AND ON THE CONTINENT.
63
CHAPTER III.
The Present Position of the English Cotton Industry Compared with its Position in the “Thirties” and with tiie Present Position of the German Cotton Industry . (1)
In the half-century that has elapsed since the “ thirties ” England has become “the workshop of the world.” “Where there is no English commerce there is no commerce at all”—is the report of the American Secretary of State (2). A number of centralised English industries have succeeded in obtaining possession of the neutral markets of the world ; English exports have quadrupled and quintupled themselves since the “ forties.” Tho cotton industry progressed beyond all others, its exports exceeding those of the iron trade by about three times (3). We indicate at the outset the progress and the present position by statistics: —
Spindles. Power-looms. Hand-looms.
1831 . 10,000,000 80,000 220,000
185G . 28,000,000 298,847 some thousands
1885 . 45,000,000 500,955 some hundreds (4.)
About a third of the total exports of England falls to the lot of the cotton industry, and a not much smaller proportion of the English people live on the foodstuffs which are exchanged for
1. Where no sources are given in the following particulars they may be taken as originating from studies on the spot, and are, from their very nature, sufficiently authoritative.
2. ‘ 1 Commercial Relations of the United States, ” No. 12 (Oct., 1881), p. 71 .
3. 1887 : Exports of cotton yarns and goods, £70,959,700 ; of iron and steel, raw and finished, £24,992,314; total exports of home productions, £221,414,180.
4. These figures approximately agree with those given by Samuel Andrew, in “ Fifty Years’ Cotton Trade.” They are taken for 1850 anil 1885 from official statistics ; for 1831 from Ellison : 1 2 3 4 ‘ Cotton Trade. ” The number of spindles were averaged, because Ellison, by reason of commercial directories, declares the official figures far too small. He estimates the number of spindles in 1885 to be already 48 millions. Compare Ellison, p. 327-8. These statistics are confirmed by Elijah Helm, “ Economic Journal ” II. 737; according to him there were in 1891 in Great Britain 44,750,000 spinning spindles ; in addition, according to the Statistical Abstract, nearly 4,000,000 doubling spindles, besides the spindles not in operation, which, according to Ellison, are a few millions.