with a comparatively heavy weft, the
distinction being made between the even "Mexican make" and the
"pin-head" or "medium-make."

_Raising-cloths_ are of various kinds and may be merely mediums with a
heavy weft, or "condensor" weft made from waste yarns. The essence of
the raising-cloth is a weft that will provide plenty of nap and yet have
sufficient fibre to maintain the strength of the web.

_Wigan_ is a name derived from the town Wigan and seems to have been
originally applied to a stiff canvas-like cloth used for lining skirts.
Now it is commonly applied to medium or heavy makes of calico.

_Double-warp_, as its name implies, is a cloth with a twofold warp. It
is usually a strong serviceable material and may be either twilled or
plain. Sheetings for home trade are often double-warp, and double-warp
twills and Wigans were and are used for the old-fashioned type of men's
night-shirts.

_Croydon_, which seems to be an arbitrary trade name, is a heavy,
bleached, plain calico, usually stiff and glossy in finish. It used to
be sold largely in the Irish trade as well as in the English home trade,
but it has been supplanted a good deal by softer finishes.

_Printing-cloth_ is a term with a general significance, but it is also
particularly applied to a class of plain cloths in which a very large
trade is done both for home trade and export. The chief place in
Lancashire for the manufacture of printing-cloths is Burnley, and in the
United States, Fall River. The Burnley cloths range in width from 29 in.
to 40 in., and are usually about 120 yd. in length. The warp is commonly
from 36^s to 44^s, the weft from 36^s to 54^s, and the threads from 13 ×
13 to 20 × 20 to the ¼ in. Cheshire printers, which are made at Hyde,
Stockport, Glossop and elsewhere, are commonly 34 in. to 36 in. wide,
the warp is from 32^s to 36^s, the weft 32^s to 40^s, and the counts 16
× 16 to 19 × 22.

_Jacconet_ is understood to be the corruption of an Indian name, and the
first jacconets were probably of Indian origin. They now make one of the
principal staple trades of Lancashire with India. The jacconet is a
plain cloth, lighter than a shirting and heavier than a mull. When
bleached it is usually put into a firm and glossy finish. A _nainsook_
is a jacconet bleached and finished soft. It also goes largely to India.

_Dhootie_ is a name taken from a Hindu word of similar sound and
referred originally to the loin-cloth worn by Hindus. It is a light,
narrow cloth made with a coloured border which is often so elaborate as
to require a dobby loom for its manufacture. The finer kinds, made from
Egyptian yarns, are called mull-dhooties. The dhootie is one of the
principal staples for India and is exported both white and grey.

_Scarf_ is a kind of dhootie made usually with a taped or corded border.

_Madapolam_ or _Madapollam_ is a name derived from a suburb of Narsapur
in the Madras presidency where the cloth was first made. It is now
exported grey or white to India and other countries. In weight it is
lighter than a shirting, and it is usually ornamented with a distinctive
coloured heading.

_Baft_, probably of Persian derivation, and originally a fine cloth, is
now a coarse and cheap cloth exported especially to Africa.


_Sarong_, the Malay word for a garment wrapped round the lower part of
the body and used by both men and women, is now applied to plain or
printed cloths exported to the Indian or Eastern Archipelago for this
purpose.

_Jean_, said to be derived from Genoa where a kind of fustian with this
title was made, is a kind of twilled cloth. The cloth is woven "one end
up and two ends down," and as there are more picks of weft per inch than
ends of warp the diagonal lines pass from selvage to selvage at an angle
of less than 45 degrees. The weft surface is the face or wearing surface
of the cloth. Jeans are exported to China and other markets, and are
also used in the home trade. _Jeanette_ is the converse of jean, being a
twill of "two ends up to one down"; the diagonal passes from selvage to
selvage at a greater angle than 45 degrees and the warp makes the
wearing surface.

_Oxford_ is a plain-woven cloth usually with a coloured pattern, and is
used for shirts and dresses. The name is comparatively modern, and is,
no doubt, arbitrarily selected.

_Harvard_ is a twilled cloth similar to the Oxford.

_Regatta_ is a stout, coloured shirt cloth similar in make to a
jeanette. It was originally made in blue and white stripes and was used
largely and is still used for men's shirts.

Fancy cotton goods are of great variety, and many of them have trade
names that are used temporarily or occasionally. Apart from the large
class of brocaded cloths made in Jacquard looms there are innumerable
simpler kinds, including stripes and checks of various descriptions,
such as Swiss, Cord, Satin, Doriah stripes, &c. _Mercerized cloths_ are
of many kinds, as the mercerizing process can be applied to almost
anything. _Lace_ and _lace curtains_ are made largely at Nottingham.
Various light goods are made in Scotland, such as _book muslin_, a fine
light muslin with an elastic finish, so called from being folded in
book-form.

Among the fancy cloths made in cotton may be mentioned: _matting_, which
includes various kinds with some similarity in appearance to a matting
texture; _matelassé_, which is in some degree an imitation of French
dress goods of that name; _piqué_, also of French origin, woven in
stripes in relief, which cross the width of the piece, and usually
finished stiff; _Bedford cord_, a cheaper variety of piqué in which the
stripes run the length of the piece; _oatmeal cloth_, which has an
irregular surface suggesting the grain of oatmeal, commonly dyed cream
colour; _crimp cloth_, in which a puckered effect is obtained by uneven
shrinkage; _grenadine_, said to be derived from Granada, a light dress
material originally made of silk or silk and wool; _brilliant_, a dress
material, usually with a small raised pattern; _leno_, possibly a
corrupt form of the French _linon_ or lawn, a kind of fancy gauze used
for veils curtains, &c.; _lappet_, a light material with a figure or
pattern produced on the surface of the cloth by needles placed in a
sliding frame; _lustre_, a light dress material with a lustrous face
sometimes made with a cotton warp and woolen weft; _zephyr_, a light,
coloured dress material usually in small patterns; _bobbin-net_, a
machine-made fabric, originally an imitation of lace made with bobbins
on a pillow.

Some fancy cloths have descriptive names such as _herringbone stripe_,
and there are many arbitrary trade names, such as _Yosemite stripe_,
which may prevail and become the designation of a regular class or die
after a few seasons.

Cotton linings include _silesia_, originally a linen cloth made in
Silesia and now usually a twilled cotton cloth which is dyed various
colours; _Italian cloth_, a kind of jean or sateen produced originally
in Italy. Various cotton cloths are imitations of other textures and
have modified names which indicate their superficial character,
frequently produced by finishing processes. Among these are _sateen_,
which, dyed or printed, is largely used for dresses, linings,
upholstery, &c.; _linenette_, dyed and finished to imitate coloured
linen in the north of Ireland and elsewhere; _hollandette_, usually
unbleached or half-bleached and finished to imitate linen holland; and
_interlining_, a coarse, plain white calico used as padding for linen
collars.

  +------------------------------+---------------+---------------+---------------+
  |                              |     1903.     |     1904.     |     1905.     |
  |                              +---------+-----+---------+-----+---------+-----+
  |           Country.           |         |Price|Thousands|Price|Thousands|Price|
  |                              |Thousands| per |Thousands| per |Thousands| per |
  |                              |of Yards.|Yard.|of Yards.|Yard.|of Yards.|Yard.|
  +------------------------------+---------+-----+---------+-----+---------+-----+
  | Germany                      |   60,650| 3.77|   60,129| 4.02|   65,842| 3.98|
  | Netherlands                  |   47,570| 3.57|   46,187| 3.68|   56,639| 3.47|
  | Belgium                      |   52,199| 4.34|   56,237| 4.42|   67,509| 4.41|
  | France                       |   17,552| 4.61|   17,759| 4.39|   14,875| 4.65|
  | Portugal, Azores and Madeira |   32,824| 2.70|   29,440| 2.92|   29,867| 3.03|
  | Italy                        |    6,363| 5.07|    7,904| 5.19|    8,746| 5.31|
  | Austria-Hungary              |    2,405| 3.44|    2,102| 3.40|    1,905| 3.60|
  | Greece                       |   40,973| 2.64|   32,658| 3.11|   28,190| 3.20|
  | Turkey                       |  305,611| 2.45|  379,557| 2.53|  376,209| 2.53|
  | Egypt                        |  229,704| 2.41|  283,521| 2.57|  272,737| 2.53|
  | Algeria                      |      709| 2.74|      438| 2.71|      455| 2.63|
  | Morocco                      |   52,368| 2.28|   51,262| 2.44|   44,407| 2.44|
  | Foreign West Africa          |   64,589| 2.92|   55,131| 3.12|   69,163| 3.08|
  | Persia                       |   34,859| 2.46|   33,119| 2.67|   38,647| 2.59|
  | Dutch East Indies            |  156,905| 2.45|  185,196| 2.72|  226,586| 2.57|
  | Philippine Islands           |   25,558| 2.59|   25,969| 2.86|   42,876| 2.66|
  | China, including Hong-Kong   |  477,691| 2.83|  548,974| 3.34|  799,732| 3.06|
  | Japan                        |   67,315| 3.08|   42,373| 3.34|  128,725| 2.99|
  | United States of America     |   72,360| 6.80|   52,391| 7.18|   65,563| 7.40|
  | Foreign West Indies          |   86,349| 2.08|   98,797| 2.21|   80,679| 2.24|
  | Mexico                       |   19,327| 3.10|   21,679| 3.42|   21,028| 3.31|
  | Central America              |   40,879| 1.97|   53,018| 2.21|   49,523| 2.29|
  | Colombia and Panama          |   44,299| 2.25|   44,648| 2.54|   31,798| 2.41|
  | Venezuela                    |   52,330| 1.87|   52,934| 2.07|   32,717| 2.11|
  | Peru                         |   28,962| 2.66|   32,430| 2.85|   39,035| 2.78|
  | Chile                        |   84,118| 2.50|   80,836| 2.57|   96,996| 2.62|
  | Brazil                       |  152,402| 2.64|  134,841| 2.89|  131,504| 2.50|
  | Uruguay                      |   44,062| 2.79|   35,670| 2.85|   56,770| 2.95|
  | Argentine Republic           |  151,003| 2.91|  186,022| 3.04|  159,115| 3.24|
  | Gibraltar                    |   11,961| 2.39|   10,578| 2.47|    3,960| 2.73|
  | Malta                        |    4,065| 3.11|    3,659| 3.45|    4,006| 3.31|
  | British W. Africa            |   69,795| 3.27|   69,308| 3.43|   74,392| 3.40|
  |    "    S.   "               |   61,778| 3.61|   29,670| 4.03|   50,592| 3.69|
  | British India--              |         |     |         |     |         |     |
  |   Bombay                     |  678,684| 2.07|  818,261| 2.23|  908,619| 2.24|
  |   Madras                     |  132,825| 2.48|  141,675| 2.63|  131,145| 2.62|
  |   Bengal                     |1,122,004| 1.97|1,215,607| 2.18|1,280,314| 2.18|
  |   Burma                      |   64,654| 2.84|   79,765| 3.10|   72,528| 3.13|
  | Straits Settlements*         |  112,006| 2.61|  100,230| 2.84|  121,690| 2.71|
  | Ceylon                       |   17,395| 2.75|   19,336| 2.95|   24,991| 2.94|
  | Australia                    |  106,000| 3.83|  128,247| 4.01|  136,481| 3.85|
  | New Zealand                  |   38,499| 3.58|   33,538| 3.81|   32,315| 3.63|
  | Canada                       |   47,439| 4.15|   49,903| 4.25|   45,189| 4.47|
  | British West India Islands,  |         |     |         |     |         |     |
  |   Bahamas and British Guiana |   49,614| 2.49|   43,487| 2.61|   47,173| 2.21|
  | Other countries              |  188,662| 2.84|  197,339| 3.14|  226,971| 3.03|
  +------------------------------+---------+-----+---------+-----+---------+-----+
  |            Total             |5,157,316| 2.57|5,591,822| 2.75|6,198,200| 2.74|
  +------------------------------+---------+-----+---------+-----+---------+-----+
    * Including Federated Malay States.

Various cotton imitations share the name of the original, such as lawn,
batiste, serge, huckaback, galloon, and a large number of names are of
obvious derivation and use, such as umbrella cloth, apron cloth, sail
cloth, book-binding cloth, shroud cloth, butter cloth, mosquito
netting, handkerchief, blanket, towelling, bagging.

Among the miscellaneous cloths made or made partly of cotton may be
mentioned: _waste cloths_, made from waste yarns and usually coarse in
texture; _khaki cloth_, made largely for military clothing in cotton as
well as in woollen; _cottonade_, a name given to various coarse low
cloths in the United States and elsewhere; _lasting_, which seems to be
an abbreviation of "lasting cloth," a stiff, durable texture used in
making shoes, &c.; _bolting cloth_, used in bolting or sifting;
_brattice cloth_, a stout, tarred cloth made of cotton or wool and used
for bratticing or lining the sides of shafts in mines; _sponge cloths_,
used for cleaning machinery; _shoddy_ and _mungo_, which though mainly
woollen have frequently a cotton admixture; and _splits_, either plain
or fancy, usually of low quality, which include any cloth woven two or
three in the breadth of the loom and "split" into the necessary width.
Cotton is used too for many miscellaneous purposes, including the
manufacture of lamp wicks and even of billiard balls.

_British Cotton Cloth Exports._--The main lines of the Lancashire export
trade in cotton goods are indicated in the Board of Trade returns. The
table on p. 278 compiled from them is taken from the _Manchester
Guardian_. It gives in thousands of yards the quantities of cotton goods
exported from Great Britain during 1903, 1904 and 1905 respectively,
together with average value per yard for each of the countries.

The following table gives, approximately, in thousands of yards the
quantities exported of the four main divisions of cotton cloths:--

  +---------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
  |                     |   1903.   |   1904.   |   1905.   |
  |                     +-----------+-----------+-----------+
  |                     | Thousands | Thousands | Thousands |
  |                     | of Yards. | of Yards. | of Yards. |
  |---------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
  | Grey or unbleached  | 1,880,321 | 2,033,895 | 2,336,018 |
  | Bleached            | 1,326,255 | 1,528,165 | 1,710,742 |
  | Printed             | 1,027,925 | 1,036,901 | 1,053,900 |
  | Dyed and coloured   |   922,735 |   993,009 | 1,097,540 |
  +---------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+

In the case of cloth, too, the Board of Trade returns must not be taken
as an absolute record of imports to the particular countries, as the
ultimate recipient is not always determined. The development of the
Eastern trade has been one of the most remarkable features of the cotton
trade in the 19th century. Professor Chapman writes in his _Cotton
Industry and Trade_: "In 1820 Europe received about half the cotton
fabrics which were sent abroad, while the United States received nearly
one-tenth and eastern Asia little more than one-twentieth. By 1880
Europe was taking less than one-twelfth, the United States less than
one-fiftieth, and eastern Asia more than a half."

Naturally a trade tends to find out the most direct means of
distribution, and Manchester merchants are now generally in direct
connexion with native dealers in India. Bombay was the pioneer in the
custom, followed now by Calcutta and Karachi, by which deliveries of
goods from British merchants remained under the control of the banks
until the native dealers took them up. Manchester business with India,
China, &c., is done under various conditions, however, and a good many
firms have branches abroad. The regular "indent" by which most of the
Manchester Eastern business is conducted now implies a definite offer
for shipment from the dealer abroad, either direct or through the
exporter's agents, and commonly includes freight and insurance. The term
"commission agent" is now discredited, and buying done by Manchester
houses on simple commission terms is unusual though not unknown. This
has been so since the famous law case of _Williamson_ v. _Barbour_ in
1877, when it was established that whatever might be the custom of the
trade a commission agent was not entitled to make a profit over his
commission on the various processes, such as handling and packing, which
are a necessary part of the exporter's work. A good deal of business is
done, however, for South America and other markets in which the goods
are bought for delivery in the Manchester warehouse, all charges for
packing, &c., and carriage being extra.

Transactions with distant markets are now done almost entirely by cable,
and a remarkable development of the telegraphic code has enabled
merchants to pack a good deal into a brief message. A cable sent to
India in the evening may bring a reply next morning, and in these days
of rapid cotton fluctuations mail advices are confined mainly to general
discussion, hypothetical inquiry, advice, admonition and complaint. Some
Manchester export business is done through London, Glasgow, and
continental towns, of which Hamburg is the principal. Glasgow buys
largely of yarns and cloth, some considerable part of which is dyed or
printed, for India and elsewhere, and has an indigenous manufacture and
trade in fine goods such as book-muslins and lappets, a somewhat
delicate department of manufacture which necessitates a slower running
of machinery than is usual in Lancashire.

Besides the indent business there is, of course, purely merchant
business by Manchester exporters, who buy on their own initiative at
what they consider to be opportune times or on recommendations from
their houses or correspondents abroad. In the Indian trade, especially
in the Calcutta trade, a large proportion of the total amount is done by
a few houses who buy in this way, and there is some difference of
opinion as to whether the method, which had fallen out of fashion, may
not further develop. It is more speculative than the indent business,
but the dealing with large quantities which it involves gives the
opportunity to buy very cheaply. A good many firms venture occasionally
to buy in anticipation of their customers' needs, especially when they
expect a rising market. During the great trade "boom" of 1905 there was
a good deal of buying by exporters in advance of their indents because
manufacturers continued to contract engagements which threatened to
exclude dilatory buyers. On the whole, however, what may be called the
speculative centre of gravity of Great Britain's export business in
cotton goods is not in Manchester but abroad.

The terms on which business is conducted are various even in a single
market, and it is sometimes a reproach that British firms are
old-fashioned in their reluctance to give credit. The so-called
enterprising methods of some German traders are, however, condemned by
many experienced English traders, and it is said that in China, for
instance, the seeming successes of the newcomers are delusive. The
Tientsin developments of German business on credit terms are said to
have proved unsatisfactory, and heavy losses were suffered in Hong-Kong
some years ago by merchants who endeavoured to initiate a bolder system
of trading. The very common complaint of British consuls that British
firms neglect to send out travellers may have some foundation, but a
commercial house naturally follows the line of least resistance to the
development of its trade, and cannot be expected to work remote and
barren ground when better opportunities are near at hand. On the whole
it appears that the British cotton trade continues to increase to a
satisfactory degree in fancy and special goods, which require for their
production a comparatively high degree of technical skill, and are more
lucrative than some of the simpler products in which competitors have
been most formidable. Various finishing processes, and particularly the
mercerizing of yarn and cloth, have increased the possibilities in
cotton materials, and while staples still form the bulk of our foreign
trade, it seems that as the stress of competition in these grows acute,
more and more of our energy may be transferred to the production of
goods which appeal to a growing taste or fancy.

_British Home Trade._--The home trade in cotton cloths is a great and
important section, but it is not comparable in volume to the export
trade. It involves more numerous and more elaborate processes, and the
qualities for home use are generally finer and more costly than those
for export. Of course by far the larger part of the yarn spun in
Lancashire is woven in Lancashire, but of the cotton cloth woven in
Lancashire it is roughly estimated that about 20% is used in Great
Britain. Not only is the average of quality better, but the variety of
kinds and designs is greater in the home trade than in the export trade.
A good home trade connexion is considered an extremely valuable asset,
and as the trade is highly differentiated the profits are usually good.
Some manufacturers devote themselves exclusively to the home trade, and
some exclusively to foreign trade, but there is a large class with what
may be called a margin of alternation, which serves to redress the
balance as business in one or other of the sections is good or bad.

Certain kinds of light goods made for India and other Eastern markets
are not used in the home trade, and the typical Eastern staples are not
generally used in their particular "sizings," but with these exceptions
and various specialities almost every kind of cotton cloth is used to
some extent in Great Britain. Grey calicoes for home use, except the
lowest kinds, are comparatively pure, and of late years the heavy
fillings which used to be common in bleached goods have become
discredited. The housewife long persisted in deceiving herself by
purchasing filled calicoes, and the movement in favour of purer goods
owes a good deal, strangely enough, to the increase in the making-up
trade and the consequent inconveniences to workers of sewing machines,
whose needles were constantly broken by hard filled calicoes.

This development of the making-up trade has become an important element
in the home trade, and it has greatly reduced the retail sale of
piece-goods. The purchase of ready-made shirts, underclothing, &c.,
corresponds to a change in the habits of the people. The factories which
have been erected in the north of Ireland, on the outskirts of London
and elsewhere turn out millions of garments that would, under the old
conditions, have been made at home. It is not necessary here to balance
the advantages and disadvantages of the two systems, and it must not be
supposed that made-up cotton garments are necessarily cheap and
inefficient.

The chief distributing centre of cotton made-up goods is London, though
a considerable trade is done through wholesale houses in Manchester and
elsewhere. Large warehouses in the city of London carry on the trade and
frequently supply Lancashire with her own goods. Of course the partial
loss of the piece-goods trade by the shops is not a loss in aggregate
trade, as they are the ultimate distributors of the made-up garments,
which are probably at least as profitable to retail as calico or
flannelette sold in lengths.

The normal course of home trade piece-goods is from manufacturer to
bleacher, dyer, printer or finisher, either on account of a merchant to
whom the goods are sold or on the manufacturer's own account. By far the
majority of Lancashire manufacturers sell their goods as they come from
the loom, or, as it is called, in the "grey state," but an increasing
number now cultivate the trade in finished goods. Usually the
manufacturer sells either directly or through an agent to a merchant who
sells again to the shopkeeper, but the last twenty or thirty years have
seen a considerable development of more direct dealing. Some
manufacturers now go to the shopkeeper, and this has made it difficult
for the merchant with a limited capital and therefore a limited
assortment to survive. The great general houses such as Rylands's,
Philips's and Watt's in Manchester, and Cook's and Pawson's in London,
some of which are manufacturers to a minor degree, continue to flourish
because under one roof they can supply all that the draper requires, and
so enable him to economize in the time spent in buying and to save
himself the trouble of attending to many accounts. Some general
merchants, indeed, supply what are practically "tied houses," which give
all their trade in return for pecuniary assistance or special terms.

The tendency to eliminate the middleman has not only brought a good many
manufacturers into direct relation with the shopkeeper, but in some
exceptional cases the manufacturer, adopting some system of broadcast
advertisement and postal delivery, has dealt with the consumer.
Naturally, the merchant resents any developments which exclude him, and
some mild forms of boycott have occasionally been instituted. In the
United States there has been an arduous struggle over this question, and
combinations of merchants have sometimes compelled favourable terms. In
England, though the merchant has maintained a great part of the trade
with shopkeepers, the developing trade with makers of shirts,
underclothing, &c., is mainly done by the manufacturers directly, and
perhaps the simplification of relations by direct dealing in the cotton
trade has now reached a point of fairly stable compromise. The tendency
to direct trading is naturally controlled by the exigencies of capital.
Those manufacturers who act as merchants aim to retain the merchant
profit and must employ a merchant capital in stocks. There has been a
tendency, indeed, to make the manufacturer the stock-keeper, and some
merchants do little more than pass on the goods a stage after taking
toll. The great improvement in trade during 1905 and 1906 checked this
tendency, and probably the manufacturing extensions owed something to
the capital set free by the reductions of stocks.

It must be noted, however, that while most of the spinning concerns are
worked by limited companies or individuals with a considerable capital,
a good many small manufacturers exist who have little capital and are
practically financed by their agents or customers. This is so in both
the export and home trades.

The home trade merchant or merchant-manufacturer works largely through
agents and travellers, and though railway facilities continue to
improve, some shopkeepers rarely visit their markets. The difficulty
that is naturally experienced by a traveller in finding sufficient
support on a sparsely populated "ground" has brought into vogue the
traveller on commission who represents several firms. The traveller with
salary and allowances for expenses survives, but the quickening induced
by an interest in the amount of sales has caused many firms to adopt the
principle of commission, which may, however, be an addition to a minimum
salary. Of course, such travellers are not peculiar to the cotton trade,
but cotton goods in various forms are an important factor in the home
trade.

The profits of manufacturers, merchants and shopkeepers are commonly
very much less on the lower classes of cotton goods than on the higher
ones. Thus while there may be a difference of 1d. per yd. between the
qualities on a manufacturer's list, the difference in cost may not be
more than a farthing; and, again, while the shopkeeper sometimes pays
2½d. or even 2-5/8d. per yd. for a calico to retail at 2¾d., his next
selling price may be 3¾d. for one which costs him only 2¾d. or 3d. per
yd. It appears, therefore, that if the poorer classes of the community
have the discretion to avoid the lowest qualities they may obtain very
good value in serviceable goods. In the matter of profits, however,
there is a good deal of irregularity.

_The Manchester Royal Exchange._--There are not many cotton mills or
weaving sheds in Manchester, which is, however, the great distributive
centre, and its Exchange is the meeting-place of most classes of buyers
and sellers in the cotton trade and various trades allied to it. As
buyers of finished goods for London and the country do not attend it,
certain departments of the home trade are hardly represented, but
practically all the spinners and manufacturers and all the export
merchants of any importance are subscribers. Transactions between
spinners and manufacturers are largely effected on Tuesdays and Fridays,
the old "market days," when the manufacturing towns are well
represented, but a large amount of business is transacted every day.
Besides the persons immediately concerned in the cotton trade and
connected with allied trades, a large number of members find it
convenient to use this great meeting-place as a means of approach to a
body of responsible persons. Thus not only bleachers, carriers, chemical
manufacturers, mill furnishers and accountants find their way there, but
also tanners, timber merchants, stockbrokers and even wine merchants.
Since the Ship Canal made Manchester into a cotton port there has been a
steady development of the raw cotton trade in Manchester, and many
cotton brokers and merchants have Manchester offices or pay regular
visits from Liverpool.

The various expansions and developments have made it difficult to
maintain the ratio between accommodation and requirements, and although
overcrowding is troublesome only during some three or four hours a week,
at "high 'Change" on market days, various complaints and suggestions
provoked in 1906 an appeal from the chairman of directors to the
Manchester corporation. This took the form of a suggestion that the
Exchange should be worked as a municipal institution on a new site, and
though such a development met with opposition it was apparent that
Manchester must presently have a new or an enlarged Exchange. The
present building is, however, the largest of the kind in the world, and
the history of the various exchanges coincides with the expansion of the
Lancashire industry.

According to semi-official records "the first building in the nature of
an Exchange" was erected in 1729 by Sir Oswald Mosley, and though
designed for "chapmen to meet and transact their business" it appears
that, as to-day, encroachments were made by other traders until cotton
manufacturers and merchants preferred to do their business in the
street. In 1792 the building was demolished, and for a period of some
eighteen years there was nothing of the kind. In 1809 the new Exchange
was opened, and terms of membership were fixed at two guineas for those
within 5 m. of the building and one guinea for those outside this
radius. In the following year plans for enlargement were submitted to
the shareholders, and various extensions followed, particularly in 1830
and 1847. The present building was opened partly in 1871 and partly in
1874. The area of the great room is 4405 sq. yds. The subscription was
raised on the 1st of January 1906 from three guineas to four guineas for
new members, but the number of members continues to increase and early
in 1906 amounted to 8786.

Of course in this great mart a large variety of types is to be found and
the members fall into some kind of rough grouping. Export buyers,
attended by salesmen, are commonly more or less stationary and
prominent; Burnley manufacturers abound in one locality and spinners of
Egyptian yarns in another. The importance of the Exchange as a
bargaining centre is fairly maintained, though buyers are assiduously
cultivated in their own offices, and the telephone has done a good deal
to abbreviate negotiation. As to the amount of business transacted on
the Exchange there is no record. The market reporters make some attempt
to materialize the current gossip, and doubtless catch well enough the
great movements in the ebb and flow of demand, but the sum of countless
obscure transactions cannot be estimated. Some few years ago an attempt
was made to mark more clearly the course of business in Manchester, and
a scheme was prepared for the recording of daily transactions. This
could only have been a somewhat rough affair, but its originator
maintained reasonably that it would be of interest if some indication of
the daily movements could be obtained. For some time a memorandum of the
total of daily sales reported was posted on 'Change, but the
indifference of traders, together with the distrust that makes any
innovation difficult, caused the scheme to be abandoned.

It would be difficult in any attempt to estimate the volume of British
home trade to distinguish what may be called the effective movements of
goods. There is a considerable amount of re-selling both in yarn and
cloth, and, though the bulk of cotton goods finds the way through
regular and normal channels to the consumer, these channels are not
always direct. A good many transactions on the Manchester Exchange are
intermediate, without fulfilling any useful function, and could be
accomplished by the principals if they were brought together. Agents, of
whom there are many, sometimes occupy a precarious position, but they
are protected in some degree by law as well as by the custom of the
trade and the point of honour. Points of honour in the Manchester
business may seem to be arbitrarily selected, but they are an important
part of the scheme. An immense amount of business is done without any
apparent check against repudiation. It is, of course, the verbal bargain
that binds, and large transactions are commonly completed without
witnesses, though before the contract or memorandum of sale passes the
fluctuations of the market may have made the bargain, to one side or the
other, a very bad one.     (A. N. M.)


FOOTNOTES:

  [1] It is related that in the year 1784 William Rathbone, an American
    merchant resident in Liverpool, received from one of his
    correspondents in the southern states a consignment of eight bags of
    cotton, which on its arrival in Liverpool was seized by the
    custom-house officers, on the allegation that it could not have been
    grown in the United States, and that it was liable to seizure under
    the Shipping Acts, as not being imported in a vessel belonging to the
    country of its growth. When afterwards released, it lay for many
    months unsold, in consequence of the spinners doubting whether it
    could be profitably worked up.

  [2] Taken with some modifications from the _Agricultural News_ (1907),
    vi. p. 38.

  [3] Cotton Production 1906, _U.S.A. Bureau of the Census_, Bulletin
    No. 76.

  [4] _Cotton Culture and the Cotton Trade_, p. 298.

  [5] _The Cotton Trade of Great Britain_, by Thomas Ellison, p. 186.

  [6] See article on "Dealings in Futures in the Cotton Market," in the
    _Journal of the Royal Statistical Society_, vol. lxix, p. 325.

  [7] Journal of the Statistical Society, 1906.

  [8] See paper in the Journal of the Statistical Society for June 1906.

  [9] Attempts to explain them were made in an article in the _Economic
    Journal_ in December 1904, and in the paper already referred to read
    to the Royal Statistical Society.

  [10] See the paper already mentioned in the _Journal of the Royal
    Statistical Society_ for June 1906, where the several points noticed
    briefly above are fully discussed.

  [11] The Association published a weekly paper known as The Cotton
    Supply Reporter.



COTTON MANUFACTURE. The antiquity of the cotton industry has hitherto
proved unfathomable, as can readily be understood from the difficulty of
proving a universal negative, especially from such scanty material as we
possess of remote ages. That in the 5th century B.C. cotton fabrics were
unknown or quite uncommon in Europe may be inferred from Herodotus'
mention of the cotton clothing of the Indians. Ultimately the cotton
industry was imported into Europe, and by the middle of the 13th century
we find it flourishing in Spain. In the New World it would seem to have
originated spontaneously, since on the discovery of America the wearing
apparel in use included cotton fabrics. After the collapse of Spanish
prosperity before the Moors in the 14th century the Netherlands assumed
a leadership in this branch of the textile industries as they did also
in other branches. It has been surmised that the cotton manufacture was
carried from the Netherlands to England by refugees during the Spanish
persecution of the second half of the 16th century; but no absolute
proof of this statement has been forthcoming, and although workers in
cotton may have been among the Flemish weavers who fled to England about
that time, and some of whom are said to have settled in and about
Manchester, it is quite conceivable that cotton fabrics were made on an
insignificant scale in England years before, and there is some evidence
to show that the industry was not noticeable till many years later. If
England did derive her cotton manufacture from the Netherlands she was
unwillingly compelled to repay the loan with interest more than two
hundred years later when the machine industry was conveyed to the
continent through the ingenuity of Liévin Bauwens, despite the
precautions taken to preserve it for the British Isles. About the same
time English colonists transported it to the United States. Since, as
transformed in England, the cotton industry, particularly spinning, has
spread throughout the civilized and semi-civilized world, though its
most important seat still remains the land of its greatest development.


  Early history in England.

As early as the 13th century cotton-wool was used in England for
candle-wicks.[1] The importation of the cotton from the Levant in the
16th century is mentioned by Hakluyt,[2] and according to Macpherson it
was brought over from Antwerp in 1560. Reference to the manufacture of
cottons in England long before the second half of the 16th century are
numerous, but the "cottons" spoken of were not cottons proper as Defoe
would seem to have mistakenly imagined. Thus, for example, there is a
passage by William Camden (writing in 1590) quoted below, in which
Manchester cottons are specifically described as woollens, and there is
a notice in the act of 33 Henry VIII. (c. xv.) of the Manchester linen
and woollen industries, and of cottons--which are clearly woollens since
their "dressyng and frisyng" is noted, and the latter process, which
consists in raising and curling the nap, was not applicable to cotton
textiles. John Leland, after his visit to Manchester about 1538, used
these words--"Bolton-upon-Moore market standeth most by cottons; divers
villages in the Moores about Bolton do make cottons." Leland, it is
true, might conceivably be referring to manufactures from the vegetable
fibre, but it is exceedingly unlikely, since the term "cottons" would
seem to have been current with a perfectly definite meaning. The goods
were probably an English imitation in wool of continental cotton
fustians--which would explain the name. Again we may quote from the act
of 5 and 6 Edward VI., "all the cottons called _Manchester_, Lancashire
and Cheshire _cottons_, full wrought to the sale, shall be in length
twenty-two yards and contain in breadth three-quarters of a yard in the
water and shall weigh thirty pounds in the piece at least"; and from the
act 8 Elizabeth c. xi., "every of the said cottons being sufficiently
milled or thicked, clean scoured, well-wrought and full-dried, shall
weigh 21 lb. at the least."[3] These are evidently the weights of woollen
goods: further, it may be observed that milling is not applicable to
cotton goods. The earliest reference to a cotton manufacture in England
which may reasonably be regarded as pointing to the fabrication of
textiles from cotton proper, is in the will of James Billston (a not
un-English name), who is described as a "cotton manufacturer," proved at
Chester in 1578.[4] It may plausibly be contended that James Billston
was a worker in the vegetable fibre, since otherwise "manufacturer of
cottons" would have been a more natural designation. But the proof of
the will of one cotton manufacturer establishes very little.

The next earliest known reference to the cotton industry proper occurs
in a petition to the earl of Salisbury, made presumably in 1610, asking
for the continuance of a grant for reforming frauds committed in the
manufacture of "bambazine cotton such as groweth in the land of Persia
being no kind of wool."[5] But a far more valuable piece of evidence,
discovered by W. H. Price, is a petition of "Merchants and citizens of
London that use buying and selling of fustians made in England, as of
the makers of the same fustians."[6] Its probable date is 1621, and it
contains the following important passages:--

  "About twenty years past, divers people in this kingdom, but chiefly
  in the county of Lancaster, have found out the trade of making of
  other fustians, made of a kind of bombast or down, being a fruit of
  the earth growing upon little shrubs or bushes, brought into this
  kingdom by the Turkey merchants, from Smyrna, Cyprus, Acra and Sydon,
  but commonly called cotton wool; and also of linen yarn most part
  brought out of Scotland, and othersome made in England, and no part of
  the same fustians of any wool at all, for which said bombast and yarn
  imported, his majesty has a great yearly sum of money for the custom
  and subsidy thereof.

  "There is at the least 40 thousand pieces of fustian of this kind
  yearly made in England, the subsidy to his majesty of the materials
  for making of every piece coming to between 8d. and 10d. the piece;
  and thousands of poor people set on working of these fustians.

  "The right honourable duke of Lennox in 11 of Jacobus 1613 procured a
  patent from his majesty, of alnager of new draperies for 60 years,
  upon pretence that wool was converted into other sorts of commodities
  to the loss of customs and subsidies for wool transported beyond seas;
  and therein is inserted into his patent, searching and sealing; and
  subsidy for 80 several stuffs; and among the rest these fustians or
  other stuffs of this kind of cotton wool, and subsidy and a fee for
  the same, and forfeiture of 20s. for putting any to sale unsealed, the
  moiety of the same forfeiture to the said duke, and power thereby
  given to the duke or his deputies, to enter any man's house to search
  for any such stuffs, and seize them till the forfeiture be paid; and
  if any resist such search, to forfeit £10 and power thereby given to
  the lord treasurer or chancellor of the exchequer, to make new
  ordinances or grant commissions for the aid of the duke and his
  officers in execution of their office."

Here the date of the appearance of the cotton industry on an appreciable
scale--it is questionable whether any importance should be attached to
the expression "found out"--is given by those who would be speaking of
facts within the memory of themselves or their friends as "about twenty
years past" from 1621, and the annual output of the industry in 1621 is
mentioned. Moreover, it is established by this document that for a time
at least the cotton manufacture was "regulated" like the other textile
trades. The date assigned by the petitioners for the first attraction of
attention by the English cotton industry may be supported on negative
grounds.

Baines assures us that William Camden, who wrote in 1590, devoted not a
sentence to the cotton industry, though Manchester figures among his
descriptions: "This town," he says, "excels the towns immediately around
it in handsomeness, populousness, woollen manufacture, market place,
church and college; but did much more excel them in the last age, as
well by the glory of its woollen cloths (_laneorum pannorum honore_),
which they call Manchester cottons, as by the privilege of sanctuary,
which the authority of parliament under Henry VIII. transferred to
Chester."[7] It is significant too that in the Elizabethan poor law of
1601 (43 Elizabeth), neither cotton-wool nor yarn is included among the
fabrics to be provided by the overseers to set the poor to work upon;
though, of course, it might be argued that so short-stapled a fibre
needed for its working, when machinery was rough, a skill in the
operative which would be above that of the average person unable to find
employment. However, a proposal was made in 1626 to employ the poor in
the spinning of cotton and weaving wool.[8]

Prior to Mr Price's discovery of the petition mentioned above, the
earliest known notice of the existence in England of a cotton industry
of any magnitude was the oft-quoted passage from Lewes Roberts's
_Treasure of Traffic_ (1641), which runs: "The town of Manchester, in
Lancashire, must be also herein remembered, and worthily for their
encouragement commended, who buy the yarne of the Irish in great
quantity, and weaving it, return the same again into Ireland to sell:
Neither doth their industry rest here, for they buy cotton-wool in
London that comes first from Cyprus and Smyrna, and at home work the
same, and perfect it into fustians, vermillions, dimities and other such
stuffs, and then return it to London, where the same is vented and sold,
and not seldom sent into foreign parts."[9]

Despite Lewes Roberts's flattering reference, the trade of Manchester
about that time consisted chiefly in woollen frizes, fustians,
sackcloths, mingled stuffs, caps, inkles, tapes, points, &c., according
to "A Description of the Towns of Manchester and Salford," 1650,[10] and
woollens for a long time held the first place. But before another
century had run its course cottons proper had pushed into the first
rank, though the woollen industry continued to be of unquestionable
importance. In 1727 Daniel Defoe could write, "the grand manufacture
which has so much raised this town is that of cotton in all its
varieties,"[11] and he did not mean the woollen "cottons," as he made
plain by other references to the industry in the same connexion; but it
was not until some fifty years later that the ousting of the woollen
industry from what is now peculiarly the cotton district became
unmistakable.[12] As a rule the woollen weavers were driven farther and
farther east--Bury lay just outside the cotton area when Defoe
wrote--and finally many of them settled in the West Riding. Edwin
Butterworth even tells of woollen weavers who migrated from Oldham to
the distant town of Bradford in Wiltshire because of the decline of
their trade before the victorious cotton industry. Much the same fate
was being shared by the linen industry in Lancashire, which was forced
out of the county westwards and northwards. The explanation of the three
centralizations, namely of the woollen industry, the cotton industry and
the linen industry, is not far to seek. The popularity of the fabrics
produced by the rising cotton industry enabled it to pay high wages,
which, indeed, were essential to bring about its expansion. This a
priori diagnosis is supported by contemporary analysis: thus "the rapid
progress of that business (cotton spinning) and the higher wages which
it afford, have so far distressed the makers of worsted goods in that
county (Lancashire), that they have found themselves obliged to offer
their few remaining spinners larger premiums than the state of their
trade would allow."[13] The best operatives of Lancashire were attracted
sooner or later to assist the triumphs of art over the vegetable wool.
At the same time the scattered woollen and linen workers of Lancashire
were suffering from the competition of rivals enjoying elsewhere the
economies of some centralization, and the demand for woollen and linen
warps in the cotton industry ceased after the introduction of
Arkwright's water-twist. When the factory became common the economies of
centralization (which arise from the wide range of specialism laid open
to a large local industry) increased; moreover they were reinforced by
the diminution of social friction and the intensification of business
sensitiveness which marked the development of the 19th century. Once
begun, the centralizing movement proceeded naturally with accelerating
speed. The contrast beneath is an instructive statistical comment:--

  _Distribution of Cotton Operatives in 1838 and 1898-1899 (from Returns
  of Factory Inspectors)._

  +--------------------------+--------------+---------------+
  |                          |    1838.     |   1898-1899.  |
  +--------------------------+--------------+---------------+
  | Cheshire                 |    36,400    |     34,300    |
  | Cumberland               |     2,000    |        700    |
  | Derbyshire               |    10,500    |     10,500    |
  | Lancashire               |   152,200    |    398,100    |
  | Nottinghamshire          |     1,500    |      1,600    |
  | Staffordshire            |     2,000    |      2,300    |
  | Yorkshire                |    12,400    |     35,200    |
  |                          +--------------+---------------+
  |   England and Wales[14]  |   219,100    |    496,200    |
  |   Scotland               |    35,600    |     29,000    |
  |   Ireland                |     4,600    |        800    |
  |                          +--------------+---------------+
  |   United Kingdom         |   259,300    |    526,000    |
  +--------------------------+--------------+---------------+

The distribution of the industry has varied greatly in the two periods.
If it had remained constant Lancashire would only have contained 300,000
operatives in 1899, instead of the actual 400,000. Scotland, on the
other hand, only contained 30,000 instead of 70,000, and in Ireland the
numbers were one-tenth of what they should have been. The percentage of
operatives in Lancashire in 1838 was 58.5, but this increased to 75.7 in
1898.


  Lancashire advantages.

Why, we may naturally inquire, did not the cotton industry localize in
the West Riding or Cheshire and the woollen industry maintain its
position in Lancashire? Accident no doubt partly explains why the cotton
industry is carried on where it is in the various parts of the globe,
but apart from accident, as regards Lancashire, it is sufficient answer
to point to the peculiarly suitable congeries of conditions to be found
there. There is firstly the climate, which for the purpose of cotton
spinning is unsurpassed elsewhere, and which became of the first order
of importance when fine spinning was developed. In the Lancashire
atmosphere in certain districts just about the right humidity is
contained on a great number of days for spinning to be done with the
least degree of difficulty. Some dampness is essential to make the
fibres cling, but excessive moisture is a disadvantage. Over the county
of Lancashire the prevailing west wind carries comparatively continuous
currents of humidified air. These currents vary in temperature according
to their elevation. Hot and cold layers mix when they reach the hills,
and the mixture of the two is nearer to the saturation point than either
of its components. The degree of moisture is measured by the ratio of
the actual amount of moisture to the moisture of the saturation point
for that particular temperature. Owing to the sudden elevation the air
is rarefied, its temperature being thereby lowered, and in consequence
condensation tends to be produced. In several places in England and
abroad, where there is a scarcity of moisture, artificial humidifiers
have been tried, but no cheap and satisfactory one has hitherto been
discovered. To the advantages of the Lancashire climate for cotton
spinning must be added--especially as regards the early days of the
cotton industry--its disadvantages for other callings. The
unpleasantness of the weather renders an indoor occupation desirable,
and the scanty sunshine, combined with the unfruitful nature of much of
the soil, prevents the absorption of the population in agricultural
pursuits. In later years the port of Liverpool and the presence of coal
supplemented the attractions which were holding the cotton industry in
Lancashire. All the raw material must come from abroad, and an enormous
proportion of English cotton products figures as exports. The proximity
of Liverpool has aided materially in making the cotton industry a great
exporting industry.


  Early system of manufacture and organisation.

Before the localization of the separate parts of the industry can be
treated the differentiation of the industry must be described. We pass
then, at this stage, to consider the manufacture in its earliest form
and the lines of its development. First, and somewhat incidentally, we
notice the early connexion between the conduct of the cotton
manufacture, when it was a domestic industry in its primitive form, and
the performance of agricultural operations. A few short extracts will
place before us all the evidence that it is here needful to adduce.
First Radcliffe, an eye-witness, writing of the period about 1770, says
"the land in our township (Mellor) was occupied by between fifty and
sixty farmers ... and out of these fifty or sixty farmers there were
only six or seven who raised their rents directly from the produce of
their farms, all the rest got their rent partly in some branch of trade,
such as spinning and weaving woollen, linen or cotton. The cottagers
were employed entirely in this matter, except for a few weeks in the
harvest."[15] Next we may cite Edwin Butterworth who, though not an
eyewitness (he was not born till 1812), proved himself by his researches
to be a careful and trustworthy investigator. In the parish of Oldham,
he recorded, there were "a number of master (cotton-linen fustian)[16]
manufacturers, as well as many weavers who worked for manufacturers, and
at the same time were holders of land or farmers.... The number of
fustian farmers who were cottagers working for manufacturers, without
holding land, were few; but there were a considerable number of weavers
who worked on their own account, and held at the same time small pieces
of land."[17] Other passages might be quoted, but these two will
suffice. Weaving was not exactly a by-employment of farm labourers, but
many weavers made agriculture a by-employment to some extent, (a) by
working small parcels of land, which varied from the size of allotments
to farms of a very few acres, and (b) by lending aid in gathering in the
harvest when their other work enabled them to do so. The association of
manufacturing and weaving survived beyond the first quarter of the 19th
century. Of the weavers in many districts and "more especially in
Lancashire" we read in the report of the committee on emigration, "it
appears that persons of this description for many years past, have been
occupiers of small farms of a few acres, which they have held at high
rents, and combining the business of the hand-loom weaver with that of a
working farmer have assisted to raise the rent of their land from the
profits of their loom."[18] One of the first lines of specialism to
appear was the severing of the connexion described above, and the
concentration of the weavers in hamlets and towns. Finer fabrics and
more complicated fabrics were introduced, and the weaver soon learnt
that such rough work as farming unfitted his hands for the delicate
tasks required of them. Again, really to prosper a weaver found it
necessary to perfect himself by close application. The days of the rough
fabrics that anybody could make with moderate success were closing in.
As a consequence the dispersion of the weavers becomes less and less.
They no longer wanted allotments or farms; and their looms having become
more complicated, the mechanic proved himself a convenient neighbour.
Finding spinners too was an easier task in the hamlet or town than in
the remote country parts. But there is no reason to suppose that
agriculture and the processes of the domestic cotton manufacturer had
ever been universally twin callings. There never was a time, probably,
when weavers who did nothing but weave were not a significant
proportion, if not the major part, of the class of weavers. All again
were not independent and all were not employees. Some were simply
journeymen in small domestic workshops; others were engaged by fustian
masters or Manchester merchants and paid by the piece for what they made
out of material supplied them; others again bought their warps and
cotton and sold to the merchants their fabrics, which were their own
property. The last class was swept away soon after the industry became
large, when by the organization of men of capital consumers and
producers were more and more kept in touch. In early days most weavers
owned their looms, the great part of which they had frequently
constructed themselves: later, however, a large number hired looms, and
it was as usual in certain quarters for lodgings to be let with a loom
as it is to-day for them to be provided with a piano. When it became
customary for weavers to undertake a variety of work, the masters
usually provided reeds (which had to vary in fineness with the fineness
of the warp), healds, and other changeable parts, and sometimes they
employed the gaiters to fit the new work in the looms.

Until the success of the water-frame, cotton could not be spun
economically of sufficient strength and fineness for warps, and the
warps were therefore invariably made of either linen or wool. Some were
manufactured locally, others were imported from Germany, Ireland and
Scotland. The weaver prepared them for his loom by the system of
peg-warping,[19] but after the introduction of the warping-mill he
received them as a rule all ready for insertion into the loom from the
Manchester merchant or local fustian master.

  "It did not pay the individual weaver to keep a warping-mill for
  occasional use only, and frequently the contracted space of his
  workroom precluded even the possibility of his doing so. The invention
  of the warping-mill necessitated specialism in warping, and it was
  essential that warping should be done to order, since at that time,
  the state of the industrial world being what it was, no person could
  ordinarily have been found to adventure capital in producing warps
  ready made in anticipation of demand for the great variety of fabrics
  which was even then produced. Moreover, had the weaver himself placed
  the orders for his warps, any occasional delay in the execution of his
  commissions might have stopped his work entirely until the warps were
  ready; for warps cannot be delivered partially, like weft, in
  quantities sufficient for each day's work. To ensure continuous
  working in the industry, therefore, it was almost inevitable that the
  merchant should himself prepare the warps for such fabrics as he
  required, or possibly have them prepared. To the system of the
  merchant delegating the preparation of warps there was less objection
  than to the system of the weaver doing so, since the merchant, dealing
  in large quantities, was more likely to get pressing orders completed
  to time. Further, the merchant knew first what kind of warps would be
  needed. The first solution, however, that of the merchant undertaking
  the warping himself, was the surer, and there was no doubt as to its
  being the one destined for selection in a period when a tendency to
  centralize organization, responsibility and all that could be easily
  centralized, was steadily gaining in strength."[20]

Guest says the system by which the weaver was supplied with warps and
other material was substituted for the purchase of warps and cotton-wool
by the weaver about 1740. No doubt the change was very gradual,
especially as Aikin mentions the use of warping-mills in the 17th
century. The weaver as a rule received his weft material in the form of
cotton-wool and was required to arrange himself for its cleaning and
spinning. According to Aikin,[21] dealers tried the experiment of giving
out weft instead of cotton-wool, but "the custom grew into disuse as
there was no detecting the knavery of the spinners till a piece came in
woven." As it was impossible to unwrap the yarn and test it throughout
its length, defects were hidden until it came to be used, and the
complaints of weavers were not conclusive as to the inferiority of the
yarn, since their own bad workmanship might have had something to do
with its having proved unsatisfactory. It was therefore found best to
saddle the weaver with full responsibility for both the spinning and
weaving. Women and children cleaned, carded and spun the cotton-wool in
their homes. The cotton had to be more thoroughly cleaned after its
arrival in this country. The ordinary process of cleaning was known as
"willowing," because the cotton was beaten with willow switches after it
had been laid out on a tight hammock of cords. The cotton used for fine
spinning was also carefully washed; and even when it was not washed it
was soaked with water and partially dried so that the fibres might be
made to cling together.[22] Most of the weaving was done by men, and
until the invention of the fly-shuttle they cast the shuttle from hand
to hand in the manner of their remotest ancestors. For the making of the
broader fabrics two weavers were required when the width was greater
than the easy stretch of a man's arms. Sometimes cloths were woven wide
and then split into two or more: hence the term "splits." This became a
common practice when the hand-loom workers were groaning under the
pressure of competition from the power-loom.


  The invention of machinery.

We now reach the era of the great inventions. In order to ensure
clearness it will be desirable to consider separately the branches of
spinning and weaving: to pass from the one to the other, and follow the
chronological order, might cause confusion. First emphasis must be laid
upon the point that it was not mechanical change alone which constituted
the industrial revolution. No doubt small hand-looms factories would have
become the rule, and more and more control over production would have
devolved upon the factory master, and the work to be done would have been
increasingly assigned by merchants, had the steam-engine remained but the
dream of Watt, and semi-automatic machinery not been invented. The spirit
of the times was centralizing management before any mechanical changes of
a revolutionizing character had been devised. Loom-shops, in which
several journeymen were employed, were not uncommon: thus "in the latter
part of the last (18th) and the beginning of the present (19th) century,"
says Butterworth, describing the state of affairs in Oldham and the
neighbourhood, "a large number of weavers ... possessed spacious
loom-shops, where they not only employed many journeymen weavers, but a
considerable proportion of apprentice children." It is true that both the
fly-shuttle and drop-box had been invented by that time, but the loom was
still worked by human power. Specialism, however, was on the increase,
the capitalist was assuming more control, and the operative was being
transformed more and more into the mere executive agent. Further, as
creative of enterprise, an atmosphere of freedom and a general economic
restlessness, consequent upon the reaction against mercantilism, were
noticeable. Great changes, no doubt, would soon have swept over
Lancashire had a new source of power and big factories not been rendered
essential by inventions in spinning.


  Spinning and preparatory machinery.

The chief inventors were Lewis Paul and John Wyatt, James Hargreaves and
Samuel Crompton. The two first originated the principle of spinning by
rollers. Their patent was taken out in 1738, but no good came of it
immediately, though many trials were made and moderately large sums of
money were lost. Ultimately Richard Arkwright brought forward the same
plan improved:[23] his first patent was dated 1769. Over the real
authorship of the fundamental idea there has been much controversy, and
it has not been absolutely proved that the second inventor, whether
Thomas Highs, Arkwright or John Kay (a clockmaker of Warrington who
assisted Arkwright to construct his machine and is said by some to have
told him of an invention by Highs), did not hit upon the device afresh
in ignorance of the work already done. Even as between Paul and Wyatt it
is not easy to award due measure of praise. Probably the invention, as a
working machine, resulted from real collaboration, each having an
appreciable share in it. Robert Cole, in his paper to the British
Association in 1858 (reprinted as an appendix to the 1st ed. of French's
_Life of Crompton_), championed the claims of Paul, but Mantoux, in his
_La Révolution industrielle au XVIII^e siècle_, after studying the
Wyatt MSS., inclines to attribute to Wyatt a far more important
position, though he dissents from the view of Baines, who ascribes
little or nothing to Paul.

Arkwright's prospects of financial success were much greater than those
of his predecessors, because, first, there was more need in his time of
mechanical aids, and secondly, he was highly talented as a business man.
In 1775 he followed up his patent of 1769 with another relating to
machinery for carding, drawing and roving. The latter patent was widely
infringed, and Arkwright was compelled to institute nine actions in 1781
to defend his rights. An association of Lancashire spinners was formed
to defend them, and by the one that came to trial the patent was set
aside on the ground of obscurity in the specifications. Arkwright again
attempted to recover his patent rights in 1785, after the first patent
had been in abeyance for two years. Before making this further trial of
the courts he had thought of proceeding by petition to parliament, and
had actually drawn up his "case," which he was ultimately dissuaded from
presenting. In it he prayed not only that the decision of 1781 should be
set aside, but that both patents should be continued to him for the
unexpired period of the second patent, i.e. until 1789. In his "case"
(i.e. the petition mentioned above) Arkwright stated that he had sold to
numbers of adventurers residing in the different counties of Derby,
Leicester, Nottingham, Worcester, Stafford, York, Hertford and
Lancaster, many of his patent machines, and continued: "Upon a moderate
computation, the money expended in consequence of such grants (before
1782) amounted to at least £60,000. Mr Arkwright and his partners also
expended in large buildings in Derbyshire and elsewhere upwards of
£30,000, and Mr Arkwright also erected a very large and extensive
building in Manchester at the expense of upwards of £4000. Thus a
business had been formed which already (he calculated) employed upwards
of five thousand persons, and a capital on the whole of not less than
£200,000."[24] It is impossible to discover exactly the rights of the
matter. Certainly Arkwright had been intentionally obscure in his
specifications, as he admitted, and for his defence, namely that it was
to preserve the secret for his countrymen, there was only his word. He
may have hoped to keep the secret for himself; and as to the originality
of both inventions there were grave doubts. But Arkwright has received
little sympathy, because his claims were regarded as grasping in view of
the large fortune which he had already won. He began work with his first
partners at Nottingham (when power was derived from horses) and started
at Cromford in 1771 (where the force of water was used). Soon he was
involved in numerous undertakings, and he remained active till his death
in 1792. He had met throughout with a good deal of opposition, which
possibly to a man of his temperament was stimulating. Even in the matter
of getting protective legislation reframed to give scope to the
application of the water-frame, a powerful section of Lancashire
employers worked against him. This protective legislation must here be
shortly reviewed.

In 1700 an act had been passed (11 & 12 William III. c. 10) prohibiting
the importation of the printed calicoes of India, Persia and China. In
1721 the act 7 George I. c. 7 prohibited the use of any "printed,
painted, stained or dyed calico," excepting only calicoes dyed all blue
and muslins, neckcloths and fustians. This act was modified by the act 9
George II. c. 4 (allowing British calicoes with linen warps). Thus the
matter stood as regards prints when Arkwright had demonstrated that
stout cotton warps could be spun in England, and at the same time the
officers of excise insisted upon exacting a tax of 6d. from the plain
all-cottons instead of the 3d. paid by the cotton-linens, on the ground
that the former were calicoes. Arkwright's plea, however, was admitted,
and by the act 14 George II. c. 72 the still operative part of the act
of 1721 was set aside, and the manufacture, use, and wear of cottons
printed and stained, &c., was permitted subject to the payment of a duty
of 3d. per sq. yd. (the same as the excise on cotton-linens) provided
they were stamped "British manufactory." The duty was varied from time
to time until its repeal in 1832.

Some more powerful force than that of man or horse was soon needed to
work the heavy water-frames. Hence Arkwright placed his second mill on a
water-course, fitting it with a water-wheel, and until the steam-engine
became economical most of the new twist mills were built on
water-courses. On rare occasions the old fire-engines seem to have been
tried.

  The following passage quoted from a note in Barnes's _History_
  illustrates the pressing need of the early mills: "On the river
  Irwell, from the first mill near Bacup, to Prestolee, near Bolton,
  there is about 900 ft. of fall available from mills, 800 of which is
  occupied. On this river and its branches it is computed that there are
  no less than three hundred mills. A project is in course of execution
  to increase the water-power of the district, already so great and so
  much concentrated, and to equalize the force of the stream by forming
  eighteen reservoirs on the hills, to be filled in times of flood, and
  to yield their supplies in the drought of summer. These reservoirs,
  according to the plan, would cover 270 acres of ground, and contain
  241,300,000 cub. ft. of water, which would give a power equal to 6600
  horses. The cost is estimated at £59,000. One reservoir has been
  completed, another is in course of formation, and it is probable that
  the whole design will be carried into effect."[25]

As early as 1788 there were 143 water-mills in the cotton industry of
the United Kingdom, which were distributed as follows among the counties
which had more than one.[26]

  Lancashire         41      Flintshire        3
  Derbyshire         22      Berkshire         2
  Nottinghamshire    17      Lanarkshire       4
  Yorkshire          11      Renfrewshire      4
  Cheshire            8      Perthshire        3
  Staffordshire       7      Midlothian        2
  Westmorland         5      Isle of Man       1

The need of water to drive Arkwright's machinery, and its value for
working other machinery, caused a strong decentralizing tendency to show
itself in the cotton industry at this time, but more particularly in the
twist-spinning branch. Ultimately the steam-engine (first used in the
cotton industry in 1785) drew all branches of the industry into the
towns, where the advantages of their juxtaposition--i.e. the external
economies of centralization--could be enjoyed. Out of the crowding of
the mills in one locality sprang the business specialism which has
continued up to the present day. Here it will not be out of place to
notice the appearance of the new power, electricity, in the cotton
industry, the extension of which may involve striking economic changes.
The first electric-driven spinning-mill in Lancashire, that of the
"Acme" Spinning Company at Pendlebury, the work of which is confined to
the ring-frame, was opened in 1905. Power is obtained from the stations
of the Lancashire Power Company at Outwood near Radcliffe, some 5 m.
distant.

The chief principle of the water-frame was the drawing out of the yarn to
the required degree of tenuity by sets of gripping rollers revolving at
different speeds. This principle is still applied universally. Twist was
given by a "flyer" revolving round the bobbin upon which the yarn was
being wound; the spinning so effected was known as throstle-spinning. The
plan is still common in the subsidiary processes of the cotton industry,
but for spinning itself the ring-frame, which appears to have been
invented simultaneously in England and the United States (the first
American patent is dated 1828), is rapidly supplanting the
throstle-frame,[27] though the "ooziness" of mule yarn has not yet been
successfully imitated by ring-frame yarn. The great invention relating to
weft-spinning was the jenny, introduced by James Hargreaves probably
about 1764, and first tried in a factory four years later.[28] Hargreaves
unfortunately was unable to maintain his patent, because he had sold
jennies before applying for protection. Crompton's mule, which combined
the principles of the rollers and the jenny, was perfected about 1779.
Both jennies and mules were known as "wheels," because they were worked
in part by the turning of a wheel. As they could be set in motion without
using much power, being light when of moderate size, for a long time
they were worked entirely by hand or partially with the aid of horses or
water. The first jenny- and mule-factories were small for this reason,
and also because skill in the operative was a matter of fundamental
importance,[29] as it was not in twist-spinning on the water-frame. The
size of the typical weft-spinning mill suddenly increased after the scope
for the application of power was enlarged by the use of the self-actor
mule, invented in 1825 by Richard Roberts, of the firm of Sharp, Roberts
& Co., machinists, of Manchester. In 1830 Roberts improved his invention
and brought out the complete self-actor. Self-actors had been put forward
by others besides Roberts--for instance by William Strutt, F.R.S. (son of
Arkwright's partner), before 1790; William Kelly, formerly of Lanark
mills, in 1792; William Eaton of Wiln in Derbyshire; Peter Ewart of
Manchester; de Jongh of Warrington; Buchanan, of Catrine works, Scotland;
Knowles of Manchester; and Dr Brewster of America[30]--but none had
succeeded. And Roberts's machines did not immediately win popularity. For
a long time the winding done by them was defective, and they suffered
from other imperfections. Broadly speaking, until the American Civil War
the number of hand-mules in use remained high. It was for the fine
"counts" in particular that many employers preferred them.[31] About the
end of the 'sixties, however, and in the early 'seventies, great
improvements were effected in machinery, partly under the stimulus of a
desire to elevate its fitness for dealing with short-staple cotton, and
it became evident that hand-mules were doomed. Here we may suitably refer
to the scutching machine for opening and cleaning cotton, invented by Mr
Snodgrass of Glasgow in 1797, and introduced by Kennedy[32] to Manchester
in 1808 or 1809; the cylinder carder invented by Lewis Paul and improved
by Arkwright; and the lap-machine first constructed by Arkwright's son.


  Weaving machinery.

We now transfer our attention to that accumulation of improvements in
manufacturing (as weaving is technically termed) which, taken in
conjunction with the inventions already described, presaged the large
factory system which covers Lancashire to-day. Gradually, for many
years, the loom had been gathering complexities, though no fundamental
alteration was introduced into its structure until 1738, when John Kay
of Bury excited the wrath of his fellow-weavers by designing and
employing the device of the fly-shuttle. For some unfathomable
reason--for the opposition of the weavers hardly explains it, though
they expressed their views forcibly and acted upon them violently--this
invention was not much applied in the cotton industry until about a
quarter of a century after its appearance. The plan was merely to
substitute for human hands hammers at the ends of a lengthened lathe
along which the shuttle ran, the hammers being set in motion by the
jerking of a stick (the picking peg) to which they were attached by
strings. The output of a weaver was enormously increased in consequence.
In 1760 John Kay's son Robert added the drop-box, by the use of which
many different kinds of weft could be worked into the same fabric
without difficulty. It was in fact a partitioned lift, any partition of
which could be brought to a level with the lathe and made for the time
continuous with it. The drop-box usefully supplemented the "draw-boy,"
or "draught-boy," which provided for the raising of warps in groups, and
thereby enabled figured goods to be produced. The "draw-boy" had been
well known in the industry for a long time; in 1687 a Joseph Mason
patented an invention for avoiding the expense of an assistant to work
it,[33] but there is no evidence to show that his invention was of
practical value. Looms with "draw-boys" affixed, which could sometimes
be worked by the weavers themselves, later became common under the name
of harness-looms, which have since been supplanted by Jacquard looms,
wherein the pattern is picked out mechanically.

The principle of the fly-shuttle was a first step towards the complete
mechanizing of the action required for working a loom. The second step
was the power-loom, the initial effort to design which was created by
the tardiness of weaving as contrasted with the rapidity of spinning by
power. After the general adoption of the jenny, supplies of yarn outran
the productive powers of the agencies that existed for converting them
into fabrics, and as a consequence, it would seem, some yarn was
directed into exports which might have been utilized for the manufacture
of cloth for export had the loom been more productive. The agitation for
the export tax on yarn at the end of the 18th, and in the first years of
the 19th century, is therefore comprehensible, but there was no
foundation for some of the allegations by which it was supported. For a
large proportion of the exported yarn, fabrics could not have been
substituted, since the former was required to feed the hand-looms in
continental homes and domestic workshops, against much of the product of
which there was no chance of competing. The hand-loom was securely
linked to the home of the peasant, and though he would buy yarn to feed
his loom he would not buy cloth and break it up.[34]

Cartwright's loom was not the first design adapted for weaving by power.
A highly rudimentary and perfectly futile self-actor weaving machine,
which would have been adapted for power-working had it been capable of
working at all, had been invented by a M. de Gennes: a description of
it, extracted from the _Journal de sçavans_, appeared in the
_Philosophical Transactions_ for July and August 1678, and again in the
_Gentleman's Magazine_ in 1751 (vol. xxi. pp. 391-392). It consisted of
mechanical hands, as it were, that shot in and out of the warp and
exchanged the shuttle.[35] Another idea, which however proved fruitful,
was that of grinding the shuttle through the warps by the agency of
cog-wheels working at each end upon teeth affixed to the upper side of
the shuttle. Though shuttles could not in this fashion be set in rapid
movement, the machine turned out to be economical for the production of
ribbons and tapes, because many pieces could be woven by it at once.
These contrivances were known as swivel-looms, and in 1724 Stukeley in
his _Itinerarium curiosum_ wrote that the people of Manchester have
"looms that work twenty-four laces at a time, which was stolen from the
Dutch." Ogden says also that they were set up in imitation of Dutch
machines by Dutch mechanics invited over for the purpose. Another
interesting passage relating to the swivel-looms will be found in the
rules of the Manchester small-ware weavers dated 1756, where the
complaint is made that the masters have acquired by the employment of
"engine or Dutch looms such large and opulent fortunes as hath enabled
them to vie with some of the best gentlemen of the country," and it is
alleged that these machines, which wove twelve or fourteen pieces at
once, "were in use in Manchester thirty years ago."[36] One
power-factory at least was devoted to them as early as 1760, namely that
of a Mr Gartside at Manchester, where water-power was applied, but the
enterprise failed.[37] Cartwright's invention was probably perfected in
its first form about 1787, but many corrections, improvements and
additions had to be effected before it became an unqualified success.
Cartwright's original idea was elaborated by numerous followers, and
supplementary ideas were needed to make the system complete. Of the
latter the most important were those due to William Radcliffe, and an
ingenious mechanic who worked with him, Thomas Johnson, which were
patented in 1803 and 1804. They related to the dressing of the warp
before it was placed in the loom, and for the mechanical taking up of
the cloth and drawing forward of the warp, so that the loom had not to
be stopped for the cloth to be moved on and the warp brought within play
of the shuttle to be sized. Looms fitted with the latter of these
devices were known as "dandy" looms. The looms that followed need not be
described here, nor need we concern ourselves with the degree in which
some were imitations of others. It is of interest to note, however, in
view of recent developments, that one of Cartwright's patents included a
warp-stop motion, though it was never tried practically so far as the
writer is aware. Looms with warp-stop motions are now common in the
United States, as are also automatic looms, but both are still the
exception in Lancashire for reasons that will be sketched later.

Power-looms won their way only very gradually. Cartwright and others
lost fortunes in trying to make them pay, but the former was compensated
by a grant of £10,000 from government. In 1813 there were 2400 only in
the whole of the United Kingdom; in 1820 there were 14,000, beside some
240,000 hand-looms; in 1829, 55,500; in 1833, 100,000; and in 1870,
440,700.[38] To-day there are about 700,000 in the cotton industry. The
beginning, and the final consequences, of the competitive pressure of
the power-looms may be read in the reports of official inquiries and in
Rowbotham's diary.[39] It was upon the fine work that the hand-loom
weavers retained their last hold. In 1829 John Kennedy wrote in his
paper to the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society on "The Rise
and Progress of the Cotton Trade," "It is found ... that one person
cannot attend upon more than two power-looms, and it is still
problematical [even in 1829, observe] whether the saving of labour
counterbalances the expense of power and machinery and the disadvantage
of being obliged to keep an establishment of power-looms constantly at
work." It was not easy to obtain a sufficiency of good hands for the
power-looms, because the operatives, who had acquired their habits under
the domestic system, hated factory life. This, in conjunction with the
ease with which the art of coarse weaving could be acquired and the
cheapness of rough looms, helps to explain the wretched straits into
which the hand-loom weavers were driven.

[Sidenote: Growth.]

Improvements in machinery, which ultimately affected every process from
cleaning the cotton to finishing the fabric, and the application of
water and steam-power, so lowered the cost of production as to render
Lancashire the cotton factory of the world. Figures are quoted in the
table to show the rate of growth in different periods of England's
imports and exports as regards the raw material and products of this
industry. It is important to remember when reading the last 6 columns
that the value of money was the same in 1831-1835, 1851-1855 and
1876-1880: the sums of Sauerbeck's index numbers for these periods were
454, 451 and 444 respectively. In the last two periods there were
considerable depressions in prices. If prices had remained constant, in
the periods 1891-1895 and 1896-1900 the figures of exports would have
been £90 millions and £91 millions respectively. The growth in trade has
been partly occasioned by the enormous increase in the volume of cotton
goods consumed all over the world, which in turn has been due to (1) the
growth of population, (2) the increase in productive efficiency and
well-being, and (3) the substitution of cotton fabrics for woollen and
linen fabrics. The rate of growth between the periods 1771-1781 and
1781-1791 (which is not shown in the above table) was particularly
remarkable, and reached as high a figure (when measured by importations
of weight of cotton) as 320%.

  +---------+-------------+-------------+-----------------------------+---------------------------+
  |         |             |             |  Exports of  Cotton Yarns   |Imports of Cotton Yarns and|
  |         |             |             |and Manufactures, Million £. |  Manufactures, Million £  |
  |         | Imports of  | Raw Cotton  |                             |                           |
  |  Year.  | Raw Cotton, |re-exported, +------+-------------+--------+------+-------------+------+
  |         | Million lb. | Million lb. |      |             |        |      |Manufactures.|      |
  |         |             |             |Yarns.|Manufactures.| Total. |Yarns.| (excluding  |Total.|
  |         |             |             |      |             |        |      |    Lace.)   |      |
  +---------+-------------+-------------+------+-------------+--------+------+-------------+------+
  |1700-1705|      1.17   |      ..     |  ..  |     ..      |   ..   |  ..  |      ..     |  ..  |
  |1771-1775|      4.76   |      ..     |  ..  |     ..      |   ..   |  ..  |      ..     |  ..  |
  |1785-1789|      ..     |      ..     |  ..  |     ..      |  1.07* |  ..  |      ..     |  ..  |
  |1791-1795|     26.00   |      ..     |  ..  |     ..      |  2.09* |  ..  |      ..     |  ..  |
  |1816-1820|    139.00   |     10.00   |  2.5 |    13.8     | 16.30  |  ..  |      ..     |  ..  |
  |1831-1835|    313.00   |     23.00   |  4.8 |    14.2     | 19.00  |  ..  |      ..     |  ..  |
  |1851-1855|    872.00   |    124.00   |  6.8 |    24.9     | 31.70  |  ..  |      ..     |  ..  |
  |1876-1880|   1456.00   |    180.00   | 12.4 |    56.1     | 68.30  |  ..  |     2.29    | 2.29 |
  |1891-1895|   1746.00   |    217.00   |  9.7 |    56.6     | 66.30  | .42  |     2.78    | 3.20 |
  |1896-1900|   1798.00   |    223.00   |  8.9 |    58.2     | 67.10  | .26  |     4.27    | 4.53 |
  |1901-1905|   1920.00   |    265.00   |  8.4 |    70.7     | 79.10  | .22  |     5.10    | 5.32 |
  +---------+-------------+-------------+------+-------------+--------+------+-------------+------+
    * Official values.


  Differentiation and Integration.

Nothing is more interesting in the cotton industry than the processes of
differentiation and integration that have taken place from time to time.
Weaving and spinning had been to a large extent united in the industry
in its earliest form, in that both were frequently conducted beneath the
same roof. With mechanical improvements in spinning, that branch of the
industry became a separate business, and a substantial section of it was
brought under the factory régime. Weaving continued to be performed in
cottages or in hand-loom sheds where no spinning at all was attempted.
Cartwright's invention carried weaving back to spinning, because both
operations then needed power, and the trouble of marketing yarn was
largely spared by the reunion. Mr W. R. Grey stated in 1833 to the
committee of the House of Commons on manufactures, commerce and
shipping, that he knew of no single person then building a spinning mill
who was not attaching to it a power-loom factory. Some years later the
weaving-shed split away from spinning, partly no doubt because of the
economies of industrial specialism, partly because of commercial
developments, to be described later, which rendered dissociation less
hazardous than it had been, and partly because, in consequence of these
developments, much manufacturing (as weaving is termed) was constituted
a business strikingly dissimilar from spinning. The manufacturer runs
more risks in laying by stocks than the spinner, because of the greater
variety of his product and the more frequent changes that it undergoes.
The former, therefore, must devote more time than the latter to keeping
his order book and the productive power of his shed in close
correspondence. The minute care of this kind that must be exercised in
some classes of businesses explains why the small manufacturer still
holds his own while the small spinner has been crushed out. It also
explains to some extent the prevalence of joint-stock companies in
spinning, and their comparative rarity in manufacturing. Here we should
notice, perhaps, that the only combination of importance in the cotton
industry proper (apart from calico-printing, bleaching, &c., and the
manufacture of sewing-cotton) is the Fine Cotton Spinners and Doublers
Association, founded in 1898, which is practically coextensive with fine
spinning and doubling.


  Localization of branches of the industry.

The specialism of the two main branches of the industry has been
followed by the specialism of sub-branches and by the localization of
specialized parts. Of the localization of certain sections of the cotton
industry the late Mr Elijah Helm, who spoke with the authority of great
local knowledge, has written as follows:--

  "Spinning is largely concentrated in south Lancashire and in the
  adjoining borderland of north Cheshire. But even within this area
  there is further allocation. The finer and the very finest yarns are
  spun in the neighbourhood of Bolton, and in or near Manchester, much
  of this being used for the manufacture of sewing-thread; whilst other
  descriptions, employed almost entirely for weaving, are produced in
  Oldham and other towns. The weaving branches of the industry are
  chiefly conducted in the northern half of Lancashire--most of it in
  very large boroughs, as Blackburn, Burnley and Preston. Here, again,
  there is a differentiation. Preston and Chorley produce the finer and
  lighter fabrics; Blackburn, Darwen and Accrington, shirtings, dhooties
  and other goods extensively shipped to India; whilst Nelson and Colne
  make cloths woven from dyed yarn, and Bolton is distinguished for fine
  quiltings and fancy cotton dress goods. These demarcations are not
  absolutely observed, but they are sufficiently clear to give to each
  town in the area covered by the cotton industry a distinctive place in
  its general organization."[40]

The present local distribution of the cotton industry, as far as it is
displayed statistically, is revealed in the table beneath, based upon
the figures of spindles and looms given by Worrall and those of
operatives in the census returns of 1901.

  _Distribution of Cotton Operatives in Lancashire and the Vicinity
  according to the Census Returns of 1901, together with the Number
  of Spindles and Looms according to Worrall._

  +------------------------+-------------+--------------+-------------+
  |                        |   No. of    |      No.     |   No. of    |
  |                        | Operatives. | Spindles (in |   Looms.    |
  |                        |             |  Thousands). |             |
  +------------------------+-------------+--------------+-------------+
  | Blackburn              |    41,400   |     1,325    |   75,300    |
  | Bolton                 |    29,800   |     5,035    |   20,100    |
  | Oldham                 |    29,500   |    11,603    |   18,500    |
  | Burnley                |    27,900   |       687    |   79,300    |
  | Manchester and Salford |    27,200   |     2,666    |   24,200*   |
  | Preston                |    25,000   |     2,036    |   57,900    |
  | Rochdale               |    14,800   |     2,168    |   25,100    |
  | Darwen                 |    12,500   |       336    |   28,700    |
  | Nelson                 |    12,400   |        23    |   39,000    |
  | Glossop**              |             |       968    |   15,400    |
  | Bury                   |    10,700   |       818    |   22,200    |
  | Stockport              |     9,700   |     1,803    |    8,700    |
  | Ashton-under-Lyne      |     8,600   |     1,839    |   11,500    |
  | Accrington             |     8,300   |       417    |   36,400    |
  | Colne                  |     7,300   |       140*** |   20,500    |
  | Heywood                |     7,300   |       869    |    6,400    |
  | Stalybridge            |     7,100   |     1,106    |    7,100    |
  | Todmorden              |     6,900   |       261    |   15,800    |
  | Rawtenstall            |     6,600   |       356    |    8,800    |
  | Hyde                   |     6,500   |       553    |    7,900    |
  | Chadderton             |     6,400   |     ..       |     ..      |
  | Haslingden             |     6,100   |       148    |   12,000    |
  | Bacup                  |     5,900   |       315    |    9,300    |
  | Chorley                |     5,900   |       547    |   17,900    |
  | Farnworth, near Bolton |     5,700   |       738    |   10,600    |
  | Leigh                  |     5,000   |     1,667    |    5,900    |
  | Great Harwood          |     4,900   |        72    |   12,400    |
  | Middleton              |     4,900   |       511    |    2,500    |
  | Radcliffe              |     4,800   |       157    |    8,900    |
  +------------------------+-------------+--------------+-------------+
      * Manchester only.
     ** The number of operatives in places in Derbyshire is not separately
           specified.
    *** Includes Foulridge with Colne.

Local markets have steadily lost in importance, partly owing to railway
development, and it is now almost entirely in Manchester, on the
Exchange, that dealing in yarns and fabrics takes place, and
arrangements are made for export. The old Manchester Exchange, built in
1729, was taken down in 1792. A new Exchange, reared on a contiguous
site, was opened in 1809, the first stone having been laid in 1806. The
present building was erected in 1869. The great bulk of the exports of
cotton goods proceeds from Liverpool, though London used to be the
leading port, and Liverpool is still the chief English market for raw
cotton, though now from one-sixth to one-eighth of English cotton
supplies come up the Manchester Ship Canal.


  Modern organization.

To understand the present organization of the cotton industry the reader
must begin by mentally separating the commercial from the industrial
functions. By the industrial functions are meant the arrangements of
factors in production--choosing the most suitable machinery and hands,
combining them in the most economical system, adapting the material used
to this system, and keeping its working at the highest attainable level.
The commercial functions consist in business which is not industrial.
Analysis will show that there are, broadly speaking, two classes of
commercial functions, namely (1) arranging for purchases and sales, and
(2) the bearing of risks. The character of the former is apparent; it
consists, as regards yarn, in discovering for each manufacturer which
spinner makes the yarn which is best adapted to his requirements at the
lowest cost, and in finding the most suitable customers for spinners.
Risk-bearing is a commercial function of another kind. Every business
that involves anticipation involves commercial risks. Thus the spinner
who sells "forward" yarn, trusting that the price of cotton will not
rise, is taking commercial risks, and so is the spinner who produces for
stock, trusting that the class of yarn that he is making will continue
in demand. These two instances will suffice to indicate what is meant by
the carrying of commercial risks. To make the rest of our argument clear
it will be well to write down formulae. Let A and B represent
respectively the industrial operations of spinning and manufacturing.
Let a and [alpha] represent respectively the commercial operations
implied by the separate existence of A, that is, the buying of cotton
and the selling of yarn; and let b and [Greek: beta] stand for the
commercial operations associated with manufacturing, that is, the buying
of yarn on the one hand, and the finding of customers and arranging for
their purchases on the other hand. Then, A and B being distinct
businesses, it is obvious that a range of schemes is possible of which
the extremes may be roughly represented as follows:--

  1. (aA[alpha]), (bB[beta])
  2. (a), (A), ([alpha]b), (B), ([beta]),

where the brackets signify independent businesses. In case 1 each
spinning business would be engaged with three problems, namely, (i.)
buying material at the most favourable time, (ii.) producing at the
lowest cost, and (iii.) finding buyers and selling at the highest price,
including the arranging for the performance of the most remunerative
work. But in case 2 the spinner would confine his attention to purely
industrial matters, while the problem of finding cotton and arranging
for the bearing of the risks as to future prices would rest with other
persons, and the business of bringing spinner and manufacturer together
and taking such risks as may be involved in ordering or disposing of
yarn would be the function of yet others. In case 2 the commercial
functions may be said to have differentiated completely from the main
body of the industry. We need hardly give illustrations of the
intermediate arrangements that formally lie between cases 1 and 2. A may
retain commercial risks but find customers through intermediaries; in
such an event there would be only partial differentiation of the
commercial functions. The reader must be reminded also that for the sake
of simplicity in the formulae we have overlooked different classes of A
and of B, omitted bleaching, dyeing, printing and finishing, and drawn
no distinction between the various classes of commercial work covered by
one letter, for instance, selling in the home market and selling abroad.

It may help the reader to appreciate the organic growth of the cotton
industry if we now run over the main lines of its evolution. Originally
the industrial units were held together in one homogeneous commercial
setting. The Manchester merchants bought cotton and warps, put them out
to the weavers, and arranged for the finishing of the cloth and then for
its sale, so far as they had not been acting on orders already received.
There were variations of this system--for instance, in early years
weavers sometimes bought their own yarns and cotton and sold their
cloth--but just before the industrial revolution the arrangement
sketched above was the most usual. Adverting to our formula, the
Manchester merchants, we observe, performed functions a (in conjunction
with importers), b (as regarded warps), and [beta]. Weft the weaver had
to get spun by his family or outsiders. So, broadly speaking, there was
one single commercial setting. After the appearance of the factory, the
commercial work as between the water-twist mills, the mule-spinning
businesses and the manufacturers, so far as the businesses were
distinct, appears to have been done by the several producing firms
concerned. It was not at once that ([alpha]b) began to differentiate,
[beta] was already a separate business in the hands of Manchester
merchants and the foreign houses who had established themselves in
Manchester to direct the export trade. At the present time an advanced
stage of commercial specialism has been reached. From the risks
connected with the buying of cotton the spinner may if he please escape
entirely.[41] Selling work is now done usually through intermediaries,
but there is no one uniform rule as to the carrying of the commercial
risks involved. This appears to be now to some extent a matter of
arrangement between the persons concerned, but ultimately no doubt the
risks will have to be borne by those most qualified by experience to
bear them, namely, the commercial specialists. In no other trade in
England, and in no other cotton industry abroad, has commercial
specialism been carried so far as in the cotton trade of Lancashire. It
is partly in consequence of the difference in this respect between the
cotton industry in Lancashire and abroad that the separation of spinning
from weaving is far more common in England than elsewhere. Elsewhere
producers are deterred from specializing processes further in distinct
businesses by the fear of the worries of buying and selling as between
them.

The explanation of differences in respect of the degree of commercial
specialism in different places and industries can be formulated only
very generally. Time is required for the differentiation and
localization to take place. The English cotton trade had not advanced
very far in the "'thirties," if we are to judge from the evidence given
to commissions and parliamentary committees. The general conditions
under which commercial specialism evolves may be taken to be a
moderately limited range of products which do not present many
varieties, and the qualities of which can be judged generally on
inspection. In such circumstances private markets need not be built up,
as they must be, for instance, for a new brand of soap which claims some
subtle superiority to all others. Soaps under present conditions must be
marketed by their producers. Broadly stated, if there be little
competition as to substitutes, though there may be much as to price in
relation to quality, commercial functions may specialize. On the whole
this is the case in the cotton industry; in so far as it is not and
firms produce specialities, they undertake much of the marketing work
themselves.

The advantages of commercial specialism are numerous. Firstly it allows
of differentiation of industrial processes, and this, of necessity, is
accompanied by increasing returns. When weaving dissociates from
spinning, both the number of looms in each business and the number of
spindles in each business tend to increase; more division of labour is
therefore secured, and lower costs of production are reached, and there
is a further gain because producers concentrate their attention upon a
smaller range of work. Again when producers are freed entirely, or to
some extent, from commercial worries, they can attain a higher level of
efficiency at the industrial task of mill organization, and a more
perfect accommodation of capacity to function will be brought about. If
the business unit is (aA[alpha]), a particular person may retain his
place in the market by reason of his excellence at the work a or
[alpha], though as works organizer (i.e. at the performances of function
A) he may be incompetent. The heads of businesses will succeed according
to their average capacities at the three tasks a, A and [alpha], and
there is no guarantee, therefore, that any one of these tasks will be
performed with the highest attainable efficiency in our present somewhat
immobile economic system. But if the three functions are separated there
is more certainty of a person's success in the performance of each
determining his continued discharge of it. The problems that arise when
specialized markets become very highly developed are dealt with in the
article COTTON: MARKETING AND SUPPLY.


    Operatives in various processes.

  The distribution of cotton operatives among the chief centres has
  already been shown, but their distribution between processes has yet
  to be considered, and the proportions of different ages and sexes from
  time to time, together with the total. With such statistical material
  as is available relating to supplies of labour we may set forth also
  the official returns made of the quantity of machinery at work from
  time to time. It hardly need be pointed out that the ratio of
  machinery to operatives roughly measures the efficiency of labour,
  other things being equal.


    _Machinery in the United Kingdom (in Thousands)._

    +--------+-----------+-----------+--------+
    | Years. | Spinning  | Doubling  | Power- |
    |        | Spindles. | Spindles. | Looms. |
    +--------+-----------+-----------+--------+
    |  1874  |  37,516   |   4366    |   463  |
    |  1878  |  39,528   |   4679    |   515  |
    |  1885  |  40,120   |   4228    |   561  |
    |  1890  |  40,512   |   3993    |   616  |
    |  1903  |  43,905   |   3952    |   684  |
    +--------+-----------+-----------+--------+


  _Operatives employed in the Cotton Industry (in Thousands). (From the
  Census Returns.*)_ (The figures in italics relate to Married and
  Widowed Women.)

  +----------------------------------------+--------------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+
  |                                        |           1901.          |         1891.         |         1881.         |
  |                                        +-------------+------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
  |                                        |             |  England   |           |  England  |           |  England  |
  |                                        | Lancashire  | and Wales  |Lancashire.| and Wales |Lancashire.| and Wales |
  +----------------------------------------+------+------+------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
  |                                        |  M.  |  F.  |  M.  |  F. | M.  |  F. | M.  |  F. | M.  |  F. | M.  |  F. |
  |Cotton, card and blowing-room processes | 11.4 | 28.7 | 13.8 | 34.0| ..  | ..  | ..  | ..  | ..  | ..  | ..  | ..  |
  |                                        | 10.1 |      |12.2  |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |
  |Cotton spinning processes               | 49.5 | 19.6 | 64.1 | 28.6| ..  | ..  | ..  | ..  | ..  | ..  | ..  | ..  |
  |                                        |  4.3 |      |  6.0 |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |
  |Cotton weaving, warping, &c.            | 57.6 |113.5 | 66.1 |130.8| ..  | ..  | ..  | ..  | ..  | ..  | ..  | ..  |
  |                                        | 13.0 |      | 15.8 |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |
  |Cotton winding, warping, &c.            | 14.8 | 38.6 | 18.3 | 48.9| ..  | ..  | ..  | ..  | ..  | ..  | ..  | ..  |
  |                                        | 38.1 |      | 44.4 |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |
  |                                        +------+------+------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----------+
  |                      Total             |133.3 | 265.9|162.3 |320.7|178.2|281.8|213.2|332.8|150.7|249.8|185.4|302.4|
  |                                        +------+------+------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
  |Cotton workers in other processes or    | 29.0 |  6.7 | 34.5 | 9.4 | ..  |  .. |  .. |  .. |  .. |  .. |  .. |  .. |
  |   undefined                            |  1.8 |      |      | 2.3 |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |
  |Tape, manufacturer dealer               |  ..  |  ..  | ..   | ..  |  .47|  .25|  .9 |  1.5|  .4 |  .24|  .7 | 1.2 |
  |Thread, manufacturer dealer             |  ..  |  ..  | ..   | ..  |  .2 |  .9 |  .6 |  2.1|  .1 |  .9 |  .5 | 1.7 |
  |Fustian, manufacturer dealer            |   .6 |  1.2 |  2.1 | 2.6 | 1.1 | 2.9 | 3.2 |  5.0| 1.7 | 3.5 | 3.0 | 5.2 |
  |                                        |   .55|      |      | 1.0 |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |
  |Cotton, calico, warehouseman, dealer    |  ..  |  ..  | ..   | ..  |  .. |  .. |  .. |  .. | 2.5 |  .3 | 3.2 |  .38|
  +----------------------------------------+------+------+------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
    * Census classifications have been altered twice in the period covered by this table.

  In Scotland there are less than 15,000 cotton operatives distributed
  as follows:--

                                          In Thousands.

    Card and blowing-room processes             .4
    Spinning-room processes                    2.1
    Winding, warping, &c.                      2.7
    Weaving, warping, &c.                      6.8
    Workers in other processes or undefined    2.8
                                              ----
                              Total           14.8


    _Operatives employed in Cotton Factories in the United Kingdom and
    Percentages of each Class. (From Returns of Factory Inspectors.)_

    +-----------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
    |                       |  1835.|  1838.|  1847.|  1850.|  1856.|  1862.|  1867.|
    +-----------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
    | Male and Female under |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |
    |   13, or half-timers. |  13.2 |  45.7 |   5.8 |   4.6 |   6.5 |   8.8 |  10.4 |
    | Male, 13 to 18        |  12.5 |  16.6 |  11.8 |  11.2 |  10.3 |   9.1 |   8.6 |
    | Male, over 18         |  26.4 |  24.9 |  27.1 |  28.7 |  27.4 |  26.4 |  26.0 |
    | Female, over 13       |  47.9 |  53.8 |  55.3 |  55.5 |  55.8 |  55.7 |  55.0 |
    +-----------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
    |   Total number of     |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |
    |     Cotton Operatives |218,000|259,500|316,400|331,000|379,300|451,600|401,100|
    +=======================+=======+=======+=======+=======+=======+=======+=======+
    |                       |  1870.|  1874.|  1878.|  1885.|  1890.|  1895.|  1901.|
    +-----------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
    | Male and Female under |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |
    |   13, or half-timers. |   9.6 |  14.0 |  12.8 |   9.9 |   9.1 |   5.8 |   4.1 |
    | Male, 13 to 18        |   8.5 |   8.0 |   7.2 |   7.9 |   8.2 |   7.9 |   7.0 |
    | Male, over 18         |  26.0 |  24.1 |  25.3 |  26.4 |  26.9 |  27.6 |  27.8 |
    | Female, over 13       |  55.9 |  53.9 |  54.7 |  55.8 |  55.8 |  58.7 |  61.1 |
    +-----------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
    |   Total number of     |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |
    |     Cotton Operatives |450,100|479,600|483,000|504,100|528,800|538,900|513,000|
    +-----------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+


    _Number of Operatives (in Thousands) engaged in Spinning,
    Manufacturing and Subsidiary Processes (excluding Lace-making, but
    including the Fustian Manufacture). (From Census Returns.)_

    +------+------------------------+------------------------+------------------------+
    |      |         Males.         |        Females.        |   Males and Females.   |
    +------+-----+------+-----+-----+-----+------+-----+-----+-----+------+-----+-----+
    |      |Under|      |Over | All |Under|      |Over | All |Under|      |Over | All |
    |      |  15.|15-20.| 20. |Ages.| 15. |15-20.| 20. |Ages.|  15.|15-20.| 20. |Ages.|
    +------+-----+------+-----+-----+-----+------+-----+-----+-----+------+-----+-----+
    | 1881 |  29 |  39  | 121 | 189 |  40 |  81  | 189 | 310 |  69 |  120 | 310 | 500 |
    | 1891 |  36 |  45  | 137 | 218 |  50 |  94  | 197 | 341 |  86 |  139 | 334 | 560 |
    | 1901 |  24 |  36  | 139 | 199 |  36 |  92  | 207 | 335 |  60 |  128 | 346 | 535 |
    +------+-----+------+-----+-----+-----+------+-----+-----+-----+------+-----+-----+


  The fact that the branches of work covered by the figures are not
  identical explains discrepancies between this and the previous table.


    _Number of Operatives engaged in the Cotton Industry (Processes
    being distinguished and Ages and Sex). (From Special Returns made by
    Factory Inspectors.)_

    +------------+-------------------------+--------------------------+----------+
    |            |   Males in Thousands.   |  Females in Thousands.   |          |
    |            +-------+---------+-------+-------+---------+--------+ Total in |
    |            | Half- |  Under  |18 and | Half- |  Under  | 18 and |Thousands.|
    |            |timers.|   18.   | over. |timers.|   18.   |  over. |          |
    +------------+-------+---------+-------+-------+---------+--------+----------+
    |            |       |         |Spinning and Preparatory Processes|          |
    |1896        |  5.58 |  22.24  | 71.44 |  4.40 |  30.12  |  78.96 |    212   |
    |1898-1899*  |  5.42 |  21.57  | 71.37 |  3.86 |  30.44  |  77.64 |    210   |
    |1901        |  4.98 |  21.10  | 68.98 |  3.10 |  30.98  |  81.68 |    211   |
    |            |       |         |Weaving and Preparatory Processes |          |
    |1896        |  7.54 |  18.79  | 75.81 | 11.87 |  49.19  | 151.34 |    315   |
    |1898-1899*  |  6.21 |  17.29  | 72.74 | 10.38 |  48.38  | 150.99 |    306   |
    |1901        |  4.72 |  14.86  | 73.81 |   8.0 |  45.66  | 155.03 |    302   |
    +------------+-------+---------+-------+-------+---------+--------+----------+
       * Average for 1898 and 1899.

  The figures in this table are not quite complete except for 1901; the
  relations between the changes shown for each class should nevertheless
  be accurately represented.


    _Index Numbers of Money, Wages and Prices._

    +-------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------+
    |                   |1840.|1855.|1860.|1866.|1870.|1874.|1877.|1880.|1883.|1886.|1891.| 1902.|
    +-------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------+
    |Cotton operatives. |  50 |  54 |  64 |  74 |  74 |  90 |  90 |  85 |  90 |  93 | 100 |105   |
    |Average wages for  |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |      |
    |  eight trades     |  61 |  61 |  73 |  81 |  83 |  97 |  94 |  89 |  92 |  90 | 100 |108.7*|
    |Sauerbeck's        |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |      |
    |  index number     | 103 |  73 |  99 | 102 |  96 | 102 |  94 |  88 |  82 |  69 |  72 | 69   |
    |Average price of   |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |      |
    |  wheat per quarter| 66/4| 40/3| 53/3|49/11|46/11| 55/9| 56/9| 44/4| 41/7| 31/-| 37/-|28/1  |
    +-------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------+
      * Average for a slightly different group.


    _Weekly Wages in the Manchester and District Cotton Trade._

    +--------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
    |                    |1834.|1836.|1839.|1841.|1849.|1850.|1859.|1860.|1870.|1877.|1882.|1883.|1886.|
    +--------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
    |                    |s. d.|s. d.|s. d.|s. d.|s. d.|s. d.|s. d.|s. d.|s. d.|s. d.|s. d.|s. d.|s. d.|
    |Spinners' average   |23 4 |23 11|22 1 |22 0 |21 7 |20 5 |24 1 |23 2 |27 8 |34 4 |31 6 |32 4 |35 7 |
    |Big piecers' average|11 0 | 9 3 | 8 6 | 8 8 | 8 6 |13 0 |10 0 |10 0 |11 0 |12 4 |16 0 |16 0 |13 7 |
    |Weavers' average    |11 0 |10 2 | 9 6 | 9 6 |10 6 |10 3 |11 2 |10 8 |12 2 |15 1 |15 6 |15 0 |13 3 |
    +--------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+

  The most noticeable features of these tables are the decrease in the
  proportion of children employed and the steady increase in the number
  of operatives as a whole until recent years. The contraction of the
  body of operatives of late years seems to have occurred primarily
  among children and young persons (where the first check would
  naturally be looked for), and secondarily among adult males. If
  allowance be made for the smaller value of children as compared with
  adults, and the census results be taken, it is not evident that there
  has been any diminution in the amount of labour-power; and if the
  factory inspectors' returns be accepted, the falling off in the number
  of operatives cannot be proved to have taken place in either of the
  chief branches of the industry at so rapid a rate as to have
  occasioned the enforced dismissal of any hands. An industry which was
  not recruited at all would have dwindled at a greater rate. At least
  it may be inferred from these figures, when taken in conjunction with
  the large increase in spindles and looms, that the output per head has
  considerably advanced in spite of the rise in the average quality of
  both yarns and fabrics produced. This rise in the value per unit of
  the output accounts to some extent for the fact that wages have not
  been adversely affected of late.


    Wages and piece-rate lists.

  Mr A. L. Bowley has calculated index numbers of wages for the leading
  trades, including the manufacture of cotton. Those for the cotton
  industry are given below, together with averages for cotton and wool
  workers, the building trades, mining, workers in iron, sailors,
  compositors and agriculturists (England), the numbers in each class
  being allowed for in the average. Side by side with these figures,
  Sauerbeck's index numbers of general wholesale prices are given,
  together with the average prices of wheat per quarter.

  It must be remembered that the figures given above for cotton workers
  and average wages for eight trades do not measure the differences
  between each, but only the differences between the movements of each.
  Actual average money wages in the cotton industry have probably been
  approximately those stated in the second table beneath, but as these
  figures are culled from various sources they must not be taken to
  indicate fluctuations.[42]

  The wage of fine spinners exceeds the average wage of spinners by
  percentages varying from about 25 to 35. In the above figures the
  earnings of three classes of spinners are averaged.

  The highest wages are earned by mule-spinners (who are all males);
  their assistants, known as piecers, are badly paid. Persons can easily
  be found, however, to work as piecers, because they hope ultimately to
  become "minders," i.e. mule-spinners in charge of mules. The division
  of the total wage paid on a pair of mules between the minder and the
  piecers is largely the result of the policy of the spinners' trade
  union. Almost without exception in Lancashire one minder takes charge
  of a pair of mules with two or three assistants according to the
  amount of work to be done. Among the weavers there is no rule as to
  the number of assistants to full weavers (who are both male and
  female), or as to the number of looms managed by a weaver, but the
  proportion of assistants is much less than in the spinning branches,
  perhaps because of the inferior strength of the weavers' unions. For
  the calculation of wages piece-rate lists are universally employed as
  regards the payment of full weavers and spinners; some piecers get a
  definite share of the total wage thus assigned to a pair of mules,
  while others are paid a fixed weekly amount. Many ring-spinners are
  now paid also by piece-rate lists, and all other operatives are almost
  universally so paid, except, as a rule, the hands in the blowing-room
  and on the carding-machines. Spinning and weaving lists are most
  complicated; allowances are made in them for most incidents beyond the
  operatives' control, by which the amount of the wage might be
  affected. Still, however, they could not cover all circumstances, and
  much is left to the manner of their application and private
  arrangement. They should be regarded as giving the basis, rather than
  as actually settling, the wage in all cases. The history of lists
  stretches back to the first quarter of the 19th century as regards
  spinners, and to about the middle of the century generally as regards
  weavers, though a weaving list agreed to by eleven masters was drawn
  up as early as 1834. There are still many different district lists in
  use, but the favourite spinning lists are those of Oldham and Bolton,
  and the weaving list most generally employed is that known as the
  "Uniform List," which is a compromise between the lists of Blackburn,
  Preston and Burnley. Under the "Particulars Clause," first included in
  a Factory Act in 1891 and given extended application in 1895, the
  particulars required for the calculation of wages must be rendered by
  the employer. As in spinning there used to be doubts about the
  quantity of work done, the "indicator," which measures the length of
  yarn spun, is coming into general use under pressure from the
  operatives. We ought to observe here that the Oldham Spinning list
  differs from all others in that its basis is an agreed normal
  time-wage for different kinds of work on which piece-rates are
  reckoned. But in effect understandings as to the level of normal
  time-wages are the real basis everywhere. If the average wages in a
  particular mill are lower than elsewhere for reasons not connected
  with the quality of labour (e.g. because of antiquated machinery or
  the low quality of the cotton used), the men demand "allowances" to
  raise their wages to the normal level. Advances and reductions are
  made on the lists, and under the Brooklands Agreement, entered into by
  masters and men in the cotton spinning industry in 1893, advances and
  reductions in future must not exceed 5% or succeed one another by a
  shorter period than twelve months. The changes as a rule now are 5% or
  2½%. In all branches of the cotton industry it is usual for a
  conference to take place between the interested parties before a
  strike breaks out, on the demand of one or other for an advance or
  reduction.


    Trade Unions.

  Organization among the workers in the cotton industry is remarkably
  thorough. Almost all spinners are members of trade unions, and though
  the weavers are not so strongly united, the bulk of them are
  organized. The piecers are admitted as members of piecers'
  associations, connected with the spinners' associations and controlled
  by them. Attempts to form independent piecers' unions have failed.
  Weavers' assistants are included in the weavers' unions, which may be
  joined in different classes, the benefits connected with which vary
  with the amounts paid. One subscription only, however, is imposed by
  each branch spinners' association, but in all branches it is not the
  same, though every branch pays the same per member to the
  amalgamation. All the trade unions of the chief workers in the cotton
  industry are federated in the four societies: (1) the Amalgamated
  Association of Operative Cotton Spinners (created in 1853 and reformed
  in 1870), (2) the Northern Counties Amalgamated Association of Weavers
  (founded 1884), (3) the Amalgamated Association of Card and
  Blowing-room Operatives (established 1886), and (4) the Amalgamated
  Association of Power-loom Overlookers (founded 1884). These were not,
  however, the first attempts at federation, and the term "federation"
  must not be taken in any strict sense. The distribution of power
  between the central authority and the local Societies varies, but in
  some cases, for instance among the spinners, the local societies
  approximate as closely to the status of mere branches, as to that of
  independent units federated for limited objects. We ought also to
  mention the societies of warp-dressers and warpers, tape-sizers and
  cloth-workers and warehousemen. There is no one federation of all
  cotton-workers, but the United Textile Factory Workers has been
  periodically called into being to press the matter of factory
  legislation, and international textile congresses are occasionally
  held by the operatives of different countries.

  As to employers, four extensive associations include almost all the
  organization among them, two concerned chiefly with spinning and two
  with weaving. The former two are the Federation of Master Cotton
  Spinners' Associations with local associations and including
  21,000,000 spindles, and the Bolton Master Cotton Spinners'
  Association with 7,000,000 spindles; the latter two are the North and
  North-East Lancashire Spinners' and Manufacturers' Association,
  covering about 3,000,000 spindles in addition to a large section of
  the looms of Lancashire, and the United Cotton Manufacturers'
  Association.[43]


    Factory Acts.

  Factory legislation began in the cotton industry, and in no industry
  is it now more developed. The first acts were those of 1802 and 1819,
  both of which applied only to cotton-mills, and the former of which
  related only to parish apprentices. The first really important measure
  was that of 1833, which curtailed the abuse of child-labour, enforced
  some education and provided for factory inspectors, of whom there were
  at first only four. The next act of importance, that of 1844, was
  chiefly remarkable for its inclusion of all women among young persons.
  The proportion of women, young persons and children engaged in the
  cotton industry is so high, that most regulations affecting them, e.g.
  those relating to the hours of labour, must practically be extended to
  all cotton operatives. This act killed night work for "young persons,"
  and children were not allowed to work at night. The year 1847 saw the
  introduction of what was known as the Ten Hours Act--after the 1st of
  May 1848 the hours of young persons (women included) and children were
  not to exceed ten a day and fifty-eight a week. A further limitation
  of hours to 56½ a week was secured in 1874, and this was cut down by
  another hour (the concession of the 12 o'clock Saturday) in 1901.
  "Young persons" now includes all who are not half-timers and have not
  attained the age of eighteen, and all women. The rules as regards the
  employment of children, which have steadily improved, are at present
  as follows. No child under twelve may be employed. On attaining the
  age of thirteen the child may become a full-timer if he has obtained
  the prescribed educational certificate (i.e. fifth standard attainment
  or three hundred attendances each year for five consecutive years).
  Failing this he must wait till he is fourteen before he can be
  employed full time. Half-timers may be employed either (a) on
  alternate days, which must not be the same days in two successive
  weeks, or (b) in morning and afternoon sets. In the case of
  arrangement (a), the child when at work may be employed during the
  same period as a young person or woman, which in Lancashire is almost
  universally from 6 to 6 with two hours for meals.[44] In the case of
  arrangement (b), which is the system generally adopted in Lancashire,
  a half-timer in the morning set works from 6 to 12.30, with half an
  hour for breakfast, and in the afternoon from 1.30 to 6 except on
  Saturdays, when the hours are from 6 till 11.30 for a manufacturing
  operative, or till 12 for other work, for instance, cleaning. The
  child must not work two consecutive weeks in the same set (that is, in
  mornings or afternoons), nor on two successive Saturdays, nor on
  Saturday at all if during any other day of the same week the period of
  employment has exceeded 5½ hours (i.e. a child in the morning set does
  not work on the Saturday). Other important features of factory
  legislation relate to the fencing of dangerous machinery and its
  cleaning when in motion (the regulations being strictest in the case
  of children and most lax in the case of male adults), and conditions
  of health, including the amount of steaming allowed, which was first
  regulated by the Cotton Cloth Factories Act of 1889.


The Cotton Industry outside England.

A brief survey will now be made of the cotton industry in parts of the
globe other than the British Isles, and as a prelude the following broad
estimates of the numbers of spindles and looms in the chief national
seats of the cotton industry may be put forward.[45] The table is
further supplemented by other figures[46] for the number of spindles at
different times in the United Kingdom, the United States and the
continent; and finally we may add the figures of cotton consumed.

The different average fineness of counts spun in different places must
be borne in mind when the consumption of each district at the same time
is being considered, but the relations between the amounts consumed in
the contrasted districts in the two periods would not be affected much
by this difference.

  +-----------------+--------------+----------+-------------+
  |                 | Estimated    | Million  |  Thousand   |
  |                 | Population   | Spinning | Power-Looms |
  |                 | in 1902.     | Spindles | about 1906. |
  |                 | In Millions. | in 1909. |             |
  +-----------------+--------------+----------+-------------+
  | United Kingdom. |   42         |   53.5   |     700     |
  | United States   |   79         |   27.8   |     550     |
  | Germany         |   58         |    9.8   |     215     |
  | France          |   39         |    6.8   |     110     |
  | Russia          |  139         |    7.8   |     150     |
  | India           |  294(1901)   |    5.8   |      45     |
  | Austria         |   26.7       |    4.2   |      80     |
  | Spain           |   18.6(1900) |    1.9   |      69     |
  | Italy           |   33         |    4.0   |     100     |
  | Switzerland     |    3.4       |    1.5   |      30     |
  | Japan           |   46         |    1.7   |      ..     |
  | Belgium         |   ..         |    1.2   |      ..     |
  +-----------------+--------------+----------+-------------+


  _Cotton Spindles (including Doubling Spindles) in Millions._

  +--------+---------+---------+--------+----------+--------+
  |        | United  |         | United |  Other   |        |
  |        | Kingdom.| Europe. | States.|Countries.| Total. |
  +--------+---------+---------+--------+----------+--------+
  |  1870  |  37.7   |    13   |   7.1  |    ..    |   57.8 |
  |  1880  |  44.5   |    21   |  10.6  |     2    |   78.1 |
  |  1890  |  44.5   |    26   |  14.2  |     4    |   88.7 |
  |  1900  |  46.2   |    32   |  19    |     7    |  104.2 |
  |  1903  |  47.9   |    33   |  22.2  |     7.5  |  110.6 |
  +--------+---------+---------+--------+----------+--------+


  _Average Annual Consumption of Cotton in the Period 1831-1835._

                                 Millions of lb.
  United Kingdom                      295
  Continent of Europe                 143
  United States                        79


  _Average Annual Consumption of Cotton in the Period 1900-1905._

                                 Millions of lb.
  United Kingdom                     1634
  Continent of Europe                2486
  United States                      1995

Roughly the consumption of cotton per spindle in the three areas to-day
is, in lb., 35 for the United Kingdom, 70 for the continent, and 95 for
the United States.

Before the cotton industry in other countries is described it will be
necessary to explain how it could have developed there on a large scale
at all. Of course this growth is to be accounted for very largely by the
natural protection of cost of transport aided by tariffs. But it would
be a mistake for Englishmen to imagine that all foreign cotton mills are
the product of a forcing culture, and that if the favourable conditions
created by import duties were removed they would totally disappear. No
doubt some of the growth is artificial, but much is natural and would
have taken place under universal free trade conditions. Much of it,
indeed, would have appeared in these circumstances even were cost of
production a negligible quantity, difficult though it may be at first to
reconcile this statement with certain ordinary conceptions of the
operations of the law of increasing returns. Lancashire secured an
immense lead at the beginning of the 19th century, and if the cost of
production may be represented as varying inversely as the magnitude of
the industry, every addition to her success increased her advantages.
How could the small industry, with a high cost of production because it
was small, compete with Lancashire? The answer is to be found in the
peculiar conditions governing international trade and a closer analysis
of "increasing returns." "Increasing returns" in any place are a
function of two variables, (1) the magnitude of the world market under
conditions of world commerce, and (2) the magnitude of the industry in
the spot in question. The economies connected with the first variable,
which in such an industry as the cotton industry are enormous, and
govern ultimately the limits of business specialism, are shared by every
national section of the industry whether it be great or small. If Haiti
started a cotton factory she might import all her specialized
machinery--the specialism involved in producing which is dependent upon
the exportation of some of it--and restrict narrowly the work undertaken
by her one factory. The cotton goods outside this range she would still
import, and if her specialized product were in excess of local demand
she could export some of it, if she were favourably placed in respect of
cost of carriage, for cost of production in Haiti would not be
impossibly high, since machinery and the general system of production
would be quite up to date though labour might be highly inefficient. Of
course, the country with a large industry enjoys high local economies,
and it might be thought that these alone would be a menace to the
stability of the small industry, because if the industry in the favoured
locality increased these would increase also and the small industry
would be undersold. The answer to this difficulty is that foreign trade
depends upon ratios between ratios, that is, upon the ratios between the
costs of production of all the products of each country in relation to
similar ratios for other countries. Relatively, therefore, diminishing
returns operate in every country. In every country there must come a
time, the utility of commodities being taken into account, when a unit
of labour and capital provides less utility when applied to the creation
of cotton goods, say, than when applied to producing something else for
home consumption or for export in exchange for commodities wanted at
home. It becomes apparent, therefore, that cotton industries of widely
varying sizes dispersed throughout the world can settle into relations
of perfectly stable equilibrium, as that term is understood by the
economist. Slow changes, of course, in their relative volumes might be
looked for with changes in a mutable world, but very sudden collapses
would be impossible unless the general course of human affairs were
revolutionized.

_The United States._--The machine-cotton industry was carried to North
America almost as soon as it evolved in England. Models of Arkwright's
machines were smuggled across the Atlantic in 1786--Arkwright's first
mill had not been started in England until 1769--and these with a jenny
and stock-card were publicly exhibited. From these models a great mass
of machinery was soon constructed. The first mill was erected in 1788
(that of the Beverly Association), the second appeared in 1790, the
third five years later, and in 1798 Samuel Slater started with some of
his wife's relatives the first mill in which the principle of the
water-frame was carried throughout. It is said that it was not until
1814 that power-loom manufacturing was commenced, but in England success
with the power-loom was long delayed. As early as 1831, however, there
were in the United States--mainly in the New England states--800
factories, a million and a quarter spindles, 33,500 looms and 62,200
operatives. At this time the annual consumption of cotton was about
77,000,000 lb. as compared with some 300,000,000 lb. in England at the
same date, and 2,000,000,000 approximately in the United States at the
present time.[47] Writing in 1840, James Montgomery said that, in
respect of cost of production, the American industry was 19% behind that
of England apart from the cost of raw material, which was then a good
deal less to the Americans. In 1878, when there was much interest in the
question of British efficiency in the cotton industry because the
passage of the Factory Act of 1874 had cut down the working hours, the
_Economist_ contrasted the result of twenty-five years' growth in
England and America:--

  "In 1853 the average English production per weaver of 8¼ lb. shirting
  was 825 yds. per week of sixty hours. In 1878 the working hours had
  fallen to fifty-seven, and the production had risen to 975 yds. An
  increased production of 23% is thus due to improvement in the
  processes of manufacture. In 1865 there were 24,151 persons employed
  in Massachusetts in the production of cotton goods, and they produced
  175,000,000 yds. In 1875 the operatives numbered 60,176, and their
  product was 874,000,000 yds. The operatives had increased 150% and
  their products had increased 500%. The increase of production due to
  improved methods was thus in England 23%, and in Massachusetts 100%. I
  do not, of course, suppose that the American manufacturer is in
  advance of his English rival to the extent of this difference, for I
  presume that he started upon the career of improvement from a lower
  platform. But a progress so greatly more rapid than ours will be
  admitted to cast much light on the change which has occurred in our
  relative positions."

The contrast no doubt was not perfect, as indeed it could not be in
view of the varieties of product and their changes, but it proves at any
rate that Americans were making vast strides in industrial efficiency
even before the period when American methods and American enterprise
were monopolizing in a wonderful degree the attention of the business
world.[48] About a dozen years later the low real cost of production of
simple fabrics in the United States was universally admitted, and also
that American manufacturers were making more use of machinery than their
European rivals. In a typical weaving shed in Massachusetts, for
instance, of which particulars were published, twenty women "tended" as
many as eight looms apiece, forty-three managed seven, two hundred and
thirty-two managed six, and only eleven had five only.[49] Since then,
moreover, advance has been rapid, and the sudden development of the
South has astonished the business community of other centres of the
cotton industry.

Before the lines of development in America are specifically dealt with,
and particularly the industrial phenomena in the South, a few words must
be said of the general extension of the industry. The consumption of
cotton in the United States in million lb. was about 75 in 1830, 390 in
1860, 1100 in 1890 and nearly 2000 on an average of the five crop years
from 1900-1901 to 1904-1905: active spindles advanced from 1,250,000 in
1830 to 10,653,000 in 1880 and about 21,250,000 in 1905. Looms which
numbered 33,500 in 1830 had reached 226,000 in 1880 and nearly 550,000
in 1905. At the same time population, it must be remembered, was growing
at a phenomenal rate: from 31.4 millions in 1860 it had passed to 38.6,
50.2, 62.6 and 76.3 at the succeeding decennial censuses, the decennial
rates of increase being in order 22.5, 30, 25 and 20.5 as compared with
8.5, 10.5, 8 and 9 as shown by the corresponding censuses in the United
Kingdom. Protection was of course contributory to the growth of the
American cotton industry. It may be remarked incidentally that the New
World, including the West Indies and the Chinese empire, take the bulk
of American exports, which for so large an industry are inconsiderable.
The imports have always been well in excess of the exports. The
encouragement of home industries by tariffs was definitely aimed at
after the war with England during the Napoleonic struggles, and although
a sensible reduction of duties was experienced after 1845 the reaction
to protection that followed the Civil War was never significantly
departed from except by the single act of 1883. In 1790 the duties on
cotton goods were 7½% _ad valorem_, and they rose gradually until they
reached 25% in 1816. Slight reductions some seventeen years later were
followed in the early 'forties by a tariff of 30%. Diminutions were
succeeded by oscillations, though at no point was a low level touched.
Severe charges were imposed in 1890, and after some relaxation in 1894
the policy of restrictiveness was restored in 1897. According to the
calculations made by the English Board of Trade in 1903[50] no fabrics
were admitted at a charge equivalent to less than 68% _ad valorem_, and
no yarns were admitted at a charge lower than 45% _ad valorem_. Cotton
thread is subjected to a rate equivalent to 375%[51]

The character of the growth of the cotton industry in the United States,
as revealed by recent census returns, is peculiarly interesting:--

  +------------------------+--------------------------------------+-----------------------------+
  |                        |               Thousands              |     Percentage Increase     |
  |                        +--------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+
  |                        |  1880. |  1890.  | 1900.   |  1905.  |1880-1890|1890-1900|1900-1905|
  +------------------------+--------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+
  | Active Spindles        |  10,653|   14,188|   19,008|   23,156|  33.8   |  34     |  21.8   |
  | Looms                  |     226|      325|      451|      541|  43.90  |  38.7   |  20     |
  | lb. cotton consumed    | 750,344|1,117,946|1,814,003|1,875,075|  48.99  |  62.3   |   3.3   |
  | Wages                  | $42,041|  $66,025|  $85,126|  $94,378|  57     |  28.9   |  10.9   |
  | Capital                |$208,280| $354,021| $460,843| $605,100|  70     |  30.2   |  31.3   |
  | Employees not officers |        |         |         |         |         |         |         |
  |   and clerks           |   174.7|    218.9|    297.9|    310.5|  25.3   |  36.1   |   4.2   |
  +------------------------+--------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+

Cotton small wares are included in the totals for 1880 and 1890, but
excluded from those for 1900 and 1905. We must observe further that
"capital" is a vague term. Recent events in the United States afford a
valuable empirical indication of the effect that improved machinery
actually has upon wages. The new automatic looms caused a saving of
labour per unit of product which recalled the complete subversion at the
industrial revolution of the proportions in which the several factors in
production were organized. Displacement of labour and falling wages
might not unreasonably have been looked for temporarily, but wages stuck
at their old level or rose. The rise was caused by numerous converging
forces which brought their united weight to bear. First, prices so fell
as the result of the new machinery that the increased volume of
commodities which the market could absorb more than counterbalanced, it
would seem, the labour-saving of the new machinery, the cotton industry
being taken as a whole. It must be remembered that to increase the
output from the subsidiary processes where labour had not been saved
more hands had to be drafted in. Thus, a contraction of the body of
weavers was accompanied by an expansion of the body of cotton
operatives. Again weavers' wages were naturally raised in a special
degree because automatic machinery called for quick, trustworthy and
intelligent hands, endowed with versatility, especially in the days when
the machinery was still in the semi-experimental stage. The American
employer tries to save in labour but not to save in wages, if a
generalization may be ventured. The good workman gets high pay, but he
is kept at tasks requiring his powers and is not suffered to waste his
time doing the work of unskilled and boy labour. There is, certainly, in
the American labour problem no serious grievance on the question of
wages. If there is any abuse it consists in excessively fierce work. Mr.
T. M. Young, who visited the American cotton districts in 1904 with an
informal commission of Lancashire spinners and manufacturers, did not
think that the cause of the high wages--allowance being made for the
purchasing power of money, they are above those of England, though
cotton operatives in England are well paid relatively--was the
superiority of the American cotton worker; neither did the
representatives of the English cotton operatives who accompanied the
Moseley Commission. As often as not "the cotton operative in the United
States is a French Canadian, a German, an Italian, a Hungarian, an
Albanian, a Portuguese, a Russian, a Greek, or an Armenian." It is the
extensive "exploitation" of machinery seemingly, together with the speed
of work, which keep wages high, combined with the horizontal and
vertical mobility of American labour, which prevents it from
accumulating in pools, and causes streams of the best hands to be
flowing continuously to other callings and places, and no insignificant
proportion to climb the social ladder. The remainder naturally profit,
for a local or trade congestion of labour is avoided, and the voluminous
recruiting of enterprise by the intensified competition among employers
keeps the demand for labour high.

One noticeable point in the table quoted above is that until recently
cotton consumed increased much faster than the number of spindles. This
might be explained in a variety of ways. Average counts remaining
constant, the average speed of the spindle might have risen; or the
latter remaining constant, counts might have been getting finer. Speeds
have certainly gone up a good deal of late on some counts. And it is
quite likely, too, that concentration on the manufacture of coarse goods
for export, with stout warps to keep down the breakages and raise the
output per loom, may be reckoned as one cause.

Despite the recent sensational growth in the South, the New England
States still remain the most prominent seat of the American cotton
industry. They contained in 1905 about 14 million spindles as compared
with 7.7 millions in the South and West, and their relative possession
of looms approaches, though it does not quite reach, the same
proportion. The leading States in the South in order of importance are
South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia and Alabama, and in the North,
first Massachusetts with an enormous lead, then, in order, Rhode Island,
New Hampshire, Connecticut, Maine, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey.
The bulk of the cotton industry in the North is contained within a small
area. A circle around Providence, Rhode Island, of 30 m. radius
includes, according to the twelfth census, nearly 7¼ million
spindles,--there were only 58,500 spindles in this area in 1809. Of the
chief towns Fall River stood first in 1900 in value output, and was
followed in order by Philadelphia, New Bedford, Lowell, Manchester and
Pawtucket. The climate of Fall River is very similar to that of English
spinning districts. Its population in 1900 was 105,000, and of these
only 14,600 were of American parentage. Of the remainder, 16,700 were
English, 17,800 Irish, 29,600 French Canadians and about 5000
Portuguese. Among the rest of foreign parentage, Armenians, Russians and
Italians are numerous. But Massachusetts is famous for the number of
immigrants it attracts. It is almost incredible, but nevertheless a fact
according to a recent statistical report, that in 1903 as many as 91% of
the cotton operatives of the State were of foreign descent--chiefly
French Canadian and Irish. In 1902 there were nearly 90 mills at Fall
River with 3,000,000 spindles and 16,000 looms. The spindles amount to
about one-third of all in Massachusetts, but Fall River's share of the
looms of the State is not large. The spindles exceed in number those
possessed by any State except of course the one in which it is placed.
In comparison with a great spinning town in England, nevertheless, Fall
River does not appeal strongly to the English imagination. It has little
over a quarter of the spindles of Oldham, or three-fifths of those of
Bolton,--among English towns it would stand third, i.e. between Bolton
and Manchester and Salford, which, in spite of the movement of spinning
to the hills, still holds in England a leading place. The whole of
Massachusetts, it is of interest to observe, has fewer spindles than
Oldham, and only about half those of Oldham and Bolton together.
Originally it was the river which attracted the mills to Fall River, and
as the water-power available was almost inexhaustible, it was possible
for the mills to congregate together and for a town to grow up. In
England, when much of the industry was dependent for power upon water,
decentralization was entailed, for the thin streams of Lancashire could
not support more than two or three mills at most in proximity. Hence in
England, after Watt's steam-engine had succeeded, the economies of
centralization led eventually to the desertion of the mills on the
water-courses. But at Fall River the perfecting of the application of
steam-power merely involved its use to supplement the water-power on the
old site. The presence of water-power explains half the success of New
England. In the six States 35% of all the power used is derived from
water, and in the cotton-manufacturing of these States water provides
32.6% of the power. For industrial purposes generally the river most
exploited is the Merrimac, upon which stand the leading cotton towns of
Lowell, Lawrence and Manchester. Hitherto little has been done in the
way of using water to generate electric power.[52]

The two most striking features of the American industry to-day are the
introduction of the automatic looms, already briefly referred to, and
the development of the South. The Northrop Loom Company has spent a
fortune in pushing its loom on to the market. It has not hesitated to
share risks, and it has run one "advertisement" mill at least, namely
that at Burlington, Vermont, with 55,000 spindles and nearly 1300 looms.
In this mill the labour-saving is shown by the following figures, the
looms being of two sizes, 32 in. and 44 in. Of the former, 3 weavers run
18 each, 39 tend 16 each, only a few odd weavers tend less than 16, and
learners even are at work on 8 to 11 each; on the latter, of 29 weavers
17 mind 16 looms each and 12 mind 12 (on stripped fabrics).[53] Of
course a high level of efficiency would be expected in this show mill.
That American employers have readily been converted to a belief in the
economy of the new machinery we are not astonished to learn in view of
the American temperament, the intensity of competition among business
leaders, and the prevailing spirit of adventure. Thousands of workable
old looms have been scrapped, and probably at the present time there are
100,000 automatic looms running in the United States. No other country
can point to a rate of substitution which approaches that in the United
States. The causes, apart from the temperamental and social to which
reference has already been made, are probably (1) that there is
disagreement as to the present economy of automatic looms on many
fabrics,[54] (2) that Americans aim at frequency of renewal of plant,
and avoid making their machinery so durable as to prove ultimately,
perhaps, a handicapping inheritance, and (3) that a greater bulk of
American work is appropriate for the new looms than of English or
continental work. But automatic machinery is being used increasingly in
Lancashire.[55] And the operatives ultimately benefit. It is the
half-developed machine, to which labour must actually be linked as an
essential part, which is responsible for monotonous work and creates the
dislike of mechanical aids.

Now we turn to the recent development of the Southern States. Never has
an industry grown faster than that of the two Carolinas, Georgia and
Alabama. Some of the earliest experiments with the machine industry were
conducted in South Carolina, but from that time till the end of the 19th
century nobody imagined the possibility of a great Southern expansion.
In 1880 the South contained less than half a million spindles--i.e.
about as many as Hyde, Middleton or Chorley, and one-twenty-third of the
numbers in Oldham. Twenty years later they had increased twelvefold and
the Southern States, in respect of the number of spindles, had taken
precedence of Bolton. To-day probably about eight and a half millions
might be counted. In addition there are some two hundred thousand looms,
or nearly as many as in the three leading cotton-weaving towns of
England--Burnley, Blackburn and Preston. The rapid oncoming of the South
may also be traced by its consumption of cotton--which as an index,
however, is not perfect. This on an annual average was, in thousand
bales, 164, 269, 453, 717 and 1233 in each of the periods 1876-1880,
1881-1885, 1886-1889, 1891-1895 and 1895-1900 successively. The
consumption since then, as compared with that of the Northern States,
Great Britain and the European continent, has been as follows. It must
be remembered that the consumption per spindle varies greatly from place
to place.

  _Consumption of Cotton in Thousand Bales of about 500 lb. each._

  +-----------+----------+----------+---------+----------+---------+
  |           | Southern | Northern | Total   |  Great   |         |
  |           |  States. |  States. | United  | Britain. | Europe. |
  |           |          |          | States. |          |         |
  +-----------+----------+----------+---------+----------+---------+
  | 1900-1901 |   1583   |   1963   |  3546   |   3269   |  4576   |
  | 1901-1902 |   2017   |   2066   |  4083   |   3253   |  4836   |
  | 1902-1903 |   1958   |   1866   |  3824   |   3185   |  5148   |
  | 1903-1904 |   1889   |   2046   |  3935   |   3017   |  5148   |
  | 1904-1905 |   2270   |   2292   |  4562   |   3620   |  5148   |
  +-----------+----------+----------+---------+----------+---------+

The densest distribution of mills in the South is along the line of the
Southern railroad, in the district known as the Piedmont. Of this group
Charlotte in North Carolina is the natural centre: roughly, half the
spindles and half the looms in the Southern States would be included
within a circle around Charlotte of a radius of about 100 m. Of the
remainder a large proportion is scattered over a wide area.

Much interest has been excited by this newly created Lancashire of a new
type, and much speculation as to the causes that account for it has been
elicited. An informal commission of Lancashire spinners and
manufacturers crossed the Atlantic to make inquiries in 1902 and
investigations have been undertaken by other persons[56], and much has
been written on the subject. A general explanation can now be framed
without much difficulty, as in all probability most of the relevant
facts have been brought to light. First and foremost the general
development of the cotton industry in the United States must be
emphasized. The industry was unquestionably foredoomed to expansion at
this time, and the only question was where the expansion should take
place. It was plain that the growth might be so great as to present the
appearance of a new industry created with new labour rather than an
extension of an old industry. It was not altogether surprising,
therefore, that the exploitation of a new field of labour was thought
of. The labour market of the North was comparatively exhausted; in less
developed parts of the country larger supplies of intrinsically good
labour might be looked for at lower wages. Skill was not a matter of
much moment, because in the North it would have been necessary to
incorporate much labour without previous experience in the industry, the
work was intended to be of the rough kind upon which manual skill is
least important, and it was intended to repose reliance for economy upon
machinery in the main. The choice of new fields meant at the outset the
sacrifice of some of the economies of localization, but so large an
expansion was looked for that projectors did not despair of creating
fresh industrial localization of sufficient magnitude to produce such
economies as are derived from it, which, it must be observed, are
inconsiderable in America, and have declined relatively with falling
cost of transport and the adoption, as regards machinery, of the
principle of interchangeable parts. And at any rate a new local industry
would have a slight advantage in supplying markets in proximity to it.

These were the main general considerations, and the scale was turned in
favour of the new locality (a) by the advantage of nearer supplies of
cotton, and (b) by the known presence of much half-occupied white labour
in the vicinity of otherwise suitable sites close to the cotton-fields.
It must be borne in mind that the whole calculation had not to be reared
merely upon an intangible theoretical basis. Cotton mills already
existed in the South, and comparisons of costs of production, as things
were then, afforded some groundwork for judgment.

As regards the first of the two special advantages mentioned above, the
saving in the cost of carriage of the raw material is not commonly held
to be high. Transport to the cotton ports is so well organized and
sea-carriage is so cheap that Lancashire's distance from the source of
her raw material is not a very appreciable handicap. A good deal of the
cotton that must be used in some of the Southern mills cannot be
supplied locally because it is not grown in the neighbourhood, and the
requirements of these mills are met by transport arrangements which at
present cost a sum not altogether out of relation to similar costs in
the New England States and Lancashire. The percentages of freight
charges on raw material in 1900 were $2.18 in Georgia, $1.59 in North
Carolina, $1.17 in South Carolina, and the amazingly low figure of $1.20
in Massachusetts, but of course some part of the explanation is the
somewhat higher quality of cotton on an average that is worked up in
Massachusetts. For some years, however, the saving in labour has been a
most important economy. Large supplies of half-occupied white labour
existed in the Southern States among the families of small farmers who
flocked South after the Civil War, and in the districts of the decayed
hand industry in the mountains of Kentucky and North Carolina. For small
money wages much of this labour could be attracted to the mills. Negroes
do not work in the mills; the reason is said to be partly their own
disinclination and partly that they are not very efficient at factory
work. As outside labourers, however, they have afforded important aid at
a very trifling cost, but the expense of outside labour to a mill is
never an item of much weight. The halcyon days to employers, when keen
workers could be had for low wages, are now said to be past. The demand
for labour was considerable, and as time went on additional supplies
could be enticed only with the offer of better pay. In 1904 it was
reported that some mills were unable to get fully to work for want of
hands even at the improved rates. Again the Southern operatives have
been visited by emissaries from the operatives of the New England
States, which explains partly the present aspect of the wages question.
Mr Pidgin, in his official report to the Massachusetts Bureau of Labour
Statistics, questions whether a saving in wages can be expected to
continue, and points out that though wages have been low the average
efficiency of the operatives has not been high. Some, indeed, were sent
to gain experience in Northern mills in the hopes that on their return
they would spread the tradition of working at high pressure. Mr Pidgin
is at some pains to measure labour efficiency in the South and North as
far as it is possible to do so, but no simple sets of figures will prove
very much. The value of the product per operative in 1900 was $1200 in
Massachusetts, $1010 in Georgia, $937 in North Carolina and $984 in
South Carolina, but the value of the product per operative depends as
much upon the fixed capital charge per operative as upon the latter's
efficiency. And the amount of machinery used per head is higher in the
South than in the North. The percentage of operatives to machinery in
Massachusetts being expressed as 100, that of Georgia was 53, that of
North Carolina 43 and that of South Carolina 55 in 1900. These figures
must be borne in mind when the average numbers employed in a mill in
different States are being considered: in 1900 the averages were 565 for
Massachusetts, 273 for Georgia, 171 for North Carolina and 378 for South
Carolina. Measured by quantity of machinery the sizes of mills would
stand in quite different relations. Hours of work in the South are bound
to fall and the abuse of child labour, which had unquestionably crept
in, may be expected to discontinue entirely. The factory conditions of
children are better now than they were, but in some places they are
still very bad. In Georgia no children under twelve are employed, but
infants without fathers may begin work at ten years of age, and
according to Mr Pidgin's report, "it certainly seemed as though the
intention was honoured more in the breach than in the observance, or
that there must be many widows in the neighbourhood of the cotton
mills." In North and South Carolina the employment of children under
twelve is illegal, but in these States also conditions are recognized
under which it is possible to employ them earlier. According to figures
relating to 1900 the dependence on child labour in the Southern States
is very striking. The proportions engaged at different ages in the three
chief cotton-manufacturing Southern States and Massachusetts are as
follows:

  +------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
  |                  |   Men,    |  Women,   | Children  |
  |                  | 16 Years  | 16 Years  | under 16. |
  |                  | and over. | and over. |           |
  +------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
  | Massachusetts    |   48.98   |   44.59   |    6.43   |
  | Georgia          |   39.98   |   35.52   |   24.50   |
  | North Carolina   |   42.22   |   34.23   |   23.55   |
  | South Carolina   |   44.43   |   28.72   |   26.85   |
  +------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+

It might be said that children are more useful when the work is rough,
but this argument can hardly be regarded as accounting altogether for
the great discrepancy as between Massachusetts and the South. The work
is much rougher in the South: in 1900 the counts spun respectively in
Massachusetts, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina were 25.10,
14.37, 18.83, and 19.04, and on the showing of the American census of
1900 spinning was getting finer over the last decade of the 19th
century.

As contributory to the influences already recorded as accounting for
Southern success it has been hinted that in the North employers have
been less ready to welcome the new machinery, though in comparison with
European rivals they would seem at first to have acted rashly. However
this may be, the South enjoyed the important advantage that its industry
began just after a great technical advance had been made. When Northern
mill-owners were anxiously deliberating about the destruction of good
machinery merely because it was antiquated in design, the fortunate
Southern mill-proprietor was getting to work with appliances up to date
in every particular. It will be easier to balance comparative advantages
as between North and South when undertakers in the newer district are
confronted by problems concerning replacements and alterations. The
rapidity of Southern growth need not astonish those who have watched the
operations by which new mills are frequently set up in Lancashire and
remember that the American business man is more daring than his British
cousin. Company promotion in the great financial centres, payment for
machinery and other plant in shares, or partially in shares, a general
diffusion of risks and pledging of credit, would explain even more rapid
growth of industries of even greater magnitude.


  Character of the American Industry.

Broad generalizations are difficult to frame, hard to establish and
liable to be misleading; some generalizations relating to the features
of the American cotton industry taken as a whole the author is tempted
to venture nevertheless. The characteristics of labour have already been
incidentally commented upon. We have also noticed that the bulk of the
work done is of a rough and simple character. In spite of American
nationalism and the prevalence of protective sentiments it is said that
there is still a prejudice in the United States against home-made fine
cotton goods.[57] "The product of the American system is a cloth which
is, on the whole, distinctly inferior in appearance, 'feel' and finish
to that produced by the Lancashire system. To equal a Lancashire cloth
in these respects an American cloth must not only be made of better
cotton, but must contain more of it--perhaps 5% more. To this rule of
inferiority there are, it is needless to say, exceptions, notably some
of the American drills made for the China market. But the American home
market, which absorbs nearly the whole of the product of American looms,
is less exacting in these matters than the markets in which Lancashire
cloths are sold."[58] It follows that the average counts spun in the
United States are lower than in England, though they have been rising
somewhat. Another feature of American spinning as compared with English
is the high proportion of ring-frames to mules. In New England between
1890 and 1900 mule-spindles advanced by 100,000 and ring-spindles by
nearly 2,000,000: in the South mule-spindles increased only from 108,500
to 180,500, while to the ring-frames 2,700,000 were added. To the
general rule Rhode Island is the sole exception; here mule-spindles have
increased and ring-spindles decreased; but in Rhode Island much of the
fine spinning--for instance that for hosiery--is congregated.[59] One
explanation of the preponderance of ring-spinning is to be found in the
character of American fabrics. Again most of the operatives are not of a
kind likely to acquire great excellence at mule-spinning. To the
Americans we largely owe the ring-frame, because their encouragement
helped it through the difficult period when its defects were serious,
though it appears to have been discovered independently in both
countries.

American organization display intense specialism, but of a type
different from that in England, where businesses are specialized by
processes; in America they are specialized by products but hardly at all
by processes. Independent spinning, independent manufacturing,
independent bleaching, dyeing and finishing are the significant features
of English industry to the bird's-eye view; in the United States the
typical firm will spin, make up its own yarn, and perhaps complete its
fabrics for the market; but the mills, it must be remembered, are
intensely specialized as to the range of their product, so that the
statement that American mills are less specialized than English mills
must be received with caution. For some reasons we should expect to
find the American method applied even in England for fabrics of the
highest qualities, because in their case the adaptation of the yarn to
the fabric, and finishing to the fabric, are of great importance, and
actually where the American plan is followed in England the explanation
is frequently the speciality of the product which is associated with the
particular firm producing it. When a firm manufactures a speciality of
this kind it cannot always trust bought yarn, or the finishing applied
to fabrics in the ton. But for other reasons specialized processes might
be looked for where qualities were highest, as by specialism alone can
the greatest excellence be attained. The final selection of method
depends upon the relative importance for high qualities in the finished
product of the connectedness of processes and the perfection of parts;
and to these considerations must be added cost of transport between the
works devoted to distinct processes, and the development of the
commercial functions by which specialized process businesses are kept
functioning as a whole. Probably it is the high development of British
industry on the commercial side which chiefly explains the arrangements
found in England. Attention should also be directed to the huge
magnitude of American businesses. This is partly a consequence of
American ambition in business, and partly a consequence of the
undeveloped commercial ligaments by which producing businesses are
brought into union. American producers in both North and South are too
widely scattered for one town, like Manchester in the English cotton
district, to be visited frequently by them for the purpose of making
purchases and effecting sales. Even if the Americans did possess a
convenient commercial centre, the high cost of transport between works
distributed over a very wide area would prevent much specialism of
businesses by processes from appearing. Writing capital letters for
industrial processes and small letters and Greek letters for commercial
functions, the possible arrangements in the cotton industry may be
represented broadly as follows, brackets indicating the scope of
businesses:[60]

    I. (a, A, B, C, d).
   II. (a)(A, B, C)(d).
  III. (aA[alpha])(bB[beta])(cC[gamma]).
   IV. (a)(A)([alpha], b)(B)([beta], c)(C)([gamma]).

The American industry approximates to the first type, while the English
approximates rather to the last. Differences in respect of specialism by
range of product are not shown in the formulae.

  _Other Parts of America._--Little need be said of the cotton industry
  in other parts of the New World. In Canada in 1909 there were,
  approximately, 855,000 Spindles, and in Mexico in 1906, where the
  first factory was established in 1834, 450,000 Spindles. In Brazil
  also there is an appreciable number of spindles, distributed (in 1895)
  among 134 factories, which are located chiefly in Rio de Janeiro and
  Minas Geraes, and are run for the most part by turbines and
  water-wheels.

  _Germany._--In Germany the cotton industry is by no means so intensely
  localized as in England, but three large districts may be
  distinguished:--

  1. The north-west district, which consists of the Rhine Province and
  Westphalia and contained 1¾ million spindles in 1901.

  2. The country north of the mountain ranges of northern Bohemia
  comprises the middle district, which contained 2½ million spindles in
  1901. In Saxony the industry has been carried on for four centuries.

  3. Alsace, Baden, Württemberg and Bavarian Swabia make up the
  south-west district, to which some 3½ million spindles were assigned.
  It is in close proximity to the cotton districts of east France,
  Switzerland and Vorarlberg.

  According to Oppel (1902) the German spinning industry is chiefly
  localized in--

    Prussia with 2020 thousand spindles
    Saxony    "  1870     "       "
    Alsace    "  1600     "       "
    Bavaria   "  1390     "       "

  The spindles of Württemberg, which stands next, do not much exceed
  half a million. Only sixteen places in Germany (shown in tabular form
  on p. 169) contained as many as 100,000 spindles in 1901.

    +------------------+-------------+---------------+-------------+
    |                  | Spindles in |               | Spindles in |
    |                  |  Thousands. |               |  Thousands. |
    +------------------+-------------+---------------+-------------+
    | Mülhausen        |     471     | Chemnitz      |     195     |
    | Augsburg         |     373     | Gebweiler     |     187     |
    | Gronau           |     274     | Leipzig       |     182     |
    | Werdau           |     249     | Crimmitzschau |     168     |
    | Rheydt           |     248     | Logelbach     |     141     |
    | München-Gladbach |     216     | Bocholt       |     128     |
    | Rheine           |     198     | Bamberg       |     125     |
    | Hof              |     196     | Bayreuth      |     100     |
    +------------------+-------------+---------------+-------------+

  The history of the hand industry in Germany runs back some centuries.
  At the time when it flourished in the Netherlands we may be sure that
  it was prosecuted to some extent farther north and east. The start
  with the machine industry was not long delayed after its economies
  had been learnt in England. It was fostered by protection against the
  cheap products of Lancashire, and in the course of time stimulated by
  every step taken towards the economic unity of the German States which
  broke down local barriers and therefore enlarged the German market.
  Duties upon cotton goods, however, were not immoderately high until
  the measure of 1879, the policy of which was carried to a further
  stage in 1885. Slight reactions were brought about in 1888 and 1891,
  largely by the complaints, not only of the consumers of finished
  goods, but also of manufacturers whose costs of production were kept
  up by the high prices of home-spun yarns and the tax on imported
  substitutes. According to the investigations made by the Board of
  Trade, the general ad valorem impact of German duties on British goods
  stood somewhat as follows in 1902:--

  _Statement showing the Average Incidence_ (ad valorem) _of the Import
  Duties levied by Germany on British Cotton Goods._

    +-------------------------+-----------------+--------------+--------------+
    |                         |Average Value of |              | Approximate  |
    |                         |Exports from the | Rate of Duty |  Equivalent  |
    |                         |United Kingdom to|  estimated   | Rate of Duty |
    |                         | all Countries   | Equivalent.  | _ad valorem_.|
    |                         |    in 1902.     |              |              |
    +-------------------------+-----------------+--------------+--------------+
    |Cotton manufactures--    |                 |              |   Per Cent.  |
    |  Piece goods, unbleached|  2.01d. per yd. |0.87d. per yd.|      43      |
    |    "     "    bleached  |  2.46d.    "    |1.09d.    "   |      44      |
    |    "     "    printed   |  2.68d.    "    |1.31d.    "   |      49      |
    |    "     "    dyed, &c. |  3.46d.    "    |1.31d.    "   |      38      |
    |Cotton thread for sewing | 26.89d. per lb. |3.81d. per lb.|      15      |
    |Cotton yarn--            |                 |              |              |
    |  Grey                   | 10.49d.    "    |0.98d.    "   |       9      |
    |  Bleached or dyed       | 11.23d.    "    |1.63d.    "   |      15      |
    +-------------------------+-----------------+--------------+--------------+

  The duties are not prohibitive--they are much less than those of the
  United States at the same time--but they are heavy on the classes of
  goods which come into competition with home-made goods. The general
  principle of the tariff is to treat easiest commodities which are made
  with least success at home, or are in the highest degree raw material
  for a home manufacture. Therefore yarns are not taxed very heavily,
  and of these the finest counts escape with slight discouragement.

  In the cotton industry, as well as in numerous other industries of
  Germany, almost feverish activity was shown after the Franco-German
  War. Previously great advance had been made, but it was not until the
  last quarter of the 19th century that Germany forced herself into the
  first rank. As measured by the annual consumption of cotton the German
  industry increased as follows:--

    _Metric Tons of Cotton per Annum._

                         (In Thousands.)
    1836-1840                    9
    1856-1860                   46
    1876-1880                  124
    1886-1890                  201
    1899-1903                  324

  It must be remembered that the spindles and looms of Alsace and
  Lorraine were reckoned as German after the war: they amounted in 1895
  to one and a half million spindles and nearly forty thousand looms.

  In the 'seventies there was no dispute as to England's substantial
  lead in respect of efficiency. Alexander Redgrave, the chief factory
  inspector, made inquiries on the continent both in 1873, when
  Lancashire was anxious as to the comparative cost of production abroad
  because of the short-time bill then before parliament, and previously,
  and reported most unfavourably upon the state of the industry in
  Germany. Hours were long, the skill of the hands was inferior, speeds
  were low and time was wasted. In several important respects his views
  were corroborated by M. Taine in his _Notes on England_, and by the
  evidence adduced before the German commission upon the cotton and
  linen industries in 1878. A marked contrast is noticeable between the
  sketches drawn of this period and the careful picture presented by
  Professor Schulze-Gaevernitz of the early "'nineties," but even in the
  latter the advantage of England is represented as substantial in every
  essential respect. The gap which existed has narrowed, but it is
  still unmistakable. To give one example, according to Dr Huber's
  figures there were in Saxony at the end of the 19th century 106
  spindles to an operative and about as many weavers as looms, whereas
  in England there were about twice as many spindles to an operative and
  twice as many looms as persons engaged in weaving sheds.[61] As
  regards manufacturing, the character of the product may partly explain
  the difference, but it will not entirely. The reader need hardly be
  warned that the comparison drawn is exceedingly rough. German cotton
  operatives taken all round are certainly less efficient than English
  labour of the same kind. The reason is partly that the proportion of
  the German workpeople who have been for long specialized to the
  industry, and look forward to continuing in it all their lives, is not
  high. Complaint is constantly made of the number of vacancies created
  in the mills each year by operatives leaving, and of the impossibility
  of filling them with experienced hands. Many of the vacancies are
  caused by the return of workpeople to the country parts. Sometimes the
  mills are in the country, or within easy reach of it, and labour is
  obtained from the unoccupied members of peasants' families. In these
  cases the factories do not always succeed in attracting the most
  capable people, and work in the factory is not infrequently looked
  upon as a makeshift to supplement a family's earnings. Among
  Lancashire operatives far more pride of occupation may be met with. In
  many of the industrial parts of Germany English conditions are
  evolving, but they are not generally the rule. An American consul may
  be taken to report to his own country without prejudice as to the
  rival merits of German and English conditions: one such wrote in
  1901:--"The task of educating labour up to a high degree of efficiency
  is difficult, and many generations are necessary to achieve that
  result. The English cotton spinners have attained such a degree of
  skill and intelligence that, for the most part, no supervision is
  necessary. In Germany the presence of a technical overseer is
  indispensable. Another advantage which England enjoys is the cheap
  price of machinery. Germany imports the major part of her machinery
  from England, and German wholesale dealers in these machines have not
  been able, by placing large orders, to overcome the difference caused
  by freight and tariff." Wages reflect the efficiencies of countries,
  not of course perfectly, but in some degree. They are much higher in
  Lancashire than in Germany, as is made evident by an article from the
  pen of Professor Hasbach in _Schmollers Jahrbuch_ (vol. ii., 1903).
  The author tries to show that Germany is not so far behind England
  industrially as is generally believed, and the contrast drawn by him,
  greatly to the advantage of Lancashire, is not likely to exaggerate
  the superiority of English conditions. It is calculated by Professor
  Hasbach that the daily wages of spinners are about 5/10 to 6/10 at
  Oldham, 6/6 at Bolton and 5/6 in Stalybridge and neighbouring places.
  With these he compares the 3.70 to 3.80 marks paid in the Rhine
  Province and Leipzig, and the 3 to 3.15 marks paid in the Vogtland,
  Bavaria and Alsace, and mentions an exceptionally high wage of 4-2/3
  marks, which was earned by an operative who worked a new and long
  doubling mule. The wage paid to the big piecer in England, Dr Hasbach
  goes on to show, is not much greater than that received by a good
  assistant in Germany. This comparison as it stands will probably give
  some readers an idea that English advantages are greater than they
  actually are, because it may be overlooked that the great difference
  between wages in the case of English and German spinners is not
  repeated among the piecers. Taking a spinner and his first assistant
  as the unit, we should have a joint average daily wage of about 8/6 in
  England and 6/6 in Germany. In the case of weavers, comparison of wages
  is more difficult to draw, but the advantage of England would seem to
  be but little less. However, in instituting a comparison between two
  countries, as regards the relative efficiency of labour in some
  industries, we should do well to remind ourselves that efficiency is a
  somewhat transitory thing, dependent upon education and experience as
  much as upon aptitude. In respect of the capacity of labour for the
  task required in the cotton industry, we could not (writing in 1907)
  make the statement that England leads significantly with the assurance
  with which we can assert her superiority in respect of present
  attainments. The cotton industry has not been prosecuted on a large
  scale in Germany so long as in England, and the Germans have not,
  therefore, had the same opportunity for developing their latent
  powers. But the thoughtfulness and carefulness of the German workman
  are beyond dispute, and these qualities will procure for him a leading
  place where work is not mechanical. Already in the cotton industry it
  is said that the operatives are displaying quite striking powers of
  undertaking a wide range of work and changing easily from one pattern
  to another. Hence German firms feel little hesitation in taking small
  orders on special designs; they do not experience any great difficulty
  in getting their factors accommodated to produce the required
  articles.

  Apart from the efficiency of labour, reasons exist for the lower real
  cost of production in England in the organization of the industry. The
  German industry is not only less localized, but, as we might perhaps
  infer from that circumstance, less specialized. A German factory will
  turn out scores of patterns where an English firm will confine itself
  to a few specialities. Time is wasted in accommodating machinery to
  changes and in accustoming the hands to new work. The German producer
  suffers from the undeveloped state of the market. In England
  specialized markets with specialized dealers have greatly assisted
  producers both in their buying and selling. A German manufacturer may
  have to find his customers as the English manufacturer need not; at
  least, so Professor Schulze-Gaevernitz has assured us, and conditions
  have not been wholly transformed since he made his careful analysis.
  He wrote:--"But especially disadvantageous is the decentralization in
  respect to the sale. Here also the German manufacturer stands under
  the same disadvantages with which the English had to struggle in the
  'thirties. The German manufacturer still seeks his customers through
  travellers and agents, and in many instances through retail sellers,
  whose financial standing is often questionable, whose necessity for
  credit is always certain. Hence the complaints about the bad
  conditions of payment in Germany which crop up continually in the
  _enquête_. The manufacturers had to wait three, four or six months,
  and even twelve months and longer for payment. In reality there
  existed 'termless terms,' a 'complete anarchy in the method of
  payment.' ... The manufacturer cannot be at the same time commission
  agent, banker, merchant and retail dealer; he needs sound customers
  capable of paying. He fares best if the sale is concentrated in one
  market, and 'change' prices simplify the struggle between buyer and
  seller. The search for customers, foreign as well as home, and the
  bearing of all possible risks of disposal, are in any case difficult
  enough to necessitate the whole strength of a man. The wholesale
  merchant alone is in a position to pay the manufacturer in cash or on
  sure, short terms. But especially where export is in question is the
  dispersal of sales an extreme impediment. The manufacturer cannot
  follow the fashions in Australia and South America; the foreign buyer
  cannot travel from mill to mill."

  It is the want of commercial development in Germany which accounts for
  the more frequent combination of weaving and spinning there than in
  England. But in Germany to-day economic enterprise is flourishing, and
  commercial development may confidently be looked for together with
  advance in other directions. It is not many years since the typical
  German cotton factory was comparatively primitive; now mills can be
  exhibited which might have been erected recently in Oldham. Between
  the early 'eighties and the 'nineties the expansion of the German
  industry was enormous--the imports of cotton-wool rose by nearly
  70%--yet the number of spinning-mills was actually reduced from 6750
  to 2450, while the number of weaving-sheds fell from 56,200 to 32,750.
  At the same time the factories devoted to mixed goods declined from
  25,200 to less than 16,350. From these figures we may gather how
  rapidly the average size of mills and weaving-sheds enlarged in the
  period. One cause, no doubt, was that improved economies in the new
  businesses forced antiquated factories to shut down and make way for
  still newer erections. There were recently about twice as many persons
  engaged in weaving as in spinning, but the largest numbers of
  all--slightly in excess of those in weaving-sheds--were the persons
  occupied in the manufacture of cotton-lace, trimmings, &c. As we might
  imagine, Germany's exports of cotton goods are not high. Including
  yarns they amounted to £13.7 million per annum in 1899-1903. In order
  of value their largest exports are (1) coloured goods, (2) hosiery,
  (3) lace and embroidery, (4) yarns, and (5) trimmings, &c.

  _France._--Into the industrial conditions of the two leading rivals of
  England we have entered in some detail; the state of affairs in the
  rest of the world must be dealt with more briefly. Of France more
  ought to be said than we can find place for, though in respect of the
  magnitude of her cotton industry, as measured by the quantity of
  spindles, she stands now not fourth, but fifth, Russia taking
  precedence. But the work of the French is incomparably superior to
  anything that is turned out from Russia. France suffered a severe blow
  when the industry of Alsace and Lorraine was lost to Germany, but the
  inexhaustible originality of French _design_ will always secure for
  her goods a place in the first rank. As regards _artistic_ results
  France leads, but the real cost of her spinning and weaving cannot
  approach in lowness that of Lancashire. After costly strikes the
  French workmen have succeeded in shortening their hours to ten and a
  half a day; and here it may be remarked that the International
  Association of Textile Operatives tends to equate continental
  industrial conditions to those of England. The French industry has
  been fostered by tariffs. When the Board of Trade calculation was
  made, French tariffs were found to bear upon British cotton goods with
  about the same severity as those of Germany, except that the former
  treated more hardly yarns and cotton thread for sewing. French
  protectionism has kept down her exports; such as they are the majority
  proceed now to her colonies. Normandy, the north and east, in order,
  are the chief seats of the industry. In Normandy the leading city is
  Rouen, and Darnétal, Maromme, Sotteville, Havre, Yvetot, Dieppe,
  Évreux, Gisors, Falaise and Flers are important places. The north
  contains the important towns of Lille, Tourcoing, Roubaix, St
  Quentin, Amiens and Hellemmes. The Vosges is the chief district of the
  east, and the leading towns are Epinal, St Dié, Remiremont, Senones,
  Val d'Ajol, Cornimont and La Bresse. The following towns which are not
  included in any of the districts mentioned above are also
  noteworthy:--Troyes, Nantes, Cholet, Laval, Tarare, Roanne, Thizy and
  Villefranche upon the Saône. Cotton arrives at Havre and Marseilles;
  at the latter chiefly the product of Egypt and the East. Havre used to
  be the most important cotton port in continental Europe, but to-day
  more spindles are fed from Bremen than from Havre. France's
  consumption of cotton annually in the period 1899-1903 was 215,000
  metric tons.

  _Russia._--Power-spinning was carried into Russia by Ludwig Knoop, who
  had learnt the trade in Manchester, and to his efforts its early
  success was due. The growth, largely the result of very heavy
  protectionism--according to the Board of Trade report, from 50 to more
  than 100% more severe than that of Germany,--has been rapid, as the
  following table bears witness:--

    _Average yearly Importation of Cotton wool and Yarn into Russia._

    +-----------+----------------+----------------+
    |           | Raw Cotton in  | Cotton Yarn in |
    |           | thousand tons. | thousand tons. |
    +-----------+----------------+----------------+
    | 1824-1826 |        .9      |       5.4      |
    | 1836-1838 |       4.6      |      10.1      |
    | 1842-1844 |       8.4      |       9.5      |
    | 1848-1850 |      21.4      |       4.5      |
    | 1889-1891 |     117.4      |       3.4      |
    | 1899-1903 |     180.0      |       2.9      |
    +-----------+----------------+----------------+


    _Table showing approximately the Growth of Spindles and Looms in
    Russia._

    +---------+---------------+----------------+
    |         |   Spindles.   |     Looms.     |
    +---------+---------------+----------------+
    |  1857   |   1,000,000   |                |
    |  1877   |               |     55,000     |
    |  1887   |   4,000,000   |     85,000     |
    |  1900   |   6,000,000   |    146,000     |
    |  1909   |   7,800,000   |                |
    +---------+---------------+----------------+


  The chief districts were the following in 1900:--

    +---------------+------------+-----------------+-----------------+
    |  Government.  | Factories. |      Spindles   |      Looms      |
    |               |            | (in thousands). | (in thousands). |
    +---------------+------------+-----------------+-----------------+
    | Moscow        |     56     |      1295       |       33        |
    | Vladimir      |     67     |      1224       |       42        |
    | Piotrkov      |     25     |       745       |       20        |
    | St Petersburg |     24     |      1074       |       11        |
    | Jaroslaw      |      4     |       347       |        2        |
    | Kostroma      |     25     |       274       |       20        |
    | Tver          |      6     |       348       |        9        |
    | Esthonia      |      1     |       440       |        2        |
    | Ryazan        |      4     |       146       |        3        |
    | Elsewhere     |     15     |       198       |        4        |
    |               +------------+-----------------+-----------------+
    |        Total  |    227     |      6091       |      146        |
    +---------------+------------+-----------------+-----------------+

  Fine spinning has been attempted only recently. Generally speaking
  70's used to be the upper limit, but now counts up to 140's are tried,
  though the bulk of the output is coarse yarn. The inefficiency of the
  labour was made abundantly plain by Dr Schulze-Gaevernitz in his
  economic study of Russia, and conditions have not greatly altered for
  the better since. Roughly, 170,000 operatives worked 6,000,000
  spindles in 1900, which means 35 spindles per head as compared with
  more than 100 in Saxony and more than 200 in England. In weaving the
  ratio of operatives to machinery worked out at about one loom to each
  weaver, which is comparatively much less unfavourable to Russia. The
  proportion in Saxony is about the same, but in England the average
  approaches two looms to a weaver. The speed of machinery cannot be
  compared, and we must remember that the above contrasts are rough
  only, and made without regard to differences of product. Russia is
  encouraging the growth of cotton at home. It is of very inferior
  quality, but 100,000 tons from the provinces of central Asia and
  Trans-Caucasia were used in 1900: her imports in the same year were
  about 170,000 tons.

  _Switzerland._--Swiss spindles advanced until the early "'seventies,"
  but a decline followed. Details are:--

    1830                      400,000
    1850                      950,000
    1876                    1,854,000
    1883                    1,809,000
    1898                    1,704,000
    1909 (estimated)        1,500,000

  The falling off is occasioned mainly by (a) the developing
  industrialism of the rest of Europe, notably Germany, and (b) the
  diminishing importance of the natural advantage of water-power with
  the improvement of steam-engines. Swiss yarns have been kept out of
  continental markets in the interests of home spinning. Now fancy
  cotton goods, laces and trimmings are the leading specialities of the
  Swiss textile workers. About half the Swiss spindles are in the canton
  of Zürich, between a quarter and a third in Glarus, about the same in
  St Gall and 9% in Aargau. Figures show that the average size of the
  Swiss mill is small. The average spindles to a mill were 22,000, and
  very few mills held more than 50,000 spindles. Some 9000 of the
  power-looms are in Zürich, some 4500 in Glarus and 4000 in St Gall.
  Wald in the south-east of the canton of Zürich is an important centre
  of the muslin manufacture.

  _Austria._--Austria contains about 4,200,000 spindles and more yarn is
  consumed than it produces, as on balance there is an excess of imports
  of yarn. Bohemia, lower Austria, Tirol and Vorarlberg account for the
  mass of Austrian spinning. The following details relating to these
  districts recently are of interest:--

    +-----------------------+--------+-----------+-----------+
    |                       |        |           |  Average  |
    |                       | Mills. | Spindles. |  spindles |
    |                       |        |           | to a mill.|
    +-----------------------+--------+-----------+-----------+
    | Bohemia               |   82   | 1,870,000 |   22,800  |
    | Lower Austria         |   23   |   460,000 |   20,000  |
    | Tirol and Vorarlberg  |   20   |   435,000 |   21,700  |
    +-----------------------+--------+-----------+-----------+

  Reichenberg and the surrounding district is the chief manufacturing
  place: here are more than 80,000 looms, nearly a half of which are
  hand-looms.

  _Italy._--Recent industrial growth in Italy is remarkable: statistics
  of spindles since 1870 are as follows, but the percentage of error is
  probably high:--

    1870               500,000
    1888               900,000
    1898             2,100,000
    1909             4,000,000

  The distribution of spindles is roughly as follows:--

    Lombardy         1,850,000
    Piedmont         1,000,000
    Venetia            550,000
    Campania           250,000
    Liguria            250,000
    Tuscany            100,000

  The distribution of spindles and power-looms in the chief
  manufacturing towns in Italy is shown in the following table:--

    +-------------+--------------++-------------+--------------+
    |             |   Spindles.  ||             |   Spindles.  |
    | Turin       |   470,000    || Genoa       |   210,000    |
    | Bergamo     |   450,000    || Salerno     |   150,000    |
    | Como        |   250,000    || Brescia     |   310,000    |
    | Milan       |   660,000    || Naples      |   100,000    |
    | Novara      |   410,000    || Udine       |   240,000    |
    +-------------+--------------++-------------+--------------+
    |             | Power-Looms. ||             | Power-Looms. |
    | Milan       |    40,000    || Pisa        |     2,500    |
    | Turin       |    22,000    || Como        |     6,000    |
    | Novara      |    13,000    || Bergamo     |    13,000    |
    | Genoa       |     6,000    || Udine       |     3,500    |
    +-------------+--------------++-------------+--------------+

  The district between Milan and Lago Maggiore contains numerous
  villages devoted to the cotton industry. Many of the factories in the
  province of Bergamo are situated in the Valle Seriana, which is
  endowed with abundant water-power. In this district coarse and medium
  yarns and grey cloth are the chief products. In the province of Milan
  there are several small towns, notably Gallarate, Busto Arsizio and
  Monza, in which the manufacture of coloured and fancy goods is
  extensively carried on. The finest spinning in Italy is done in Turin.
  The coarsest spinning is done in Venetia.

  _The Netherlands._--In 1805 the cotton industry was reintroduced into
  the Netherlands from England in its factory form. Seventeen mules
  bearing 16,000 spindles are said to have been smuggled across the
  channel, while forty Englishmen were enticed over to work them, in
  spite of English legal prohibitions. Liévin Bauwens was the prime
  mover of the achievement. Expansion rapidly followed, and in 1892
  Belgian spindles numbered nearly a million. Since then a decline has
  set in. Ghent, with about 600,000 spindles, is the only really
  important place: no other place has as many as 50,000. Holland
  possesses about 417,000 spindles: the leading district is Twente and
  the leading town Enschede; Twente contains also about 20,000
  power-looms. Rotterdam is the chief cotton port; Amsterdam, always a
  far-away second, has lost place still further of late.

  _Spain and Portugal._--The greatness of Spain in the cotton industry
  lies buried in the remote past, but of late she has awakened somewhat,
  with the result that her spindles now number about 1,853,000.
  Catalonia is the chief province where the industry is carried on, and
  Barcelona surpasses all other centres. Portugal possesses nearly half
  a million spindles (the bulk in Lisbon and Oporto), many of which have
  appeared since 1894.

  _The Rest of Europe_.--Of Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Greece and
  Macedonia no special mention need be made, nor of other parts where
  the cotton industry may just exist. It may be mentioned here that
  among the scattered rural populations of many parts of the continent,
  even in such advanced countries as France and Germany, hand-looms are
  still to be found in large numbers.

  _India_.--The hand-cotton-industry has been carried on in India since
  the earliest times, and for many years English fabrics were protected
  against the all-cottons of India. Soon after the introduction of
  spinning by rollers, English all-cottons began to rival the Indian in
  quality as well as in cost. A large export trade to India has grown
  up, but Indian hand-loom weavers still ply their craft. In 1851
  power-spinning was started, and by 1876 there were in India 1,000,000
  spindles. Since then they have nearly reached six millions and
  importations of yarn have been significantly affected. The growth of
  Indian power-spinning, which is almost entirely of the ring variety,
  was attributed by some to the depreciation of the rupee after 1873,
  but the fall in the value of the rupee was stopped in 1893 and the
  competition continued. The real explanation, no doubt, is that at the
  cost of Indian labour it is found cheaper to import machinery and coal
  than to export or cease to grow cotton and import yarn. This was the
  conclusion of the majority report of the committee of the Manchester
  Chamber of Commerce, which made an inquiry into Bombay and Lancashire
  spinning in 1888. Besides, as regards Indian exports to China, the
  remission in 1875 of the 3% export duty on yarns must be borne in
  mind. The efficiency of labour in India is only a small fraction of
  that of Lancashire operatives. Recently complaint has been made that
  Indian mills are being run inhumanely long hours with the same set of
  labour, and that child-labour is being abused, both legally and
  illegally--legally as regards children over fourteen who are classed
  as adults. The working of heavy hours began with the electric lighting
  of the mills; previously all shut down at sunset largely because of
  the cost of illumination. The outcry which has been raised is,
  perhaps, sufficient guarantee that the worst evils will be remedied.
  Indian spinning, it must be remembered, is still very coarse as a
  rule, though some fine work is attempted and the average of counts
  spun is rising. Though there are about a ninth as many spindles in
  India as in the United Kingdom, there are only about one-fifteenth as
  many power-looms, 46,400 in all, to which figure they rose between
  1891 and 1904 from 24,700. The reason for the paucity of power-looms
  is probably two-fold, (1) the low cost of production of Lancashire
  weavers, and (2) the habit of hand-loom weaving which is fixed in the
  Indian people. A rapid increase of power-looms is, however,
  observable. The hand-loom industry is gigantic, particularly in the
  Madras Presidency and the Central Provinces; in the latter district
  alone there were estimated to be 150,000 hand-looms in 1883. The
  following details relating to the Indian cotton industry are supplied
  officially:--

    _Cotton Mills in India, including Mills in Native States and French
      India_.

    +-----------------------------------+------------+------------+
    |               Mills.              | 1897-1898. | 1903-1904. |
    +-----------------------------------+------------+------------+
    |Mills (number)                     |      164   |      204   |
    |Capital (thousand £s)              |      648   |    1,067   |
    |Looms (number)                     |   36,946   |   46,421   |
    |Spindles (thousands)               |    4,219   |    5,213   |
    |Persons employed (daily average)   |  148,753   |  186,271   |
    |Yarn produced:--                   |            |            |
    |  Counts (1 to 20 thousand lb.)    |  400,384   |  474,509   |
    |  Counts (above "    "     ")      |   62,212   |  104,250   |
    |                                   +------------+------------+
    |                     Total lb.     |  462,596   |  578,759   |
    |                                   +------------+------------+
    |Yarn produced:--                   |            |            |
    |  Bombay (thousand lb.)            |  324,649   |  414,932   |
    |  Bengal   "       "               |   44,807   |   46,487   |
    |  Madras   "       "               |   32,516   |   28,714   |
    |  United Provinces (including      |            |            |
    |    Ajmere-Merwara)(thousand lb.)  |   26,747   |   29,930   |
    |  Central Provinces (thousand lb.) |   18,334   |   24,549   |
    |  Punjab      "         "      "   |    6,607   |   11,578   |
    |  Elsewhere   "         "      "   |    8,936   |   22,569   |
    |                                   +------------+------------+
    |                     Total lb.     |  462,596   |  578,759   |
    |                                   +------------+------------+
    |Woven Goods:--                     |            |            |
    |  Grey (thousand lb.)              |   83,136   |  111,494   |
    |  Others    "    "                 |    8,152   |   26,550   |
    |                                   +------------+------------+
    |                     Total lb.     |   91,288   |  138,044   |
    +-----------------------------------+------------+------------+

  _China_.--In China spinning has not met with the same success as
  India, and power-manufacturing has not yet obtained a sure footing.
  The ingrained conservatism of the Chinese temperament is no doubt a
  leading cause. Of the spindles in China--about 600,000 in all--from a
  half to three-fifths are in Shanghai. The following details relating
  to the inception of the power-industry are quoted from a Diplomatic
  and Consular Report of 1905:--

  "The initial experiment on modern lines was made in 1891, when a
  semi-official Chinese syndicate started at Shanghai--the Chinese
  Cotton Cloth Mill and the Chinese Cotton Spinning Company. Its
  originators claimed for themselves a quasi-monopoly, and prohibited
  outsiders who were not prepared to pay a fixed royalty for the
  privilege from engaging in similar undertakings. Although certain
  Chinese accepted this onerous condition, foreigners resented it as an
  undue interference with their treaty rights, and it was only when
  Japan, in 1895, after her war with China, inserted in the treaty of
  Shimonoseki an article providing for the freedom of Japanese subjects
  to engage in all kinds of manufacturing industries in the open ports
  of China, and permitting them to import machinery for such purposes,
  that outsiders were afforded an opportunity of exploiting the rich
  field for commercial development thereby thrown open. Accordingly, so
  soon as the Japanese treaty came into force no time was lost in
  turning this particular clause to account, and the erection of no less
  than 11 mills--Chinese and foreign--was taken in hand. At that time
  the pioneer mill, which was burnt to the ground in October 1893, but
  subsequently rebuilt, and other Chinese-owned mills were together
  working some 120,000 spindles and 850 looms."

  By 1905 the mills increased to 17, the spindles to 620,000 and the
  looms to 2250, but there is little inclination to expansion. Yarns for
  the hand-looms are obtained primarily from India and secondarily from
  Japan. The following are the recent figures relating to imported
  yarns:--

     _In million_ lb

    +--------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
    |              | 1898. | 1899. | 1900. | 1901. | 1902. | 1903. |
    +--------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
    |              |  lb.  |  lb.  |  lb.  |  lb.  |  lb.  |  lb.  |
    | British      |   9.1 |   7.8 |   4.1 |   7.0 |   4.3 |   2.2 |
    | Indian       | 186.7 | 254.2 | 131.5 | 228.9 | 251.6 | 250.8 |
    | Japanese     |  64.7 | 104.0 |  62.9 |  66.4 |  69.7 | 110.9 |
    | Hong-Kong    |       |       |       |    .7 |    .8 |   1.2 |
    | Tongkinese   |       |       |       |       |       |    .01|
    |              +-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
    |    Total     | 260.5 | 366.0 | 198.5 | 303.0 | 326.4 | 365.1 |
    +--------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+

  _Japan._--If in China the factory cotton industry reveals no prospects
  as yet of a great future, the same cannot be said of Japan.

  The chief centres of spinning with their outputs in value of yarn for
  a year at the beginning of the 20th century are stated beneath:

    +------------+------------++------------+------------+
    |            | Thousands. ||            | Thousands. |
    +------------+------------++------------+------------+
    |            |    £  s.   ||            |     £ s.   |
    | Osaka      |   1226.5   || Nara       |    111.5   |
    | Hyogo      |    495.5   || Hiroshima  |     91.3   |
    | Okayama    |    374.4   || Kyoto      |     82.2   |
    | Miye       |    238.1   || Wakayama   |     79.2   |
    | Tokyo      |    227.9   || Ehime      |     70.5   |
    | Aichi      |    224.3   || Kajawa     |     36.4   |
    | Fukuoka    |    168.1   ||            |            |
    +------------+------------++------------+------------+


  The following table gives other valuable information:--

    +---------+----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+----------+----------+---------+-------+------------+------------+
    |         |          | Average   |  Quantity |           | Average  | Average  |         |       | Average    |  Average   |
    |         |  Gross   |  Number   |   of Raw  |   Total   |  Number  | Number   | Annual  | Daily |  Daily     |   Daily    |
    |  Year   |  Amount  |    of     |    and    | Production| of Male  |of Female | Working |Working|   Wage     |  Wage of   |
    |         |of Capital| Spindles  |  Ginned   | of Cotton |Operatives|Operatives|  Days.  | Hours.|  of Male   |   Female   |
    |         | invested.|used daily.|  Cotton   |   Yarn.   |  daily   |  daily   |         |       |Operatives. |Operatives. |
    |         |          |           | demanded. |           | employed.| employed.|         |       |            |            |
    +---------+----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+----------+----------+---------+-------+------------+------------+
    |         |Thousand £| Thousands.|Million lb.|Million lb.|          |          |         |       |            |            |
    |1892-1894|   1123   |     420   |   112.9   |    97.9   |   6,916  |  21,695  |   290   |   22  |4d. to 4¼d. | 2d. to 2¼d.|
    |1900-1902|   3569   |    1209   |   335.3   |   288.0   |  13,373  |  50,271  |   312   |   19  |       7½d. | 4½d. to 5d.|
    |  1903   |   3441   |    1290   |   375.5   |   322.7   |  13,160  |  57,166  |   308   |   20  |7½d. to 8d. | 4½d. to 5d.|
    |  1904   |   3470   |    1306   |   332.1   |   285.9   |  10,967  |  52,115  |   309   |   20  |        8d. |         5d.|
    +---------+----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+----------+----------+---------+-------+------------+------------+

  With amazing adaptability the Japanese have assumed the methods of
  Western civilization as a whole. But hand-weaving more than holds its
  own, and power-weaving has as yet met with little success. The custom
  already mentioned as a cause of the continued triumph of the hand-loom
  in India and China is strong also in Japan, and the economy of the
  factory system is greater relatively in spinning than in
  manufacturing. In Japan it is ring-spinning which prevails: 95% of the
  spindles are on ring-frames. Ring-spinning entails less skill on the
  part of the operative, and ring-yarn is quite satisfactory for the
  sort of fabrics used most largely in the Far East. The counts produced
  are low as a rule. Generally mills run day and night with double
  shifts, and the system seems to pay, though night-work is found to be
  less economical than day-work there as elsewhere. More operatives are
  placed on a given quantity of machinery in Japan than in
  Lancashire--possibly more "labour" as well as more operatives, because
  labour as well as operatives may be cheaper. On the same work the
  output per spindle per hour is less in Japan than in England, even
  when day-shifts only are taken into account. Japanese work has been
  severely criticized, but the recency of the introduction of the cotton
  industry must not be forgotten.

  BIBLIOGRAPHY.--The literature relating to the cotton industry is
  enormous. The most complete bibliographies will be found in Chapman's
  _Lancashire Cotton Industry_ (where short descriptions of the several
  works included, which relate only to the United Kingdom, are given);
  Hammond's _Cotton Culture and Trade_; and Oppel's _Die Baumwolle_. The
  list of books set forth here must be select only.

  The development of the English industry can be traced through the
  following:--Aikin, _A Description of the Country from Thirty to Forty
  Miles round Manchester_ (1795); Andrew, _Fifty Years' Cotton Trade_
  (1887); Baines, _History of the Cotton Manufacture in Great Britain_
  (1835); Banks, _A Short Sketch of the Cotton Trade of Preston for the
  last Sixty-Seven Years_ (1888); Butterworth, _Historical Sketches of
  Oldham_ (1847 or 1848); Butterworth, _An Historical Account of the
  Towns of Ashton-under-Lyne, Stalybridge and Dukinfield_ (1842);
  Chapman, _The Lancashire Cotton Industry_ (1904); Cleland,
  _Description of the City of Glasgow_ (1840); _A Complete History of
  the Cotton Trade, &c._, by a person concerned in trade (1823);
  Ellison, _The Cotton Trade of Great Britain including a History of the
  Liverpool Cotton Market and of the Liverpool Cotton Brokers'
  Association_ (1886); Léon Faucher, _Études sur Angleterre_ (1845);
  French, _The Life and Times of Samuel Crompton_ (1859); Guest, _A
  Compendious History of the Cotton-manufacture, with a Disproval of the
  Claim of Sir Richard Arkwright to the Invention of its Ingenious
  Machinery_ (1823); Guest, _The British Cotton Manufacture and a Reply
  to the Article on Spinning Machinery, contained in a recent Number of
  the Edinburgh Review_ (1828); Helm, _Chapters in the History of the
  Manchester Chamber of Commerce_ (1902); Kennedy, _Miscellaneous Papers
  on Subjects connected with the Manufactures of Lancashire_ (1849);
  Ogden, _A Description of Manchester ... with a Succinct History of its
  former original Manufactories, and their Gradual Advancement to the
  Present State of Perfection at which they are arrived, by a Native of
  the Town_ (1783); Radcliffe, _Origin of the New System of Manufacture,
  commonly called "Power-Loom Weaving" and the Purposes for which this
  System was invented and brought into use, fully explained in a
  Narrative concerning William Radcliffe's Struggles through Life to
  remove the Cause which has brought this Country to its Present Crisis_
  (1828); Rees' _Cyclopaedia_, articles on Cotton (1808), Spinning
  (1816) and Weaving (1818); Ure, _The Cotton Manufacture of Great
  Britain, investigated and illustrated, with an Introductory View of
  its Comparative State in Foreign Countries_ (2 vols.); Ure, _The
  Philosophy of Manufacture; or An Exposition of the Scientific, Moral
  and Commercial Economy of the Factory System of Great Britain_ (1835);
  Watts, _Facts of the Cotton Famine_ (1866); Wheeler, _Manchester: its
  Political, Social and Commercial History, Ancient and Modern_ (1836).

  In addition there are many short papers in the Manchester public
  library. Much valuable information may be obtained from parliamentary
  papers; a list of relevant ones is printed as an appendix to Chapman's
  _Lancashire Cotton Industry_, but it is too lengthy to repeat here.
  The most important are the reports relating to the hand-loom weavers,
  those on the employment of children in factories (of which a list will
  be found in Hutching and Harrison's _History of the Factory
  Legislation_), and the state of trade and the annual reports of the
  factory inspectors. On labour questions there is a list of authorities
  in Chapman's _Lancashire Cotton Industry_ and also of parliamentary
  papers containing useful material. Printed copies of the "Wages Lists"
  are issued by the trade unions. The Factory Acts are dealt with in
  Hutchins and Harrison's _History_, mentioned above, as well as the
  literature relating to them; while the handbooks by Redgrave and by
  Abraham and Davies are specially useful.

  On the industry abroad the following are the fullest
  authorities:--Besso, _The Cotton Industry in Switzerland, Vorarlberg
  and Italy_ (1910) (a report made as a Gartside Scholar of the
  University of Manchester); Chapman's _Cotton Industry and Trade_
  (1905); Hammond, _The Cotton Industry_; Hasbach's article, "Zur
  Characteristik der englischen Industrie," in _Schmollers Jahrbuch_,
  vol. ii. (1903); Leconte, _Le Coton_; Lochmüller, _Zur Entwicklung der
  Baumwollindustrie in Deutschland_ (1906); Montgomery, _The Cotton
  Manufacture of the United States of America contrasted and compared
  with that of Great Britain_ (1840); Oppel, _Die Baumwolle_ (1902);
  Schulze-Gaevernitz, _Der Grossbetrieb: ein wirtschaftlicher und
  socialer Fortschritt: eine Studie auf dem Gebiete der
  Baumwollindustrie_ (1892; translated as _The Cotton Trade in England
  and on the Continent_); T. M. Young, _American Cotton Industry_
  (1902); Uttley, _Cotton Spinning and Manufacturing in the United
  States of North America_ (1905; a report of a tour as Gartside scholar
  of the university of Manchester); and the Gartside reports on the
  cotton industries of France and Germany by Forrester and Dehn
  respectively. Information will also be found in Diplomatic and
  Consular Reports, and fragments may be gathered from other books such
  as G. Drage's _Russian Affairs_, Dyer's _Dai Nippon_, and Huber's
  _Deutschland als Industriestaat_. Japan has published since 1901 a
  very full financial and economical annual, and the British government
  issues annually a good statistical abstract for India. The American
  census contains much detailed information, and there are, in addition
  to the statistics issued by the Federal government, those of
  Massachusetts, the Bureau of Statistics of which has also reported the
  results of an investigation into the industry in the Southern states.
  Among official matter the semi-official Bombay and Lancashire cotton
  spinning inquiry of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce may be
  included. The census of production of the United Kingdom must be
  mentioned, and the reports of the International Congresses of Cotton
  Spinners and Manufacturers. As to labour, see the reports of the
  International Textile Congresses.

  The periodical literature is of good quality and much of it is filed
  in the Patent Office library. We may notice particularly the _Cotton
  Factory Times_; _Textile Journal_; _Textile Manufacturer_; _Textile
  Mercury_; _Textile Recorder_; _Textile World Record_ (American); _Der
  Leipzige Monatsschrift für Textilindustrie_; and the French _Textile
  Journal_. Shepperson's _Cotton Facts_ is an annual which relates
  chiefly, though not entirely, to raw cotton, as does also _Cotton_,
  the periodical of the Manchester Cotton Association. For technical
  works we may refer here to the well-known treatises of Brooks, Guest,
  Marsden, Nasmith and Walmsley, and to Johannsen's ponderous
  two-volumed _Handbuch der Baumwollspinnerei, Rohweissweberei und
  Fabrikanlagen_.     (S. J. C.)


FOOTNOTES:

  [1] See the extract from the books of Bolton Abbey, given by Baines
    (p. 96) and dated 1298.

  [2] Vol. ii. p. 206; Baines, pp. 96-97.

  [3] Baines, pp. 93 and 94.

  [4] Lancashire and Cheshire Record Society, vol. ii.

  [5] _State Papers, Domestic_, lix. 5. See W. H. Price, _Quar. Jour.
    Econ._, vol. xx.

  [6] London Guildhall Library, vol. Beta, _Petitions and Parliamentary
    Matters_ (1620-1621), No. 16 (old No. 25).

  [7] The act referred to is 33 Henry VIII. c. xv., already mentioned.

  [8] Cunningham, _Growth of English Industry and Commerce_ (1903),
    vol. ii. p. 623.

  [9] Original edition, pp. 32, 33.

  [10] Aikin's _Description of the Country from Thirty to Forty Miles
    round Manchester_, p. 154.

  [11] _Tour_, vol. iii. p. 219.

  [12] For instance Radcliffe p. 61. Ogden (author of _A Description of
    Manchester_, &c., published in 1783), if Aikin's "accurate and
    well-informed enquirer" by Ogden, says that the period of rapid
    extension of the cotton industry began about 1770. See also
    Butterworth's _History of Oldham_ and the passage quoted below in the
    text.

  [13] Account of Society for Promotion of Industry in Lindsey (1789),
    Brit. Mus. 103, L. 56. Quoted from Cunningham's _English Industry and
    Commerce_, vol. ii. p. 452, n. ed., 1892.

  [14] In 1838 the only other county with more than 1000 was Gloucester
    with 1500. 217,000 of the 219,100 operatives in England and Wales
    were employed in the counties enumerated. Of the 2000 operatives
    whose location is not given, about 1000 worked in Flintshire.

  [15] W. Radcliffe's _Origin of the New System of Manufacturing_, p. 59.

  [16] The term "fustian" had originally been used to designate certain
    woollen or worsted goods made at Norwich and in Scotland. A reference
    to Norwich fustians of as early a date as the 14th century is quoted
    by Baines.

  [17] E. Butterworth's _History of Oldham_, p. 101.

  [18] _Parliamentary Reports, &c._ (1826-1827), v. p. 5. See for even
    later examples Gardner's evidence to the committee on hand-loom
    weavers in 1835.

  [19] This is illustrated in one of the plates to Guest's _History of
    the Cotton Manufacture_.

  [20] Chapman's _Lancashire Cotton Industry_, pp. 15 and 16.

  [21] Page 167.

  [22] Mrs Crompton, wife of Samuel Crompton, we are told, used to
    employ her son George shortly after he could walk, as a "dolly-peg"
    to tread the cotton in the soapy water in which it was placed for
    washing. See French's _Life of Crompton_, pp. 58-59 (3rd ed.).
    Rowbotham in his diary gives two accounts of fires which were caused
    by carelessness in drying cotton.

  [23] On the difference between the two machines see Baines's
    _History_, p. 138 et seq.

  [24] Baines p. 183.

  [25] Baines's _History of the Cotton Manufacture_, p. 86 n.

  [26] These figures are quoted from a pamphlet published in 1788
    entitled "An Important Crisis in the Calico and Muslin Manufactory in
    Great Britain explained." Many of the estimates given in this
    pamphlet are worthless, but there seems no reason why the figures
    quoted here should not be at least approximately correct.

  [27] See article on COTTON-SPINNING MACHINERY.

  [28] Hargreaves' claim to this invention has been disputed, but no
    satisfactory evidence has been brought forward to disprove his claim.
    Hargreaves was a carpenter and weaver of Stand-hill near Blackburn,
    and died in 1778.

  [29] See Chapman's _Lancashire Cotton Industry_, pp. 59 et seq.

  [30] See Baines p. 207.

  [31] "Counts" are determined by the number of hanks to the lb. A hank
    is 840 yds. The origin of the hank of 840 yds. is probably that
    spinners used a winding-reel of 1½ yds. in circumference, so that 80
    threads (one "lea" or "rap" according to old phraseology) would
    contain 120 yds., and seven leas (i.e. a hank) would contain 840 yds.
    A hank of seven leas was the common measure in the woollen industry,
    in which the reels were 1 yd. or 2 yds. in circumference. For details
    see an article on the subject in the _Textile World Record_, vol.
    xxxi. No. 1.

  [32] The author of the memoir of Crompton (see bibliography).

  [33] Specification 257.

  [34] For further analysis of the arguments current see Chapman's
    _Lancashire Cotton Industry_, pp. 66 et seq.

  [35] Also in the 17th century a John Barkstead was granted a patent
    for a method of manufacturing cotton goods, but the method is not
    described. 1691, Specification 276.

  [36] In the parliamentary reports (1840), xxiv. p. 611, the invention
    of the swivel-loom is claimed for a "Van Anson." It is a plausible
    supposition that by "Van Anson" is meant Vaucanson, as he appears to
    have improved the swivel-loom. But he could not have been the
    original inventor, since in 1724 (that is, when Vaucanson was at the
    most fifteen years of age) they were being employed in Manchester.

  [37] Aikin, pp. 175-176, and Guest, p. 44. An explanation of the
    mechanism of the swivel-loom will be found in the _Encyclopédie
    méthodique, manufactures, arts et métiers_, pt. i. vol. ii. pp. 202,
    208, and _Recueil de planches_, vol. vi. (1786), pp. 72-78.

  [38] Figures for the years above up to 1838 will be found in
    parliamentary reports (1840), xxiv. p. 611.

  [39] This is the manuscript diary of a weaver of Oldham roughly
    covering the period 1787 to 1830. It is now in the Oldham public
    library. Mr S. Andrew edited extracts from it in a series of articles
    in the _Standard_ (an Oldham paper), under the title _Annals of
    Oldham_, beginning January 1, 1887.

  [40] Printed in _British Industries_. Edited by W. J. Ashley.

  [41] This is explained in the article COTTON: _Marketing and Supply_.

  [42] See chapter on cotton in Bowley's _Wages in the United Kingdom_
    and table there given.

  [43] A detailed analysis of the whole labour question in the cotton
   industry will be found in Chapman's _Lancashire Cotton Industry_.

  [44] There are other permissible arrangements, namely from 7 to 7 and
    from 8 to 8, but they are not used in the textile trades of
    Lancashire.

  [45] The figures for looms are based upon a number of returns and
    estimates. Those for spindles are taken from the highly authoritative
    estimates of the International Federation of Master Cotton Spinners.

  [46] _Journal of Board of Trade_, April 28th, 1904.

  [47] The early history of the industry in the United States is
    summarized in one of the official bulletins of the state of
    Massachusetts, dated 1798. See W. R. Bagnall, _Textile Industries of
    the U. S._ (1893).

  [48] See also the official report of J. P. Harris-Gastrell in 1873.

  [49] Quoted by Schulze-Gaevernitz.

  [50] _Memorandum_ on British and foreign trade and industrial
    conditions.

  [51] The method of calculating these percentages is discussed in the
    blue-book mentioned.

  [52] Upon the above see Uttley's report.

  [53] The figures are those quoted by Mr T. M. Young and relate to the
    year 1902.

  [54] See e.g. some passages upon this point in Uttley's report.

  [55] For an account of the numerous types of automatic looms see the
    article on WEAVING: § Machinery.

  [56] Of which special mention may be made of Uttley's report as a
    Gartside scholar of the university of Manchester, already referred
    to, and Pidgin's report for the Massachusetts Bureau of Labour
    Statistics.

  [57] _Textile Recorder_, August 15th, 1905.

  [58] Young's _American Cotton Industry_, p. 13.

  [59] Uttley's report, p. 4.

  [60] Similar formulae have been used above, where a fuller
    explanation is given.

  [61] Deutschland als Industriestaat.



COTTON-SPINNING MACHINERY. The earliest inventors of spinning machinery
(see SPINNING) directed their energies chiefly to the improvement of the
final stage of the operation, but no sooner were these machines put to
practical use than it became apparent that success depended upon
mechanically conducting the operations preliminary to spinning. Later
inventors were, therefore, called upon not only to improve the
inventions of their predecessors, but to devise machinery for preparing
the fibres to be spun. Arkwright quickly perceived the importance of
this aspect of the problem, and he devoted even more energy to it than
to the invention with which his name is more intimately associated. But,
given a complete series of machines for preparing and spinning, the
cotton industry (see COTTON MANUFACTURE) must have remained
unprogressive without the co-operation of cotton growers, for by the
then existing methods of separating cotton lint from seed it would have
been impossible to provide an adequate supply of raw material. By
inventing the saw gin, Eli Whitney, an American, in the year 1792, did
for cotton planters what Paul, Arkwright, Crompton, Cartwright, Watt and
others did for textile manufacturers, for he provided them with the
means for increasing their output almost indefinitely.


PLATE I.

[Illustration: FIG. 10.--BLOWING ROOM.]

[Illustration: FIG. 11.--CARDING ROOM.]

(_From Photographs taken in a Manchester Fine Cotton-spinning Mill, by
R. Banks._)


Plate II.

[Illustration: FIG. 12.--JACK-FRAME ROOM.]

[Illustration: FIG. 13.--SPINNING-ROOM.]

(_From Photographs taken in a Manchester Fine Cotton-spinning Mill, by
R. Banks._)


  [Illustration: FIG. 1.]

  [Illustration: FIG. 2.]

  _Cotton-ginning_ is the process by which cotton seeds are separated
  from the adhering fibres. The most primitive machine employed in India
  and China for this purpose is the churka, which consists of two wooden
  rollers fixed in a frame and revolving in contact. Seed cotton is fed
  into these rollers and the fibres pass forward but the seeds remain
  behind. It is a device which does not injure the fibres, but no
  improvement has been found by which the churka can be converted into a
  sufficiently productive machine for modern requirements. In a modified
  form Whitney's saw gin is still used to clean a large portion of the
  annual crop of short and medium stapled cottons. It consists of from
  60 to 70 saws (A, fig. 1), which are mounted upon a shaft and revolve
  between the interstices of an iron grid (B); against this grid the
  seed cotton is held whilst the fibres are drawn through, the seeds
  being left behind. The operation is as follows:--seed cotton is fed
  into the hopper (C), and conveyed by a lattice (D) to a spiked roller
  (E), which regulates the supply to the hopper (F). Whilst in (F) the
  cotton is engaged by the teeth of the saws (A), and drawn through the
  grid (B), but the bars are too close to permit the seeds to pass. A
  brush (G) strips the cotton lint from the saws, after which it is
  drawn through a flue (H) to the surface of a perforated roller (I) by
  pneumatic action; it then passes between (I) and (J) out of the
  machine. The Macarthy gin is the only other type in extensive use; it
  is employed to clean both long and short stapled cottons. In this gin
  the fibres are drawn by a leather-covered roller (A, fig. 2) over the
  edge of a stationary blade (B) called a doctor, which is fixed
  tangential to the roller. Two cranks (E) move two other blades (C, D)
  up and down immediately behind, and parallel to, the fixed blade (B).
  The cotton is thrown into the hopper (F) and the fibres are drawn by
  the roller (A) until the seeds are against the edge of the doctor (B),
  when the beaters (C, D) strike them off, but permit the fibres to go
  forward with the roller. Attempts continue to be made so to improve
  both machines, that production may be increased, and labour charges,
  and the risks of injuring the fibres, reduced.

  [Illustration: FIG. 3.]

  _Baling._--As cotton leaves the gin, it is in some cases rolled, under
  compression, into cylindrical bales; but it is usually packed into
  rectangular bales, that vary in weight from 160 lb. to 750 lb., by
  steam or hydraulic presses. After pressing, the cotton is covered with
  coarse jute bagging, and the whole secured by iron bands. In this form
  it arrives at the spinning mills.

  In the mill treatment of cotton it soon became an established practice
  to divide the work into the following operations, namely (1) Mixing
  the fibres into a homogeneous mass; (2) removing impurities; (3)
  combing out entanglements in, and ranging the fibres in parallel
  lines; (4) simultaneous combination and attenuation of groups of
  parallel fibres; (5) completing the combination and attenuation, and
  twisting the fibres into a thread; (6) compounding, finishing and
  making-up of threads. These remain the essential conditions of
  cotton-spinning. The principal machines used to carry out the
  foregoing stages are: The bale breaker, opener and scutcher; the card
  and comber; the drawing, slubbing, intermediate and roving frames;
  ring and mule spinning; winding, doubling; clearing and gassing the
  reel, and bundling press, together with several auxiliary machines.
  All the operations included in this list are not necessarily employed
  in the production of all kinds of yarn; low counts require fewer, and
  high counts more processes.

  [Illustration: FIG. 4.]

  A _bale breaker_ is used to disentangle fibres which have been, by
  hydraulic or steam presses, converted into hard masses that resist
  manual efforts to disentangle them. It may consist of three pairs of
  spiked and one pair of fluted rollers. If so, the matted cotton is fed
  into the first pair, seized by the second pair, which have a higher
  surface velocity, and pulled, while the third pair reduce the whole to
  a more or less fluffy mass, and the fluted rollers deliver it upon a
  travelling lattice by which it is conveyed to, and deposited upon, the
  floor of the mixing room. Instead of rollers, a _hopper breaker_ may
  be used. In this machine the cotton is carried by a horizontal lattice
  into contact with a sloping spiked one, whose spikes tear away small
  tufts and deposit them upon a second lattice for removal to the mixing
  room. A stack of pulled cotton is formed by superposing thin layers
  from different bales, and when completed the cotton is drawn from top
  to bottom of the stack. By this means a thorough mixing of fibres is
  effected.

  _The Opener._--Mixed cotton may be thrown upon a lattice and conveyed
  to a spiked roller to be pulled, beaten, discharged into a trunk, and
  drawn by pneumatic force to the opener. Or it may be spread (fig. 3)
  upon a lattice (I), and carried between feed-rollers (E) to be
  subjected to the action of a beater (A) whose teeth first seize tufts
  of cotton and then fling them upon a grid (B), to be subsequently
  seized by other teeth and again flung off until dirt and other
  impurities pass between the grating. The beater may be cylindrical (as
  at A) or in the form of a truncated cone: in either event, from four
  to twelve rows of teeth project from its surface. It is from 18 in. to
  upwards of 36 in. in diameter, approximately 40 in. wide, and the
  largest cylindrical beaters make from 300 to 700 revolutions; whilst
  conical beaters make about 1000, and small ones make from 1000 to 1500
  revolutions per minute. The opened cotton is carried, in the direction
  indicated by the arrows, upon a strong blast of air which is generated
  by a fan (H), and this deposits it in patches upon the surfaces of two
  perforated zinc or wire cylinders (C), but dust and foreign particles
  pass through the interstices. As these cylinders revolve towards each
  other the cotton passes between them in the form of a sheet to a pair
  of feed-rollers (D), which may again deliver it to a beater with two
  or three blades; if so, from this beater the cotton is next borne on
  an air current to, and between, a second pair of perforated cylinders.
  In either event, the final cages (C, C) deliver the cotton to
  feed-rollers (D) and they pass it to calender-rollers (F), by which it
  is compressed into a sheet, and finally coiled into a lap (G). Various
  kinds of openers have been patented, all of which differ in some
  important respects; for example, a hopper feed may be substituted for
  the trunk or the lattice feed, in which event the cotton from the
  mixing room is conveyed mechanically upon lattices, and deposited in a
  hopper affixed to an opener. In this hopper a sloping spiked lattice
  elevates the cotton to an evening roller, whose office is to sweep
  back the surplus supply from the spikes, but allow the requisite
  quantity to pass forward to the beater. A regular supply of cotton to
  an opener is of great importance, and in order to insure it a table is
  often formed by substituting for the lower roller (E) a series of
  levers (A, fig. 4) all mounted upon a fulcrum (B), and having their
  free arms weighted by wedge-shaped pendents (C), that are separated by
  bowls (D). A fluted feed-roller (E) is fixed above this table and the
  cotton is led over the lever but beneath the roller. If the cotton is
  unequally distributed, thick places will press down the levers and
  thin ones will permit them to rise (as at A', E'). The rise of one
  pendent may be cancelled by the fall of another, but any balance of
  their movements is transmitted to a belt fork which governs a belt
  running upon a pair of inverted cones, and by this means the belt is
  traversed to and fro to drive the feed-roller (E) at a superior speed
  when the supply of cotton is insufficient, and at an inferior speed
  when the supply is excessive.

  [Illustration: FIG. 5.]

  _The Scutcher._--In many respects a scutcher resembles an opener; its
  function is to continue the cleaning and form laps of uniform weight
  and density for the carding engine. Occasionally the scutcher is the
  first cleaning machine, in which event cotton, in a loose fleece, is
  spread evenly upon a lattice. But in order to carry the combination of
  fibres one stage further, three or four opener laps are generally
  placed upon the feeder, so that, as the laps unroll, three or four
  sheets of cotton will be superposed, and in this form are passed by
  the lattice (F, fig. 4) and the feed-roller (E) to either one or two
  beaters, which are furnished with two or three blades. The beater (G)
  flings the cotton against the bars of a grid (H) to loosen, and cause
  the dirt to pass between the bars, after which the cotton is carried
  forward upon an air current, in the same manner as in an opener, and
  formed into a lap. In case two scutchers are required, the laps from
  the first are fed into the second, where they are similarly treated;
  in both machines the lever and pendent mechanism furnishes the means
  by which uniformity is attained. A beater may consist of a straight,
  smooth blade (as at G), or of a blade provided with stout teeth; in
  the latter event the operation resembles combing rather than beating.
  Two-bladed beaters revolve from 1200 to 1500 times per minute; those
  with three blades from 900 to 1000 times per minute.

  _Carding Engine._--The functions of a card (see CARDING) are: to place
  the fibres parallel; to remove remaining impurities and immature
  fibres; and to form mature fibres into a porous band, called a sliver.
  A carding engine consists of three cylinders which are covered with
  cards; the first, or taker-in (see fig. 5), is the smallest; the
  second and largest is the main cylinder; and the third is the doffer.
  If the main cylinder is surmounted with a series of small ones (as at
  A), the engine is called a roller and clearer card. If a series of
  fixed strips of card are placed above the main cylinder, the engine is
  known as a stationary flat card. But if the strips move forward (as at
  B), it is a revolving flat card. In a roller and clearer card the
  small cylinders (E) are also covered with cards, but their teeth are
  bent to oppose those on the main cylinder, and they revolve with a
  different velocity. The taker-in is covered with saw teeth cut in a
  strip of steel which is fixed in the surface of that cylinder; it
  receives the cotton (I) from a feed-roller (C) that turns above a
  smooth iron table (D) called the feed plate, and strikes out the
  heaviest particles of remaining dirt. In passing through the fringe of
  lap, the teeth comb the attached fibres but deliver the loose ones to
  the main cylinder. The latter carries them into contact with the teeth
  on the rollers (E), by whose lower surface velocity combing is again
  effected. Short fibres become fixed amongst the teeth of (A) and (E),
  but those lying crosswise are transferred from (A) to (E) and from (E)
  to the clearer, which again presents them to the cylinder.

  When long fibres are turned to point in the direction of rotation they
  advance upon the cylinder A to the doffer teeth, where the scattered
  fibres on the surface of A are collected into a light fleece. In this
  condition they are stripped by a vibrating comb (F), drawn together by
  a funnel, formed into a sliver, and deposited in a can (G). This
  machine is now chiefly used to card waste and low-class cotton. If
  such a card is made with two main cylinders, a connecting cylinder
  called a tummer collects the fibres from the first and passes them on
  to a second main cylinder, where they are again treated as already
  described. In a stationary flat card the teeth in the flats are bent
  to oppose those on the main cylinder, and by this means the fibres are
  combed and straightened. In a revolving flat card the flats (H) are
  formed into an endless chain, and they travel slowly in the same
  direction as the cylinder. In other respects both flat cards are
  similar to a roller and clearer card. Formerly double carding, namely,
  two passages of the fibres through separate cards, or one passage
  through a double card, was general, but single carding is now employed
  for most purposes.

  _Combing._--For counts from 60s upward, and for exceptionally good
  yarn of lower counts, from 14 to 20 cans from the carding engine are
  taken to a _sliver lap machine_ where the slivers are drawn alongside
  each other, passed between three pairs of drawing rollers and two
  pairs of calender rollers, and formed into laps that vary in width
  from 7½ in. to 12 in. This machine is provided with mechanical devices
  for stopping it on the failure of a sliver, and on the completion of a
  predetermined length of lap. When the sliver lap machine furnishes
  laps for the comber, the slivers are previously put through one head
  of drawing, namely, between four lines of drawing rollers, to
  straighten out the fibres. The more general practice is to pass sliver
  laps to a _ribbon lap machine_, at the back of which six laps are
  placed, end facing end, in one long line and simultaneously unrolled
  to feed each web between four pairs of drawing rollers. From the
  rollers the cotton passes in separate films over curved plates to a
  smooth table where one is superposed upon another, and in the combined
  state it is led between two pairs of calender rollers and formed into
  a lap from 7½ to 10½ in. wide. In the cotton industry the _Heilmann
  comber_, or some modification of that machine, is used to straighten
  thoroughly the fibres of carded cotton, to cast out all below a
  certain length, and leave only those that are perfectly clean and
  approximate to uniformity in length. For fine yarns of medium quality
  only part of the slivers required to form a thread are combed. But for
  fine yarns of good quality all slivers are once combed, and those for
  superfine yarns are twice, or "double combed." This machine is made
  with six or eight heads, each of which is supplied with a ribbon lap.
  One end of every lap is fed by a pair of rollers between the open jaws
  of a nipper which immediately closes upon the sheet of cotton, but a
  fringe is left protruding into the path of a cylinder, on whose
  periphery either one set of 17, or two sets of 13, graduated needle
  combs, and one, or two, fluted segments are secured. The first comb to
  reach the cotton may have as few as 16, and the last 90 teeth per
  inch. After the combs have passed successively through the overhanging
  fringe of fibres, the nipper opens and a fresh length of about 3/16
  to 4/10 of an inch is fed in. Meanwhile, a fluted segment on the
  cylinder has moved up to support the fringe; a top comb, which was
  inoperative when the cylinder combs were acting, has descended into
  the fringe, and three rollers first return a portion of the material
  already combed so that it may overlap that last treated. The rollers
  then reverse the direction of their rotation; one of them and the
  segment engage the fringe, and draw the tail ends of all free fibres
  through the teeth of the top comb. The product of all the heads is
  next united, condensed, formed into a continuous sliver, and deposited
  in a can. One cycle of movements, therefore, only combs from 8/16 to
  4/10 of an inch of each fibre; the top comb deals with the tail
  ends, and the major portion of the work is done by the cylinder combs.
  The foregoing operations are repeated at the rate of from 85 to 90
  times per minute, during which from 15% to upwards of 25% of carded
  material is removed; but this is capable of being spun into coarse
  yarns. A comber invented by John W. Nasmith is a modification of the
  foregoing. In his machine the cylinder combs act upon the forward ends
  of the fibres whilst under the control of the nipper, after which two
  pairs of rollers return a sufficient portion of the previously combed
  film to overlap, and to enable the front rollers to engage the fringe.
  The rollers then draw a part of the fringe through the teeth of the
  top comb, which, as a sequence, treats all but the forward ends of the
  fibres. Since one passage through the cylinder and top combs completes
  the operation for one set of fibres, this machine gives a higher
  production; it also gives a wider range of adaptability, and a lower
  percentage of waste than the Heilmann machine.

  [Illustration: FIG. 6.]

  _The Drawing Frame._--For fine counts the slivers from the comber, and
  for low or medium counts those from the card, are passed to the
  drawing frame, because in both conditions the material is irregularly
  distributed throughout the several slivers, and it is the function of
  the drawing frame to eliminate all such irregularities by drawing
  several slivers down to the dimensions of one, for here the processes
  of combination and attenuation are carried further than in any other
  machine. A drawing frame consists of three or four heads, each of four
  pairs of drawing rollers (A, B, fig. 6). The lower rollers (B) are
  fluted longitudinally and the upper ones (A) are covered with leather,
  and weighted as at (H) to give the two a proper hold of the cotton.
  Each head contains several deliveries. Six or eight slivers (C) are
  put up to each delivery and drawn down into one by causing succeeding
  lines of rollers (A, B) to move at an accelerated speed; the front one
  revolving about six or eight times faster than the back one. On
  leaving the front roller the sliver is conducted to a trumpet-shaped
  tube (D), thence between a pair of calender rollers (E), and, finally,
  through a diagonal passage in a plate (F); the latter coils the sliver
  into a rotating can (G). Back and front devices are provided to arrest
  motion in this machine when a sliver fails. At the back, each sliver
  passes over and depresses a separate spoon-shaped lever (I), thereby
  lifting the hooked lower end of (I) high enough to allow an arm (J) to
  vibrate. On the failure of a sliver the hook of (I) engages with (J)
  and dislocates the driving gear. In front, the trumpet-shaped tube (D)
  is mounted on a lever (K), and so long as a sliver presses down the
  mouth of (D), the machine continues in motion, but when a sliver
  fails, the lever (K) causes the driving gear to stop the machine. Six
  or eight cans containing once drawn slivers are put up to the second
  head and similarly drawn, and finally, a similar number of twice drawn
  slivers are fed into the third head and again drawn, giving in all 6 ×
  6 × 6 = 216 doublings; or 8 × 8 × 8 = 512 doublings. Occasionally four
  heads of drawings are used and eight slivers drawn into one, which
  gives 8 × 8 × 8 × 8 = 4096 doublings; hence, irregularities in an
  original sliver have been minimized by successive combination and
  attenuation.

  _Flyer Frames._--Cotton in cans, from the final head of drawing, is
  transferred to the _slubbing frame_, by which it is attenuated,
  slightly twisted, and wound upon spools. Each sliver is drawn out by
  means of three pairs of rollers, and as it emerges from the front
  pair, a flyer (A, fig. 7), which revolves uniformly upon a spindle
  (B), carries the sliver (C) round with it to twist the fibres axially.
  This flyer coils the twisted material upon a wooden tube (D) in
  close-wound spirals and in successive layers. The tube is loosely
  mounted upon, but driven independently of, the spindle, in order that
  as the tube increases in diameter the number of revolutions it makes
  may be reduced to suit the constant delivery of the roving. This is
  effected by a differential motion which usually consists of a large
  wheel, within which two other wheels are made to work; the interior
  wheels have a regular motion, but the large wheel is driven from a
  pair of cone drums at a decreasing speed.

  [Illustration: FIG. 7.]

  _The intermediate frame_ comes between the slubbing and roving frames
  and is of similar construction to the slubber, but has a larger number
  of spindles and smaller tubes. Instead of having cans put at the back,
  the slubbing tubes are mounted vertically in a creel, passed in pairs
  through the rollers, and drawn down to a smaller diameter than a
  single slubbing. In this machine, therefore, the fourfold processes of
  combination, attenuation, twisting and winding are effected
  consecutively and continuously.

  _The roving frame_ is similar in principle to the slubber and
  intermediate machines, but it contains a greater number of spindles,
  and the tubes are smaller than either. It receives the rovings from
  the intermediate frame, draws two into one, twists them and winds them
  upon tubes. This machine is usually the last employed to prepare
  cotton for spinning, but for spinning fine yarns from the best
  Egyptian and Sea Islands cottons, a second roving, or _Jack frame_ may
  be required, in which event pairs of rovings from the first machine
  are similarly treated in the second in order to render the final
  product sufficiently fine for spinning yarns of the requisite counts.

  _Spinning_ (see SPINNING).--Improvements upon the Saxony wheel caused
  continuous spinning to become a mechanical art at an earlier date than
  intermittent spinning. Arkwright's water-twist frame was gradually
  changed to the _throstle_, which was a duplex machine furnished with
  one set of drawing rollers, and one set of spindles and flyers at each
  side of the frame-work. All the bosses of one line of rollers were
  connected so that one driving gear would serve for the whole length,
  and all the spindles were driven by bands from a central cylinder. The
  roving spools were placed vertically in a creel between the two sets
  of rollers, and the rovings reduced to the requisite fineness by the
  latter; after which each was passed through a coiled eye at the lower
  end of a flyer leg, and attached to a double-flanged spool which was
  loosely mounted upon a spindle. At each revolution of a flyer a twist
  was put into the attenuated roving, and the flyer wrapped as much
  thread upon a spool as the rollers delivered. The spools rested upon a
  piece of woollen cloth stretched over a rail, and this rail rose and
  fell through a space equal to the length of the spool barrel. On
  account of a thread having to pull a spool round, it was not possible
  to spin finer counts than 60^s, and since each flyer was mounted upon
  the top of an unsupported spindle, vibration increased with speed. In
  order to avoid such vibration Mr Danforth, in or about 1829, placed an
  inverted cup upon the top of a stationary spindle, and upon the
  spindle a freely fitting sleeve and wharve; the former to receive a
  spool, the latter to rotate both. By a traverse motion all the spools
  were simultaneously raised or depressed, so as to have their barrels,
  when at the highest point, entirely within the cup, and when at the
  lowest entirely below it. A thread passed from the drawing rollers,
  outside the cup, to a spool. As a spool rotated its thread was
  uniformly twisted, the lower edge of the cup built the yarn equally on
  every part of the spool barrel, and the requisite drag resulted from
  friction set up by the thread rubbing against the surface of the cup.
  The throstle has almost disappeared from the cotton industry, and
  Danforth's cap frame entirely so, but the latter is still used to spin
  worsted.

  _Ring spinning_ is practically the only system of continuous spinning
  used in the cotton industry; it was first patented in the United
  States of America by J. Thorpe, in 1828, and in that country was
  extensively used long before it became established in England. Its
  chief feature consists in the substitution for the flyer, or the cap,
  of a smooth annular ring (A, fig. 8) formed with a flange at the upper
  edge, over which a light C-shaped piece of wire (B), called a
  traveller, is sprung. The rings are secured in a rail (C) that rises
  quickly and falls slowly, but at each succeeding ascent and descent it
  attains a higher point than that previously reached. A spindle (D) is
  supported by, and turns in a bolster secured to a fixed rail (E). If
  the bolster only provides a bearing for the centre of the spindle, and
  so leaves the foot free to find its own position of steadiness, it is
  known as a self-balancing or gravity spindle. A recess in the bolster
  is filled with oil to automatically lubricate the bearing. A spindle
  is placed in the centre of each ring; it has a sleeve fitted upon it
  which carries a wharve (F) that covers the upper part of the bolster,
  and a band from a pair of drums is drawn round the wharve to drive the
  spindle. So perfect is the construction of these spindles that they
  can be run without appreciable vibration at speeds far beyond the
  ability of operatives to attend them; although a speed of 11,000
  revolutions per minute is a practicable one. After passing the drawing
  rollers (G), the roving (H) is twisted, hooked into the traveller (B),
  and made fast to a spool (I) placed upon the spindle. As spinning
  proceeds the traveller is pulled round the ring by the thread; it thus
  puts a drag upon, and holds the thread at the winding point. In all
  continuous spinning the number of twists inserted into a given length
  of thread is governed by the surface speed of the front roller,
  relatively to the revolutions of the flyer, or to the speed of the
  winding surface.

  [Illustration: FIG. 8.]

  _Intermittent Spinning_.--The essential difference between continuous
  and intermittent spinning is that the former draws and twists
  consecutively, whilst the latter draws and twists simultaneously. In
  the _mule_, a creel (A, fig. 9), fixed at the back of the machine, is
  designed to hold the rovings (B) in three or four tiers, from whence
  they pass between three lines of drawing rollers (C) and two faller
  wires (D). They are next led to spindles (E) mounted in a carriage (F)
  whose wheels run upon rails (G) called slips. As the rollers (C) feed
  the partially attenuated rovings the carriage recedes from the rollers
  a little faster than the rovings are delivered, thus completing the
  attenuation. Meanwhile, the spindles are revolved rapidly by bands
  passing from a tinned cylinder (H) and the threads are twisted. This
  twist goes first to the thin places where least resistance is offered
  to it, leaving thick places almost untwisted; the pull of the
  carriage, therefore, causes the fibres to slip most readily where
  there are fewest twists, and gives to a thread an approximation to
  uniformity in diameter. For fine yarns the rollers cease to rotate
  slightly before the carriage has attained the end of its outward run,
  or stretch, and at such times all attenuation is due to the pull of
  the spindles upon the threads. On the termination of a stretch the
  carriage stops, the twisting is completed, the spindles reverse the
  direction of their rotation to back off, or remove the yarn which is
  coiled round the spindles above the winding point, and whilst one
  faller wire (D), operating on all the threads at once, descends to the
  winding position of each spindle, the other rises to take up the yarn
  delivered by the spindles. This completed, the carriage returns to the
  roller beam, and in doing so the spindles revolve in their normal
  direction to wind the stretch of 48 to 66 in. of yarn spun in the
  outward journey. All the foregoing movements are regulated to succeed
  each other in their proper order, the termination of one operation
  being the initiation of the next.

  Crompton's original machine was controlled manually throughout, but
  later he devised means for moving the carriage out mechanically, for
  stopping the rollers at the proper time, and for locking the carriage
  whilst the spindles added the final twist to the threads. After which
  all parts became stationary and the manual operations commenced. These
  consisted in backing off, operating the faller wire, rotating the
  spindles and pushing the carriage home. In the year 1785 the first
  steam-engine was employed for cotton spinning, and in 1792 William
  Kelly placed the headstock of a mule, in which the chief mechanism is
  situated, in the middle of the carriage, instead of at one end. By
  this device one machine was doubled in length, and shortly afterwards
  two mules, each of 300 to 400 spindles, were allotted to one spinner
  and his assistants. Kelly also attempted to control all parts of the
  machine mechanically, but in this he failed, as did Eaton, Smith and
  many others, although each contributed something towards the solution
  of the problems involved in automatic spinning. Eventually the hand
  mule became a machine in which most of the work was done
  automatically; the spinner being chiefly required to regulate the
  velocity of the backing off, and the inward run of the carriage, and
  to actuate the fallers. As a result of these alterations the machine
  was made almost double the length of Kelly's. In this state many mules
  continued to be used until the last decade of the 19th century, and a
  few are still in use. Between the years 1824 and 1830 Richard Roberts
  invented mechanism that rendered all parts of the mule self-acting,
  the chief parts of which are shown at (I, J), and they regulate the
  rotation of the spindles during the inward run of the carriage. At
  first his machine was only used to spin coarse and low-medium counts,
  but it is now employed to spin all counts of yarn. Although numerous
  changes have since been made in the self-acting mule, the machine
  still bears indelible marks of the genius of Roberts.

  [Illustration: FIG. 9.]

  For many purposes the threads as spun by the ring frame or the mule
  are ready for the manufacturer; but where extra strength or smoothness
  is required, as in threads for sewing, crocheting, hosiery, lace and
  carpets; also where multicoloured effects are needed, as in
  Grandrelle, or some special form of irregularity, as in corkscrewed,
  and knopped yarns, two or more single threads are compounded and
  twisted together. This operation is known as doubling. In order to
  prepare threads for doubling it may be necessary to wind side by side
  upon a flanged bobbin, or upon a straight or a tapering spool, from
  two to six threads before twisting them into one.

  _Winding machines_ for this purpose are of various kinds. There are
  those in which the threads are laid evenly between the flanges of a
  bobbin, and those that coil the threads upon a straight or a tapering
  tube to form "cheeses." In the latter the tubes may be laid upon
  diagonally split drums and rotated by frictional contact. By placing
  each group of threads to be wound in the slit of a rotating drum, it
  is drawn quickly to and fro and coiled upon a spool. If solid instead
  of split drums be used, the guides for all the threads on one side of
  a machine are attached to a bar, which is traversed by a cam placed at
  one end of the frame. Or independent mechanism may be provided
  throughout for treating each group of threads to be wound. The bobbins
  or tubes may be filled from cops, ring spools or hanks, but a stop
  motion is required for each thread, which will come into operation
  immediately a fracture occurs.

  _Doublers_.--In action doublers are continuous and intermittent. The
  former resemble throstle and ring spinning machines, but since they do
  not attenuate the material, only one line of rollers is provided. The
  folded material is placed in a creel and led through the rollers to
  the spindles to be twisted in a wet or dry condition. If wet, the
  moisture flattens down most of the protruding ends of the fibres and
  produces a comparatively smooth thread; if dry, the doubled yarn
  retains some of its furry character. There are two types of continuous
  doublers, which are known respectively as English and Scotch. By the
  English system of dry doubling the yarn from the creel may be treated,
  on its way to the spindle, in various ways to obtain the desired
  tension. It may be led under a rod, over a guide, round and between
  the rollers, and round a glass peg. For wet doubling, a trough
  containing water is placed behind the rollers, and the yarn passes
  beneath a glass rod in the water, thence over a guide, beneath,
  between and over the rollers to the spindles. By the Scotch system the
  trough is placed below the rollers, and the bottom roller is partly
  immersed in water. It is claimed that this system wets the fibres more
  thoroughly than the English one. For the purpose of twisting the
  strands together the spindles may be provided either with flyers, as
  in throstle spinning, or with rings and travellers, as in ring
  spinning. The twist is generally in the opposite direction to that in
  the single threads. When more than three strands are required in a
  compound thread it is customary to pass the material more than once
  through the doubler, as, for example, in a sixfold thread, two strands
  may be first twisted together in the same or in the opposite direction
  to the spinning twist; after which the once-doubled thread is
  "cleared," folded, and three strands of twofold yarn are twisted in
  the opposite direction to that employed in the first operation. In
  some machines folding and twisting proceed simultaneously, and some
  are furnished with an automatic stop motion. But when twisting two
  threads together to oppose the spinning twist, the failure of one
  causes the other to untwist and break, therefore, under such
  circumstances a stop motion is unnecessary.

  Intermittent doublers are known as twinners, and these are of two
  kinds, namely, English and French. In the former the spindles are
  fitted in a stationary rail, but the creel, containing the cops or
  ring spools, is mounted upon a carriage and moves in and out, as in
  Hargreaves' spinning jenny (see SPINNING). French twinners have a
  stationary creel, and the spindles move in and out with the carriage,
  as in the spinning mule. The material to be folded is often subjected
  to the action of steam in order to render it less resilient, after
  which it is mounted upon skewers in the creel, and two or three
  threads are passed to each spindle to be twisted together and formed
  into a cop. Between the creel and the spindles all the strands are
  kept equally tense by drawing them over flannel-covered boards and
  under porcelain weights. For wet doubling, the strands pass through a
  trough containing water, and the flannel surfaces are also wet.

  _Clearing_.--After the first, or the final, doubling it is often
  necessary to remove lumps, imperfect knots and loose fibres from a
  thread. This is accomplished by passing each through a slit, or
  clearer, whose width is adjusted to the diameter of the thread to be
  treated. By this means anything which gives a thread abnormal bulk
  will be prevented from passing the slit. Once through the slit, a
  thread is coiled upon a friction-driven, double or single-headed
  bobbin. If the former, the coils are evenly laid; if the latter, they
  are disposed into a bottle shape. Or, again, cheeses may be wound.

  _Gassing_.--In cases where a thread with a smooth surface is required
  the extending ends of fibres must be burned off. Thus: each thread
  from a creel is drawn over a tension rod to two freely mounted
  pulleys, having parallel grooves cut in their surfaces and axes in the
  same horizontal plane. After bending a thread forward and backward in
  the grooves of both pulleys, it passes through a Bunsen flame and is
  coiled upon a tube, which is held against the face of a rotating drum,
  while a vibrating guide distributes the thread across the tube. The
  gas-burner is situated midway between the grooved pulleys, and so
  mounted beneath the thread that it will automatically swivel sideways
  and thus move the flame away from a stationary thread. Winding begins
  slightly before the flame moves beneath a thread, and the rapid motion
  of the latter permits the flame to burn off undesirable matters
  without injuring the thread.

  _Reeling_.--Doubled or gassed yarn may be wound upon warpers' bobbins
  and made into warps for the loom, or it may be reeled into hanks for
  the preparing and finishing processes. But a reel hanks yarns for
  bleaching, dyeing, printing, polishing and bundling, and is adapted
  for cops, ring spools, doubling bobbins or cheeses. From cops, ring
  spools and cheeses the yarn is usually drawn over one end, but flanged
  bobbins are mounted upon spindles and the yarn is drawn from the side.
  A reel has a circumference of 54 in., and after making 80 or 560
  revolutions it automatically stops; the first gives a lea of 120 yds.
  and the last a hank of 840 yds. For grant reeling, however, a hank may
  be from 5000 to 10,000 yds. long. Reeling is of two kinds, namely,
  open and crossed. Open reeling forms lease, and seven of these are
  united in one hank by a lease band which retains the divisions. In
  cross reeling a thread is traversed over a portion of the reel surface
  by a reciprocating guide to form a hank without divisions. On the
  completion of a set of hanks the reel is made to collapse and thus
  facilitate the removal of the yarn.

  _Bundling Press_.--Hanks are made into short or long bundles, each
  weighing 5 or 10 lb. In short bundles it is usual to form groups of
  ten hanks, and these are twisted together, folded and compressed into
  bundles; but in long bundles the hanks are compressed without being
  folded. A press consists of a strong table upon which a box, with open
  ends, is formed. The bottom of this box is grooved transversely and
  made to rise and fall by wheel gearing or by eccentrics. The sides and
  top are made of vertical and horizontal bars, set to coincide with the
  grooves in the bottom. To one set of vertical bars a similar number of
  horizontal top pieces are hinged, and to the other set levers are
  jointed, which hold the horizontal bars in position. When the hinged
  bars are turned up, strings are drawn through the grooves, and the
  bottom is covered with stout paper. The hanks are then laid in the
  box, another paper is placed above them, and the hinged bars are drawn
  down and locked. The bottom then rises a predetermined distance, and
  automatically stops. While in this position the strings are tied, the
  bottom of the press next descends, and the bundle is removed.
      (T. W. F.)



COTYS, a name common to several kings of Thrace. The most important of
them, a cruel and drunken tyrant, who began to reign in 382 B.C., was
involved with the Athenians in a dispute for the possession of the
Thracian Chersonese. In this he was assisted by the Athenian Iphicrates,
to whom he had given his daughter in marriage. On the revolt of
Ariobarzanes from Persia, Cotys opposed him and his ally, the Athenians.
In 358 he was murdered by the sons of a man whom he had wronged.

  See Cornelius Nepos, _Iphicrates_, _Timotheus_; Xenophon, _Agesilaus_;
  Demosthenes, _Contra Aristocratem_; Theopompus in Müller, _Fragmenta
  Historicorum Graecorum_, i.



COUCH, DARIUS NASH (1822-1897), American soldier, was born at South
East, Putnam county, N.Y., on the 23rd of July 1822, and graduated from
West Point in 1846, serving in the Mexican war and in the war against
the Seminole Indians. He left the army in 1855, but soon after the
outbreak of the civil war he was made a brigadier-general U.S.V. He
served as a divisional commander in the battles of the Army of the
Potomac in 1862, and at Fredericksburg (December 1862) and
Chancellorsville (May 1863) he commanded the II. corps. He had been made
a major-general U.S.V. in July 1862. During the Gettysburg campaign he
was employed in organizing the Pennsylvanian militia, and he
subsequently served in the West, taking part in the battle of Nashville,
and in the final operations in the Carolinas. He left the army after the
war. General Couch died on the 12th of February 1897 at Norwalk,
Connecticut.



COUCY, LE CHÂTELAIN DE, French _trouvère_ of the 12th century. He is
probably the Guy de Couci who was castellan of the castle of that name
from 1186 to 1203. Some twenty-six songs are attributed to him, and
about fifteen or sixteen are undoubtedly authentic. They are modelled
very closely on Provençal originals, but are saved from the category of
mere imitations by a grace and simplicity peculiar to the author. The
legend of the love of the Châtelain de Coucy and the Lady of Fayel, in
which there figures a jealous husband who makes his wife eat the heart
of her lover, has no historical basis, and dates from a late 13th
century romance by Jakemon Sakesep. It is worth noting that the story,
which seems to be Breton in origin, has been also told of a Provençal
troubadour, Guilhem de Cabestaing, and of the minnesinger Reinmar von
Brennenberg. Pierre de Belloy, who wrote some account of the family of
Couci, made the story the subject of his tragedy _Gabrielle de Vergy_.

  The songs of the Châtelain de Coucy were edited by Fritz Fath
  (Heidelberg, 1883). For the romance see Gaston Paris, in the _Hist.
  litt. de la France_ (vol. 28, pp. 352-360). An exquisite song,
  "Chanterai por mon courage," expressing a woman's regrets for her
  lover at the Crusade, is attributed in one MS., probably erroneously,
  to the Lady of Fayel (_Hist. litt._ xxiii. 556). An English metrical
  romance of "The Knight of Curtesy," and the "Fair Lady of Faguell,"
  was printed by William Copland, and reprinted in Ritson's _Eng.
  Metrical Romances_ (ed. E. Goldsmid, vol. iii., 1885).





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