Show 1 N ALL discussions regardIng regard-Ing colton two fuels are Il pnrumoiml first Hint cotton cot-ton controls the world I and second that tho na tloim that reap n prodigal I harvest from the stile of cotton goods depend upon America for the raw supply sup-ply The American people have begun to realize the significance In the fact that alien nations that Mover saw a cotton plant have long since entered the Kingdom of Cotton nnd now divide dominion among themselves excluding the United States tho country In which the cotton Is grown The reIgn of cotton Is forever As long as tho race survives cotton goods will ho worn In multiplying fdrnis hut the countries that now sell tho finished products of cotton to the world have no assurance of porma pence In that trade Americas ultimate ulti-mate control In tho cotton world Is Inevitable Our manifest destiny asa as-a world trader In cotton goods looms BS n menace across tho horizon of European l states Americas future In this fabric has awakened the itsUcsmcn of all countries save our own Tho wealth and progress of the United States nro enduringly in lerwovcn with the comlngclvlllzatlon of all cottonconsuming continents The homo for tho dynasty of cotton Is in tho land of Dixie not In London and Liverpool Knowing our latent power wo can afford to look candidly at some contemporary con-temporary facts Thoy aro not Hot luring to our national prldo They reveal a world of opportunity passed by COPYRIGHT Byl I NTE RNAT ION ALt AL-t MAGAZINE COMPANY I n I y N C E I < < F v V f I rte t f 1 jr r r f C s r A I < i 7 c F 1 WERE COTTON ThREAD COMES FROM a = = r 1 TilE GREAT COATS MILL SCOTLAND If wo turn aside for a moment from the paradox and Irony or spinners In Lancashire St Gall or Chemnitz 3000 miles and moro from a cotton Held turning out finished cotton garments for many peoples including some of the Americans who grow the raw material wo can admire the value of cotton goods massed In the great world movements of trade Fran tho factories of Europe and Japan countless ships carry increasing cargoes of cotton fabrics to every clvi tlzed pott Goods woven of this staple constitute a vast proportion of the merchandise hauled by train across all tontinents and where modern methods of transportation finusc primitive and picturesque carriers take up the bur den of tho worlds cotton output and trudge with these goods to eager customers along the most remote frontiers Cotton cloth paves the way for Christianity in tho Jungles of the Dark Continent to the savages of the Congo cotton cloth is more precious than Ivory or gold Under tho midnight I mid-night sun arctic dogs drag sleds laden with cotton goods The condor nnd the eagle look down wonderingly upon pack trains carrying the product of European cotton mills across the Andes Tho yak goes burdened with cotton goods Into Tibet Godowns ns along Chinese streams are stored with cotton goods awaiting shipment and to the upper reaches of tho Ynngtso and Hoangho tho native Chinese trader his junk carries on cotton cloths and gnr meats to interior tribes Durros laden with cotton goods from England < and Germany pick their way across the mountains of Mexico The elephants of India and the camols of tho Levant and Egypt carry cotton goods And tho unique and almost unbelievable fact Is thai this Incredible volume of traffic In cotton goods is engineered engi-neered by countries that do not and cannot raise the rn supply Tho energy and ambition of Europe and Japan are pledged to transporting cotton goods to tho remotest door but America which furnishes the unmanufactured product and makes possible the commercial invasion of tho world has little share In tho profit from that conquest The contest among the powers today is for trade and i cotton in some form la tho chief commodity carried As never before In history the ships that cross and recross j the sea are weaving tho warp and tho woof of the worlds civilization Tho ships of western Europe < go forth laden with cotton goods England leads in the mighty world traffic That kingdom has had the farseeing far-seeing wisdom to provide cheap transportation between tho factories of England and the consuming countries And Germanys wonderful rise to rivalry Is duo to thol clear vision that sees the future of Its empire on the pea The now successes ot Japan arc founded upon the multiplying exports from Its cotton mills Tho Sunrise Kingdom Is actually selling abroad more cotton goods than silk and hitherto silk hits been commercially su premo in the far cast I In fact cotton goods constitute tho most Important factor in the commerce of every great country except America There is portent of grout and revolutionary changes In the worlds 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 insufficient in-sufficient quantities outside of the United States and which they could not manufacture at a profit but for tho fact that we sell tho 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 4000000 worth of finished cotton goods n year while that part of the world exports to us more than 50000000 worth And there Is no logical reason why it should continue n to be possible and profitable for a little halffrozen country 1 coun-try on the roof of Europe to leach out to America purchase pur-chase hundreds of thousands of hales of cotton and after carrying them across the Atlantic ship them back to the United States in finished form and in quantities d amounting In value to 15000000 In a year We have been unjubtlflubly jubilant regarding our foreign trade We do sell abroad enormous quantities of goods and materials but in respect to cotton It is largely tho raw product on which there Is little profit Alono of nil the Industrial nations the United States is not an important factor In tho sale of cotton goods top to-p mankind 1or Instance of the international demand for cotton yarns wo supply less than ote third of one percent 1 per-cent I 1 Hero is tho record up to the date of writing disclosing disclos-ing Americas unsuctees as uu International trader in cotton goods IMPORTS AND EXPORTS OF COTTON GOODS FOR THE TEN < MONTHS ENDING < OCTOBER 1908 Imports of Cotton Cloths Dyed Unbleached Painted Etc From England 5705453 Franco 617047 Germany 320819 Switzerland 297360 + Other Europa 228818 Jupan 80526 f e flior countries 1297 1j I 7160320 1 k = l d rssc 41 > IWMnn yYp a A W Zia 1 r Fr ti rt9 dvC h f s f dv a c A eMPNYEC5E COTTOIYc PIIYIYER Imports of Cotton Clothing Knit Goods From England f 92939 Franco 193610 Germany 5732330 Switzerland 229825 Other countries 28320 Other clothing 3007658 Total 9284652 Imports of Laces Edgings Embroideries Insertions Trimmings Lace Curtains Etc From England 4607791 Belgium 196959 France 5745798 Germany 3008967 Switzerland 8526309 Other Europe 154017 Asia and Ocennlca 159085 Other countries 24581 flushes thread etc 5918100 Total 28341907 Total Imports 11786879 Exports of Cotton Goods Dyed Unbleached Painted Etc To England f 398475 Germany 3847 Turkey 112105 Other Europe 6208 i British North America 463780 Central America 1349332 Mexico 143956 Argentina 107982 Chinese Empire 4028650 Other countries 7606617 Total 14277488 Exports of Clothing Knit goods 1095781 All other 2246120 Cotton waste 2164347 Yarn 405691 All other 2434381 Total 8346320 Total exports 2263808 An analysis of this trade In cotton goods reveals that of our exports more than 6000000 worth consists of unbleached cloths while of our Imports moro than 22000000 worth consists of liner fabrics Including embroideries em-broideries laces and curtains Altogether tho figures show that while we exported In tho 10 months ending with October 1908 22000000 worth of tho output of our cotton mills tho nations sold to us almost 100 percent per-cent more than we sold to them It is a grotesque and almost unbelievable item In tho commerce of tills ago that a resourceful nation like America tho producer of tho worlds cotton should buyback buy-back two dollars worth of cotton goods for every dollars dol-lars worth It ships abroad When our competitors buy from us eight or nine million mil-lion bales of unmanufactured cotton it is a mark of their enterprise not of ours Tho greater part of our foreign trade is the result of suction from abroad not of propulsion from America Tho need of tho nations Is for our raw cotton and they send their ships to get It If wo wore aborigines and raised cotton we could soli it 1 I 4 u r x a t N x t Ypr rt Y F + r r r r p rd an CNt a NL 1 1tY n ra NpS qi a t t i e r Y tuY N yd + ataYlo + n N NC t N i7N f rzyS aa1 + a1YFa q t td u L S 1 a p r r r t15 N N t µ l 4 d t1a i 21 1J wY > Qpt 1 1 siN tnC qu k r s w tpr Y wa i4 1 w t q a i t Ya V r f d nettst rypn t nr + Hm o 4 6 a 5 t SS a li S es t ntd aa S + s1 j c stfiN yYutrtu l a cr a r trty wy y lku 1ati tiak 1 s t < t + dlare c N + ar autk fin y CAMEL CARAVAN LOADED WITH w COTTON GOODS EHPQUTE FORTBET t ri s et tf I It requires no salesman or advertising to make raw cotton cot-ton popular in all industrial centers from Manchester to Milan and eastward to Japan If we did not have a plank afloat we could sell raw cotton to tho 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 be-lief in the United States that wo have engineered a commercial Invasion abroad The trading nations must have our cotton and while upward of 190 tariff walls fence them off In their rivalry they all fear America and carefully put raw cotton on tho free list There has been a notable Increase in the bulk of our foreign commerce but we have merely kept pace with the whole worlds advance In fact It Is the progress prog-ress in purchasing power of foreign nations that has made possible our heavy exports of raw materials Wo have been boasting of outborne cargoes that enriched our rivals far more than they did America When wo cite the mere totals of our foreign trade without examining exam-ining the nature of that tralllc we blind ourselves to the magnificent field awaiting American enterprise abroad The rivalry for foreign markets the improvements in tho facilities for reaching them and cottons marvelous marvel-ous contribution to merchandise have so revolutionized tho worlds trade that tho commerce of former centuries cen-turies is insignificant In comparison The foreign traffic traf-fic of any of the leading industrial nations today exceeds ex-ceeds In volume and value tho total foreign trade of nil countries combined a hundred years ago Tho annual external trade of even so diminutive a country ns the Netherlands exceeds tho billiondollar mark And this astounding Increase in the trado of nations creating virtually vir-tually a new earth Is duo in largo measure to the volume 1 vol-ume of cotton manufacture and the worldwide sale of cotton goods Wo fall to keep In mind that In that world tralllc America does not share We have been boasting of mero bulk boasting while wo have been sending to industrial Europe tho raw supply without which it could not compete with America for a year Gladstone estimated that tho wealth accumulated by tho nations during the first 50 yearsof the nlneeteenUi century equaled all that had been stored up by mankind In tho 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 In-crease of the worlds wealth exceeded by 100 per cent the plledup treasures of all lands in all tho preceding centuries since the birth of Christ And the accumulations accumula-tions since 1870 are literally beyond compute Such a world with its consuming power is the market that confronts America the country that alone possesses tho commodity indispensable to the nations Thus far we have neglected our stewardship During the last fiscal year we sold to tho old world only a little over 1000000 worth of finished cotton goods Our best customer cus-tomer In that part of tho world was the United Kingdom King-dom which bbught from us 1853984 worth Dut while wo were growing foolishly proud over that England was selling us 23165392 worth of cotton goods spun of our material The Itemized columns placed side by side aro a reproach to resourceful America Hero is tho record preserved by our bureau of statistics Exports of Cotton Exports of Cotton Goods from Eng Goods from the I land to U S U S to England Waste 194225 Waste 47935 Unbleached 214031 Bleached 10J0 Dyed etc 1007209 Dyed etc 36953 by Clothing 20476 ClothIng 989454 Knit goods 114489 Yarn 13835 Curtains 0859918 All oUter 323429 flushes 635065 Thread and Total 1853984 yarns 3003002 All other 186827 Total 23165392 I Such Is the Inglorious story of our traffic with our greatest European customer And England is adding to Its cotton spindles at the rate of more than 200000 every 30 days In tho last 12 months this Increase In the United Kingdom was 2765000 And every new mill and every new spindle in England is erected with tho confidence that tho raw 7 cotton can be obtained from the American planter at prices which beggar him < King Cotton on a British Throne I Cotton is the worlds king but It sits on a British throne Last year wo exported a little over 200 000000 yards of piece goods valued at 15 000000 hut at the same time the United Kingdom was selling abroad more than i I f4 s J r iQl 44 s INS tS I Y 44 fpt f 6 4 Vl > t a J t cY i V w i q Y S M k INDIA COTTON MERCI1ANTS 6000000000 yards valued at moro than 400000000 If you confront the ordinary Jubilant statistician with the cold analysis of our unsuccess abroad the rejoinder Is apt to bo that after all America for many years has had a favorable balance of trade In a recent optimistic opti-mistic review of Americas foreign commerce It Is set forth with much elation that tho excess of exports over imports in the past fiscal year amounted in value to 440000000 But to get those figures wo had to count in 482000000 worth of raw cotton shipped abroad and if we cross out raw cotton from the record our foreign commerce roveals an export trade considerably less than our Import and as unmanufactured cotton Is sold abroad through no enterprise on the part of America but is rather a tralllc resulting from our neglect of our opportunity oppor-tunity there Is nothing In the mere totals of our foreign traffic to warrant tho complacency of our statesmen There was a time when Yankee packets carried American wares around the world but we have abandoned aban-doned our ships and they have all but vanished from the seas Tho federal hand has been busy building breakwaters break-waters scooping out harbors and deepening waterways Now we aro cutting a channel through the hemisphere Conscious of our strength and in the presence of bewildering bewil-dering achievements at home wo find it dlfllcult to realize that our dominion pauses at tho shores of our seas The decline of our merchant marine from the days of our great achievements Is not the result of any decrease de-crease in our national vigor The energy and genius of the American people have simply been withdrawn from tho sea Wo have expended our ingenuity and strength and riches in exploiting tho continent or at least tho northern and western part of it with tho result that wo have developed between the two great oceans the most successful Industrial nation the world has known |