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We do not give these numbers as absolutely correct. Our statements are made from the best information we can obtain.

We are going to work in good earnest, not only to repair the waste places of the war, but to build up and improve and prosper, and to show to the world that we can be as good soldiers in peace as we are in war; and that we intend to achieve some most glorious victories on the fields of labor and in the chambers of commerce.

CHAPTER VIII.

CONSUMPTION OF COTTON.

WE restrict the phrase "consumption of cotton" to the actual wear and tear by the millions who are compelled to use it. A man of calculating mind may form some idea of this immense consumption by beginning his reckoning in his own family. How many yards of common domestic are required to clothe a single person for a year? Twentyfive yards is not too large an estimate as a fair average for old and young; adult women requiring fifty yards, and small children from fifteen to thirty. How many persons are there in the United States requiring cotton cloth? 30,000,000. Then it will require 750,000,000 yards. This calculation does not include the fine cambrics, muslins, laces, &c., of foreign importation.

Let

Let us extend our calculations across the water. us suppose that England takes annually 2,000,000 bales, or 900,000,000 pounds. This will make 1,800,000,000 yards of cloth. A larger portion of this cloth is designed for clothing, and is distributed to all parts of the world, to be worn out or consumed on the backs of the needy myriads.

France takes 500,000 bales, or 225,000,000 pounds. She converts it mostly into fine fabrics, such as laces and talles. Supposing one pound of cotton will make four yards

of fine tissue, then it

appears that France weaves 900,000,000 yards of extra fine cotton cloth, a large portion of which she consumes herself; the balance being used up chiefly by England and the United States.

The usual estimate of the consumption of cotton in the United States and England is from five to six pounds for each person; but we believe the estimate for the United States is too low. Mr. Bowring, in his Report on the German Zollverein, states the consumption at 4 pounds

to each family (or less than a pound to each person), but this is certainly below the present distributive amount. The estimate for France is from four to four and a half pounds to each person. Dr. Dieterici, of the Statistical Bureau of Berlin, estimated the consumption in Prussia, in 1806, at three-fourths of a yard; in 1841 at seven yards; and in 1844, at thirteen yards; but it is now believed to amount to from twenty-four to thirty yards. In Turkey and the adjacent countries the consumption is estimated at from two to two and a half pounds for each person. With respect to India and China our knowledge is less certain. Mr. Royle, in his excellent work on "The Culture and Commerce of Cotton in India," informs us that some observers estimate the consumption in British India at twenty pounds to each individual, the aggregate consumption at 3,000,000,000 pounds, and the crop at 3,100,000,000. He questions the correctness of this estimate; but the cotton produced there is different in quality, unclean, and badly prepared for the loom, and woven into inferior fabrics which are used for more varied purposes than cotton cloth is applied to in other parts of the world, including not only the cloths and robes of the people, but their beds and bedding, tents, cords, bands, and almost every purpose to which a textile material of such softness and flexibility is possibly adapted.

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The importance of this product to the people who there cultivate and consume it is unquestionably great. In fact, we cannot comprehend how what appear to be their absolute wants could be gratified without it. While it supplies their own requirements, however, in their present condition, it makes but little impression upon the general commerce of mankind. In this respect, the product of the United States, where its extended culture does not date a century back, is of the first importance, though the experiments of the English in British India were commenced a century earlier, and though the history of the culture of the plant in Asiatic countries runs through thousands of years. No branch of industry probably ever rose to such magnitude in so brief a time. Producing a very large annual supply above the actual wants of the country, and of a material superior in quality to the yield of any other land, the United States possesses by virtue of this crop an interest in the commerce of the world, which could not be secured by means of a product less peculiar in its nature, or less intimately connected with the social condition of civilized Europe. This cotton chain not only binds one section of our land to the other, but unites England to us "With links more durable than links of steel."

English and American fabrics made from our cotton are known over the whole globe, and in the markets of China and India take precedence of the products of the indigenous staple, in some fabrics, not only because they are better, but because they can be purchased even there at lower prices. Thus, this improved product of the soil in America, aided by the inventions of Arkwright, Watt, and Whitney, is even now more powerful than armies in securing the advancement of civilization and enlightened liberty. Their

influences are yet to increase as the demand for cotton is augmented. There must be more soil devoted to its culture, or that already under tillage must be improved in fertility. More laborers must bend to the work, or the industry now so applied must be rendered more producAnd none of these changes can be accomplished without visible effects upon the social and political affairs of mankind.

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