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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND LABOR BUREAU OF iWANUFACTURES
JOHN M. CARSON, Chief
REPORT ON
ENGLAND'S COTTON INDUSTRY
WITH BRIEF NOTES ON OTHER INDUSTRIES
loV
By
WILLIAM WHITTAM, Jr.
Special Agent of the Department of Commerce and Labor
WASHINGTON
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
1907
mJ^'lt
i
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND LABOR BUREAU OF MANUFACTURES
JOHN M. CARSON, Chief
REPORT ON
ENGLAND'S COTTON INDUSTRY
WITH BRIEF NOTES ON OTHER INDUSTRIES
By
WILLIAM WHITTAM, Jr.
Special Agent of the Departrhent of Commerce and Laber
WASHINGTON
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
1907
CONTENTS
Page.
Letter of submittal 5
England's cotton industry 7
Expanding American export trade 7
Comparison of British and American exports 8
British India's large consumption 8
Imports of Latin America 9
British and American exi^ort trade in yarns. 9
Factory systems and management - 10
Purchase and sale of cotton 11
Cotton mixing and expert selection.. 12
Specialization and its advantages 13
Importance of room and power buildings 14
Labor cost, wages, operatives, and production 14
Official i^iecework price lists — Weaving 15
Mule-spinning i^rices 15
New card-room operatives list " 16
Growth of Calne and Nelson 17
Colored goods list 17
Spooling and warping prices , 18
Twist and speeds 19
American imports of English-spun yarns 20
The twiner as an economical twister 20
Conditioning yarns an important process 21
Percentage of natural moisture lost ' 21
Amount of moisture permissible 22
Differences in types of looms 23
Advantage in wea\'ing narrow goods as "splits " 23
Necessity for manufacturing standard fabrics 23
Sized goods and dhotees 24
Standard India shirting and dhotees 24
India's imports not all consumed at home 25
Permanent demand for brown cottons 26
Sizing wai-ps and filling cotton cloths 27
Classification of exports 27
American mills and American purchases 27
Fabrics sold in many countries 28
Waste as a by-product 28
Preparing goods for market 29
Making up and packing 30
English distributing system and the Royal Exchange 30
Economy in distribution 31
Effectiveness of Manchester's organization 31
Advantages of British mills 32
Expert packing for export 33
Terms of payment for goods exported 34
3
4 CONTENTS.
England's cotton industry — Continued. Page.
American lack of commercial organization 34
International banking 35
Long credits often imperative 36
Over-sea transportation 37
The Brooklands agreenrent 37
Important markets neglected 38
Technical textile education 39
Amazing growth of Lancashire's cotton industry 40
Cost and methods of j^romoting new mills 40
DeA^eloping new cotton-growing areas 41
Nigeria, the i^ossible future cotton field 42
Increased cotton supply needed to meet demand 42
Restrictive factory legislation 1 43
Schedules of wages to be posted 43
How American export trade may be increased 44
Samples and details of English cotton piece goods. 45
Standard American cloths 51
Sheetings , 51
Narrow print cloths 51
Tobacco cloths 51
Plain wide goods 51
Filling sateens 51
Three-leaf twills 51
Drills 51
Warp sateens 51
Alberts 51
General trade conditions 53
Other opportunities for American manufacturers 53
Meats and canned goods ' 53
O^Dening for jewelry 54
British imports of manufactures 54
LETTER OF SUBMITTAL
Washington, July 30, 1907.
Sir: I submit a report on trade conditions in Great Britain, the greater part of which deals with British cotton manufacturiiig methods and the foreign trade of that coiintr37"in cotton manufactures.
In compliance with instructions from the Department, considerable time was spent in the county of Lancashire, England, in which are located nearly one-half of the cotton-spinning spindles of the world, and the output of whose mills approximates 75 per cent of the cotton goods supplied the world's markets.
Seeing that the cotton goods exports of the United States have only once or twice approached 10 per cent of the British total, and this despite the fact that in this country is prodviced the bulk of the raw material consumed throughout the world by this great industry, I deem it clear that many of the results of English perfected methods of manufacture and distribution must be of interest and value to the American manufacturer and merchant. The results of my investiga- tions cover so wide a field and deal with such a number of phases of the subject that I can not clearly indicate them in this letter without unduly extending its length.
It is, however, certain that a yet more close and lengthy investiga- tion of this, the world's center of the cotton-manufacturing industry, will result in the collection of valuable information which will appre- ciably and permanently promote American export growth in cotton fabrications of all classes. Respectfully,
William Whittam, Jr., Special Agent of the Department of Oommerce and Lahor.
To the Secretary of Commerce and Labor,
^yasJlington.
ENGLAND'S COTTON INDUSTRY.
A territory measuring 121,000 square miles, which is less than the area of New Mexico, and supporting 43,660,000 people, is our greatest competitor for the cotton-goods markets of the nonmanufacturing world. Such is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The foreign trade of the Kingdom for 1905 and 1906 shows the fol- lowing remarkable aggregate:
Imports . Exports.
$2, 749, 679, 426 1,983,568,498
1906.
S2, 958, 289, 385 2,241,888,600
Of the enormous value of exports in 1905, $1,310,000,000 was made up of manufactures. The American cotton trade hardly com- prehends the fact that cotton manufactures form more than one- third of this vast outgo of manufactured articles. In truth the most important trade in the world, as well as the largest, is that of cottMi and cotton products, and there is not a doubt that if the makers and distributers of cotton goods in this country had even a fairly accurate conception of the large extent of this foreign trade they would take the necessary steps to secure a fair share of it.
EXPANDING AMERICAN EXPORT TRADE.
The mill man or merchant whose horizon is contracted will doubt- less think that the present period of great demand and satisfactory prosperity in the American home trade is an unpropitious time to bother about trade abroad, seeing that we can not for the present easily supply our home requirements. Taking a view of the baro- metric record of our industry covering a decade or so, the close observer can arrive at no other conclusion than that such an attitude is shortsighted. We rank low as exporters of cotton goods when compared with five or six of our competitors and leaders; there- fore we can not claim to have much knowledge of the general con- ditions of the business outside of our own country. In any search we make for success in this stimulation of export growth we can only be guided by the lamp of experience, and where we have none of our own we must perforce borrow our neighbor's light. It is cer-
7
8 England's cotton industry.
tain that the existing and hitherto unheard of prosperity which th6 cotton trade is indisputably enjoying will not last forever, and when the next period of depression arrives we shall be anxious for sub- stantial foreign connections. It is but common prudence that we should take every possible measure to forestall adversity.
Americans have an undesirable reputation abroad as "dumpers" of surplus stocks whenever their warehouses are overflowing. This is unfortunately a handicap when permanent connections are sought. No amount of academic discussion will sell our goods in new markets, nor enable us to compete successfully with rivals. We must first determine the degree of our competitive efficiency, and if we fall short in any particular look for a remedy to correct the fault. Exam- ining the latest statistics available, those for the calendar year 1906 uncover a comparison not a little disquieting.
COMPARISON OF BRITISH AND AMERICAN EXPORTS.
Great Britain exports every year over 6,000,000,000 yards of cot- ton cloth, or more than our American mills produce. Nor does a comparison of values afford us any greater cause for self-congratula- tion. During the calendar year 1906 Great Britain exported cotton manufactures to the value of $484,000,000. The United States during the same period sent out only $43,000,000 worth. In that year our trade decreased over $13,000,000, while English trade increased $37,000,000. We have often been accused of "carrying all our eggs in one basket," and it is an accusation for which the evidence is con- clusive. Our cloth exports to the Chinese Empire, with the relation they bear to the total exports, for the last tlu-ee years were: In 1904, $14,000,000, or 54 per cent; 1905, $34,000,000, or 70 per cent; 1906, $17,000,000, or 51 per cent.
As a matter of fact, our Chinese trade is fluctuating. In 1905 that country took from us more dollars' worth of cloth than we sent to the whole world during 1906. The statement has been made that the United States dominates the Chinese cotton-goods market; and while this is true so far as sheetings are concerned, it does not hold for all kinds of cottons, as the British export record shows her outgo to China with the percentage of increase over that of the United States, for the same three years to have been: In 1904, $37,000,000, or 167 per cent; 1905, $50,000,000, or 47 per ce:it; 1906, $45,000,000, or 164 per cent. Clearly, but for an unusually brisk home demand, the falling off in our China trade during 1906 would have had a disastrous effect.
BRITISH India's large consumption.
American export trade in cottons can only be developed in countries which have not erected a prefere:-itial tariff barrier against us, and so far we seem to have made no effort to enter the greatest of all neutral
England's cotton industry. 9
markets — British India. That country takes 40 per cent of England's enormous cotton-cloth exports, notwithstanding the fact that India operates 6,000,000 spindles of her own. England sends to India over 2,500,000,000 yards of cloth a year, as against less than 1,000,000,000 yards to all other oriental countries combined. Many statesmen and leaders of public opinion and thought in England predict that sooner or later a commercial empire union will be established between the United Kingdom and her colonies and dependencies, and with it a tariff barrier against the products of the United States and those of every other foreign cotton manufacturing country. Therefore this is the time for United States manufacturers to establish a foreign market for their goods which will not be easily shaken from its foundation.
IMPORTS OF LATIN AMERICA.
Coming nearer nome, and comparing the British sales to the Repub- lics to the south of us on this hemisphere ar-d the islands of the West Indies with our shipments to those countries, it is found that 1906 witnessed a greater trade in cotton goods between those countries and Great Britain than the total American shipments to the entire world. The official records show that cotton cloth shipped by Eng- land to the countries south of the United States in 1906 amounted to 755,000,000 yards, while American shipments during this period to the same countries were 136,000,000 yards. The total United States exports of cotton goods in 1906 were 511,000,000 yards.
Looking further, Mexico, connected with the States by adequate and excellent railroad and steamship facilities, took 25,500,000 yards from England during 1906, and only 2,500,000 yards from the United States. Cuba, which has given us a substantial tariff preference, bought from this country in 1906, only 16,000,000 yards, taking dur- ing the same period nearly 59,000,000 yards from Great Britain.
BRITISH AND AMERICAN EXPORT TRADE IN YARNS.
While cloth forms the bulk of exports to foreign countries, cotton yarns are by no means an unimportant item. During 1906 Eng- land sold abroad over $56,000,000 worth of cotton yarns, as against sales by the Uuited States of rather less than $400,000. In no year have American yarn sales in foreign markets reached 1 per cent of the British total.
One more item and a repetition of totals will complete a compara- tive record which should be kept before the cotton manufacturers and merchants of this country until the record is reversed. British exports of miscellaneous manufactures of cotton in 1906 amounted to more in value by nearly one-half than the total American exports of 7134—07 2
10
England's cotton industky.
cloth, yarn, and all other manufactures. The totals for the calen- dar year 1906 should at least awaken interest in the mercantile sys- tems which enable a country, though remote from the raw material, not only to hold such a trade, but to steadily increase the outgo. The following statement shows the comparative United States and British exports of cotton manufactures in 1906:
|
Articles. |
United States. |
England. |
||
|
Yards. |
Value. |
Yards. |
Value. |
|
|
511,000,000 |
$32,282,000 394,000 10,284,000 |
6,261,000,000 |
55366, 415, 000 |
|
|
57,522,000 |
||||
|
00,129,000 |
||||
|
Total |
42,960,000 |
484, 066, 000 |
||
Thus the country producing the bulk of the world's raw material, and with more than a century's experience in manufacturing, is sell- ing in foreign countries less than 10 per cent of the amount shipped by a competitor situated nearly 4,000 miles from the cotton fields.
FACTORY SYSTEMS AND MANAGEMENT.
An examination may now be made into some of the more important systems in manufacturing and factory management which differ from the practices usually followed in the American cotton trade. Large spinning mills are the rule, the trade in England having arrived at the conclusion that about 100,000 spindles, and rather over than under this number, is the most economical unit. This size of mill , brings down the per pound cost of investment, supervision, and non- productive labor charges. This is more practicable in England than in the United States, owing to the finer average numbers spun. Out of 64 new Lancashire spinning mills only 8 are arranged to spin anything below 20s, and all but 4 of the 64 put most of their product into 40s and upward. This fineness of yarns spun accounts for the relatively small number of bales of cotton used by England's mills considering the large number of spindles operated. England uses between 30 and 35 pounds of cotton per spindle per year, and the annual consumption per spindle has shown a slow but steady decline for several years, indicating that the products of her mills are gradually assuming a finer and lighter character. Continental Europe and Great Britain combined use 70 pounds per spindle per annum.
Contrary to the English trend, and due to the somewhat rapid increase in Southern States spindleage, which usually makes low numbers, the increase in the annual cotton consumption in the United States per spindle has been as follows: In 1880, 70.43 pounds; 1890,78.79 pounds; 1900, 95.33 pounds; 1907, 104 pounds (estimated).
England's cotton industry. 1,1
Lancashire mills are built from a combination of steel, iron, brick, and concrete, known as '^fireproof construction," the machinery being arranged across the mill, and not lengthwise as is customary in Amer- ican practice. Thi& permits a better distribution of light throughout the rooms, and consequently tends to reduce the amount of bad work. As compared with our ''slow-burning" type of mill with wood floors, beams, and posts, and all the changes in lines and levels that follow the warping and shrinking of the timbers and floor- ing of mills so constructed, the English type of building is more rigid. Almost complete absence of vibration of floors is secured, and there- fore better work is possible. Also, owing to greater strength of the steel beams, wider spans are permissible and safe, thus dispensing with many columns and permitting such as are used to be arranged where they are least in the way of the workers. In other words, each factory building can be and is designed to fit the machinery, and this tends to economy in production.
PURCHASE AND SALE OF COTTON.
Lancashire enjoys many advantages in the purchase of raw material, one of which is the greater range of cottons available to her spinners. Where American mills have their selection practically confined to home growths and Egyptian, our trans- Atlantic competitors have, in addition, East Indian, Brazilian, Peruvian, and a considerable number of other varieties to choose from. This frequently enables them to cheapen by mixing or to spin yarns having peculiar characteristics for special purposes. Liverpool, 30 miles from Manchester, is the home of the raw cotton exchange and is England's chief cotton market.
Members of the Liverpool Cotton Association buy or sell for their clients nearly every bale landed in Liverpool. These men are known to the trade as buymg or sellmg brokers. The former confine their business to buying for spinners, while the latter restrict their opera- tions to disposing of cotton for the importer, through a buying broker. Some firms act in both capacities in the same transaction, thus draw- ing a double brokerage; but they are not looked upon with favor. Both brokers are paid a commission of one-half per cent, the owner and the purchaser each paying the firm acting for him. Cotton is sold to the mills for cash in ten days, less one-half per cent discount, any difference which can not be anucably arranged between the dis- putants being referred to an arbitration committee appointed by the association. By this method litigation, with its attendant heavy charges, is avoided. For years the question of moisture in cotton was a bone of contention with the trade. It is now ruled that if any bale contains over 10 per cent of moisture the cotton is unmerchant- able and may be returned to the seller.
12 England's cotton industry.
At the end of last year a new cotton exchange building was opened in Liverpool, costing about $1,750,000. The structure covers more than an acre. The floor of the exchange is 140 feet long by 165 feet wide. The offices and sales rooms of many cotton firms are in the building, as well as the quarters of the Cotton Clearing House and Cotton Bank, which are now combined. On the periodic settling days for "futures" obligations are met by credit vouchers, and all balances are discharged through the Cotton Bank. Standard sam- ples of the grades of every variety of cotton regularly coming to Liv- erpool are kept on hand by the association, and in the offices of each broker the spinner can have corresponding types immediately placed before him.
COTTON MIXING AND EXPERT SELECTION.
It is not uncommon in Lancashire mills for different cottons which approach each other nearly in length of staple to be mixed together when an advantage in price can be gained by so doing or where color, strength, or oozy characteristics are required in yarns for special uses. Considering all the differences in marked features of the available cottons, as well as in their selling prices, it is obvious that the Lancashire spinner has an advantage over his Ameri- can competitor in the production of the many sorts of fabrics demanded by foreign consumers.
The expertness, discriminating skill, and care with which the English spinner selects his cotton is in striking contrast to the care- lessness with which many American cotton spinners make their pur- chases. Except when buying Sea Island, Peeler, and other staple cottons, the merchant in the Southern States, as well as many spinners, when bargaining for Uplands or Gulf cottons, merely opens a handful taken from the bale and classes it by its color and cleanliness, taking into account also any evident damage done in ginning. Before simi- lar cotton reaches the English spinner it has undergone a much more careful examination and revaluation on the basis of its real spinning worth. Buyers abroad spend considerable time over each sample they examine. Knowing the denomination or variety he needs, the foreign spinner next takes into account, when arriving at its value to him, the price asked and the effects of ginning on the physical condi- tion of the lot (this should teach American planters that carefully ginned staple will bring better prices), such faults as cut, nepped, curled, or twisted fibers being looked for. Discoloration, the quanti- ties of leaf, broken seed, fast or unginned seed, sand, and excessive moisture are also considered. Besides these, the length of staple of the shortest sorts is examined, and the comparative strength, silki- ness, and elasticity of the fibers are taken into consideration, not for- getting the bearing that the proportion of short, immature, imper-
England's cotton industry. 13
fectly developed, and unripe fibers will have on the amount of waste made in the mill, as well as the effect the presence of an abnormal proportion of such fibers will have on the strength, elasticity, and general weaving value of the resultant yarns. The exchange issues daily and weekly reports containing quotations, stocks, movements, and a mass of other commercial information of value to the trade. These are printed after business is closed in the afternoon and reach nearly every spinner in the country early next morning.
SPECIALIZATION AND ITS ADVANTAGES.
In Lancashire the cotton industry is highly specialized. Gener- ally the operations of spinning and weaving are conducted in sepa- rate establishments. The manager of a weaving mill frequently knows little, if anything, of a spinning mill, and vice versa. Con- sequently he develops into a more competent man in his specific vocation than the one who is burdened with the superintendence of all the numerous and intricate processes involved in the converting of raw cotton into finished cloth.
There is another advantage which goes with this separation of weaving and spmning operations. The huge spinning mills are as a rule laid out to make counts within a limited range, and they seldom change. This practice makes possible a greater production per spin- dle of a better quality and at a lower cost per pound than is obtain- able in mills spinning a wide range of numbers, necessitating frequent changes. Many other economies follow this plan.
On the other hand, the weaver buying his yarn in the cop has the widest scope. He can quickly and inexpensively change from one make or style of cloth to another, and at any time take advantage of any favorable aspect of the market. Of great importance also is the concentration of the trade within a small area. Everything that can possibly be needed in every process of manufacturing is at hand and can be obtained quickly. Repairs are done by outside machine shops, and thus many of the '' odd hands," so costly yet neces- sary in most American mills remote from populous centers, are there almost unknown.
Broadly speaking, the spinning and weaving, in addition to being conducted in separate factories, are also in the main carried on in different districts. South Lancashire being a spinning area, while weaving is most common in North and East Lancashire. There is still further subdivision, even within the boundaries enumerated, Bolton and Manchester being the centers for fine yarns, such as we use for spool cotton, lace, mercerizing, and kindred purposes, while Oldham and outlying districts mostly spin yarns for weaving. Also, in the weaving trade, Preston and Chdrley districts weave light, medium, and heavy weight fancy goods, Colne and Nelson colored
14 ENGLAND'S COTTON INDUSTRY.
fabrics, while Blackburn and neighborhood make shirtings and dhooties, heavily sized, of which British India takes such enormous quantities.
IMPORTANCE OF ''ROOM AND POWER" BUILDINGS.
Weaving sheds, known as ''room and power" establishments, are numerous and increasing, especially in East Lancashire districts. These consist of the ordinary shed type of weaving room built by companies as an investment and not to operate. They contain either looms, shafting, and motive power, or motive power and shaft- ing only, and are rented in sections to practical weavers on one of three plans, to wit :
First. The tenant rents room and power only, installing his own looms. For this he will pay from $9.15 to $10.80 per loom per year.
Second. Renting room and loom only will cost from $8.40 to $10.80 a year per loom.
Third. Renting room, loom, and power involves a rental ranging between $13.20 and $16.80 per loom a year.
The higher price in each case is charged by the more modern estab- lishments.
There are many instances in England of men who were loom fixers starting on one of the foregoing plans, wife and children operating the first few looms rented, who now own and operate large estab- lishments of their own. This should be an excellent plan to follow in the United States in manufacturing districts where cheap elec- trical power is available. It would undoubtedly lead in the long run 'to that form of specialization which has contributed so much toward Lancashire's present foreign trade' supremacy.
LABOR COST, WAGES, OPERATIVES, AND PRODUCTION.
Figures show the progress in British manufacturing methods and economy. In 1882 it was computed that an average spinning mill employed 5.71 workers to each 1,000 spindles. In 1893 this had dropped to 4.86 persons, while in the modern mills to-day 2.5 persons per 1,000 spindles is considered a maximum. The legal working hours have been reduced in the same period from fifty-six and one- half to fifty-five and one-half weekly. Production per spindle per year rose from 31.5 pounds in 1882 to 32.4 pounds in 1893, reaching 32.8 pounds in 1905, and it is clear that this gain in yield per spindle is really greater than the figures show, because the average counts produced have increased in fineness during the period. The aver- age weekly wages per operative in 1882 were $4.08, in 1893 the rate was $4.56, and at this writing the rate is calculated to be $4.68.
Taking the same data for weaving mills, the hours of labor being
England's cotton industry. 15
the same, the average weekly wages rose from $3.60 in 1882 to $3.96 in 1893, and again to $4.32 in 1905. In this connection it must be said that Lancashire's weaving mills employ a considerable number of children who work in the mill half a day assisting four- loom weavers and attend school the other half day. And, further, there are many more young persons running only two or three looms than are found in American weave rooms. This has a tendency to make the apparent average earnings lower than the circumstances warrant.
In spinning the labor cost per pound has gradually diminished while the earnings of the workers have increased, and there has been a gradual rise in weaving labor cost. In 1882 weaving labor cost averaged 4.6 cents per pound and spinning 3.8 cents. For 1893 weaving was 5.18 cents and spinning 3.2 cents a pound, while during 1905 weaving had risen to 5.26 cents and spinning had dropped to 3 cents. The increase in weaving cost is due, it is said, in part to a general advance in wages, but principally to the rapidly growing trade in fancy weaves and finer and more expensive cloths. Pro- duction per loom per year in pounds grew from 1,806 in 1882 to 1,866 in 1893, reaching 1,895 in 1905.
OFFICIAL PIECEWORK PRICE LISTS — WEAVING.
Mule spinners, weavers, and those employed in the processes pre- paratory to weaving have long been paid by piecework. The lists have been standardized and agreed upon by representatives dele- gated from the employers' and operatives' associations. Expressed concisely, the standard upon which the weaving prices, or " uniform list" as it is termed, are based is an ordinarily made loom, 45 inches in the reed space, measured from the filling fork grate on one side to the backboard on. the other, weaving cloth as follows:
Width: 39, 40, or 41 inches.
Reed (sley): 60 reed, 2 ends in one dent, or 60 ends per inch.
Picks: 15 picks per quarter inch, as ascertained by arithmetical calculation, with 1| per cent added for contraction.
Length of piece: 100 yards of 36 inches measured on the counter. Any length of lap other than 36 inches to be paid in proportion.
Warp: 28s or any finer numbers.
Filling: 31s to 100s, both inclusive.
Price: 60 cents per piece, or 4 cents per pick.
MULE-SPINNING PRICES.
Mule spinners in different districts work under dissimilar lists, based upon unlike principles. Each one, however, has for its object the fixing of a moderately elastic minimum weekly wage depending upon the number of spindles attended by the "minder" and the
16 E^STGLAND 's COTTON INDUSTRY,
amount of work he has to perform. Until within recent years the spindles in the Oldham district were engaged almost altogether in the production of yarns below 50s, Bolton and Manchester making the higher, medium, and fine counts. In the Preston district a wider range of numbers was being spun when the list was compiled, there- fore this list is taken for an example. The standard for filling is that 85 J cents shall be paid for 100 pounds of 32s spun on mules with 640 spindles in each mule, and for warp 92^ cents for 100 pounds of 30s on mules with 540 spindles in each mule. One cent is added for every 20 spindles from 600 downward and one-half cent is deducted from 600 to 900 spindles on filling mules. For warp 1 cent is added for every 20 spindles below 500 and above 500 one- half cent is deducted up to 800 spindles. The standard turns per inch for filling is 3.25 times the square root of the counts and 3.75 for warp, and it is provided that all extra turns are to be paid for at the rate of two-thirds the proportion. When filling is spun on warp mules, 5 per cent is allowed, except when the speed of the spindle is the same as the speed of filling spindles which may be operating in the same mill on the same counts.
NEW CARD-ROOM OPERATIVES LIST.
After a decade or more of dissatisfaction and friction and three years of negotiation between employers' and operatives' associations a universal standard list has this year (1907) been adopted for card and picker room operatives. It defines standard lengths of frames and hanks, regulates the helpers' and doffers' wages for standard lengths, and deals also with increased and reduced spindleage, joiner tenters, and double-geared frames. The following figures will be of interest ;
Standard lengths: Slubber, 84 spindles; intermediate, 124 spindles; rover, 164 spindles.
Counts: Coarse, below 3^ hank roving; medium, 3^ to 8 hank roving, both inclu- sive; fine, above 8 hank roving. Below 3J to 3 hank roving, 5 per cent to be added to medium counts wages. Below 3 hank roving, 10 per cent to be added to medium counts wages. Above 8 hank roving, 5 per cent to be deducted from medium counts wages.
These additions and reduction apply to both big and little tenters. The complete list is too lengthy to be incorporated in this report. The foregoing, giving as it does English standard lengths of frames, defining coarse, medium, and heavy hank rovings, and detailing the percentages of additions and deductions for different hanks, will give the American spinner a conception of the differences in wage value encountered by the English spinner.
England's cotton industry. 17
growth of colne and nelson.
Colne, with 25,000 population, and Nelson are two Lancashire towns which have grown amazingly in the last two decades. Forty years ago Nelson, or Marsden, as it was then named, was little more than a crossroads settlement. Now it is a municipahty of no mean importance, with a population of 38,000, and one of the most aggres- sively industrial towns in the textile manufacturing districts. Nel- son has no parallel in either Lancashire or Yorksliire in so far as its almost magical progress goes. Instead of a handful of people eking out an uncertain living, there has been built up an industrial com- munity working under conditions which continue to command the admiration of every student of industrial evolution in the United Kingdom. The increase, indeed its very existence, is due to the growth of v/eaving sheds and "loom and power" establishments. Here is the center of England's colored-goods industry, and this branch of the trade also has a recognized standard list for weaving colored goods, differing from the list for gray and fancy fabrics pro-^ vided for in the "uniform list," so called.
COLORED GOODS LIST.
The standard upon which the price for plain and striped goods is based is as follows :
Cloth: 28, 29, or 30 inches in width.
Reed: 52 to 64, both inclusive, or 26 to 32 dents per inch, 2 ends in a dent.
Length: 74 yards of warp, 36 inches to the yard.
Filling: 16s or any finer counts.
Price: 3 cents per pick.
The standard upon which the price for checks is based is 70 yards of warp, 4 cents per pick. In all other particulars the same as the standard for plain and striped goods.
REEDS.
Reeds: 52 to 65, inclusive, or 26 to 32 dents per inch, 2 ends in a dent being taken as the standard.
Above 64 to 70, add 2 per cent; above 70, an additional 1 per cent for each extra dent or 2 ends per inch.
Below 52 down to and including 46, deduct 2 per cent, and below 46, 3 per cent, beyond which no further deduction shall be made.
The standard, being 28, 29, or 30 inches, is reckoned equal.
For each inch below 28, three-fourths per cent is to be deducted down to 20 inches, beyond which no further deduction shall be made.
Above 30 inches up to and including 36, 1 per cent per inch is to be added. Above 36 to 40, IJ per cent, and above 40, 2J per cent per inch. 7134—07 3
18
ENGLAND S COTTON INDUSTRY.
The construction of cotton goods in England is always given in warp ends and picks per quarter inch. Therefore the price of 4 cents per pick given in the uniform list means that as the standard cloth has 15 picks per quarter inch, the price for weaving 100 yards is 15 times 4, or 60 cents. Similarlj^, in the standard list for colored goods, the price being 3 cents per pick for stripes and 4 cents per pick for checks, if a piece had 20 picks to the quarter inch, the price for weaving 74 yards of striped cloth, that length being the standard in this case, would be 60 cents, and 80 cents for 70 yards of checks or plaids. Pieces are sometimes woven and measured by lengths other than 36 inches, common odd lengths being 36i inches to the "lap" and 36.9 inches or the trade ''long stick." Again, 35-inch units are sometimes ordered. This explains the term "lap" in the list, and it should be further explained that whenever the actual 36-inch yard is deviated from proportionate additions or reductions are made in the weaving price. Practically every possible variation involving more or less work is provided for in these elaborate schedules, and thus many otherwise unavoidable disputes between employer and employee are prevented.
SPOOLING AND WARPING PRICES.
Spooling. — As Burnley is the print-cloth manufacturing center of England, the prices paid there for spooling and warping furnish an excellent base from which the American manufacturer can calculate his relative labor cost for this sort of work. The Burnley lists for spooling 60 pounds of warp yarn are as follows:
|
Twist. |
Cents. |
Twist. |
Cents. |
|
16s to 18s |
30 33i 351 37i 40 1 43 |
40s to 42s |
46 |
|
20s to 22s |
44s to 48s |
49 |
|
|
24s to 26s - |
50s 1 0 52s 64s to 58s |
52 |
|
|
28s to 30s |
55 |
||
|
32s to 34s |
60s to 62s |
58 |
|
|
36s to 38s. |
|||
Intermediate counts not named above are in proportion. Tlie spoolers' wages rise and fall along with weavers' wages.
Warping. — For warping 400 ends, 17,500 yards, 5 wraps, the pay- ment is as follows:
For creeling, 8 cents per beam and 8 cents for eack wrap, iiTespective of counts of warp.
For every 10 ends or fraction thereof, 1 cent up or down, but no deduction below 370 ends, thus: For 400 ends, 5 wraps, 17,500 yards, the price will be 48 cents per beam, including creeling; for 441 to 450 ends, the price will be 53 cents per beam, including creeling; for 379 ends and below, the price will be 45 cents per beam, including creeling. The operative will be required to turn the beam backward to find broken ends.
The warpers' wages to rise and fall along with weavers' wages.
England's cotton industry.
19
Seeing that the element of labor forms such a large part of the total cost of cotton manufactures, the standard prices here given and those given in previous reports will go a long way toward assisting American manufacturers to determine whether their piecework labor costs per pound or yard are higher or lower than those paid by their chief competitor in foreign markets. It can not be gainsaid that many of our mills making gray goods which come within the range of exports in greatest demand have a very considerable labor-cost advan- tage over their trans-Atlantic competitors. This lead is due to the extensive use of the automatic loom, and the advantage ought to be made to tell as strongly as possible before like labor-saving and cost- reducing devices come into as common use abroad as they now are in the United States.
twist and speeds.
There are other practices in Lancashire mills which differ mate- rially from established American methods. In the carding depart- ments the}'" do not aim at so high an output from each machine as the American spinner generally does, contending that slower speeds and greater care are more than compensated for by savings in waste, a larger spinning production, and improved quality from cheaper cotton. In the spinning, spindle speeds are, if anything, "slightly higher in the United States, and the number of turns per inch put in the 3^arn less in England than in the United States. Take two lead- ing authorities, whose tables are general!}' followed as standard prac- tice, and consider 36s ring-frame warp yarn (a good medium count) as given below:
|
British. |
American. |
British. |
American. |
||
|
Spindle speed |
9,500 24.00 |
10,200 28.17 |
Revolutions of front roll . . . Pounds per 60 hours |
' 132 1.26 |
114 |
|
1.08 |
|||||
The foregoing shows an advantage of nearly 15 per cent in produc- tion in favor of English mills.
Another claim made by English manufacturers in favor of softer twisted warp yarn is that while the breaking strength is not so great as that of American-spun yarns, it is sufficient for their purpose, not- withstanding they run looms not a little faster than our looms are operated. They further maintain that the harder twisted yarn gives a doth of bare and boardy appearance and makes it so harsh to the feel that their customers would strongly object to goods so made, adding that American spinners sacrifice production to unnecessary strength. Very careful attention is given in many English weaving rooms to the accurate timing ajid setting of the several motions of the loom to reduce the strain on the warp and to impart the best "cover" or "clothy" feel to the fabrics.
20 ENGLAND ^S COTTON INDUSTRY.
AMERICAN IMPORTS OF ENGLISH-SPUN YARNS.
Many conflicting statements have been made by British cotton- yarn exporters and their American representatives to account for the continued importation into the United States of Enghsh mercerized yarns in medium and fine numbers. Some say that it is due to the present extensive home demand for the products of our domestic mills, but the general belief seems to be that, price for price, the for- eign product is a more evenly spun, stronger, and more elastic yarn, carrj^ing a better finish. The English mercerizers of fine counts gen- erally " prepare " their skeins on the '' preparing " machine described in a previous report, an illustration of which is in the reference files of the Bureau of Manufactures.
It would be wise for American spinners, twisters, and mercerizers to see that the undoubted and long-prevailing preference in America for foreign-spun mercerized, curtain, and lace yarns of the higher numbers is overcome by meeting the quality of the imported yarns in every characteristic which is responsible for their priority. The yarns are sold by the maker direct to shippers who have an estab- lished trade abroad, the latter receiving 2^ per cent discount, but payment must be made in fourteen days to secure this rebate. Other profits earned by the shipper come from the enhanced prices at which he resells the yarn. Not infrequently the orders of the export houses are placed through a yarn agent in Manchester, who is paid a com- mission of one-half per cent if he merely acts as a broker, disclosing his customer's identity, without being responsible for the payment of the account. On the other hand, should the agent have recognized financial standing and guarantee the account he is paid a commission of IJ per cent.
THE TWINER AS AN ECONOMICAL TWISTER. .
That "a mule cop is like a good soldier, always ready to go any- where," is a Lancashire saying, born perhaps of the necessity of ship- ping yarns from spinner to weaver. The same cause is responsible for the development of the ''twiner." Two-ply yarns for weaving are often twisted in England on a " twiner," a machine built on the principle of the self-acting mule, but so modified that it is a doubling instead of a spinning machine. Its advantages are that it twists direct from the cop or ring frame bobbin, thus doing away with the operation of spooling. The doubled yarn is built into a large cop which can be shipped anywhere, and thus dispenses in many instances with reeling and rewinding. It is obvious, then, that much expense is saved by this process, and the cost of such fabrics as will admit of the use of twiner yarn is therefore materially reduced. Not only is this so, but the actual operation of doubling by this process is so much less costly
England's cotton industry. 21
that twiner yarns of 20s, 2-ply, are usually sold, quality for quality, at 1 cent a pound less than ring-frame twisted skeins. Ply yarns doubled on the twiner go in considerable volume to India, China, Japan, Holland, Turkey, and Egypt.
CONDITIONING YARNS AX IMPORTANT PROCESS.
There are many usages which have become firmly fixed in British and European spinning and manufacturing methods which are as yet quite neglected by the American trade, one of Avhich is of leading importance. All cotton yarns spun in England are "conditioned." So firmly is this process fixed in the trade that if a purchaser of yarns insists for any reason on their delivery immediately after they are spun he is charged 5 per cent extra for the material "hot off the spindle," as it is locally known -in Lancashire. "Conditioning" is a very apt term for the process, although when first instituted, some forty or fifty years ago, the onh' intention of the spinner was to deceive his customer and defraud him through the weight of the added water. As matters stand in present practice cumulative expe- rience has demonstrated that yarns properly so treated improve materially in strength, sometimes as much as 10 per cent. Elasticity, a most important attribute in subsequent manipulation, is also increased. The tendency of the yarn to kink and curl in after handling is almost entirely done away with, and the appearance of the yarn is decidedly helped. Granting all these gains in value — and they are beyond question — it follows that to the purchaser "conditioned" stuff is asuperior article to that unconditioned. Nor can it be denied that filling so treated weaves with less stoppage of the loom from breakages; hence less waste is made, a greater loom production obtained, and a cloth produced with a better feel and more desirable merchantable appearance.
So much for the buyer of the "conditioned" yarn. The spinner or maker gains the weight of water added, as well as a better reputation as a producer of a high-class product. Raw cotton in a normally dry condition contains an important percentage of moisture, the "water of hydration," which is just as much a part of the fiber as the car- bon and other elements entering into its chemical composition. The spinner pays for this natural moisture when he purchases the raw cotton, but a considerable percentage of it is driven off by the heat of the workrooms while the material is being carded and spun into yarn, figuring in the waste account as "invisible loss" unless after- wards replaced in the conditioning basement.
PERCENTAGE OF NATURAL MOISTURE LOST.
I have frequently taken 100 pounds of raw cotton, 10 pounds from each of 10 bales which had been stored, sometimes for months, in a dry warehouse inside the main mill building, and spread it out
22 England's cotton industey.
loose on the floor of the card room for twenty-four hours. After reweighing the lots they would show losses from. 3 to 4^ per cent. If more proof is needed than that already adduced that "condi- tioning" does improve the weaving, spooling, and warping qualities of the material, it is found in the fact that foreign weaving firms who spin their own yarns almost without exception "condition" them before they enter any other process after leaving the spinning room. Indeed, many American spinning and weaving mills have found it absolutely necessary to do something to make their filling weave even fairly well. Most of them have resorted to "steaming" the cops and bobbins. This is a quick but otherwise objectionable process, destrojdng, as it does, the waxy covering of the fibers, not permitting the moisture to penetrate the thread thoroughlj^, and not infrequently developing stains in the cloth woven from filling so treated.
AMOUNT OF moisture PERMISSIBLE.
As to the percentage of gain in weight from moisture now considered permissible the opinions of spinners and weavers vary as between one class and another, and like differences of opinion also exist between individual weavers and spinners. As near as could be learned, ignor- ing extremists on both sides, from 5 to 7 per cent represents the general view. Taking the average as 6 per cent — and this is a reasonable figure — American spimiers will quickly be struck with the gain that their British competitors make in the "conditioning" process. In a 20,000-spindle mill making 20s, 2-ply, worth say 25 cents a pound, this 6 per cent conditioning on a production of 2j pounds per spindle represents an annual gain of $33,750. A practical spin- ner or weaver would at once conclude that the practice described would be open to serious abuse. This is so, but the presence of any percentage of moisture above that generally accepted as being honest to both spinner and user and serviceable to the material is readily detected, effective punishment being at the same time administered to the wrongdoer. To illustrate: One mill built but a few years ago was inspected, which, in spite of the prevailing unusual trade prosperity, has never paid a dividend. Inquiry on the exchange in Manchester disclosed the fact that, in the beginning at least, this concern had earned a reputation for unheard-of heavy loss in weight after its yarns r6ached the purchaser, due solely to overconditioning. In spite of all their later efforts to keep within established limits, the unenviable reputation had not been lived down long enough to enable them to attain the position they should have held from the beginning.
If no more than 6 per cent is added this amount will be retained, as it belongs to the fiber and was present when the spinner bought his cotton. It is not possible to arrive at any other conclusion than
England's cotton industry. 23
that foreign buyers have for a generation or more bought yarns so treated, and if we are to compete in a close market we can not afford to give our competitors 6 per cent start, already handicapped as we are by their present hold on the trade and our own exclusion therefrom.
DIFFERENCES IN TYPES OF LOOMS.
Two striking differences in loom construction as compared with the ordinary American type of machine are common. In English mills, except for weaving heavy cloth, the '^overpick" loom, with a loose reed, is in general use. It is contended by the Lancashire weaver that he can run liis looms at decidedly greater speeds, adjust the pick to a greater nicety, and better avoid costly "smashes" from trapped shuttles than would be possible with the underpick and fast-reed style of loom, which is in general use in the United States.
ADVANTAGE IN WEAVING NARROW GOODS AS '' SPLITS."
The weaving of ''splits" has given our British competitors a decided advantage when selling narrow fabrics in neutral foreign markets. "Splits" are cloths woven with one or more practically perfect selvages in addition to the two outside ones, and capable, when taken from the loom, of being split into two perfect pieces by cutting between the middle selvages, which are made by the attach- ment of a very simple special motion, or they may be woven with "doup harness." There is considerable economy in the practice, and as it is common in England and almost nonexistent in the United States, it deserves the serious attention of such of our manufacturers as desire to extend their export connections in the face of the rapidly growing competitive power of Great Britain. To demonstrate the economy of this method of weaving, a fabric 26 J inches wide, 150 yards, 64 by 64, warp 36s, filling 38s, when woven in a narrow loom, would cost tVo-thirds of a cent per yard more than if woven as "split" 53 inches wide, a margin equivalent to 10 per cent saving on the total cost of the piece.
NECESSITY OF MANUFACTURING STANDARD FABRICS.
The American cotton trade has yet much to learn and many more varieties of goods to manufacture before our exports can attain a high rank in the comparative scale of competitive manufacturing countries. Broadly speaking, American mills make fabrics suitable for but one great oriental market, and even in China we do-iittle out- side of two or three sorts. Whenever anything happens to mate- rially check demand in the Celestial Empire certain sections of our
24 England's cotton industry.
cotton manufacturing industry suffer correspondingly. wSome time has elapsed since the Boxer uprising, yet there are few whose interests were involved who have forgotten the commercial disturbance it caused. Long experience has made it plain that any reasonable degree of stability in exterior trade can only be maintained when such goods are manufactured as sell readih' and are standard in many countries. Trade dullness in one country will then usually be compensated for b}^ activity in others using the same class of goods. Details of the many kinds of standard fabrics which are used from China to Peru can not be here given, only sized goods and dhooties and a few fancy weaves being described. Full particulars regarding all important sorts have been given in earlier reports.
SIZED GOODS AND DHOOTIES.
Medium and heavy sized gray cloths are of especial interest. It is estimated that nearly 500,000 Lancashire looms, or two-thirds of the total, are engaged in the production of cloth carrying over 40 per cent of size in the warp. Indeed, gray goods form 37 per cent of Britain's total exports of piece goods. This class of goods is important to the managers of American cotton mills; first, because it shows the greatest field for trade expansion and one as yet prac- tically untouched and certainly unworked by the textile concerns of the United States; and, second, because more than half the enor- mous over seas takings can be profitabl}'' made by them and shipped direct from the loom to the foreign purchaser. At the present time the United States produces nothing that will meet the requirements of the user of sized goods. Neither in ''feel" nor appearance do any of the regular products of American mills approach those goods of competitors which have an established reputation of long stand- ing. Many American firms export grays or browns, but despite their higher intrinsic worth, due to their comparative freedom from adulteration, they sell reasonably near the same prices as British medium-sized cloths; yet, as will be obvious to every manufacturer, the added weighting material in the foreign commodity materially reduces its cost to produce; and, so long as the purchaser not only is satisfied but prefers the weighted fabric on account of its fullness and feel, American manufacturers can not hope to grapple with their foreign rivals with any satisfactory measure of success unless they turn their attention to similar manufactures.
STANDARD INDIA SHIRTING AND DHOOTIES.
To illustrate the saving, a standard S^-pound India shirting, 39 inches wide, 64 by 60, and 374 yards long, the warp being sized 100 per cent, is taken, and it is found that the cost is reduced 1 cent a yard by the weighting, and this is no mean consideration in India.
England's cotton industky. 25
While such weighted goods as sheetings, T cloths, domestics, Mexi- cans, madapollams, Wigans, and drills are standard fabrics, they are shipped to China, Aden, Turkey, India, Japan, Oceania, South America, and the Levant. On the other hand, dhooties go only to the East Indies, West Africa, and near-by territories. Dhooties comprise an important percentage of England's immense trade in cotton goods with India. How considerable a proportion this is may be gathered from the importation of cotton goods of British origin by the province of Bombay. During the six months ended June, 1905, a total of 6,528,851 pieces were recorded, 1,874,401 of which, or slightly over 28 per cent, being dhooties made up of 1,412,757 pieces classed as gray and 461,644 pieces white or bleached. The white dhooties are woven from gray yarns, the colored borders and headings being composed of dyed yarns which will stand bleach- ing. It may be pointed out that this great trade is absolutely untouched by American manufacturers. During 1906 Bombay imported only 22 per cent of the gray goods taken by British India from England. This shows the enormous trade in this kind of cloth. Taking proportion as the only method available to get at the total, approximately 13,000,000 pieces is estimated as the East Indian imports of dhooties for the year. Before leaving this subject atten- tion is directed to the somewhat amazing fact that India, with a population of less than 290,000,000, imported in the fiscal year 1906 over $141,000,000 worth of cotton cloths and yarns, taking the first place among oriental consumers of cottons, with China and her 400,000,000 people rather a bad second. This suggests that not only ought we to assiduously cultivate the market of East India, but if American-made cottons were exploited in China as vigorously as the British products have been pushed in India the size of the trade which could be developed in the Celestial Empire would be almost beyond belief.
India's imports not all consumed at home.
If the importations of India are examinea from a standpoint of per capita consumption the official statistics must be modified to meet the trading with contiguous countries which have no seaboard of their own. For instance, the transfrontier trade between India and Afghanistan during 1906 showed exports from India amounting to 10,500,000 rupees, and transfrontier exports to Nepal valued at 15,500,000 rupees (rupee, 32 cents). To these must be added the comparatively small value of commerce of like character between India and Bhutan. As the item of greatest importance in these transactions is cotton manufactures, it is obvious that the takings of British India are not all consumed in that country. At the same 7134—07 4
26 England's cotton industry.
time, considering also the enormous production of hand-spun and woven cottons, India is far ahead of any other oriental country in the use of factory-made fabrics. It is, however, probable that when the hundreds of millions of Chinese are led to abandon their use of cloths house made from native-grown cotton in favor of the modern factory output the demand of that country for European and American fabrics will be greater in both total volume and per capita consumption than the present takings of India.
The shipper in Manchester gives the maker full particulars of the counts of warp and filling, sley and pick, width and length, and either the required weight of the finished piece or the percentage of size to be added. In this way the abuses and dishonesty of thirty or forty years ago have been almost entirely corrected and abolished. For the last two or three decades this important section of the trade has been carried on with nearly complete freedom from fraud.
permanent demand for brown cottons.
For many purposes, especially in tropical and semitropical coun- tries, there is a permanent demand for brown cotton cloths at prices which can only be met by the addition of size to the warp, and as these goods are never washed they serve for certain purposes fully as well and possibly better than the open and bare pure-sized sorts of equal counts of yarn and ends per inch. In the United States one occasionally hears the justice of this practice questioned, but enough has been said in these reports to justify the making of cotton stuffs to meet any demand. To a consumer earning but a few cents a day a difference of 1 cent a yard on a 15-yard loin cloth is an important consideration, and such a reduction can only be brought about by the addition to the cloth of cheaper substances than cotton.
There is a slow but noticeable decrease in the output of the very heaviest sized cloths, due, it is said, to the slowly increasing pur- chasing power of the people who use them. They are thus able to pay slightly more for goods containing more cotton and less foreign matter. The pith of the matter is, however, that for very many years the consumption of weighted goods will be enormous, and that they can be made by a large number of American mills at a figure which will yield a profit to their owners and place the cloths so made at least on a price level with the products of those who now control the numerous markets in which the goods are sold. In earlier reports the details of manufacture of the various standard sized cloths named were presented, and emphasis is here given to both the importance and the fairness of the practice of sizing in the making of goods for special purposes and to meet the demand in certain foreign markets.
England's cotton industky. 27
sizing warps and filling cotton cloths.
Size is applied to the warp in the ''slashing machine" in all mills making uncolored goods, and it will require few if any changes, and these of a minor character, to the "slashers" now working in Ameri- can mills to enable them to take up the manufacture of medium and heavy sized cotton textiles. About the only outlay of capital required is for suitable size-mixing apparatus. In English practice sizing is classified under four heads, each embracing fabrics carrying a certain range of size percentages, the grouping being: (1) Pure sizing, carrying up to 15 per cent on the warp; (2) light sizing, carry- ing 15 to 30 per cent on the warp; (3) medium sizing, carrying 30 to 55 per cent on the warp; (4) heavy sizing, carrying 55 per cent and upward on the warp. In bleached and dyed- cloths, both plain and fancy woven, Great Britain has a very large export trade.
To bring dyed and bleached goods of the cheaper kinds within the reach of the poorer classes in foreign countries, British dyers and bleachers very often "fill" their goods, thus giving them an extra weight or "body," and catering to the known preference of the ultimate wearer of the cloth for a fabric finished in this manner. It is just as essential for our bleachers and dyers to be prepared to furnish finishes to the specifications of foreign buyers as it is for our weavers to stand ready to make goods in strict compliance with instructions supplied by the purchaser. So in printed calicoes. We must adjust methods so as to be ready to supply at least any standard designs used abroad, even if they do not find any sale in the home market.
CLASSIFICATION OF EXPORTS.
It is not necessary to dilate upon the kinds of goods which form the bulk of our outgo further than to say that during the calendar year 1906 we shipped abroad 511,129,000 yards of cotton cloth, and to add that, with the exception of 141,796,000 yards, this was all gray goods, only 120,600,000 yards being dyed or printed, and but 21,196,000 yards bleached. On the other hand, during the same year Great Britain sold to foreign consumers 2,325,752,000 yards of gray cloth, 1,684,540,000 yards of bleached cloth, 1,131,596,000 yards of printed cloth, and 1,119,406,000 yards of dyed cloth. As British trade in these commodities dominates the markets of the world, it may be taken as a barometer of the requirements of foreign users, and it will be seen that the relative importance of the different classes of goods is in the order above given.
AMERICAN MILLS AND AMERICAN PURCHASES.
In previous reports it was pointed out that American mills, so far as immediate trade expansion abroad is concerned, are in a better
28 England's cotton industry.
position to exploit the market for the gray goods, as these form the principal item of exports. But as bleached goods are made up of con- verted plain and fancy woven gray goods, it follows that they are the next easiest means of approach to the trade we are anxious to acquire; and 3^et, as the statistics herein given show, we have as yet barely touched the fringe of this second important classification. Looking at the reverse side of the question and reflecting upon American imports of cotton cloth, it is quite conservative to say that most of the cotton piece goods we purchase abroad could be made equally well and at a profit- in our own mills. In a Lancashire weaving shed were shown a large number of looms at work on a very fine grade of plain cloth, all of which is sent to the United States to be used for typewriter ribbons, the construction being 128 sley, 160 picks to the inch, the warp being 80s combed Sea Island, and the filling 110s combed Egpytian. In the manufacture of these goods the greatest care had to be exercised, as the purchaser had reserved the right to reject any piece which he considered not up to his high standard. Counting the seconds thrown out by the mill and the rejections of the Manchester exporter, only 25 per cent of the goods made were accepted; but practically 95 per cent of the pieces rejected were sold to other buyers at the ruling price for goods of this construction. The American buyer was willing to pay a fancy price for perfect goods, and the manufacturer further said that this price was so far above the market that it paid him handsomely for the extra trouble he had to take. From time to time a large number of samples of gray, white, colored, fancy, and printed cloths have been sent to the Bureau of Manufactures, in order that our manufacturers may inspect them.
FABRICS SOLD IN MANY COUNTRIES.
A large proportion of the kinds of goods which are marked as sell- ing in the British home market are also shipped in greater or lesser volume to South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. One striking feature of the ultimate destination of the wide variety of fab- rics dealt with in former reports is that one sort often goes to widely scattered markets. At the expense of repetition, it must be empha- sized that this affords an excellent balance wheel for the trade, for should there be a trade disturbance in one country it may, and often is, compensated for by activity in another market far removed.
waste as a by-product.
During the calendar year 1906 the United States exported 40,500,000 pounds of cotton waste, valued at over $2,000,000, aver- aging in price over 5 cents per poimd. All this by-product forms
englak'd's cotton industky. 29
raw material for European manufacturers and is converted by them into yarns and fabrics of one sort or another. I have pro- cured samples made from waste products (described at the end of this report on the cotton industry) of cloth napped on both sides and afterwards printed — a sort of fiannelet — and also of Wigan waste twills. Waste yarns are also spun for making blankets, tapes, cords, candle wicks, sponge cloths, sanitary napkins, cheap twilled sheets, and cretonnes. Innumerable are the mixtures of wastes used by dif- ferent spinners to get results. Special machinery built on the ''woolen" principle is most commonly used to do this work, and while the data relating to the machinery employed and its operation are readil}' obtained, much secrecy surrounds the operations of preparing and mixing the materials. Novelty yarns are made from waste mostly in Germany and Belgium, and in Yorkshire the waste yarns are spun to be incorporated into cheap so-called woolen fabrics. A catalogue of machinery built for the manipulation of cotton waste, together with samples to show some of the kinds of waste yarns offered on the Man- chester market, have been sent to the Bureau of Manufactures. The samples are one large coarse mule cop made from all low-grade waste; two cops of finer counts made from a mixture of low Indian (Surat) cotton and waste, and skeins of 4s and 2s mule yarn, all waste. Although the mule preponderates as the type of machine for spinning waste, spinning frames are also made which spin from carding engine condenser bobbins. It is gratifying to have the assurance that the American cotton trade is becoming alive to this field for profitable investment, which is not yet fully exploited in this country. All our cotton-waste product ought to be manufactured in American mills, and it is gratifying to learn that a number of orders for waste- machinery equipment have been placed this year.
PREPARING GOODS FOR MARKET.
It is seldom that the Lancashire weaver of cloth pays any further attention to his goods after they leave the mill warehouse. If for converting purposes, whether bleaching, printing, or piece dyeing, they are shipped to a converting establishment designated by the purchaser, who also instructs the finisher as to design, finish, color required, etc. On low-count goods, about 52 by 28, 36 inches wide, the converters charge one-half cent per j^ard for bleaching, while on goods from 52 by 52 to 84 by 84 the charge would be about three- fourths cent per yard. The charge on heavy goods over 84 by 84 would be approximately 1 cent per yard if we were to assume that the yarns would be about 36s warp and 40s filling. A closer approximation of the cost of bleaching for actual goods can be obtained from the
30 ENGLAND "S COTTON INDUSTEY.
particulars of the samples which are at the Bureau of Manufactures. The charge for printing, as is well known, is modified by so many conditions that it is somewhat difficult to convey even an approxi- mate idea of the cost, but it is learned that the price for this work on some of the printed samples sent, which range from 48 inches to 56 inches wide, is from 2 J to 2f cents per yard, the cost varj^ing accord- ing to the colors and the number of shades to be printed on the goods. Again, in the matter of dyeing piece goods there is a wide differ- ence in the cost, but from the particulars of the samples, and an examination of the samples themselves, American manufacturers can obtain accurate information as to the cost of this kind of work in Lancashire. Some of the colored samples are put through a process which is technically known as ''shrinning." This is to obtain a glossed or polished finish, which is shown in some of the samples. By general trade custom among dyers, the minimum quantity which they will take to dye at regular prices is 10 pieces of 60 yards of each shade, or the equivalent length of this number of pieces. Many of the samples submitted may be either bleached or dyed in various colors, and when fabrics suitable for either purpose are sent to the finisher, common colors are usually charged one-fourth cent per yard (single width) above bleached, and blacks one-half cent per yard (single width, more than the charge for bleaching.
MAKING UP AND PACKING.
It is quite common for bleachers, printers, or dyers to be requested to make up and pack the finished pieces into cases or bales ready for export, so that when they are delivered at the merchant's Manchester warehouse it is not necessary for him to open the packages, the fin- isher, of course, charging for this extra work. As an illustration, a piece of medium goods, 33 inches wide, 68 by 70, bleached, made up, and packed ready for export would cost the merchant about 1 cent per yard. At other times the converter is ordered to make up the pieces into bolts, ticketed, tied, and delivered to the Manchester warehouse, where they are simply made up into assorted packages ready for shipment abroad. The price for doing such work is obviously vari- able, but can be found for different classes of goods made up for various markets on the tickets of the samples previously referred to.
ENGLISH DISTRIBUTING SYSTEM AND THE ROYAL EXCHANGE.
Manchester is the business center, and the work of manufacturing and distributing are separated completely, the home trading house standing between the maker and the retailer, while so-called shipping houses act in like manner as middlemen between the mills and foreign
England's cotton industry. 31
purchaser. All these houses have their offices in Manchester, and the Royal Exchange, with a membership of over 8,000, is in the very heart of the city, where practically the whole of England's great home and foreign cotton yarn trading is done. In effect, every mill in the country has its representative there each Tuesday and Friday — the two principal market days. The yarn spinner sells and the weaver buys his yarn on 'change. Machinery makers, supply dealers, yarn and cloth agents congregate on the floor to the number of 5,000 or 6,000 for two or three hours on market days.
EcoNOM;r IN distribution.
It is a magnificent system for economizing in expense of distribu- tion. Consider an example: The representative of a shipping house wishes to fill an order for, say, printed calicoes. On 'change he finds many weavers of this class of goods. The goods are purchased in the gray. He next finds a printer and bargains with him as to price, pattern, and delivery. The weaver then turns to the spinner and purchases the yarn to make the order, which, when completed, is shipped by the weaver to the printer, who in turn delivers it finished to the shipper's warehouse, where the lot is examined, labeled, folded, packed, etc., by men who thoroughly understand the tariff require- ments of the countries to which the goods are to be shipped as well as the requirements of the purchaser abroad. So far as spinners and weavers go, Manchester business is done on practically a cash basis, terms being 2 J per cent off fourteen days. It is safe to say that not 5 per cent of the English cotton manufacturers are directly engaged in foreign trade, and these are firms of long standing, making fancy goods and specialties. The shipper, with his established connections in and salesmen covering many countries, buys from the manufac- turer on the usual terms. Leaving the maker of merchandise to attend to his particular duties, the shipping firm shoulders the long credits, packing, invoicing, and all details which make a manufacturer shud- der when explained to him. Many of these firms have their head- quarters in foreign countries, having come to Manchester simply because there they can most advantageously buy every kind of cotton product needed, made to meet the tastes, uses, and pocketbooks of their customers.
EFFECTIVENESS OF MANCHESTER'S ORGANIZATION.
The good and effective work done by the Manchester Chamber of Commerce can not be overlooked. With active committees and a paid secretary and staff that watch closely measures or develop- ments of every kind at home and abroad which will in any way affect adversely the industry or commerce of their district not only by
32 England's cotton industey.
correspondence, but by personal work do they strive to strengthen their commercial position, and they also fight with vigor every at- tempt to curtail their existing privileges. As the cotton trade is the backbone of Manchester's prosperity, the officials of the chamber naturally devote much of their time to it. Yet no other branch of industry or commerce is neglected. A monthly official publication keeps the members informed of the work the organization is engaged in from time to time.
Concentration of the cotton mills in a small area makes for economy. Many savings in handling products accrue to our Lancashire com- petitors from this centralization, which unfortunately can never be matched in the United States with cotton mills scattered, as they are, from Maine to Texas. To counterbalance these, we have advantages, already indicated, which can not in the nature of things be secured by the manufacturer on the other side of the Atlantic.
ADVANTAGES OF BRITISH MILLS.
One of the advantages of British mills is economy in shipping yarn and cloth. Yarn is shipped from spinner to weaver in cane baskets and skips, the former being used for filling and the latter for warp, or, as they are termed in England, "twist" cops. A basket will contain slightly over 100 pounds and a skip about 300 pounds of yarn. The freight is paid by the purchaser, and the rate depends on distance, but for 30 miles or so (an average distance) it is about 15 cents per hundredweight of 112 pounds, and the rate on cloth is the same for a like distance. The skips and baskets are returned to the spinner, and the return freight rate in the Lancashire district on these "empties" is a uniform one of 2 cents each on baskets and 4 cents each on sldps, including delivery from depot to mill and in the larger centers collection from mill to depot. This is a further illustration of the economy which Lancashire enjoys when compared with the heavy and expensive wooden cases which spin- ners in the United States have to purchase for every shipment.
Freight on cloth is paid by the weaver, but when it is reshipped by the merchant to the finisher the former pays the carrier's charges. On fabrics above the lowest grades the merchant in Manchester receives the cloth in the gray at his warehouse, where he maintains a staff to examine and refold every piece, so that he then has a check on both weaver and finisher. Faults attributable to the manufacturing processes are noted, and when the goods are again reexamined in the merchant's warehouse after finishing any damages caused by the finisher can be effectively brought home to him. Unless it is to be forwarded to its final destination in the gray state as it leaves the
England's cotton industky. 33
loom, cloth is shipped to the finisher in uncovered bundles, loaded on a movable float carried on a ''lurry/' a sort of flat vehicle. These carry several tons. When taken to the freight depot the float and its load are transferred by a derrick to a flat car and covered with a tarpaulin — still another example of the saving of time and expense in covering of bales and handling. It is these economies which make possible the high degree of specialization existing in England.
expert packing for export.
American exporters have for years been admonished by American consuls and others to improve methods of packing, and when such men, scattered in every part of the world, find it necessary to criti- cise our carelessness in this important particular there must be some good ground for complaint. In England large shippers generally do their own packing, employing men who are familiar with the kind of jDackage needed to suit the various systems of transportation, from landing by surf boats, or transporting across mountainous countries on burros, to ordinary railroad and steamship routing. Moreover, they understand the sort of covering material to use so that mini- mum customs duties will be collected. In nearly every country of South America duties are levied on the contents of any package con- taining mixed merchandise on the basis of the highest rate of duty chargeable against any goods in the package, and duties are collected on gross weights, including the case or covering of the bale. Hence one can realize the importance to the forwarding department of a mercantile establishment of thorough information of these and other details, attention to which reduces charges, avoids friction and annoy- ance, and helps sales.
It is seldom that manufacturers put up goods for export. The work is done by a department of the foreign shipper, or, in case of smaller firms and agents, the merchandise is sent to a packing firm, of which there are many in Manchester. These concerns not only understand the details above described, but they realize, as does the shipper, the importance of paying strict attention to instruc- tions given as to the assortment of goods to be put into each bale, to avoid the necessity of opening and reassorting at destination. It has been already explained that converters are often required to do this work.
Packing for export has developed into a distinct trade in Great Britain. Not only piece goods, but yarns for shipment abroad are packed b}^ experts. An example of the prevailing prices for doing this work will convey a general idea of the cost for packing other kinds of yarn. Prices ruling this year for packing 10-pound bun-
34
ENGLAND S COTTON INDUSTEY.
dies of cotton jam into bales for continental destination, the dis- count being 5 per cent, are appended :
|
Bundles. |
Price. |
Bundles. |
Price. |
\ |
Bundles. |
Price. |
|
10 . ... |
- .?0. 64 .74 .84 .94 |
60 |
SI. 04 1.14 1.24 1.34 |
: 90 i 100 |
SI. 42 |
|
|
20 |
60 70. |
1. 64 |
||||
|
30 |
||||||
|
40 |
80 |
|||||
The packer supplies all the material for covering the bales at his own expense.
TEEMS OF PAYMENT FOE GOODS EXPOETED.
Long terms, which seem to be a bugbear to American manufac- turers, do not at all concern the British producer. This burden is shouldered by the shipper. I can not attempt to touch more than lightly on this matter, seeing that almost every purchasing country exacts different terms, and in fact terms extended to merchants in the same country vary not a little. Common terms are from six to twelve weeks from date of invoice, eight weeks being the average. The foreign buyer is charged with freight, extra marking, special packing, ticketing, etc. For payment within the time above speci- fied he is allowed a discount of 2| per cent from the gross amount of the bill. He also pays the import duty. Again, goods are fre- quently shipped to be placed in bonded warehouse at their destina- tion, and not released until the whole or some agreed-upon propor- tion of the amount of the invoice is paid. The buyer also usually pays the storage and insurance charges. The latter plan is adopted with new and not well-known customers, or with buyers whose financial standing is somewhat doubtful. Unfortunately in the United States there has not yet been developed the type of merchant who has the experience and connections to carry on commercial trans- actions abroad in the manner here outlined. Nor can we expect that the foreigner will modify his commercial systems to meet our convenience or prejudices. Competition is as keen as it is world- wide, and to succeed we must adapt ourselves to existing conditions.
AMEEICAN LACK OF COMMEECIAL OEGANIZATION.
To overcome most quickly and effectively our admitted lack of commercial machinery for a world-wide distribution of our cotton manufactures, and to obtain immediate results of any considerable magnitude, a firm should be formed having offices in Manchester and New York which would sell American goods to the shipping houses already established in England. The question of credit would then
England's cotton industry. 35
be settled, because under this plan tlie foreign shipper in Manchester would pay for his purchases 2h per cent off, fourteen days, and thus relieve the manufacturer of any anxiety on this score. In truth, as most American cotton manufacturing corporations are now organ- ized, it would be impossible for them to assume the responsibility of carrying accounts for long periods. Few of them have an over- abundance of working capital, and there must therefore be pro- vided intermediaries who can cslttj the long risks inevitable to for- eign trading. The British cotton trade has solved this problem admirably, and it remains for us to establish a similar system before we can hope to effectively compete in the world's markets. Goods would then be shipped direct to their destination from New York or other convenient outport, and some of our mills would from time to time take up the manufacture of the classes of cloths not as yet made in this country which have been named as used most freely by nonmanufacturing peoples. Gradually as shippers found they could supply their requirements here as well or better than else- where, they would establish branch offices in our textile centers, and our future would then be assured.
INTERNATIONAL BANKING.
The question of international banking is a more important factor in the successful development of export trade than is generally thought. Pliancy in the means of exchanging money is j ust as import- ant in international trading as a suitable system for selling merchandise. British foreign banldng facilities are ample. I have selected from a much larger number 24 British foreign banks with head offices in London, whose combined paid-up capital and surplus is $70,000,000, and most of which have additional capital subscribed and available in case of need. All these banks pay good dividends, ranging between 6 and 14 per cent annually. Can we wonder at the old saying that ' ' Every gold coin in the world goes through London once a year and has a piece clipped off it in transit?" The tribute we thus pay might just as well be kept at home, and the establishment of banks of this character would help to ease the way of the exporter.
To show the ramifications of British foreign banks, a list of some of the more important ones is appended, giving their paid-up capital, dividends paid for 1905, and the number of branches each operates. From this information it will readily be seen how thoroughly the world is covered, especially when it is remembered that there are very many other British foreign banking institutions not included in the list.
36
ENGLAND S COTTON INDUSTEY.
Designation.
|
Capital. |
Annual dividend |
|
Per cent. |
|
|
$2,000,000 |
6 |
|
10,000,000 |
6i |
|
1,-500,000 |
8 |
|
2,500,000 |
121 |
|
2,100,000 |
7i |
|
2.50,000 |
10 |
|
5,000,000 |
11 |
|
8,000,000 |
12 |
|
5,000,000 |
6 |
|
300,000 |
8 |
|
2, .500, 000 |
16 |
|
4,000,000 |
11 |
|
3,750,000 |
6 |
|
2,500,000 |
8 |
|
3,000,000 |
7 |
|
1, 685, 000 |
4 |
|
2,695,000 |
(") |
|
10,000,000 |
14 |
|
3,750,000 |
12i |
|
4,500,000 |
19 |
|
2,000,000 |
10 |
|
2,000,000 |
8 |
|
3,000,000 |
12 |
|
7,740,000 |
16 |
Branches.
African Banking Corporation
Anglo- Austrian Bank .
Anglo-Californian Bank
Anglo-Egyptian Bank r
Anglo-Foreign Banking Co
Anglo-Italian Bank
Bank of Africa
Bank of Australasia
Bank of British North America
Bank of British West Africa
Bank of Egypt -
Bank of India, Australia, and China
Bank of Tarapaca and Argentina
British Bank of South America
Colonial Bank
Delhi and London Bank
English, Scottish, and Australian Bank
Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation .
London and Brazilian Bank
London and River Plata Bank
London Bank of Mexico and South America. . .
London, Paris, and American Bank
National Bank of India -
Standard Bank of South Africa
65 170 47 14 15 26 16
9 13
7 94 26 15 14
3 20
147
a Not stated.
Consider for a moment the convenience to a shipper who has taken a note at, say, three, four, or six months in payment for his merchandise. He accepts or indorses the note, and then, whatever country his customer may reside in, the exporter can discount the paper in London and at once turn the cash into his business again. When long credits are given the customer pays interest on the extended time, usually at the rate of either 5 or 6 per cent per annum. Another advantage coming from the operation of branch banks abroad is that any one of them can report on the financial w^orth of every prominent business house in the country it does business in. That the foreign banking business is profitable and that it leads to exterior trade growth is certain. Therefore our financial and banking interests should see to it that the payments for our already enormous sales and purchases abroad are made through American banks organized to do business abroad.
LONG CREDITS OFTEN IMPERATIVE.
Viewing the question broadly, our merchants should recognize that the practice of extending long credits to wholesale purchasers in certain over-sea agricultural countries must be, on the whole, profitable; otherwise the system would have long ago killed itself. It is as necessary in the commercial system of some countries as w^as
England's cotton industry. 37
the plan of advancing money on the implanted cotton crop of the Southern States, followed by merchants for a generation or more, and not uncommon to-day. To exemplify, in many coffee-growing districts of Brazil and other South American countries the country storekeeper makes advances to the coffee grower, consisting mostly of merchandise of one sort and another. The storekeeper in turn buys his wares from the wholesale importer, to be paid for when the coffee crop is picked and marketed. Hence the importer, although perfectly sound financially, must perforce exact long credit from the exporter, paying a fair rate of interest for the accommodation.
OVER-SEA TRANSPORTATION.
Great Britain has neglected no opportunity to secure to herself every convenience which can in any legitimate way give her the upper hand in bargaining between her merchants and those of other nations. In ocean-going transportation she is paramount. Trans- portation of merchandise involves three important requirements. First, low freight rates are an advantage. These are secured to England by the enormous ocean-going tonnage she owns, compelling competitive rates. True, there is a present outcry against a so-called shipping ring. This, however, is but an incident, since, if unfairness exists, the fault will be ultimately corrected by one means or another. Out of a total tonnage of steam and sailing vessels of over 100 tons of the several countries of the world, amounting to 36,000,000 tons, no less than 17,000,000 tons, or nearly one-half, sail under the British flag. Depending upon ships of competing nations to carry our prod- ucts is in line with a retail grocer intrusting the delivery of his customer's purchases to a rival grocer's delivery wagon. Second, when goods are shipped they should reach their destination as quickly as possible, for the time occupied in transit means that the value of the merchandise lies idle and mthout earning capacity for that period. Third, a purchaser abroad needs to be reasonably sure of the time his goods will arrive, and that they will not have to wait long for a steamer. Consequently frequent and regular sailings are an es- sential to satisfactory business. All these advantages England fully enjoj^s, while the United States, on the other hand, is deplorably lacking in like conveniences.
THE BROOKLANDS AGREEMENT.
Disputes between employers and workers involving strikes and their attendant breaches of contracts are always disastrous in many ways. British cotton manufacturers are as highly organized as are their employees. During a dispute at the end of 1897 the employers and workers came together and adopted the now well-known ''Brook-
38 England's cotton indxjstey.
lands agreement," which contains twelve clauses and an amend- ment, the three of greatest interest and moment to the American cotton trade being the sixth, tenth, and eleventh. The latter clauses are of especial interest, showing as they do the weight attached by master and man to the maintenance of their export trade. The three clauses read:
Sixth. That in future no Local Employers' Association, nor the Federated Asso- ciation of Employers, on the one hand, nor any Trades Union or Federation of Trades Unions, on the other hand, shall countenance, encourage, or support any lockout or strike which may arise from, or be caused by any question, difference or dispute, contention, grievance, or complaint with respect to work, wages, or any other matter, tmless and until the same has been submitted in writing by the secretary of the Local Employers' Association, to the secretary of the Local Trades LTnion, or by the secre- tary of the Local Trades Union to the secretary of the Local Employers' Association, as the case may be; nor unless and until such secretaries or a committee consisting of three representatives of the Local Trades Union with their secretary, and -three representatives of the Employers' Association with their secretary shall have failed, after full inquiry, to settle and arrange such question, difference or dispute, conten- tion, complaint, or grievance, within the space of seven days from the receipt ,of the communication in writing aforesaid; nor unless and until, failing the last -mentioned settlement, or arrangement, if either of the secretaries of the Local Employers' Asso- ciation shall so deem it advisable, a committee consisting of four representatives of the Federated Association of Employers, with their secretary, and four representa- tives of the Amalgamated Association of the Operatives' Trades Union, with their secretary, shall have failed to settle or arrange as aforesaid, within the further space of seven days from the time when such matter was referred to them; provided always that the secretaries or the committee hereinbefore mentioned, as the case may be, shall have power to extend or enlarge the said period of seven days whenever they may deem it expedient or desirable to do so. Should either of the local employers' association fail to call such a meeting within seven days (unless by consent of the other side), then the party which has asked for the meeting shall have the right to at once carry the question before a joint committee of the Employers' Federation and the Operatives' Amalgamation without further reference to the Local Association; and should either the Employers' Federation or the Operatives Amalgamation fail to deal with the matter in dispute within a further seven days, then either side shall be at liberty to take such action as they may think fit.
Tenth. It is agreed that in respect to the opening of new markets abroad, the altera- tion of restrictive foreign tariffs, and other similar matters, which may benefit or injure the cotton trade, the same shall be dealt with by a committee of three or more from each federation, all the associations agreeing to bring the whole weight of their influ- ence to bear in furthering the general interest of the cotton industry in this country.
Eleventh. The above committee shall meet whenever the secretary of either feder- ation shall be of opinion that questions affecting the general interests of the cotton trades should be discussed.
IMPORTANT MARKETS NEGLECTED.
Brief mention of two other important markets not yet touched must be made. American exports of cotton piece goods to Europe in the calendar year 1906 were 5,069,499 yards, valued at $639,244. Germany and the United Kingdom are classified as having received 365,799 yards, worth $29,327, and 3,019,341 yards, valued at $383,550,
England's cotton industry. 39
respectively, while to other European countries are credited only 1,684,359 yards, valued at $236,367. Contemplate these meager ship- ments when compared with British sales to Turkey and Egypt. England sent to Turkey in the same year 478,951,500 yards, worth $25,000,000, and to 'Egjpt 297,203,800 yards, worth $15,000,000. England also sold to Turkey 15,378,000 pounds of cotton yarn and to Egj^pt 3,514,000 pounds. During the last three or four years a suc- cessful federation of the cotton spinners and manufacturers of England and the Continent has been effected. It is an organization for mutual protection and information. In the last confidential report issued by the federation upon cotton consumption and stocks of cotton 71,054,503 spindles, representing fourteen countries, are set down as having reported. This demonstrates the gigantic interests repre- sented by the International Federation.
technical textile education.
It has long been fully recognized by the manufacturers, both in con- tinental Europe and in Great Britain, that only by imparting a thor- ough technical training to their 3"oung men can they maintain their present commercial standing or hope to increase it. The value of technical education has been indisputably demonstrated. The skilled hand guided by trained intelligence is security for superior results. In the cotton trade comparatively few young men can afford to spend two or three years of their entire time in a day technical school to obtain training of this character. In consequence European indus- trial centers have provided well-equipped technical schools and com- petent instructors to train the youth of their artisans in evening classes, which can be attended without inconvenience or loss after the day's labor is completed.
To the cotton trade of the United States it should be interesting to have available a brief resume of the system followed in Lancashire, especially when it is known that discussion on this subject with lead- ing English manufacturers brought out favorable opinions of the results of the work of late years as shown in the markedh' increased ability of their managers, overseers, and common workmen. The more impressed oiu' manufacturers become and the sooner they real- ize that their best asset and that of the nation lies in the brains of their people, the more quickly shall we see an extensive system estab- lished in our industrial centers for supplementary education in evening classes which will cover technical and scientific subjects. We must take advantage of every legitimate weapon which can be obtained if we wish to conquer in this strenuous warfare for com- mercial supremacy in the markets of the world. An enlargement of our present facilities for evening textile education fiunishes a potent weapon for future success.
40 ENGLAND ^S COTTON INDUSTEY.
AMAZING GROWTH OF LANCASHIRE'S COTTON INDUSTRY.
The recent erection of new cotton mills in Lancashire has been without parallel in industrial history. In order to emphasize the marvelous extension in the productive capacity of the Lancashire zone it may be pointed out that the number of spinning spindles added within the past three or four years in the district of which Manchester is the distributing center and Liverpool the cotton buy- ing headquarters exceeds 10,000,000, with approximately enough ncM^ looms to take the increased yarn output. This development is all the more astounding when it can be truthfull}^ said that this English growth is greater than the total number of spindles operated in either Germany, India, Russia, France, or any other coun- try in the world except the United States, and that the total spindleage of oiu- Southern States does not reach the growth in Lancashire since 1900. And no end seems to be in sight, for new mills are projected almost every week. Some halt in the movement is evident, but this is only due to the fact that cotton-iuachinery makers have their output sold so far ahead that it is impossible to obtain deliveries for new mills for a 3^ear or more to' come. Nor have other manufacturing countries been at a standstill. Continental Europe and Japan and India have been abnormally active in mill building. All this should be looked upon with satisfaction, by the American cotton grower at least, for it is reasonably certain that the demand for some years to come will be such as to insure him a fair return for his crop. It is estimated that when all the new spindles in England are turning they will consume some 700,000 addi- tional bales of cotton annuall}". Comparisons are generally illumi- nating. While England has added 10,000,000 spindles in a few years, it is learned from an American publication that the gain in the United States in spindleage from 1904 to the end of 1906 was only 2,022,981; in this number it is inferred that twister spindles were included, and these are nonproducers.
COST AND METHODS OF PROMOTING NEW MILLS.
The cost of constructing and equipping both spinning and weaving plants in England has largely increased during the present mill-build- ing boom. Where a few years ago $87 to $97 per loom would com- plete a weaving shed it now costs $121 to $145, including the prepara- tory processes of spooling, warping, slashing, etc. Similarly a mule spinning mill, on, say, 50s carded, which formerly cost $5.20 per spindle now costs $7.30. There is a good deal of complaint heard about the way in which many of the new mills are being promoted. Take a typical instance: The capital stock of a 100,000-spindle mill
Ei^GLAND^S COTTON INDUSTKY. 41
was fixed at $500,000, in shares of a par value of $5 each, payable at the rate of 50 cents a share at intervals. The mill is nearly in full operation at the present time and only $1.50 a share has been Called in. It is proposed to call on the stockholders for not more than $2.50 a share, the remainder of the money needed being secured partly from banks, but mostly from small depositors, who loan their savings to the mills at 4^ per cent per annum. Virtually the manu- facturing company conducts a banking business. Later the second, $2.50 a share will be called in, when another mill will be built. The strongest complaint arises, however, from the habit of requiring everybody who desires to secure contracts for either machinery, equipment, construction, or building materials to take a number of shares in the enterprise as a condition precedent to awarding the work. That the industry is at least temporarily very prosperous is shown by the average earnings of 35 per cent on the share capital during the first quarter of the current year (1907) by such com- panies as publish balance sheets. Most mills are preparing against a future rainy day by increasing their reserve funds and writing off more than the usual percentage for depreciation.
DEVELOPING NEW COTTON-GROWING AREAS.
Since the cotton shortage of 1903-4, and the attempted corner and consequent high prices which then ruled, the cotton trade of England has led, and continental Europe has followed, in a movement to introduce cotton growing into their respective colonies. There has also been an attempt by the British organization to increase the output of India and Egypt. The European user of cotton contends that this ought to be done if for no other reason than that such an enormous industry ought not to be dependent on the vagaries of the weather in a portion of one country. It is also claimed that if the cultivation of the material in widely scattered countries is materially developed the admitted malign influence of the professional speculator in the raw material market will be minimized. The largest body organized for this work is the British Cotton Growing Association, operating under a royal charter and with an authorized capital of $1,250,000, of which $1,160,000 was subscribed up to August 31, 1906. Of this amount the mill owners subscribed $468,000 and the workers in the mills $85,000. Through the efforts of the association the acreage planted to cotton in India was increased from 18,025,000 acres in the crop year 1903-4 to 20,041,000 acres in the season 1905-6. To aug- ment Egypt's yield the Egyptian government has been prevailed upon to raise the Assouan dam on the river Nile 19 J feet, in order to increase the volume of water available in the dry season for irrigation purposes.
42 England's cotton industry.
nigeria the possible future cotton eield.
The main hopes of the association are centered in northern Nigeria. According to the latest statistics the area and population of Nigeria are as follows :
Northern Nigeria. Southern Nigeria. Lagos
Total
Square miles.
256, 400 52, 760 24, 500
333, 660
Population.
10,000,0:0 3. 000, 000 1,400,000
14,400,000
Nigeria is therefore nearly three times as large as the United Eangdoin, more than half as large again as either Fraiice or Ger- many, one-fifth the size of India, and more than half as large as the whole of the cotton States of the United States, which have an approx- imate area of 600,000 square miles. It will therefore be seen that the possibilities of Nigeria as the great cotton field of the future have not been in any way exaggerated, and the exploiters of this terri- tory find additional satisfaction in the evidence that the qualitj^ will be in every way suitable for Lancashire's requirements. The one existing difficulty is transport. The government service of steamers on the rivers is by no means reliable, and during several months navigation is almost impossible either on the Niger above Lokoja or on the Benue. With the exception of a small narrow-gauge track from the Kaduna River to Zungeru there are no railways, and roads are practically nonexistent.
Cotton grown in Africa, more or less under the auspices of the association, during the last four seasons has shown a steady increase. The production in 1903 was 1,900 bales; in 1904, 5,500 bales; in 1905, 11,300 bales, and in 1906, 20,000 bales. The Bureau of Manu- factures has been furnished with samples of cotton grown in northern Nigeria and Lagos, together with a sample of native wild cotton; also a sample grown in Perus from Sea Island seed.
INCREASED COTTON SUPPLY NEEDED TO MEET DEMAND.
It has been estimated that prior to the present unprecedented boom in British cotton-mill building the normal increase in the world's consumption of cotton was approximately 400,000 bales annually. If we add to this even a part of the abnormally increased British and other requirements we get at least 1,500,000 more bales needed each crop year than the spindles could previously consume. Counting for each acre planted to cotton, an acre utilized in crop rota- tion, growing feed for stock and work animals, as well as vegetables and corn for the farm hands, and not forgetting the proportion of
ENGLAND 's COTTON INDUSTRY. 43
land in each considerable tract unsuitable from one reason or another for cotton growing, this means that somewhere either in the Amer- ican cotton belt or elsewhere an increased domain of 6,500,000 acres will have to be brought under the sway of King Cotton.
The rapid increase in the number of new spinning spindles installed in Lancashire has been emphasized, but the growth of the weaving branch of the industry must not be overlooked. Developments therein have about kept pace with the growth in spinning. With- out giving the details of the total number of new looms started witliin the two years just ended, it may be said that in that period the East Lancasliire weaving centers made the following additions: Blackburn, 9,260 looms; Coine, 3,500; Nelson, 2,500; Preston, 4,500, and Burnley, 6,600.
RESTRICTIVE FACTORY LEGISLATION.
Manufacturing operations in England are regulated by a multi- tude of statutory restrictions and regulations. The ''factory and workshop act" is the name of the code for regulating the conditions of industrial employment. Its enactments, however, are so com- plicated with special provisions and regulations, modifications and extensions, exceptions and exemptions, that the requirements to be observed in any particular case, and the persons responsible for their observance, can not be readily ascertained except by a legal expert. The act applies to all factories and workshops generally. Some of its provisions apply to cotton mills of all kinds, others to cotton spinning mills only, wliile many specially refer to weaving sheds.
Some of the things subject to governmental regulations are clean- liness, whitewashing of workrooms, amount of air space per worker, ventilation, temperature and humidity, sanitary conveniences, and cloakrooms. Safety must be secured by fencing dangerous places in machine and power-transmission gearing. Restrictions must be ob- served as to cleaning when machinery is in motion, ample provision of fire escapes must be made, and doors must not be locked and must open outward, except in the case of sliding doors. There are also restrictive provisions as to employment of women, young persons, and children, the compulsory education of children, time allowed for meals, and holidays.
SCHEDULES OF WAGES TO BE POSTED.
It is further directed by the act that in every factory the occu- pier shall, for the purpose of enabling each worker who is paid by the piece to compute the total amount of wages payable to liim in respect of his work, cause to be published particulars of the rate of wages applicable to the work to be done, and also particulars of the
44 England's cotton industey.
work to which that rate is to be appKed. In the case of weavers the particulars of the rate of wages apphcable to the work to be done by each weaver must be furnished to him in writing when the work is given out, and the basis and conditions b}" which the prices are regulated and fixed must also be exhibited in each room on a placard not containing any other matter, and posted where it is easily legible. In the case of every other worker the particulars of the rate of wages applicable must be similarly furnished when the work is given out, but if the same particulars are applicable to each of the workers in one room, it will be sufficient to exhibit them in the same inanner as for the weavers. The particulars regarding either rate of wages or work are not to be expressed by means of symbols.
When an automatic indicator is used for ascertaining work it must have marked on its case the number of teeth in each wheel and the diameter of the driving roller, except that in the case of spinning machines with traversing carriages the number of spindles and the length of the stretch in such machines must be so marked instead of the diameter of the driving roller.
When such particulars of the work to be done by eadi worker as affect the amount of wages payable to him are ascertained by an auto- matic indicator and a placard containing the particulars as to the rate of wages is exhibited in each room, in pursuance of an agreement between employers and workmen and in conforinity with the require- ments of the act, the exhibition thereof will be a sufficient compliance therewith. The enforcement of the factory law is in the hands of fac- tory inspectors, appointed by the Government from men elected by competitive examination.
HOW AMERICAN EXPORT TRADE MAY BE INCREASED.
Having described thus the general conditions and practices of the cotton trade in England, it may be remarked that the importance of expansion in the export of inanufactured cottons, which are the great- est item in the purchases of every nonmanufacturing country, has been discussed in the American cotton trade for years. Tlu'ough the class of goods dealt with in previous reports will be found the path of least resistance. A large and steady demand in widely separated markets will, if assiduously and intelligently cultivated, bring about a growth in our exports of such character as will prevent a repetition of the disastrous times which overtook our cotton industry during the Boxer outbreak in China, which were solely attributable to the fact that the bulk of our comparatively meager exports were sold in the Chinese market. In no important country where cotton goods are extensively used is there any tariff charge or regulation against us
England's cotton industry. 45
which does not equally apply to every one of our competitors. Instead of our new mills being laid out either to make goods suit- able only for our home requirements or to meet the demand in China for the restricted class of American cloths needed in that country, they might more profitably be designed to enter the foreign gray trade, which is the largest, most staple, and the most easily entered of any of the lines of cotton goods. There are two significant phases of British trade to stud}^. It has been shown that we must learn from Manchester the accepted methods of successfully approaching the for- eign buyer of cotton manufactures, and stress has been laid on the fact that, plainly, our best school is in the country which dominates the world's trade.
SAMPLES AND DETAILS OF ENGLISH COTTON PIECE GOODS.
I have collected a wide range of samples, which are at the Bureau of Manufactures, showing a representative selection of the immense variety of cloths made in the mills of Lancashire and shipped to almost every country in the world. All go to show in a practical way the general kinds of fabrics we shall have to prepare ourselves to supply before we can capture any considerable volume of the world's trade. The list is as follows:
Sample A. — Finished Venetian, 32 inches wide, 60 yards, 104 sley, 80 picks, 6Cs 2-ply Egyptian warp, 25s Egyptian filling. Weaving piecework price, 52 cents. Price per piece in the gray, |9.72. Finishing, 4J cents per yard. Markets, continental Europe, China, India, and South America.
Sam-pie B. — Finished Venetian, 32 inches wide, 60 yards, 104 sley, 80 picks, 60s 2-ply Egyptian warp, 50s 2-ply Egyptian filling. Piecework weaving price per piece, 52 cents. Price per piece in the gray, $10.44. Finishing, 4§ cents per yard. Markets, continental Europe, China, India, and South America.
Sample C. — Finished Venetian, 32 inches wide, 60 yards, 104 sley, 80 picks, 60s 2-ply Egyptian warp, 25s Egyptian filling. Weaving piecework price, 52 cents. Price per piece in the gray, |9.72. Finishing, 4| cents per yard. Markets, continental Europe, China, India, and South America.
Sam,ple D. — Finished Venetian, 32 inches wide, 60 yards, 104 sley, 80 picks, 60s 2-ply Egyptian warp, 5Cs 2-ply Egyptian filling. Piecework weaving price per piece, 52 cents. Price per piece in the gray, $10.44. Finishing, 4J cents per yard. Markets, continental Europe, China, India, and South America.
Sample E. — Bleached stripe, SSJ inches wide, 120 yards, 112 sley, 92 picks, 40s 2-ply Egyptian warp, 50s 2-ply Egyptian filling. Weaving piecework price, 11.56. Price per piece, $14.58. Cost of bleaching, 2\ cents per yard. Markets, Germany, France, and Great Britain.
Sample F. — Checked Venetian, 34 inches wide, 64 yards, 152 sley, 76 picks, 80s 2-ply Egyptian warp, 30s Egyptian filling. Weaving piecework price, 53 cents. Price per piece, $9.72. Markets, continental Europe, China, India, and South America.
Sample G. — Gray stripe, 32 inches wide, 110 yards, 92 sley, 100 picks, 40s 3-ply Egyp- tian warp, 30s American and 80s Egyptian filling. Weaving piecework price, $1.47. Price per piece, $11.65. Markets, Great Britain and continental Europe.
Sample H. — Brocade, 31 inches wide, 120 yards, 104 sley, 120 picks, 40s 2-ply Egyp- tian warp, 40s 2-ply American filling. Weaving piecework price, $1.50. Price per piece, $11.41. These goods are usually dyed, and in the lightest shades are bleached before dyeing. Markets, almost every civilized country.
46 ENGLAND ''S COTTON INDUSTRY.
Sample I. — Brodade, 31 inches wide, 120 yards, 104 sley, 120 picks, 40s 2-ply Egyp- tian warp, 40s 2-ply American filling. Weaving piecework price, $1.50. Price per piece, $11.41. These goods are usually dyed and in the lightest shades are bleached before dyeing. Markets, almost every civilized country.
Sample J. — Stripe for bleaching, 32 inches wide, 110 yards, 92 sley, 100 picks, 50s 3-ply Egyptian, 36s American warp, 80s 2-ply Egyjatian filling. Weaving piece- work price, $1.49. Price per piece, $11.17. Markets, England, continental Europe, and South America.
Sample K. — Checked Venetian, 34 inches wide, 68 yards, 152 sley, 72 picks, 80s 2-ply Egyptian warp, 30s American filling. Weaving piecework price, 51 cents. Price per piece, $9.12. Markets, continental Em'ope, China, India, and South America.
Sample L. — Poplin, 34 inches wide, 60 yards long, 192 sley, 56 picks, 80s 2-ply combed Egyptian warp, 25s Egyptian filling. Weaving piecework price, 54 cents. Price per piece, $10.32. These goods are made to be dyed in different colors. Mar- kets, Great Britain, Europe, and the United States.
Saviple M. — A gray stripe, 32 inches wide, 110 yards long, 92 sley, 104 picks, 40s 2-ply Egyptian warp, 70s 2-ply Egyptian filling. Weaving piecework price, $1.39. Price per piece, $11.11. Markets, Great Britain and continental Europe.
Sample F. N. 159. — Plain bleaching cloth, 37 inches wide, 75 yards "long stick," 66 sley, 66 picks, 24s warp, 22s filling, 2,450 ends, 25 per cent size in the warp. Weav- ing, piecework price, 46 cents. Price per piece, $5.34. Bleaching, 1 cent per yard. Market^, Egypt, Turkey, and Morocco.
Sample F. N._89. — Colored striped bleaching cloth, 50 inches wide, 60 yards, 67 sley, 46 picks, gray warp yarn, 36s, colored warp yarn, 32s; 3,570 ends, 36s, slasher's length, 63i yards; 1,320 ends, 32s, colored yarns (fast to bleaching colors), slasher's length, 63J yards. Woven on ten harness from two beams; Bleaching and making up, 1 cent per yard. Markets, Egypt, Turkey, and Morocco.
Sam.ple J. D. 2. — Fancy rep, 29 inches wide, 118 yards, 36J inches per yard; 2,520 ends, 50s Egyptian, slasher's length, 125 yards; 256 ends, 32s, fast colors, 58 picks, 14s. Bleaching, three-fourths cent per yard. Market, principally China.
Sample S. 52. — Plain check for bleaching, 31 inches wide, 120 yards,. 55 sley, 60 picks, 2,290 ends, 50s Egyptian warp, slasher's length, 126 yards. This cloth can be made in a plain loom, and is sometimes used as a print cloth. Markets, China, the Levant, Java, India, Singapore, and Africa.
Sample D. J. 1. — A striped cloth for dyeing, 45 inches wide, 40 yards long, 1,940 ends, 22s, slasher's length, 41J yards, 86 picks, 24s. Woven on four harness. This cloth can be made in a plain loom. Dyeing and making- up, IJ to SJ cents per yard. Markets, Great Britain, continental Europe, and India.
Sample A. M. 1. — A rep for dyeing and bleaching, 28J inches wide, 116 yards long, 36^ inches to the yard; 1,260 ends, 36s, slasher's length, 121 yards; 1,180 ends, 36s, slasher's length, 152 yards; 44 picks, 22s. Woven on four harness from two beams. Bleaching, three-fourths cent per yard. Dyeing, 1^ to IJ cents per yard. Markets, Great Britain and China.
Sam,ple N. S. 61. — A Leno vein, 52 inches wide, 120 yards, 4,420 ends, 36s superior American cotton, slasher's length, 127J yards, 40 picks of 54s filling. Woven with one doup. Bleaching, 1 cent per yard. Dyeing, 1^ cents per yard. Markets, Great Britain, Persia, Turkey, continental Europe, and Egypt.
Sample D. R. 32. — Fancy dobl^y cloth, 42 inches wide, 116 yards, 3,100 ends, 36s, slasher's length, 122^ yards, 60 picks of 24s filling, 68 sley. Woven on sixteen har- ness. Markets, Oriental, British, continental Europe, and United States.
Saynple H. D. 35. — Special fancy Jacquard cloth, 52 inches wide, 125 yards long; 5,040 ends 36s, slasher's length, 122| yards; 72 ends, 32s 12-ply, slasher's length, 136 yards; 144 ends, 24s 2-ply, slasher's length, 150 yards; 66 picks, 82s Egyptian, 106
England's cotton industry. 47
sley. Woven with, one doup. Bleaching and making up, 1| cents per yard. Markets, British, continental Europe, and China.
Sample J. S. 3. — A figured dobby cloth, 31 inches wide, 125 yards, 3,010 ends, 50s, slasher's length, 134 yards, 118 picks, 42s, 90 sley. Weaving price, $1.96 per piece. Woven on twelve harness. Dyeing and making up, 1\ cents per yard. Markets, mostly Great Britain and China.
Sample X. X. 5. — Figured mercerized rep, woven in a dobby loom to imitate Jac- quard work, 30 inches wide, 58 yards long, 361 inches to a yard; 1,280 ends, 50s Egyp- tian, slasher's length, 60§ yards; 1,210 ends, 40s 2-ply mercerized, slasher's length, 69 yards; 60 picks, 34s filling, 78 sley. Woven on eighteen harness from two beams.. Dyeing and making up, from If to 2 cents per yard. Markets, British, United States, South America, and continental Europe.
Sample N. C. 10. — Figured mercerized rep, woven in a dobby loom to imitate Jacquard work, 30 inches wide, 58 yards long, 36^ inches to a yard; 1,280 ends, 50s Egyptian, slasher's length, 60^ yards; 1,210 ends, 40s 2-ply mercerized, slasher's length, 69 yards; 60 picks, 34s filling, 78 sley. Woven on fourteen harness from two beams. Dyeing and making up. If to 2 cents per yard. Markets, British, United States, South America, and continental Enrope.
Sample 774a. — Fancy mercerized shirting, 31 inches wide, 66 yards; 856 ends, 20s, slasher's length, 62 J yards; 826 ends, 18s, slasher's length, 90 yards; 656 ends, 40s 2-ply mercerized; 40 picks, 20s filling. Woven with one doup. Bleaching and making up, 1 to 1^ cents per yard. Markets, Great Britain, continental Europe, and China.
Sample S. 56. — A special "split" coating, 50 inches wide, 50 yards long, 3,830 ends, 36s, slasher's length, 52| yards, 60 picks, 18s filling, 72 sley. Woven on ten harness. Dyeing and making up, 1| cents per yard. Markets, Great Britain and continental Europe.
Sample N. C. 1. — A fancy rep, 52 inches wide, 103 J yards; 1,940 ends, 36s, slasher's length, 109 yards; 7,080 ends, 36s, slasher's length, 140 yards; 38 picks, 14s. Woven on eight harness from two beams. Dyeing and making up, 2 cents per yard. Markets, British, United States, continental Europe, and China.
Sample N. C. 7. — Brocade for dyeing, 29 inches wide, 87 yards with 36J inches to the yard; 1,220 ends, 50s, slasher's length, 91| yards; 1,160 ends, 40s 2-ply mercerized, slasher's length, 107 yards; 82 picks, 24s filling, 78 sley. Woven on a Jacquard loom from two beams. Dyeing and making up, 1^ cents per yard. Markets, British, United States, France, and China.
Sample F. 62. — A Leno weave (split), 50 inches wide, 60 yards long; 2,880 ends, 36s, slasher's length, 63 yards; 320 ends, 24s 2-ply, slasher's length, 80 yards; 130 picks of 42s. Woven with two doups. Weaving price, 61 cents per piece. Bleach- ing and making up, 1| cents per yard. Price per piece in the gray, $3.58. Markets, British, continental Europe, Egypt, and India.
Sample A. B. 54 X. — A sateen check for printing (split), 50 inches wide, 150 yards long; 2,680 ends, 36s, slasher's length, 155 yards; average pick, 140 per inch; 42s filling. Woven on ten harness. Printing and making up, 1| cents per yard. Weav- ing price, 90 cents per piece. Selling price in the gray, $7.55 per piece. Markets, Bagdad, Persia, Morocco, and Turkey.
Sample 774- — A mercerized canvas for bleaching, 31 inches wide, 60 yards; 880 ends, 20s, slasher's length, 62| yards; 840 ends, 18s, slasher's length, 90 yards; 660 ends, 40s 2-ply mercerized, slasher's length, 62 J yards; 147 picks, 20s. Woven with one doup. Price for bleaching, 1 cent per yard. Price per piece in the gray, $4.86. Markets, British and continental Europe.
Sample N. S. 117. — Colored striped drills for bleaching, the colored yarn in the piece being dyed to stand the bleaching process,. 28 inches wide, 116 yards long, 2,340 ends, 36s, slasher's length, 123^ yards; 480 ends of 31 yards colored yarn, slasher's
48 ENGLAND ^S COTTON INDUSTEY. ,
length same; 56 picks, 28s. Woven on three harness. Weaving price, 76 cents per piece. Price per piece in the gray, $6.80. Bleaching and making up, 1^ cents. Mar- kets, British, China, and South America.
Sample A. B. 23a. — Sateen (with tinted warp), 31^ inches wide, 166 yards, 2,280 ends of 36s, slasher's length, 121 yards, 123 picks, 42s Egyptian. Woven on five har- ness. Dyeing, 1| to '2\ cents per yard. Markets, British, Chinese, and continental Europe.
Sample F. L. 1. — A jean for bleaching, 46 inches wide, 116 yards, 3,460 ends, 36s, slasher's length, 120 yards, 38 picks,- 44s, woven on six harness, 47 sley, 3 ends in a dent. Bleaching, one-half cent per yard. Markets, Java, India, and West Africa.
Sample N. E. 48. — Leno vein (split; tinted warp), 51 inches wide, 60 yards, 4,180 ends, 36s, slasher's length, 64| yards, 43 picks of 54s. Woven with one doup. Weav- ing piecework price, 54 cents per piece. Price per piece in the gray, |4.86. Bleach- ing, I2 cents per yard. Markets, Java, India, China, Egypt, the Levant, and British.
Sample N. E. 56.— Block Leno (split), 49 inches wide, 60 yards, 2,280 ends, 36s, slasher's length, 63 yards, 30 picks of 42s. Woven on two doups. Piecework weaving price, 33 cents. Price per piece in the gray, $2.70. Bleaching, three-fourths cent per yard. Dyeing, 1 cent per yard. Markets, Egypt, Persia, Bagdad, Turkey, and Morocco.
Sample F. 90. — Stripes (split), 532 inches wide,' 116 yards, 4,700 ends, 50s, slasher's length, 1231 yards, 76 picks, 38s. Woven on fourteen harness. Dyeing, 1| cents per yard. Markets, China and Java.
Sample D. R. 39. — Stripes (split), 42 inches wide, 116 yards, 4,400 ends of 42s Egyp- tian, 40 picks, 18s American. Woven on ten harness. Dyeing, \\ cents per yard. Markets, China and Egypt.
Sample A. B. 34. — Brocade (tinted warp), woven on Jacquard loom, 31 inches wide, 125 yards, 3,160 ends, 36s, slasher's length, 132^ yards, 116 picks, 42s. Piecework weaving price, $1.96. Price per piece in the gray, $13.95. Dyeing, shrinning, and making up, 2^ cents pef yard. Markets, the smaller designs, British and continental Europe; larger designs or figures, China, Egypt, Turkey, and Africa.
Sam,ple F. Y. 5. — Brocade, Jacquard weave (tinted warp), 32 inches wide, 90 yards, 365 inches to the yard, 2,580 ends, 36s, slasher's length, 95^ yards, 140 picks, 42s. Dye- ing, shrinning, and making up, 2 to 2\ cents per yard. Market, China. (Key pattern.)
Sample F. 73. — A bordered umbrella cloth, 3,300 ends, 50s, slasher's length, 94 yards; 600 ends, 36s, 142 picks, 34s Egyptian. Woven on ten' harness. For dyeing black, shrinning, and making up, 2| cents per yard. Market, Japan. Used for covering umbrellas and sunshades.
Sample H. D. 97. — A mercerized stripe (split), 50 inches wide, 116 yards, 36^ inches to the yard; 3,640 ends of 50s Egyptian, slasher's length, 122 yards; 660 ends, 40s 2-ply mercerized, slasher's length, 123 yards; 62 picks, 42s, 80 sley. Woven from two beams. Bleaching and making up, 1 cent per yard. Markets, British and continental Europe.
Sample K. 0. 9. — Plain bleaching cloth, 33 inches wide, 103 yards "long stick" or 37 inches to the yard; 2,270 ends, 30s, slasher's length, 122 yards or 10.1 pounds; 70 picks, 22s filling or 14.1 pounds; 22 per cent size in the warp or 2.2 pounds. Weaving price, 68 cents per piece. Price per piece in the gray, $6.10. Bleaching and making up, 1 cent per yard. Markets, Egypt, Persian Gulf, Bagdad, Morocco, and Turkey.
Sample K. 0. 8. — Plain bleaching cloth, 35 inches wide, 112 yards with 2,%\ inches to the yard, 2,100 ends, 24s, slasher's length, 121 yards, 58 picks, 22s. Piecework weaving price, 60 cents per piece. Price per piece in the gray, $6.32. Bleaching and making up, 1 cent per yard. Markets, Egypt, Persian Gulf, Bagdad, Morocco, and Turkey.
Sample A. B. 58. — Plain bleaching cloth, 36 inches wide, 76 yards with 36 J inches to the yard, 2,330 ends, 24s, slasher's length, 84 yards or 9.6 pounds; 25 per cent size on the warp or 2.4 pounds; 66 sley. Price per piece in the gray, $4.98. Finishing and
England's cotton industry, 49
making up, 1 cent per yard. Markets, Egypt, Persian Gulf, Bagdad, Moroeco, and Turkey.
Sample IT. G. 21. — Plain printing cloth, 37 J inches wide, 76 yards with 36^ inches to the yard, 2,750 ends. 34s, 86 picks, 36s; spun "warp way" or right-hand twist; 25 per cent size, 74 sley. Price per piece in the gray, $4.68. Printing price, 1\ to 2J cents per yard, including making up. Markets, China, Africa, Egypt, and continental Europe. This construction of cloth is sold in all the above markets, but the printed designs for various countries differ.
Sample H. 0. 18b. — Plain bleaching cloth or shirting, 38 inches wide, 78 yards with 36^ inches to the yard, 2,870 ends, 32s, 78 picks, 30s, 10 per cent size on the warp, 74 sley. Piecewoik weaving price, 57 cents per piece. Price per piece in the gray, $4.68. This is shipped principally to China, Egypt, and continental Europe, and is also sent in the gray to Bagdad, Persian Gulf, Arabia, and Egypt. Packing houses charge one- half cent per yard for making up and packing these gray goods.
Sample X. X. 1. — A print cloth, 33 inches wide, 100 yards, sley and pick, 72 by 64, 32s warp, 34s filling. Price per piece in the gray, $4.76. Printing and finishing this design, 2 cents per yard. Merchants' and shippers' selling price, 8 cents per yard. Markets, British, China, and South America.
Sample X. X. 2. — A twill waste cloth printed and napped, known to the trade as "Ancona," 35 inches wide, 100 yards long, sley and pick, 46 by 40, warp 36s, filling 8s. Price per piece in the gray, $6.92. Printing and making up, 2\ cents per yard. Sold by merchants and shippers at 11 cents per yard. Market, mostly China. This piece of goods is napped on both sides and printed. The filling is made from waste cotton.
Sam,ple X. X. 3. — A plain waste cloth napped on both sides and printed, known to the trade as "Ancona," 37 inches wide, 100 yards long, sley and pick, 54 by 40, warp 36s, filling 10s. Price per piece in the gray, $5.46. Printing, finishing, and making up, 2^ cents per yard. Merchants' and shippers' selling price, 10| cents per yard. Market, mostly China.
Sample X. X. 4.— A black satin, dyed, shrinned, and finished, 30 inches wide, 100 yards long, sley and pick, 76 by 104, warp 36s American, filling 36s American. Price per piece in the gray, $6.08. Finishing, 1^ cents per yard. Merchants' and shippers' selling price, 9 cents per yard. Markets, British and Chinese. The gloss on this fabric is obtained by the shrinning process.
Sample X. X. 6. — A stiffened lining (splits), 52 inches wide, 100 yards long, sley and pick, 60 by 60. Price per yard, finishing single width, three-fourths cent. Mer- chants' and shippers' selling price, single width, 5 cents per yard. Markets, British, continental Europe, Persia, Morocco, and Egypt.
Sam,ple X. X. 7. — A plain bleaching cloth, known to the trade as "Wigans," 36 inches wide, 100 yards to the piece, sley and pick, 48 by 28, 14s warp, and 14s filling (waste yarns). Price per piece in the gray, 25 cents per inch of width. Bleaching and making up, IJ cents per yard. Merchants' and shippers' selling price, 14 cents per yard. Markets, India, Morocco, Java, Singapore, and Turkey.
Sample X. X. 8. — Plain dhootie with plain wide border, 45 inches wide, 40 yards, or eight 5-yard scarves, sley and pick, 52 by 5.6; gray warp 24s, gray filling 26s; col- ored warp and filling 20s; containing 20 per cent size in the warp. Gray price, $2.90 per piece. Stiffening and making up, 4 cents per scarf. Merchants' and shippers' price, 46 cents per scarf. Markets, India and contiguous territories and West Africa. The stiffening is done after weaving. The narrow gray stripes in the border are obtained by cramming several ends in one dent.
Sample X. X. 9. — A. dhootie with figured dobby-woven borders, 45 inches wide, 40 yards, sley and pick, 56 by 50 (5-yard scarves), gray yarns 24s warp and 34s filling; colored yarns 72 ends of 40s 2-ply; 10 per cent size in the warp. Price per piece in the gray, $2.55. Stiffening and making up, 4 cents per scarf. Merchants' and ship-
50 England's cotton industsy.
pers' price, about 45 cents per scarf. Markets, British, India, and near-by countries. Of late years some trade has been developed in West Africa for goods of this character.
Sample X. X. 10. — Coarse bleaching cloth, 37 inches wide, 100 yards, sley and pick 58 by 62, warp 20s, filling 10s; 30 per cent size in warp. Price per piece in the gray, $9.85. Bleaching, 1^ cents per yard.. Merchants' and shippers' selling price, 12 cents per yard. Markets, China, Persian Gulf, Bagdad, Morocco, and Turkey. Goods of the same construction and quality as these are made for the British India market in 31-inch widths.
Sample X. X. 11. — A dhootie with plain woven colored border, 45 inches wide, 40 yards long, 8 scarves of 5 yards each to the piece, sley and pick 56 by 68; gray yarns 30s warp, 54s filling, 180 ends of 20s colored yarn. Stiffening and making up, 4 cents per scarf. Merchants' and shippers' selling price, 42 cents per scarf. Mar- kets, British, India, and Africa.
Sample X. X. 12. — Dhooty with fancy dobby-woven sides, 44 inches wide, 40 yards to the piece, or eight scarves of 5 yards each to the piece, sley and pick 64 by 60; gray yarns warp 36s, filling 42s; bleached yarns, 68 ends of 30s; colot-ed yarns, 248 ends of 40s 2-ply; 10 per cent size in the warp. These goods are woven on sixteen harness. Price per piece in the gray, $2.63, or 33 cents per scarf. Markets, India and near-by countries.
Sample X. X. 13. — A dhootie with fancy dobby woven sides, 44 inches wide, 42 yards, or fourteen 3-yard scarves per piece, sley and pick 60 by 56; gray yarns 36s warp, 42s filling; colored yarns, 60 ends 40s 2-ply; 10 per cent size in warp. Woven on ten harness. Price per piece in the gray, $2.25, or 16 cents per scarf. Markets, India and near-by countries.
Sample N. S. 24- — Mercerized stripes (split), 52 inches wide, 120 yards, sley and pick 78 by 66; 3,720 ends 50s warp; slasher's length, 125^ yards; 940 ends 40s 2-ply mercerized, slasher's length, 128 yards. Woven on twelve harness. Price per piece in the gray, $11.80. For dyeing in various colors. Market, China.
Sample H. B. 7. — Cellular cloth (shirting), 33 inches wide, 80 yards long; 1,000 ends 22s, slasher's length, 83 yards; 510 ends 24s 2-ply, slasher's length, 118 yards; 57 picks, 22s filling. Weaving piecework price, 70 cents. Price per piece in the gray, $5.96. Woven with one doup. Markets, British, continental Europe, and United States.
Sample N. R. 20. — Striped cellular (shirting), 32-^ inches wide, 70 yards, sley and pick 52 by 18; 740 ends 24s 2-ply, slasher's length, 83 yards; 380 ends 24s 2-ply, slasher's length, 126 yards; picks per inch, 18. Woven with one doup. Price per piece, $5.48. Markets, principally British, European, South America, and China.
Sample H. B. 13. — Cellular shirting, 33 inches wide, 80 yards, sley and pick 56 by 43; 540 ends 20s 2-ply, slasher's length, 82 yards; 510 ends 20s 2-ply, slasher's length, 110 yards; 43 picks, 16s filling. Woven with one doup. Price per piece in the gray, $5.16. Markets, British, South America, and China.
Sample H. B. 20. — Mercerized stripe for bleaching, 30 inches wide, 80 yards long, sley and pick 92 by 54; section warp, to be "split" into four pieces, each of different design; 2,520 ends 50s, slasher's length, 87§ yards; 460 ends, 40s 2-ply mercerized, slasher's length, 88^ yards; 54 picks, 18s filling. Woven on eight harness. Weaving piecework price, 54 cents. Price per piece in the gray, $6.26. Markets, mostly British and continental Europe.
Sample A. B. 43. — Satin stripe for dyeing (split), 52 inches wide, 116 yards long, 363 inches to the yard, sley and pick 74 by 58; 5,160 ends 36s, slasher's length, 124 yards; 58 picks, 26s filling. Woven on twelve harness. Weaving piecework price, $1.14. Price per piece in the gray, $10.05. Markets, Egypt and Turkey.
Sample J. Y. 3. — Check for printing. 34 inches wide, 125 yards, 36^ inches to the yard, sley and pick 62 by 72; 2,940 ends 50s, slasher's length, 130 yards; 54 ground pick, average pick 72 cf 82s Egyptian. Woven on eight harness. Price per piece in the gray, $10.15. Market, West Africa.
England's cotton industry.
51
Sample A. 0. 2. — Matting cloth, sley and pick 68 by 42, 20s gray warp and 16s fill- ing; colored stripes, 20s warp. Markets, Great Britain and continental Europe.
STANDARD AMERICAN CLOTHS.
By a comparison of the detailed descriptions of export cotton fab- rics embraced in this and my previous reports with the subjoined par- ticulars of a number of the standard cloths made in the United States the trade can readily determine how near the more common of the products of our cotton mills approach the construction details of piece goods, for which an established demand exists abroad:
Sheetings.
36 inches
36 inches
36 inches
36 inches
36 inches
36 inches
36 inches
36 inches ,
36 inches ,
36 inches
36 inches
36 inches
36 inches
40 inches
38} inches
40 inches
40 inches ,
40 inches ,
40 inches
40 inches
40 inches
40 inches
Narrow print cloths.
28 inches
28 inches
27 inches
28 inches ,
27 inches
27 inches'- ,
27 inches ,
25 inches ,
25 inches
25 inches ,
25 inches ,
32 inches
32 inches ,.
31 J inches .
28 inches ,
27 inches
27 inches
30 inches ,
34 inches
32 inches
Tobacco cloths.
36 inches
36 inches
36 inches
36 inches
36 inches
36 inches
36 inches
36 inches
36 inches
36 inches
36 inches
36 inches
36 inches
Sley and pick.
48/44 40/40 48/52 48/48 56/60 48/52 56/48 48/44 44/44 40/40 44/40 56/60 56/60 56/60 48/48 48/48 48/48 44/44
44/44
64/64 64/60 64/60 64/56 56/60 56/52 56/44 56/44 48/36 44/36 40/36 64/64 64/60 56/52 40/44 44/44 32/28 20/14 44/40 44/40
48/44 44/44 48/40 44/40 40/40 44/36 40/36 40/32 36/32 36/32 32/28 32/28 32/24
Yards
per pound.
Width.
3.00 3.25 3.50 4.00 4.00 4.00 4.00 4.50 4.50 6.15 6.00 6.50 4.00 3.60 3.85 2.50 2.70 2.85 2.85 3.63 3.75 5.00
7.00 7.30 7.60 7.35 8.70 9.00 9.75 10.55 12.60 13.25 14.00 6.12 6.50 7.60 9.15 9.50
6.00 6. 25
7.75 8.10 8.10 8. .50 9.20 9.20 9.65 10.20 10.50 11.20 12.00 13.00 13.50
Tobacco cloths- Continued.
36 inches
36 inches
36 inches
36 inches
36 inches
36 inches
36 inches
■ Plain wide
44 inches
44 inches
44 inches
43 inches
44 inches
44 inches
39 inches
39 inches
39 inches
39 inches
39 inches
39 inches
39 inches
39 inches
39 inches
39 inches
40 inches
38} inches
38} inches
38} inches
38} inches
38} inches
40 inches
39 inches
38} inches
38 inches
38} inches
38} inches
39} inches
35''inches -
34 inches
34 inches
Filling sateens
43 inches
43 inches
43 inches
44 inches
44 inches
39 inches :.
39 inches
39 inches
39 inches
39 inches
39 inches
35 inches
.36 inches
35 inches
36 inches
Sley and pick.
28/24 26/22 24/20 22/18 20/16 20/14 20/12
64/64 56/60 60/56 56/52 48/48 40/44 90/100
72/80 72/80 72/76 68/72 64/64 64/64 64/60 64/56 60/52 60/48 56/44 56/44 52/40 48/48 44/44 44/40 56/52 68/72 64/64 64/60
96/150
96/132
84/124
64/112
64/104
96/132
84/124
64/112
64/112
64/104
64/88
84/120
64/112
64/112
64/104
Yards
per pound.
Width.
4.50 5.25 5.25 5.60 6.40 7.25 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 3.90 4.00 4.10 4.50 4.25 4.75 5.00 5.15 5.35 5.50 6.00 6.25 6.60 6.60 7.30 7.15 7.65 8.20 6.70 5.00 5.75 6.00
3. 35 3.35 3. 35 3.75 4.00 3.75 3.75 3.75 4.00 4.20 4.50 4.20 4. .50 4.65 4.50
Filling sateens- Continued.
36 inches
36 inches
33} inches
31} inches
31} inches
28'inches
Three-leaf twills.
43 inches . 43 inches. 43 inches. 43 inches. 43 inches . 43 inches . 43 inches . 39 inches. 39 inches . 39 inches. 39 inches . 39 inches - 39 inches . 39 inches . 39 inches . 39 inches . 36 inches.
Drills.
37 inches . 37 inches . 37 inches . 37 inches . 37 inches. 30 inches. 30 inches . 30 inches . 30 inches . 30 inches .
Warp sateens.
43 inches . 43 inches.
42 inches -
43 inches. 43 inches. 43 inches . 43 inches .
Alberts.
36 inches . . 36 inches . . 36 inches. . 36 inches. . 36 inches . . 36 inches. . 36 inches . .
Sley and pick.
64/88 64/80 96/150 64/124
80/76 68/76 68/76 68/60 68/52
68/76 68/76 64/72 64/64 64/56 64/48 60/80
160/96 140/96" 140/84 120/96 120/84 112/64 96/34
96/132
72/112
80/112
76/84
76/80
76/68
76/56
Yards
per pound.
4.85 5.10 5.50 5.50 5.50 .5.85
3.25 3.50 4.00 3.55 4.00 4.30 4.75 3.65 3.75 3.90 4.00 4.50 4.80 5.10 5.25 6.00 4.-25
2.65 3.00 3.25 3.50 3.95 2.50 2.85 3.00 3.25 4.00
3.35 3.35 3.50 3. .50 3.50 3.50 3.75
4.25 4.40 4.40 4.40 4.65 .5.00 5.45
GENERAL TRADE CONDITIONS.
OTHER OPPORTUNITIES FOR AMERICAN MANUFACTURERS.
There is yet another side of international trading to which many American manufacturers of wares other than those made from cot- ton should turn their attention. It has been made known in reports already submitted that American wood workers might increase their trade by catering to the yearly demand for the millions of wooden clog soles used by the artisan classes of the north of England, and that to achieve a prosperous issue in any invasion of England's enor- mous trade in household and office furniture our manufacturers in those lines must not only meet competition in prices, but must also supply the styles and designs which are fashionable and pay attention to the details of finish and stability, which suit the idiosyncrasies of the British purchaser. It has also been pointed out that clog nails, irons, and clasps are articles as yet unnoticed by our metal manufac- turers, and that the leather tops are worth the attention of our leather dealers.
MEATS AND CANNED GOODS.
Other articles which we can profitably exploit are bacon and cheese. For years Great Britain has consumed enormous quantities of bacon. It may with truth be called the staple breakfast meat. Although the home production is very large, the country imported last year approxi- mately 300,000 tons of bacon, valued at $65,000,000. About one- fourth of this quantity came from Denmark. This latter is excellent meat, and its quality is due to the fact that some years ago the Danish Government purchased large numbers of the best breeds of hogs from England. Canada is also supplying Britain with bacon in steadily increasing volume. To arrive at what will best suit the British demand a scrutiny of the breeds, weights, and cuts most common in England must be taken. Investigations show that the three prin- cipal breeds of hogs in England are the white Yorkshires, the .black Berkshires, and the red Tamworths. The most popular weight ranges from 140 to 196 pounds. The best selling cut is what is known as the "Wiltshire." Fuller particulars of this trade are furnished in
53
54 GENERAL TKADE CONDITIONS.
the report published on December 3, 1906, in Daily Consular and Trade Reports.
A strong prejudice arose in the United Kingdom against every kind of canned goods following the American scare on this question, the consequence being that the consumption of cheese went up by leaps and bounds. Canada increased her trade with England in this com- modity very materially, but as yet the United States has not taken advantage of the opening.
OPENING FOR JEWELRY.
Cheap jewelry is sold in large quantities to the women of the labor- ing classes in the United Kingdom, and this variety of ornament is steadily growing in favor. That the American manufacturer partici- pates in this trade but insignificantly is demonstrated by the $356,976 worth which represents the exports of jewelry of all kinds from the United States to the whole of Europe during the year 1905. In every industrial center one is struck with the glitter of the ornaments made from paste, alloy, lightly put together silver, or gold of low carat worn by working women and girls. Other kinds are gilded, plated, or rolled baser metals. Inforination obtained from retailers leads to the conclusion that a good share of this trade in cheaper articles would be quickly in 'the hands of American makers if an aggressive selling campaign were inaugurated. This opinion is strengthened by the rec- ord of our sales of jewelry goods to the 5,600,000 residents of Canada in the fiscal year 1906, amounting to $979,492. In the British Isles the sales of such wares for the same period amounted to $291,095.
Attention has been directed also to the importations into the United States of artificial silk, jute bagging, and burlaps, and the fact is pointed out that these yarns and fabrics can be profitably manu- factured here and two new American industries established.
BRITISH IMPORTS OF MANUFACTURES.
There are few industries in this country which could not increase their trade with Great Britain if an active selling campaign were inaugurated. There we have a market supported by nearly 44,000,000 people who bought manufactures from other countries to the value of $1,345,000,000 during 1905, a free market without import tariffs, and with almost daily ocean carriers sailing from the United States, as well as low freight rates and quick service. Nor have we the difficulty of a strange language to contend with. There are many examples of the gratifying success that will attend proper efforts in this direction, for on every hand American-made goods of certain kinds are in evidence.
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