THE COTTON TROUBLES.
(To THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR.")
Szn,—Your article on the above subject in the Spectator of September 22nd is calculated to mislead the outside public as to the causes of the present embarrassment in the cotton trade. Briefly, the present scarcity of cotton is due to the simultaneous failure of last season's crop both of American cotton and Indian cotton ; and the stocks in the world, rela- tive to the consumptive requirements,- have been reduced to a lower point than at any time since the .American War. This scarcity is rendered more acute by the fact that the incoming American crop is a late one, and threatens to be again seriously short. A further aggravation of these unto- ward conditions was the recent devastating storm at Galveston, which wrecked the port and shipping and delayed the ship- ment of new crop cotton to Liverpool. No combination of speculators could have exercised much influence apart from these natural and unavoidable causes. It is also very ques- tionable whether the action of these speculators has been as malign as might appear, as the high price in Liverpool has attracted all the surplus stocks from all parts of the world, and yet there is an absolute famine ! The writer of your article is not, apparently, acquainted with the trade, or he would not say "one result of the present month's experience will be to develop the importance of other sources of supply, such as the Indian and Egyptian." This country has almost ceased to use Indian cotton, not that the crops are smaller, but 'because we can more profitably spin American. The Egyptian cotton crop has more than doubled itself since the English occu- pation of Egypt, and the consumption of Egyptian cotton in this country has correspondingly increased. You further say: "Surely it is not too much to expect that the leaders of the cotton trade will take effectual steps to secure that in future the true character of the cotton crop in the -United States shall be known to them and all concerned both early and accurately." The Washington Agricultural Bureau announced last October that the crop was a failure. This country did not believe it. The American spinners did, and secured their cotton. This country was left in the lurch. These are the unadorned facts of the present lamentable scarcity of cotton, and appearances indicate a straitened supply for some time to come. Some of us cotton people read your journal regularly for inspiration and guidance, and we may be pardoned for thinking it is quite excusable for a literary writer, in commenting on a large trade, not always ".to see it steadily and see it whole."—I am, Sir, clic., A LIVERPOOL COTTON BROKER.
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