Cotton
10
stimulating to man, and the location causes the labor supply to be
abundant.
Where cotton goods are manufactured. Some of the cotton used
in your home or in your clothes was probably imported. The United
States normally makes only a little
more than a quarter of the world’s
supply of cotton goods and consumes
many varieties that she does not
make. Great Britain and Japan
each manufacture about one eighth;
China, one tenth; France, India,
Germany, and Italy, each one twenti-
eth. Half of the remainder is manu-
factured in the other countries of
western Europe, and half in the rest
of the world (Fig. 13).
Figure 13 is based simply on
quantity. If quality be taken into
account, and if the value of cotton
manufactures be made the basis of
a table, the United States and the
European countries stand higher than appears above ; the Asiatic coun-
tries, being beginners, stand lower. In the United States the northeast,
especially New England, which has long manufactured cotton, makes
the best kinds of cotton cloth, while the South, where the industry is
newer, turns out chiefly coarse varieties. This is partly because there
is more efficient labor in Europe and New England, and partly because
when the manufacture of cotton first begins it is easier to make the
cheaper kinds which do not require such expensive machinery.
The making of cotton goods by hand. Hand methods of making
cotton goods, as we have seen, are still employed in many parts of the
world ; for example, in the interior of China and India and among
the Japanese mountains. Most of the backward sections make no
more than enough cloth for local use. In some regions, such as India
and Japan, the thread is mostly spun in factories and is then sold
to the weavers, who make the cloth by hand. Switzerland, central
France, and Ireland, however, have a highly advanced cotton indus-
try which produces hand-made goods of a quite different kind. These
consist of laces, embroideries, and cloths of such delicate texture,
graceful pattern, or lasting quality that they are much prized by people
in distant regions. They have given rise to an important trade.
