COTTON TRADE PROFITS.
[TO THE EDITOR. or TIM .Semcreron..1 SIE,—Your correspondent " Manufacturer " of April 20th is evidently more familiar with the weaving of cloth from bought yarn than with spinning yarn for sale. He doubts my statement of the 30 per cent. profit on all capital employed by the twenty mills referred to in my letter of April 13th. Please let me say in reply that at the end of last month numerous stock-takings took place, but, as is well known in Lancashire, a large proportion of companies do not publish balance-sheets, the management contenting them- selves with simply declaring dividends. There were, however, twenty concerns which issued particulars of profits. These details were tabulated in my private cotton trade circular of April 11th. I do not propose to trouble you with the statistics in question, but I should be glad to show them to your correspondent if he will communicate with me. I may say they work out at 3044 per cent per annum. Dividends were not referred to by me, as I am fully aware that they have not for some time back repre- sented the gains of the limited companies. This, I may assume from his letter, " Manufacturer " has no knowledge of, or, if he has, it is unfortunate that your readers have been misled. " Manufacturer" states that " it is a fact not universally known to the outside world that a very large proportion of the total capital of cotton-spinning companies, amounting sometimes to as much as three-quarters of the whole, is money on loan at a low rate of interest." What are the facts of the case ? I have before me an official list of seventy-six spinning companies, the total share capital paid up being £2,901,946, loans and mortgages £2,376,562. Com- ment is needless. Let the figures speak for themselves. In my letter of April 13th I was most careful to point out that I was dealing only with the spinning part of our staple trade. I am fully cognisant of the fact that the weaving-from-bought-yarn department is for the most part handicapped by high-priced twist and weft, and is in a worse position as to margin compared with a while ago ; but there is no cause for anxiety. India is prosperous, and stocks of piece-goods in China are being reduced. Our nearer and minor outlets are healthy, notably Turkey, Egypt, and South America, and our home trade is not discouraging.—
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