Page:EB1922 - Volume 30.djvu/810

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764
COTTON

fore 1920, and in April of that year it was agreed that future increases should be proportioned to the cost of living.

In Germany we have the computation shown in Table XVIII. (Labour Overseas, Ministry of Labour, London, Oct.-Jan. 1920, p. 51):—

Table XVIII.

Date Average
 weekly earnings 
of male adult
Weekly
minimum
 cost of living 
 (four persons) 
Earnings in
 proportion to 
cost of living




Marks Marks
 Aug. 1913 to July 1914   35  29 1.21
 Aug. 1919 100 130  .77
 Feb. 1920 170 254  .67
 Nov. 1920 210 316  .76

The Official Year Book of New Zealand (1919) gives figures which are shown in Table XIX.:—

Table XIX.

Year Average
 minimum 
hourly
rates
 Weekly 
hours
 Weekly 
rates
 Retail 
food
 prices 





 1911  1000 1000 1000 1000
 1912 1006 1000 1006 1035
 1913 1036  998 1034 1055
 1914 1087  986 1072 1102
 1915 1094  985 1078 1218
 1916 1152  983 1132 1290
 1917 1200  982 1178 1384
 1918 1258  982 1135 1513
 1919 1418  979 1288 1537

More than the minimum may have been paid in skilled trades and other items of expenditure may have risen less than food.

Table XX. shows how earnings (as distinguished from rates of wages) moved in New York state in relation to the cost of living:—

Table XX.

 Average weekly 
earnings in
factories in
 New York state 
 Cost of living 
index number
for the
United States



 1914 Dec. 100 100
 1915 Dec. 107 101
 1916 Dec. 123 115
 1917 Dec. 140 139
 1918 Dec. 185 170
 1919 Dec.  209 193
 1920 May  224  June 210 June  

 (A. L. Bo.) 

COTTON, SIR HENRY JOHN STEDMAN (1845-1915), Anglo-Indian administrator (see 7.254), lost his seat in Parliament in 1910. He died in London Oct. 23 1915.

COTTON, JAMES SUTHERLAND (1847-1918), British man of letters (see 7.255), died at Salisbury July 10 1918. He contributed articles on Indian subjects to the E.B. and spent the later years of his life cataloguing European MSS. relating to India in the India Office library.

COTTON, AND COTTON INDUSTRY (see 7.256, 281). The chief problems which faced the cotton industry after the beginning of the 20th century centred in the question of the supply of the raw material. Up to the outbreak of the World War the outstanding feature was the steady increase of the demand. The industry is unique in possessing fairly reliable statistics of the consumption throughout the world, these having been compiled with increasing completeness by the International Federation of Master Cotton Spinners' and Manufacturers' Associations since 1904. The last issue before the war (March 1 1914) contained actual returns from the owners of 132 million spindles out of an estimated world's total of 145 millions, or 91% of the world's total mill capacity. These figures do not, of course, include domestic spinning, which in many countries, especially India and China, accounts for a large part of the local consumption, so that they must always be incomplete; but this does not greatly affect comparative statistics from year to year.

The possession of such statistics offered an opportunity to attempt a balance sheet of the world's production and consumption such as is given in Table A. During the war it was impossible to continue the world statistics of consumption of cotton of all kinds, but other figures for the American crop alone are available to bring the table down to date as far as was possible in 1921.

The causes of the increase of consumption may be briefly tabulated as follows:—

(1) The increasing wealth of the world, especially of those tropical and subtropical countries whose products are largely raw materials such as cotton, and which for climatic reasons happen to be also the largest cotton-using countries in the world.

(2) Improved methods of manufacture, and the discovery of new processes which made it possible to produce cotton fabrics of an entirely different character, quality and finish from those previously known. The old process of “mercerising,” reapplied with new success, produced cotton fabrics with a finish and appearance closely resembling silk, while the additional process known as “schreinering” produced a surface like satin.

(3) Similar developments enabled cotton to be used not merely as an adulterant of, but as a really satisfactory substitute for, fabrics made from other textile materials, such as wool and linen, e.g. the raising process made it possible to produce cotton goods as much superior to the early attempts at woollen imitations as these were inferior to the real article. Cotton “damask” was also taking the place of the original linen.

Table A.—Balance of the World's Production and Consumption, 1904-20.

World's Commercial Crops and Mill Consumption.[1] American Crop and World's Consumption thereof.


Mean Crops. Mean
 Consumption. 
 Balance.  Average
Price of
American,
Indian and
Egyptian.
 Commercial 
Crop.[2]
 Consumption.[2]   Balance.  Average
Price
 American 
Middling.




Bales (000's omitted).  Pence per lb.  Bales (000's omitted).  Pence per lb. 




 1904-1905 19,648 
 1905-1906 17,266
 1906-1907 20,815
 1907-1908 17,564
 1908-1909 20,229
 1909-1910 17,216
 1910-1911 18,854
 1911-1912 22,157
 1912-1913 21,503
 1913-1914 23,309
 1914-1915 [3]
 1915-1916
 1916-1917
 1917-1918
 1918-1919
 1919-1920
17,726 +1,922 5.66 13,656 12,664 +  992 4.93
18,214 −  948 6.73 11,443 12,081 −  638 5.94
19,523 +1,292 7.21 13,735 13,203 +  532 6.38
19,393 −1,829 6.68 11,456 12,112 −  656 6.19
19,828 +  401 6.29 13,831 13,157 +  674 5.50
19,148 −1,932 9.10 10,592 11,754 −1,162 7.86
20,222 −1,368 8.54 11,986 12,054 −   68 7.84
21,495 +  662 7.09 16,108 14,515 +1,593 6.09
22,302 −  799 7.57 14,106 14,715 −  609 6.76
22,296 +1,013 7.52 14,882 15,541 +  341 7.26
[3] [3] [3] 15,108 13,834 +1,274 5.22
12,038 14,812 −1,874 7.51
12,941 13,906 −  965 12.33 
11,907 12,282 −  375 21.68 
11,640 10,600 +1,040 19.73 
12,443 12,735 −  292 25.31 
  1. For details see “The World's Cotton Crops,” Appendix B.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Hester's figures. (New Orleans Cotton Exchange.)
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Complete statistics not available.