The foregoing summaries for the last five tariff acts can not be contrasted as accurately as in the case of previous summaries for imports of cotton yarn. The imports under the tariff acts of 1890 and 1894 relate to sewing thread only whereas the tariff acts of 1897, 1909, and 1913 lump together imports of crochet, darning, and embroidery cottons with sewing thread. Allowing for this fact it is seen that the average yearly imports were small and fairly stationary until the passage of the act of 1909, when there was a large increase, and that under the act of 1913 there was again a substantial increase. Soft spun darning cotton of very coarse count and fine six-cord sewing thread have practically nothing in common, so that contrasts of imports of the two combined, stated in terms of 100 yards, can not be said to show anything. The only contrast possible is that of total values, and with the great rise in values during the war even this is of questionable utility. If statistics had been kept so as to show imports of sewing thread separate from imports of crochet, darning, and embroidery cottons, more definite conclusions might be drawn. Though accurate contrast of imports of like articles in different years or tariff periods is not feasible it is clear that the average yearly values of the imports of sewing thread and of crochet, darning, and embroidery cottons reached a new level in 1909. Though 100 yards does not afford any exact basis, it would appear that the average value of the diverse articles included in paragraph 251 have been increasing under successive tariffs. The average rates under the tariff of 1890 were the highest and the equivalent ad valorem rates have steadily decreased under the last four tariff acts. This is apparently also true as to average equivalent duties in cents per unit of quantity. As a revenue producer the act of 1913, aided by the high prices of sewing thread and of crochet, darning, and embroidery cottons, has exceeded all previous tariffs. The act of 1909 was a large revenue producer as compared with that of 1897, comparisons being made, of course, in terms of revenue per annum. The inclusive figures under the last three tariff acts tend to show that, contrary to those of paragraph 250, the rates of duty of paragraph 251 have had an appreciable effect on imports. APPENDIX. PART I. THE INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN COTTON YARN AND POSSIBLE SOURCES OF AMERICAN IMPORTS. A brief review of the international trade in cotton yarn is essential to a clear understanding of the American import trade and its relation to the tariff. It serves to bring out the conditions which determine the yarn import requirements of the various countries, and the United States among them; the volume and character of the principal currents in international trade; and the possible competition in the American market from the various sources. THE PLACE OF THE UNITED STATES AMONG THE PRODUCERS OF RAW COTTON. A statement of the place of the United States among the leading countries as a producer and a manufacturer of cotton furnishes a background helpful to the discussion which follows. The production of yarn, as of all manufactures of cotton, is primarily dependent upon the availability of the raw material. The predominance of the United States as the chief source of the world's commercial supply of raw cotton is apparent from the crop figures for 1913, a normal prewar season: TABLE 26.-Commercial cotton crop of the world, 1913. [Source: United States Census Bulletin 137, "Cotton production and distribution," p. 79.] 1 Amount for India does not include cotton used in home manufacture. * Estimate for China represents cotton exported and cotton consumed in spinning mills. Including home manufacture, China's cotton crop was at least 1,200,000 bales. Of the total world production of twenty-one and one-half million bales in 1913, the United States is seen to have produced thirteen and one-half million bales, or 63 per cent of the total, which represents about the usual proportion of the world supply furnished by the United States in recent years. India is the second largest cotton producer, with a crop considerably smaller in amount and inferior in quality to that of the United States. Egypt is a distant third, with a much smaller crop than either of the first two, but of a decidedly finer grade of cotton than either the American or Indian. Egyptian cotton is relied on for the production of the bulk of fine yarns and high-grade fabrics, and where especially long and strong fibers are required, as in thread making or tire fabrics. Since 1912 the Egyptian variety of cotton has been cultivated in the States of Arizona and California, but while promising, the crop is still relatively small. The very finest long-staple cotton is the sea-island variety, grown mainly on the littoral and the islands off the coast of Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina. Sea-island cotton is much in demand where specially fine, strong yarns are desired, but the annual crop is very limited. From a commercial point of view, the dependence of the great cotton manufacturing nations of the world upon the American crop is even more complete than is indicated from the above figures. Little of the cotton produced in China and Russia is available for the rest of the world; and a large proportion of the Indian crop, and much of the comparatively small quantities grown in South America and Mexico, are retained for home consumption. American upland cotton is the raw material for the great bulk of the world's staple cotton fabrics. Approximately 75 per cent of the raw material of the Lancashire spinning industry is drawn from the United States, and similar proportions obtain for the Continental cotton industries. In fact, most of the machinery in European countries is adapted particularly to the spinning of American cotton. PLACE OF THE UNITED STATES AMONG THE MANUFACTURERS OF COTTON. The relative importance of the United States as a cotton manufacturing nation is indicated in the following table, which shows the consumption of cotton by the principal countries in the last prewar year, the number of active spindles, and the average consumption of cotton per spindle: 1 British departmental report on "Textile trades after the war," 1918 (Cd. 9070), p. 6. |