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Show J. SUIXY L rEy-DANIE- COPYRIGHT BY INTERNATIONAL IN ALL discussions regard ing cotton two facts are paramount; first, that cot- ton controls the world;) and second that the nation that reap a prodigal I harvest from the aale of . cotton goods depond upon America for the raw sup-- ! ply. The American 'people have begun to realize the significance In the fact that alien ' nations that never saw a cotton plant have long since entered the Kingdom of Cotton and now divide dominion ' the' among themselves, excluding United Statesthe country In which the cotton is grown. The reign of cotton Is forever. As long as the race survives cotton goods will be worn in multiplying fdrms, but the countries that now sell the finished products of cotton to the world have no assurance of perma- , nonce in that trade. America's ultl- mate control In the cotton world Is inevitable. Our manifest destiny as a world trader In cotton goods looms is a menace across the horizon of European states. America's future In this fabric has awakened the statesmen of all countries save our own.. The wealth and progress of the United States are endurlngly In- - ' lerwoven with the coming civilization of all continents. The home for the dynasty of cotton (s In the land of Dixie, not In London and Liverpool. . Knowing our latent power, we can ( afford to look candidly at some contemporary facts. They are uot Battering to our national pride. They reveal a world of opportunity passed MAGAZINE COMPANY 3 . Goods from Eng. land to U. 8. v. - i V.' I to cotton-consumin- f III 1 half-froze- one-thir- d cent Here Is the record, up to the date of writing, disclosing America's utisuueess as an International trader In cotton goods: IMPORTS AND EXPORTS OF COTTON COODS FOR THE TEN MONTHS ENDING OCTOBER, 1908. Dyed, Unbleached, Painted, Eto. From tMu-- r CsHitili'lca Tat.! ' il ' II . iT'N. ITv lA4Mf ...$1,853,984 , , 1 - TtlREhD COMES Ff?OM T1E GREAT COATS hiLL& cSCOTLAND i. n j. z- 5 ' - 'A' s, JE'JjJSfsZ tort i o to-da- .. - COTTOH e Japan r Total 479.35J 10,962 36,953 989,454 "13,835 323,429 In- If we turn aside for a moment from the paradox and irony or spinners In Lancashire, St. Gall or Chemnitz. 3.000 miles and more from a cotton' Held, turning out finished cotton garments for many peoples, including some of the Americans who grew the raw material, we can admire the value of cotton goods massed In the great world movements of trade. From, the factories of Europe and Japan countless ships' carry Increasing cargoes of cotton fabrics to every clvl- -' tized port. Goods woven of this staple constitute a vast proportion of the merchandise hauled by train across all lontlnents. and wliero modern methods of transportation1 jfiauRe primitive and picturesque carriers take up the bur-- l tlen of the world's cotton output and trudge with these) goods to eager customers along the most remote frontiers: Cotton cloth paves the way for Christianity In the Jungles of the Dark Continent; to the savages of the Congo cotton cloth is more precious than Ivory or gold. Under the mld-- i night sun arctic dogs drag sleds laden with cotton goods The condor and the eagle look down wonderlngly upon pack trains carrying the product of European cotton mills, across the Andes. The yak goes burdened with cotton) goods Into Tibet. Godowns along Chinese streams are stored with cotton goods awaiting shipment, and to the and Hoang-hupper reaches of the Yang-tsthe native Chinese trader on his junk carries cotton cloths and gar' tnents to interior tribes. Burros laden with cotton goods from England and Germany pick their way across the mountains or Mexico. The elephants of India and the camels of the Levant and Egypt carry cotton goods. And the unique and almost unbelievable fact Is that this Incredible volume of traffic in cotton goods Is engineered by countries that do not and cannot raise the raw supply. The energy and ambition of Europe and Japan are pledged to transporting cotton goods to the remotest door, but America, which furnishes the unmanufactured product and makes possible the commercial invasion of the world, has little share In the profit from that conquest Is for trade and The contest among the powers y cotton in some form is the chief commodity carried. As never before In history, the ships that cross and recrosa the sea "are weaving the warp and the woof of the world's civilization." The ships of western Europe go forth laden with cotton goods. England leads in the mighty world traffic. That kingdom has had the far seeing wisdom to provide cheap transportation between, the factories of England and the consuming countries. And Germany's wonderful rise to rivalry Is due to thei clear vision that sees the future of Its empire on the sea. The new successes of Japan are founded upon the, multiplying exports from Its cotton mills. The Sunrise) Kingdom is actually selling abroad more cotton goods! than silk, and hitherto silk has been commercially supreme in the far east. In fact, cotton goods constitute the most important factor in the commerce of every great country except America. There is portent of great and revolutionary changes in the world's trade in cotton goods. It Is Inconceivable that other nations can go on at the expense of America, winning trade triumphs with a commodity which they do not naturally possess, which they cannot obtain In sufficient quantities outside of the United States, and which they could not manufacture at a profit but for the fact that we sell tliu product near and, at times, even below the cost of raising it. There Is no logical reason why the United States should sell Europe only $4,000,000 worth of finished cottou goods a year while that part of the world exports to us more than $50,000,000 worth. And there Is no logical reason why It should continue counto be possible and profitable for a little try on the roof of Europe to reach out to America, purchase hundreds of thousands of bales of cotton, and, after carrying them across the Atlantic, ship them back to the United States in finished form and In quantities amounting In value to $15,000,000 in a year. We have been unjustifiably jubilant regarding our foreign trade. We do sell abroad enormous quantities of goods and materials, but in respect to cotton it Is largely the raw product, on which there Is little profit. Alono of all the industrial nations the United States is cot an Important factor in the sale of cotton goods to mankind.. For Instance, of the international demand for of one per cotton yarns we supply less than Gertunny Switzerland Other Diropo "rl .....$ Bleached .. Dyed. etc.. Clothing .. Yarn All other. . . Total ..$23,165,392 Such Is the Inglorious story of our traffld with our greatest European customer. And England is adding to Its cotton spindles at the rate of more than 200,000 every 30 days! In the last 12 months this Increase In the United Kingdom was 2,765,000. And every new mill and every new spindle in England Is erected with the confidence that the raw cotton can be obtained from the American t planter at prices which beggar him. King Cotton on a British Throne. Cotton is the world's king, but It sits on a British throne! Last year we exported a little over yards of piece goods, valued at but at the same time the United Kingdom was selling abroad more than hhhwmrw oy- - England France I 9 l X.t Waste 200,-000,0- g Imports of Cotton Cloths, 11 fl . Waste ....$ 194,225 Unbleached 214,031 Dyed, etc. 10,072,08,9 Clothing .. 204,746 Knit goods 114,489 Curtains, . 6,859,918 Plushes 635,065 Thread and yarns :.. 3,003,002 All other . 1,867,827 " , 1, - . of Cotton Cotton Exports the Goods from U. 8. to England. ' of Exports $5,705,453 617.04? 829,819 297,360 228,818 80.526 1,297 .$7,160,320 1 AcAPAMfSE mm COTTOfl dPJttIER ' Em v.' Jfs7L ': ,1.11111 f ff. II I ,''' I sTViV I! Ill W. A1. Imports of Cotton Clothing (Knit Goods). From $ England 92,939 France '. Germany Switzerland Other countries Other clothing CXMFI TTOH Total Imports 193.610 5.732,330 FOR CO GOODS 229.825 28.320 It requires no salesman or advertising to make raw cot3,007,658 ton popular in all industrial centers from Manchester to Milan, and eastward to Japan. If we did not have .......$9,284,652 of Laces, Edgings, Trimmings, From England Belgium Franco Germany Switzerland Other Europe Asia and Oceanlca. Other countries ... Plushes, thread, etc Embroideries, Insertions, Lace Curtains, Etc. $ 4,607.791 196.959 5.745,798 3.008.967 8.526.309 154,017 159.085 24,581 5,918.400 Total $28,341,907 Total imports $44,786,879 Cotton of Goods, Unbleached, Dyed, Painted, Etc. Exports To 398.475 $ '. England 3.847 Germany 112.165 Turkey 62.G84 Other Europe 463.780 British North America Central America 1,349.332 Mexico 143,956 107.982 Argentina Chinese Empire 4,028,650 Other countries 7,606,617 Total Knit goods All other Cotton waste Yarn All other $14,277,488 Exports of Clothing. $ 1.095.781 . 2.246.120 2,164,347 405.691 2,434.381 $ 8.346.320 Total Total exports $22,63,808 An analysis of this trade in cotton goods reveals that of our exports more than $6,000,000 worth consists of unbleached cloths, while of our Imports more than $22,000,000 worth consists of finer fabrics, Including laces and curtains. Altogether the figures show that while we exported In the 10 months ending with October, 1908, $22,000,000 worth of the output of our cotton mills, the nations sold to us almost 100 per cent more than we sold to them. It Is a grotesque and almost unbelievable Item In the commerce of this ago that a resourceful nation like America, the producer of the world's cotton, should buy back two dollars' worth of cotton goods for every dollar's worth It ships abroad. When our competitors buy from us eight or nine million bales of unmanufactured cotton, it Is a mark of their enterprise, not of ours. The greater part of our foreign trade ia the result of auction from abroad, not of propulsion from America. The need of the nations is for our raw cotton and they send their ships to get It If we were aborigines and raised cotton we could sell it LOADED WITH ENPQUTE T0ET, ' . a plank afloat we could sell raw cotton to the world. America is not a serious competitor for, trade oversea.. In all the annals of national pride and delusion there has been no greater folly than the present popular belief in the United States that we have engineered a commercial Invasion abroad. The trading nations must have our cotton and while upward of 190 tarii? walls fence them off in their rivalry they all fear America and carefully put raw cotton on the free list There has been a notable increase in the bulk of our foreign commerce, but we have merely kept pace with the whole world's advance. 'In fact it Is the progress In purchasing power of foreign nations that has made possible our heavy exports of raw materials. We have been boasting of outborne cargoes that enriched our rivals far more than they did America. When we cite the mere totals of our foreign trade without examining the nature of that traffic we blind ourselves to the magnificent field awaiting American enterprise abroad. The rivalry for foreign markets, the Improvements in the facilities for reaching them and cotton's marvelous contribution to merchandise have so revolutionized the world's trade that the commerce of former centuries Is insignificant in comparison. The foreign traffic of any of the leading Industrial nations exceeds In volume and value the total foreign trade of all countries combined a hundred years ago! The annual external trade of even so diminutive a country as the Netherlands exceeds the bllllon-dolla- r mark. And this astounding increase in the trade of nations, creating vlr- tually a new earth, is due In large measure to the vol-- 1 ume of cotton manufacture and the world wide sale of cotton goods. We fall to keep in mind that In that world traffic America does not share. We have been boasting of mere bulk boasting while we have been sending to Industrial Europe the raw supply without which It could not compete with America for a year. Gladstone estimated that the wealth accumulated by the nations during the first 50 years 'of the nineeteenlh century equaled all that had been stored up by mankind In the preceding 1800 years, and that their multiplying fortunes between 1850 and 1870 duplicated the record of the foregoing fifty. So that in those 70 years the Increase of the world's wealth exceeded by 100 per cent treasures of all lands In all the preceding the plled-ucenturies since the birth of Christ. And the accumulations since 1870 are literally beyond compute. Such a world with its consuming power is the market that confronts America, the country that alone possesses the commodity indispensable to the nations. Thus far we have neglected our stewardship. During the last fiscal year we sold to the old world only a little over $4,000,000 worth of finished cotton goods. Our best customer In that part of the world was the United Kingdom, which bought from us $1,853,984 worth. But while we were growing foolishly proud over that England was telling us $23,165,392 worth of cotton goods spun of our material. The Itemized columns, placed side by side, are a reproach to resourceful America. Here Is the record, preserved by our bureau of statistics: to-da- y p iriDJA C OT TON M ERCttAfi TS at more than $400,000,000! ' If you confront the ordinary Jubilant statistician with the cold analysis of our unsuccess abroad the rejoinder is apt to be that, after all, America for many years has had a "favorable balance of trada" In onti. mlstlo review of America's foreign comw-r- ce it Is set forth with much elation that the hw of Mimrt. nv imports in the past fiscal year amounted In value to But to get those figures we had to count $446,000,000. in $182,000,000 worth of raw cotton shipped abroad; and If we cross out raw cotton from the record our foreign commerce reveals an export trade considerably less than our Import, and as unmanufactured cotton is sold abroad through no enterprise on the part of America, but la rather a traffic resulting from our neglect of our opportunity, there Is nothing in the mere totals of our foreign traffic to warrant the complacency of our statesmen. There was a time when Yankee packets carried American wares around the world, but we have abandoned our ships and they have all but vanished from the seas. The federal hand has been busy building breakwaters, scooping out harbors and deepening waterways. Now we are cutting a channel through the hemisphere. Conscious of our strength and in the presence of bewlV derlng achievements at home, we find it difficult to realize that our dominion pauses at the shores of our seas. The decline of our merchant marine from tbe days of our great achievements is not the result of any decrease in our national vigor. The energy and genius of the American people have simply been withdrawn from tbe sea. We have expended our ingenuity and strength and riches in exploiting tbe continent or at least the northern and western part of it with the result that we have developed between the two great oceans the most successful Industrial nation the world baa known. 6,000,000,000 yards, valued nrn |