250 REPORT ON, COOPERATION IN AMERICAN EXPORT TRADE,

ng organizations which predominate in the manufacture of cotton
textiles, or which directly affect the export trade in textiles, are
rutlined below.
Ture Fine Corron SPINNERS’ &amp; DOUBLERS’ ASSOCIATION was
formed in May, 1898, to amalgamate 31 companies and firms engaged
in spinning fine (sea island) cotton, or in doubling yarns from this
and other staples of cotton. Its success has been attributed to
the external conditions in the industry favoring combination and
:0 certain advantages which have been utilized to the full by very
sfficient methods of business organization and management.?
In the first place, this branch of the cotton industry, which is of
very great dimensions, is said to be practically free from foreign competition,
 and also in a measure protected against the establishment
of new firms in England, particularly outside of Lancashire. This
comparative protection is due to the following circumstances: The
necessity that the fine spinning and doubling processes be carried
on near the other branches of the cotton industry; the skill of the
Lancashire weavers, the workmen being of the highest standard
of efficiency; the suitable climate of Lancashire, the humidity of
which facilitates fine spinning. Furthermore, when this combination
was formed, its branch of the industry was in the control of a relatively
 few large firms.
Another circumstance favoring a more or less monopolistic combination
 is the scarcity of the raw material used. Fine spinning and
doubling require the finest qualities of raw cotton. These are found
in the finer grades of American and Egyptian cottons, of which the
supply is very limited. By means of its large resources the Fine
Cotton Spinners’ &amp; Doublers’ Association is generally able to secure
an advantage in obtaining its supplies.’
In the first year after its organization, in May, 1898, the spinners’
sombination purchased five additional businesses, including a Lisle
company, and shortly afterwards the Musgrave Spinning Co., of
Bolton, with 377,000 spindles. This gave the combination a total of
2,873,000 spindles in the United Kingdom besides 220,000 in France.
In the next two years five more businesses were added, and a dominant
 interest was purchased in the most prominent French competitor,-La
 Société Anonyme des Filatures Delebart Mallet Fils, an oldestablished
 firm with £400,000 capital. In 1900 the Bradford Colliery
 Co. was purchased by the issue of £450,000 debentures, thus
zonsiderably mitigating the effect of the high price of coal on the cost
of production. By the end of the fourth year there were 42 asso-4

 Macrosty, op. eit., p. 137.
2G. R. Carter, The Tendency Towards Industrial Combination (London), 1913, p. 310.
» Carter, op cit., pp. 310-311.