INTERNATIONAL LABOUR OFFICE
STUDIES AND
REPORTS
Series B (Social and Economic Conditions) No. 27
THE
WORLD TEXTILE INDUSTRY
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS
VOLUME I
GENEVA
1937
Published in the United Kingdom
For the INTERNATIONAL LABOUR OFFICE (LEAGUE OF NATIONS)
By P. S. KING & SON, Ltd.
Orchard House, 14 Great Smith Street, Westminster, London, S.W. 1
PRINTED BY ALBERT KUNDIG, GENEVA
INTRODUCTION
This Report was originally prepared and distributed in proof as
a " White " Report, intended to serve as a basis for discussion at
the Tripartite Technical Conference on the Textile Industry which
was held in Washington, D.C., in April 1937.
The Report is now reprinted with a minimum of alterations and
with the addition of certain documents relating to the Textile
Conference, including the texts of the conclusions adopted by it.
In order to avoid any misconception as to the purpose and scope
of the Report, the " Foreword " to the original proof is reproduced
below.
The Textile Conference, for which this Report has been prepared, is
an experiment. It represents the first attempt by the International
Labour Organisation to review the general situation of a worldwide
industry, in order to explore the possibility of improving its social
standards. In conformity with the terms of reference of the Conference,
this Report attempts " to take into account all those aspects of the
textile industry which may have a bearing directly or indirectly on the
improvement of social conditions in that industry ". Consequently it
contains chapters relating to such matters as production, consumption,
trade, tariffs, etc., with a view to sketching the economic background
against which the problems of employment, wages, hours and working
conditions must be viewed. The inclusion of chapters on these subjects
does not, however, imply that the Conference should discuss commercial
and economic policies as such. Reference to the economic, commercial
and financial conditions in the industry is inevitable in considering
" how the work undertaken by the International Labour Organisation
in connection with the improvement of conditions in the textile industry
can best be advanced ". Such information on these subjects as it has
been possible to collect and present in the short time available has
therefore been included in the present Report. The Conference may
perhaps be able to indicate how far it might be desirable to complete
certain aspects of the picture of the industry given here, and how best
such complementary information might be obtained. The Report as a
whole is, however, directed towards a consideration of social conditions
in the industry, and such economic, commercial and financial information
as is given in it is intended to be subservient to that purpose.
A few words are also called for with regard to the documentary and
other information used in this Report. While it is impossible to refer
— IV
—
to all the sources which have been drawn upon, acknowledgment should
be made of some of those which have proved to be of particular value
in the preparation of this Report. Such are the publications of the
Economic Intelligence Service of the League of Nations, of the International Institute of Agriculture, of the Imperial Economic Committee
(London), of the United States Tariff Commission, and other official
bodies, and of such private organisations as the Joint Committee of
Cotton Trade Organisations (Manchester) and of the Mitsubishi Economic
Research Bureau in Tokyo, which have brought together data on the
production of and trade in textiles in comparable and convenient form.
The publications of these bodies have been invaluable in enabling the
Office to compile the international statistical tables upon which the
analyses in various chapters of this Report are based, though the data
supplied are far from complete. At the same time, it is necessary to call
attention as forcibly as possible to the wide gaps in and the meagre
character of the statistical information on the labour aspects of this
Report. Data on wages and hours are particularly imperfect. Even
some of the advanced industrial countries do not supply adequate data
to answer some of the simplest questions dealing with the hours of work
and earnings of the workers in the textile industry. This paucity of
information as regards labour conditions, earnings, hours of work and
employment is particularly striking when contrasted with the fairly
extensive information on production and trade. It is hoped that the
deliberations of the Conference will stimulate Governments to compile
the statistical data essential for a more complete picture of the labour
and social conditions in the industry.
The Report in its final form is in two volumes. Volume I contains
the fourteen chapters which constituted the first volume of the
original Report. Volume II contains the statistical tables which
formed Part I (" Statistics of Production, Consumption and
Trade ") and Parts II-V (" Labour Statistics ") of the second
volume of the original Report. Volume II of the present Report
also includes a Record of the Proceedings of the Conference in
Washington, comprising an introduction, list of members of delegations, committees and secretariat, and the texts of the reports
of committees adopted by the Conference.
CONTENTS
Page
INTRODUCTION
m
CHAPTER I : The Background and the Point of View
I. Facts as a Basis for Action
II. The Scope of the Study
1
1
4
CHAPTER I I : Scope and Character of the Textile Industry
I. Definition and Scope
II. The Diversity of the Industry
Raw Materials
Manufacturing Processes and Industrial Organisation . .
Nature of Products: Semi-finished and Finished . . . .
Relative Importance of Social-Economic Problems . . .
. III. The Unity of the Industry
IV. The Importance of the Industry
7
7
8
9
11
15
15
17
25
CHAPTER I I I : Sources of Raw Materials
I. Raw Cotton
II. Raw Wool
III. Silk Cocoons
IV. Wood Pulp
V. Flax
VI. Raw Jute
VII. Textile Raw Materials in the National Economy
29
29
31
34
35
36
37
38
CHAPTER IV: World Textile Manufacturing
I.
II.
III.
Handicraft Production
Factory Production
A. Cotton Textiles
Mill Consumption of Raw Cotton
Plant and Equipment: Spinning
Plant and Equipment: Weaving
Volume of Output . . . .
B. Wool Textiles
Available Supplies of Raw Wool
Wool-manufacturing Machinery
C. Silk Textiles
D. Rayon and Similar Synthetic Fibres
E. Linen Textiles
F. Jute Textiles
Summary
41
•
41
44
45
46
48
53
56
58
60
60
64
66
68
69
70
VI
CHAPTER V: World Trade in Textiles
I. Cotton Textiles
A. Raw Cotton
B. Cotton Yarn
C. Cotton Piece Goods
Exports
Imports
II. Woollen Textiles
A. Raw Wool
B. Wool Tops and Yarns
C. Woollen and Worsted Tissues
III. Silk
IV. Rayon Yarn and Manufactures
V. Flax and Linen
VI. Jute
VII. Summary
CHAPTER V I : Changing Patterns of Textile Production and Trade . .
I. Changes in Production
A. Cotton Textile Manufacturing
1. Changes in Productive Capacity in India, Japan
and the United Kingdom
2. China, Brazil and other " New Textile Countries "
3. Intra-National Shifts: India and the United
States
4. Changes effected by the World War
5. Germany and Italy: Policies of Self-Sufficiency .
B. Wool Manufacturing
C. Silk and Rayon
D. Linen and Jute
II.
Changes in World Trade
Page
71
71
71
72
74
74
78
84
84
85
86
90
93
98
99
101
103
104
104
104
109
112
115
117
118
121
123
123
A.
Trade in Cotton Goods
1. Changes in Import Markets
India
China
,
South America
2. Trends in Exports
The United Kingdom
Japan
Latin-America
The Philippines
The United States Home Market
French Export Markets
German Exports
Italian Exports
Summary
123
123
123
124
125
126
126
129
132
133
134
135
136
137
139
B.
C.
D.
Trade in Wool Textiles
Trade in other Textiles
Summary
140
145
149
VII
Page
CHAPTER V I I : Problems of " Over-Production " and " Under-Consumplion"
I. Schemes for the Restriction of Output
II. Areas of Localised Excess Capacity
III. Production and Prices, 1925-1929
IV. The Consumption of Textiles
V. The Extent of Potential Demand
VI. Conclusion
150
150
155
156
162
167
173
CHAPTER V I I I : Factors in International Competition
I. Access to Markets
Japan
The United Kingdom
The United States
India
France
Germany
II. Currency Depreciation
Japan .
The United Kingdom
The United States
The " Gold Bloc " Countries
Exchange Control Countries
III. Commercial Organisation
The United Kingdom
India
China
Japan
IV. Costs of Production
1. Overhead Costs
2. Costs of Raw Materials . . . "
3. Labour Costs
4. International Cost Comparisons
174
174
178
182
186
187
188
190
193
194
194
195
196
196
197
197
198
200
201
203
203
205
207
210
.
CHAPTER I X : The Composition of the Labour Force
I. Number of Workers
II. Characteristics of the Labour Force
Women Workers
Young Persons
Skilled and Unskilled Workers
III. Distribution of Workers among Different Branches of the
Industry
IV. Trends
V. Summary
218
219
222
222
223
226
CHAPTER X: Wage Rates and Earnings
I. Hourly Wages
II. Weekly Earnings
III. Wage Trends since 1929
IV. Movement in Real Wages
V. Wages in Gold
VI. National Levels of Wage Rates
VII. Summary
234
235
240
243
245
251
255
257
227
230
233
V i l i —Page
CHAPTER X I : Hours of Work
I. Limitations on Weekly Hours of Work
Distribution of Hours over Several Weeks
Exceptions
Overtime Payment
Shifts
II. Rest Periods
1. The Weekly Rest
2. Public Holidays
3. Annual Holidays with Pay
4. Maternity Leave
5. Night Work
III. National Differences in Regulations on Hours
IV. Actual Hours Worked
V. Summary
260
261
264
265
267
267
268
268
269
270
272
275
277
279
284
CHAPTER X I I : Employment and Unemployment
I. The Cyclical Factor
II. Technological Unemployment
Increase in Labour Productivity
Extent of Displacement
III. The Structural Factor
IV. Summary
286
287
297
297
304
306
315
CHAPTER X I I I : Economic Factors and Labour Standards
I. Wages, Hours of Work, Prices and Profits: the United States
II. Business Expansion, Employment and Wages: Japan . . .
III. Conclusion
317
320
330
333
CHAPTER XIV: Summary
334
EXPLANATION OF SIGNS USED IN THE TABLES
In Chapters I-VIII,
and in Chapter
XIII:
The sign — signifies " figure nil or negligible ".
The sign . signifies " information not available or non-existent ".
In Chapters IX-XII
:
The sign * signifies " information not available ".
The sign — signifies " information not yet received ".
CHAPTER I
THE BACKGROUND AND THE POINT OF VIEW
The present study of the economic and social aspects of the world
textile industry is the result of a special interest in the subject on
the part of the International Labour Organisation which is of long
standing. The successive phases of the discussion which resulted
in the present Report and the point of view by which this Study
has been guided may be described here briefly.
I. — FACTS AS A BASIS FOR ACTION
Already, at the Eleventh Session of the International Labour
Conference in 1928, a resolution for an enquiry into working
conditions in the textile industry was introduced by Mr. Mitsusuke
Yonekubo, the workers' delegate from Japan. In explaining the
reasons for his resolution, Mr. Yonekubo maintained t h a t bad
working conditions in the textile industry were characteristic not
only of the Far East but also of Western countries ; that the Western
countries were coming to be more and more affected by the development of the textile industry in the Far East, and that the situation
had given rise to much discussion which, however, was not based on
adequate information. The delegate concluded : " The world at
present is in urgent need of more authoritative and objective
information on all matters which affect the character of international intercourse. Fortunately, we can now look to the International Labour Office for such information, the accuracy and
impartiality of which are unchallenged." x
The resolution, seconded by the workers' delegate from India,
was adopted by the Conference by a vote of 54 to 21.
In pursuance of this resolution, an attempt was made by the
International Labour Office to institute an enquiry into wages and
1
Record of Proceedings, International Labour Conference, Eleventh Session,
1928, pp. 354-357.
l
— 2 —
hours in the textile industry in different countries. However, as
a result of the difficulties of the subject, and especially of the world
depression beginning in 1929, the enquiry had to be postponed.
The problems of the textile industry were again brought to the
fore in 1935 in connection with the discussion of the reduction of
hours of work. At the Nineteenth Session of the International
Labour Conference in June 1935, Mr. Arthur Hayday, the workers'
delegate from Great Britain, presented a Resolution, in which he
urged the necessity of discussing a reduction of hours of work in
the textile industry.1 Mr. Hayday emphasised the special need
of an International Hours Convention in the textile industry on
the ground that the industry was highly mechanised and subject
to such intense international competition as to make it impossible,
even for a country whose workers were well organised, to secure
decent conditions of employment owing to " terribly low wages
and excessively long hours " in other countries.2
A new approach to the problem, from a larger point of view,
was made at the same Session of the Conference by one of the
Government delegates of the United States, Mr. Walton H.
Hamilton. In discussing the Director's Report, the American
delegate agreed with the Director that it would be possible, on the
basis of adequate research and of a willingness to improve social
conditions, to eliminate much of the misery existing in different
countries and in different industries. Mr. Hamilton thought that
the textile industry represented a specially appropriate case where
this point of view might be applied. After analysing the technical,
financial and international causes of " disorder " in the industry,
Mr. Hamilton said: " I should like to respond to the invitation
which the Director gives in his Report by suggesting a very concrete
study concerned with the world position of textiles. In that study
statistics need to be gathered and all that relates to labour needs
to be recorded. But the factors in the background that make for
order and disorder must be fathomed out; and the intangibles
which have their basis in custom and use need to be brought into
the picture. . . . All of this suggests something of the magnitude
of the task. It will not represent a new venture on the part of
the International Labour Office, but simply a continuation of the
1
The Governing Body at its Session in January 1935 had considered the
advisability of placing the discussion of the reduction of hours of work in the
textile industry on the Agenda of the 1935 Conference, but the proposal to do
so had failed of adoption by one vote.
2
Record of Proceedings, International Labour Conference, Nineteenth
Session, 1935, p. 476.
— 3—
studies which have already been begun. . . . " And he concluded:
" We are in the habit of looking to the International Labour Office
for light, for understanding and for the knowledge that will ripen
into action. We do not want studies for the sake of studies—we
want an understanding of the problem which will guide individuals,
trade associations, labour unions and Governments alike to make
an industry more orderly and to help it to meet a little more
solidly the shock of the tumultuous course of events." 1
The 1935 Session of the Conference decided, by a vote of 63 to 27,
to adopt Mr. Hayday's resolution, and the Governing Body at
its Session in October decided by 17 votes to 6 to place the question
of the reduction of hours of work in the textile industry upon the
Agenda of the Twentieth Session of the International Labour
Conference to be held in 1936. When the 1936 Session of the
Conference met, it had before it a report of the Office on the Reduction of Hours in the Textile Industry. The main question before
the Conference with regard to the textile industry was the proposal
of the Special Committee on the Textile Industry to adopt the
single-discussion procedure. This was rejected by the Conference
by a vote of 54 against to 47 in favour. The second and final
discussion of the reduction of hours of work in the textile industry
was referred to the Twenty-third Session of the International
Labour Conference to be held in June 1937.
The extended discussion at the 1936 Conference showed a definite
desire on the part of various delegates for more information on
the whole problem of the textile industry. The Minister of Labour
for Great Britain, Mr. Ernest Brown, in addressing the Conference,
stressed the idea that the International Labour Organisation, in
considering labour conditions in various industries, should study
" all the facts relating to industrial conditions—historical, racial,
geographical, political and economic ". 2 The workers' delegate
from Japan, Mr. Mitsu Kono, urged the adoption of a resolution
requesting an enquiry into the conditions of work of persons
employed in textile industries.3 One of the advisers to the
employers' delegate of Great Britain, Mr. Thomas Ashurst, made
the following statement : " We again assert that there is a lack of
reliable information as to the hours, wages and working conditions
obtaining in the various textile countries, and are firmly of the
1
2
Ibid., p. 354.
Record of Proceedings, International Labour Conference, Twentieth Session,
1936,
p. 54.
3
Ibid., p. 747.
— 4 —
opinion that this should be forthcoming, in order that the facts
internationally can be considered in true perspective." 1 Similar
expressions were voiced by other delegates.
It was in accord with this general feeling and in pursuance of
the suggestion first made by the Government delegate from the
United States in 1935, that Mr. John G. Winant and Miss Frieda
Miller, United States Government delegates to the Conference
of 1936, introduced a resolution for the calling of a Tripartite
Technical Conference on the Textile Industry. The resolution
in part read as follows : " It would be the purpose of this Conference to consider' how the work already undertaken by the
International Labour Organisation in connection with the improvement of conditions in the textile industry can best be advanced
and to take into account all those aspects of the textile industry,
which, directly or indirectly, may have a bearing on the
improvement of social conditions in that industry." 2
In further explaining the purpose of the resolution, Mr. Winant
said: "We are asking employers, workers and Governments to take
their part in exploring an industry on which millions of workers
are dependent for their daily bread. We want the facts. . . .
In the end, we want action. Let us take co-operative action, and
place before the world the factual information on which wise
decisions may be reached in protecting men and women engaged in
and dependent on the textile industry." 3 The resolution was
adopted by the Conference by a vote of 59 to 26.
In accordance with the action of the Twentieth Session of the
Conference, the Governing Body of the International Labour Organisation at its Seventy-seventh Session in November 1936 adopted a
resolution to convene a Tripartite Conference on the Textile
Industry, " to consider all those aspects of the industry which
directly or indirectly may have a bearing on the improvement of
social conditions in the industry ".
II. — THE SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The demand for a comprehensive and thorough study of the
textile industry has thus come from several major textile-producing
countries and has been supported by members of the three groups
represented in the International Labour Organisation. The discus1
2
3
Ibid., p. 319.
Ibid., pp. 384-385.
Ibid., p. 385.
— 5—
sions which have taken place on the subject reveal either an
expressed or an implied belief that a clarification of the economic
factors involved in the textile industry cannot but be helpful to an
understanding of its labour and social problems.
It is this point of view which has guided the present Study. In
carrying it out, every effort has been made to proceed without bias
or preconceived notions, to face the facts as they are, and to
analyse them as critically as possible in order to see what story
they tell.
It is necessary, however, to point out that this Study has had
to be made under a number of limitations which have prevented
as complete an answer to the questions raised as might be desirable.
To begin with, the shortness of time has limited greatly the capacity
to deal adequately with all aspects of the problem. Considering
the size of the industry, its complexities, the intricate structure
of its trade relations, the dynamic changes which it has undergone,
and the many countries involved, it was out of the question to
cover the entire area of research within the time available. That
it has been possible to go over as much ground as is surveyed here,
has been largely due to the fact that the Office has had access to
a considerable amount of material on various aspects of the industry.
Another limitation in the preparation of this Report has been
the gaps in the information available. In Volume II (Statistical
Appendices) some of these gaps have been clearly indicated, with
regard to the statistics on wages and hours of work, on employment
and unemployment. The information on production and trade is
good, but still in many respects incomplete. Above all, relatively
little information is conveniently available on profits, investments,
capitalisation and other financial aspects of the industry, on
consumption, costs of production, productivity, etc., knowledge of
which would be essential for a thorough examination of all the
problems which vex the industry to-day. It is this lack of information which presents one of the greatest challenges to the industry.
The limitations indicated have affected the scope of this Study
in several ways. First, more attention has been given to certain
branches of the industry than to others. The cotton textile industry
has been treated most comprehensively. The woollen textile
industry has been given less, but still considerable attention. The
other branches of the industry have been treated not so fully, while
some branches, such as knitwear, lace goods, etc., have been almost
entirely omitted. In so far as the various aspects of the industry
are concerned, attention has been given primarily to its manufac-
— 6—
turing, trade and labour aspects and only incidentally to finance,
such as capitalisation, credit conditions, etc.
Despite these limitations, it is hoped that the present Study will
provide an adequate basis for a discussion of the social problems
of the textile industry. In the eleven chapters which follow
most of the available material has been brought together which
gives a picture of the nature and extent of the textile industry,
of its importance, of the sources from which it draws its raw
materials, of the localisation of its manufacturing plant, both
spinning and weaving, of the distribution of its world trade, of the
changes which have taken place in its trading system, of the major
factors in international competition which determine the present
struggle for markets, and of the wages and working conditions of
those employed in the industry. Following these chapters an
attempt is made in Chapter XIII to interrelate the economic and
social factors in such a way as to indicate the economic conditions
upon which an improvement in labour standards depends. Finally,
in the concluding chapter a summary is presented of the main facts
brought together in this Report and of the conclusions to which
they point.
This Report is in many ways a pioneer effort. In so far as the
Office is aware, no studies dealing with a major world industry
in both its economic and social aspects have been made heretofore.
This is the first time that an attempt is made to portray a world
industry in all its manifestations, in order that a social policy may
be elaborated with full understanding of the facts. It is for those
who are responsible for the welfare of the textile industry to study
these facts and to apply them to the problems which confront the
industry.
CHAPTER
II
SCOPE AND CHARACTER OF THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY
I —
DEFINITION
AND SCOPE
In the official statistical literature of different countries the
textile industry is usually defined as a series of diverse but interrelated trades. The Census of Production of the United Kingdom
for 1930, for instance, includes the following specific trades under
t h e general category of the textile industry:
Cotton spinning; cotton weaving; woollen and worsted; silk and
artificial silk; linen and hemp; jute; hosiery; textile finishing; lace;
rope, twine and net; canvas goods and sack; asbestos goods and engine
and boiler packing; flock and rag; elastic webbing; coir fibre, horsehair
and feather; roofing felts; packing trade.
The Biennial Census of Manufactures of the United States of
America specifies the following types of commodities and services
under the general classification of textile mill products:
Cotton goods; cotton small wares; lace goods; knit goods; silk and
rayon manufactures; woollen goods; worsted goods; felt goods, wool,
hair, or jute; hats, wool felt; hats, fur felt; carpets and rugs, wool,
other than rag; wool shoddy; wool pulling; wool scouring; cordage and
twine; jute goods; flax and hemp, dressed; linen goods; mats and
matting, grass and coir; hair cloth; dyeing and finishing textiles; cloth
sponging and refinishing.
The Factory Statistics of Japan subdivide textile manufacturing
into the following branches:
Silk reeling; rayon yarn; cotton yarn spinning; silk yarn spinning;
flax yarn spinning; woollen and worsted yarns spinning; twisted yarn;
cotton weaving; silk weaving; combined silk and cotton weaving;
flax weaving; wool weaving; rayon weaving; knitted goods; flax braid,
etc.; dyeing and finishing.
An examination of the above categories indicates that, for
purposes of economic and social analysis, the textile industry
must be defined in rather broad terms. The present Report will
follow the definition of the industry given in another Report of
the International Labour Office, which is as follows:
— 8—
The textile industry consists in the manufacture of yarn and piece
goods, hosiery, lace, net of various kinds, etc., mainly for the purposes
of clothing and furnishing.
The manufacture of textiles begins with the cleaning and refining
of the raw materials and ends with the finishing of the manufactured
products mentioned above. It comprises several groups of operations
which are not always separate and which may roughly be classified in
four different stages: (1) cleaning, softening, and preliminary preparation
of the fibre; (2) drawing and twisting the fibre into yarn; (3) weaving;
(4) bleaching, dyeing, printing and finishing the fabric. Some of the
processes in the last group are sometimes carried out on the yarn before
it is woven.
These four groups cover all the operations performed on wool, cotton,
silk, linen, hemp, and jute, on textile materials less commonly used
such as ramie, sea silk, etc., as well as on artificial silk—which will be
designated by the term " rayon " in this Report—and other synthetic
fibres, with the exception, however, of the manufacture of rayon yarn
which is based on a purely chemical process.
The following branches are usually excluded: (1) the weaving of
materials which may be regarded as thread, but the preparation of
which has nothing in common with the technique of spinning, e.g.
straw, esparto grass, etc.; (2) processes for the impregnation or coating
of cloth for special purposes, e.g. oil cloth, rubberised cloth, etc. 1
As indicated in Chapter I, the present Report is confined
primarily to the study of the cotton, wool, silk, rayon (artificial
silk), linen and jute branches of the industry: the manufacture of
a number of products, such as all articles of hemp, together with
hosiery, embroidery, lace, and various types of netting, etc., is
excluded. It is hoped t h a t the information brought forward in
connection with the branches of textile manufacturing covered in
this Report will shed some light also on the branches excluded
from the analysis.
II. — T H E DIVERSITY OF THE INDUSTRY
For reasons indicated in the section which follows, the textile
industry will be treated in this Report as a unified entity. However,
for a complete picture of the industry, it is necessary to keep in
mind also the diversity of the several branches and divisions of the
industry. At least four major differentiations must be recognised:
it is expedient to differentiate the textile industry (1) by the rawmaterial (fibre) employed; (2) by manufacturing processes as
related to industrial organisation; (3) by the nature of the semi1
INTERNATIONAL LABOUR OFFICE: Reduction of Hours of Work in the
Textile Industry, Report to the Twentieth Session of the International Labour
Conference (Item VII of the Agenda), Geneva, 1936, p. 9. In the following
pages this Report is referred to as Report VII.
— 9 —
finished or fully manufactured products which emerge at successive
phases of production, and (4) by the relative importance of particular
social-economic problems for different branches of the industry in
various countries and regions.
Raw
Materials
The principal (fibre) raw materials x of textile manufacturing are
cotton, wool, silk, jute, flax (for linen), wood pulp (for rayon),
various hemps, etc. The technological reasons for differentiating
the industry by these raw materials may be summed up as follows:
As the various textile fibres have very different physical characteristics,
methods of spinning necessarily vary according to the fibre used. In
weaving, however, the principles are the same for all kinds of textiles.
As regards spinning, different methods are used for silk, for the harder
fibres (hemp and flax), and for cotton and wool respectively.2
In addition to technological, important economic differences
arise in the various branches of the textile industry corresponding
to the raw material used. There are differences in the character
of localisation, in the degree of competition for markets, in the
extent and concentration of foreign trade, etc. For instance, cotton
mills are found in almost all countries with even a moderate degree
of industrialisation; the export markets for cotton manufactures
are as wide as the whole world of foreign trade. In contrast, silk
textiles .show a much more limited structure both of world production and of world trade. Only a few countries are important
producers of raw silk; world trade in raw silk consists largely in a
flow of output from the reeling establishments of Japan to the
manufacturing plants of the United States, while the bulk of trade
in finished silk products binds together a few specialised manufacturing countries (France, Italy, Switzerland, etc.) with markets
for the most part limited to countries of advanced industrial or
agricultural development (Argentina, the United Kingdom, the
United States, etc.).
Striking contrasts exist also in the international aspects of jute
and wool textiles. Production of raw jute is practically a monopoly
of India, which likewise enjoys a virtual monopoly of world exports
of that commodity. Owing to the important agricultural and
industrial uses of jute, its export markets are widely distributed.
1
The qualification " fibre " is advisedly employed. Chemicals and dyes
are also primary raw materials; semi-finished products (yarns, tops, etc.) are
the " raw materials " of subsequent processing.
2
Report VII, pp. 9-10.
— 10 —
On the other hand, the producing, exporting and importing centres
for wool textiles are highly diversified, very much as in the case
of cotton textiles.
It is also important, from the point of view of the diversity of
the textile industry, t h a t the various textile materials, although
competitive with one another over a wide range, should be, in
considerable measure, put to different consumption uses. The
Report on the Cotton Textile Industry prepared in 1935 by a Cabinet
Committee for the President of the United States, after first
pointing out that the major uses of textile fibres are (1) wearing
apparel, (2) agricultural and industrial, and (3) household, then
proceeds to indicate:
In the three major fields there is considerable overlapping in the use
of the different textile fibres and various factors determine which will
be used. For certain articles the consumer's preference is the dominating
influence; for some articles both consumer preference and price are
important; for others, relative prices, alone, of the textile fibres are of
primary consideration; and for still others, physical characteristics
govern the type of textile fibre used.
Generally speaking, the use of cotton has expanded in the household
and in the industrial and agricultural field, and has decreased in use for
wearing apparel. During the depression, the use of cotton for wearing
apparel has increased as a percentage of the total of cotton consumed,
owing to the fact that the use for wearing apparel has decreased less
than the use for industrial, agricultural, and household purposes.
In industrial and agricultural activities the textile fibres which compete
with cotton are jute and other vegetable fibres, such as hennequin and
paper, although in a few instances during recent years rayon has been
used for some industrial purposes, such as for covering electric wires.
In the manufacture of automobiles, wool and mohair are used as upholstering material in competition with cotton, and for a number of years
experiments had been made with rayon for use in the manufacture of
automobile tyres.
For household uses, cotton clearly predominates, although other
textile fibres are used. Wool is used for blankets, and for this purpose
to a degree competes with cotton. Linen is used for table-cloths, napkins,
hand towels, pillow-cases, and occasionally for sheets. Rayon has been
popular at times for draperies and bed-spreads.
It is very difficult to characterise competition between various textile
fibres for articles of wearing apparel. Cotton, wool, silk, rayon, and
other fibres are used. It is generally recognised that style and consumer
preference play an important part in the kind of fibre of which wearing
apparel is made. For certain types of clothing, cotton is used almost
exclusively, while for other types of clothing, cotton is used very little,
if at all.1
1
UNITED STATES, 74 CONGRESS, 1 SESSION: Senate Document No. 126,
Washington, 1935, pp. 86 and 87. This report will be referred to hereafter
as the Cabinet Committee Report.
— 11 —
Manufacturing
Processes and Industrial
Organisation
In a broad sense, the operations in textile manufacturing,
regardless of the material used, follow four successive phases, of
which the first three are primarily mechanical and the last largely
chemical :
(1) The fibre must be cleaned, softened or otherwise prepared
in a preliminary manner;
(2) After such preliminary preparation the fibre must be drawn
or twisted into yarn;
(3) The yarn must then be woven into a tissue or fabric;
(4) The tissue or fabric must finally be bleached, dyed, printed
or otherwise finished.1
However, there are differences in these processes, made necessary
by the nature of the fibres used, which are described in an earlier
Report of the International Labour Office as follows:
As regards spinning, different methods are used for silk, for the harder
fibres (hemp and flax), and for cotton and wool respectively.
In the manufacture of silk the process of spinning consists in unwinding
a continuous thread of the cocoon and in joining several of these threads
without twisting; the raw silk thus obtained is then made into one thread
by drawing and twisting (throwing) after scouring with soapy water.
Flax and hemp fibres are much shorter, and as they are stuck together
and to the outside of a plant they first have to undergo various processes
for separating, cleaning, and softening them. These processes are retting
(treatment by physical, chemical or bacteriological agencies), scutching
or hackling, and combing. The subsequent operations are the same as
those performed on wool and cotton after carding.
Cotton and woollen fibres are not more than about eight inches in length,2
but they are not stuck together and have a certain natural flexibility.
The first step is that of opening the bales and breaking them up, which
eliminates most of the foreign bodies contained in them, followed in the
case of wool by scouring with lukewarm water and an alkaline solution
to remove the grease. Next comes carding, which completes the cleaning
of wool and cotton, and combing, which separates the long fibres from
the short.3 The textiles leave the carding and combing machines in the
form of a sheet of clean fibres arranged in parallel rows, which by passing
through a series of drawing frames are transformed into a gradually
narrowing ribbon or thread. Spinning produces the yarn proper by a
final process of drawing and twisting, and is performed by spinning frames
of two main types: continuous frames, on which the drawing of the
thread proceeds uninterruptedly owing to the fact that the bobbins
1
" Finishing " processes are sometimes performed on the yarn before it is
woven. Dyed-in-the-yarn piece goods, for example, are an important type_
of 2cotton, wool, silk, or rayon cloth.
Very few cotton fibres are more than two inches long.
3
Very many wool fibres are combed ; except for long-stapled American and
Egyptian fibres, cotton is more often taken direct from the carding engine
to the draw frame.
— 12 —
containing the thread and that on which the yarn is wound revolve at
different speeds, and mule or self-acting frames on which the thread is
drawn by the movement of the bobbin carriage. In both cases, twisting
is effected by the rotation of the bobbins and a device for guiding the
thread.
By weaving is meant the process of tranforming the yarn into fabric.
The first step is warping, which consists in stretching a number of
parallel threads to form the warp between the beams of the loom.
These warp threads are passed through rings or eyes, attached to a
system of controls, and form two layers which are alternately raised
and lowered by means of strings. At each rise and fall of the loom a
shuttle is passed between the two layers either automatically or by
hand; this contains a spool holding the weft thread, which passes from
left to right and vice versa to' form the fabric by interlacing with the
warp threads.
Bleaching, dyeing and finishing may be performed either on the yarn
or on the finished cloth. The processes involved are very largely chemical.
Finishing includes physical processes such as fulling, which consists
of packing and pressing the threads together by passing the cloth through
rollers or under a press ; singeing or burning away loose threads and
hairs by heated rollers or a naked flame, and chemical processes. The
latter include mercerising (treating cotton yarn with caustic soda and
passing it through rollers to give it a sheen), shrinking, which is usually
done by steam, and sizing, consisting in coating the cloth with a preparation which stiffens and strengthens it and gives it a gloss.
Lastly, there are also the operations of tentering, measuring and folding.1
Running parallel to these differences in operating techniques are
variations of industrial structure, variations which are revealed
when comparisons are made between different countries and among
the several branches of the industry in the same country. It is
well known, for example, t h a t the cotton textile industry in the
United Kingdom is characterised by a specialisation of enterprises.
Thus, spinning (subdivided into American and Egyptian); weaving;
and finishing (subdivided into bleaching, dyeing and printing
divisions); as well as raw cotton brokerage and merchanting of
yarn or cloth, all constitute separate sections. In 1927 the Committee on Industry and Trade (Balfour Committee) saw fit to
devote considerable attention to the question of whether or not
British finishers of cotton cloth on commission, by virtue of their
superior commercial organisation, were able to levy unduly rigid
charges upon the " shipping " (export) merchants, and thus presumably to apply a quasi-monopolistic pressure on prices which
eventually impinged on the spinning and weaving sections of the
industry. 2
1
2
Report VII, pp. 10-11.
Survey of Textile Industries, 1927, London, 1928,
pp. 43-50. This Survey will hereafter be referred to as the Balfour Survey.
The question of unduly rigid finishing charges is of much less actuality
to-day than in 1927.
UNITED KINGDOM:
— 13 —
The Balfour Committee also drew attention to a significant
difference in commercial organisation between the woollen and
worsted branches of wool textile manufacturing in the United
Kingdom. The Committee found that it was quite usual in the
woollen branch for a single firm " to carry on all the processes
from the preparation of the raw material to the weaving and frequently the dyeing and finishing of a cloth " ; in the worsted
branch, it was common for individual firms to confine themselves
to a single process. Such different processes organised as distinct
spheres of business enterprise were specified as wool buying, top
making and combing, spinning, warping and sizing, manufacturing
(or weaving), dyeing and finishing.1
In the United States, the business organisation of cotton textile
manufacturing is very complex. The extent and nature of this
complexity may best be indicated by quoting from the Report of
the President's Cabinet Committee on the Cotton Textile Industry:
Mill units are not only widely scattered geographically but are also,
as regards the bulk of the industry, small in size, independent in ownership, and specialised as to character of output. Moreover, the majority
of the mills do not produce a finished product from the standpoint
of the final consumer, but merely supply the raw material for the next
processing agency. The average mill, therefore, viewed singly, does
not have either the volume of output or the character of product which
justifies any large independent marketing organisation. . . .
The first step in the marketing process may be said to begin with the
spinning mills producing the yarns for the market rather than for their
own consumption. To be sure the majority of the mills in the industry
spin and weave, but in many cases the operations are insufficiently
balanced and the mills must therefore resort to the yarn markets either
as buyer or as seller.
The next step in the industry's marketing process is occasioned by
the fact that most mills do not carry their manufacturing functions
beyond the production of goods in the grey. Sales of grey goods are
usually made to a specialised group known as " converters " and in
most cases these sales are effected through an open market in which
the mills use commission houses as selling agents. Certain large mill
units possess their own converting departments. . . .
The converters in their turn depend upon the finishers to perform
the actual mechanical operations of bleaching, dyeing, and printing.
In such case the finishers do not operate on their own account but for
the account of the converter, on a price per yard basis. The converters
sell their output directly to garment manufacturers, wholesalers, mailorder houses, department stores, and chain stores without dependence
upon commission houses. In the case of textiles for industrial consumption, sales are usually direct from the mill to the industrial consumer.
Some industrial consumers operate their own mill.
Another type of marketing agency which is very active is the brokerage
1
Balfour Survey, pp. 162-163.
— 14 —
house. The broker . . . serves as intermediary between buyer
and seller. He makes contacts with commission houses and converters. . . . x
The Cabinet Committee Report notes the existence in the
United States of highly integrated cotton manufacturing enterprises, in which the finished product may go through " the spinning,
weaving, converting, finishing, and wholesaling operations without
a change of ownership or control ". Where there is no integration
of manufacturing, on the other hand, the progress of the textile
product involves each of the following financial steps:
(1) From spinning mill to weaving mill through the agency of
commission house or a yarn broker;
(2) From weaving mill to converter by way of a commission
house;
(3) From converter to finisher, a transfer of operation but not
of ownership;
(4) Sale from converter to garment manufacturer, wholesaler
and retailer, either with or without the services of a broker. 2
In Japan practically all the importing of raw cotton and a large
fraction of the cotton cloth export trade are in the hands of
three large-scale merchant houses. The spinning and weaving
sections of the cotton industry are distinct for home market cloth,
the weaving being done largely by small establishments with yarn
purchased from the few big integrated spinning-weaving undertakings dominant in the field of spinning. These integrated enterprises account for the great bulk of the export cloth ; for the purposes
of their weaving about 25 per cent, of all the cotton power looms
in Japan have been installed. Some of the largest spinning-weaving
undertakings maintain their own bleaching and dyeing departments,
which process a large part of all bleached cotton fabrics exported
from Japan. In sum, while spinning is reserved for the integrated
undertakings, the weaving of cloth is divided between the big
1
2
Cabinet Committee Report, pp. 118-119.
Ibid., pp. 119-120. Combined spinning and weaving mills account for
80 per cent, of the spindles and 90 per cent, of the looms of the United States.
Integration of manufacturing usually ends with the weaving. The bulk of
cotton goods produced in the United States is woven and sold grey, although
a few of the larger mills operate their own finishing departments. Most of
the finishing of cotton cloth is done on commission for order of converters,
who buy from the mills and sell to the making-up trades. See UNITED
STATES TARIFF COMMISSION: Cotton Cloth (Report No. 112, second series),
Washington, 1936, p. 31. This Report will be referred to hereafter as the
Cotton Cloth Report.
— 15 —
spinners (largely export market) and medium and small weaving
plants scattered all over the country (mainly home market). 1
Most students of the world textile industry agree that the
commercial organisation of cotton manufacturing in Japan is
very systematic, integrated and efficient. It is especially significant,
therefore, that the spinning and weaving branches should be
distinct in the character of their business set-up, at least when the
large-scale spinning mills are contrasted with the small-scale
weaving sheds. It is also significant that the import trade in raw
cotton and the export trade in cotton cloth should be more highly
centralised and co-ordinated in Japan than in any other country.
Nature of Products: Semi-finished and Finished
The third major differentiation concerns the nature of the
products, semi-finished or fully manufactured, which emerge at
successive stages in textile manufacturing. Taking the world as a
whole, the markets for textile semi-manufactures are exclusively
industrial markets. For fully finished products, on the other hand,
personal and household uses are more important than industrial.
Within any one country, moreover, the production of textile semimanufactures often is destined for home and foreign outlets
different in pattern from the markets for finished textiles. In part,
the resulting problems go back to the analysis of manufacturing
processes as conditioned by form of industrial organisation; in
part, they are related to the differing sensitivities of the several
branches of the textile industry to structural and cyclical changes.
It will suffice here to note that yarn and cloth reacted in differing
fashions to the profound structural and cyclical changes operating
from 1925 to 1935.
Relative Importance of Social-Economic Problems
As a result of the differences sketched above, based on materials,
processes and nature of product, the various branches of the textile
industry are unequally sensitive to general economic developments.
The several textile trades are not equally responsive to the influences
of the business cycle or to the effects of structural changes. This
leads further to the rise, in different countries or districts, of special
1
For recent discussions of the organisation of textile manufacturing in
Japan, see MITSUBISHI ECONOMIC BUREAU: Japanese Trade and
Industry,
London, 1936, Chapter VIII; P.E.P. INDUSTRIES GROUP: Report on the British
Cotton Industry, London, 1934, pp. 116-122; Cabinet Committee Report,
pp. 130-134.
— 16 —
economie problems attributable to the specific geographic distribution of the various branches of the industry. The specific impacts
of cyclical and structural changes on the several branches of textile
manufacturing the world over are made clear in the subsequent
chapters of this Report. A few illustrations may nevertheless be
helpful here. The production of rayon yarn, for example, increased
continuously and at a rapid rate from 1924 to 1936, notwithstanding
the general industrial fluctuations of these years. Similarly, the
production of raw silk—at least in Japan, which accounts for the
bulk of the world total—remained rather resistant in volume to
business cycle forces from 1925 to 1934. On the other hand, cotton
manufacturing activity, as judged by mill consumption of raw
cotton, fluctuated, from 1926 to 1936, in close correspondence with
the general curve of the business cycle. Activity in jute manufacturing, a commodity consumed principally in agricultural and
industrial uses, likewise varied in accord with the worldwide swing
of the business cycle.
Divergences between the various textile products are found also
in their patterns of world trade during the period 1925-1936, as is
shown in detail in Chapter VI. This resulted not only from differences in the sensitiveness of the several textiles to cyclical influences,
but also from varying effects of the widespread pursuit of economic
self-sufficiency by the nations of the world. In many countries
domestic expansions of textile manufacturing took place at the
expense of pre-existing channels of international trade. The process
of expansion made it necessary, however, to maintain, or even in
some cases to increase, imports of semi-finished textile products.
Thus, while the volume and value of textile production contracted
severely between 1929 and 1935, trade in yarns, tops, and other
semi-finished products declined much less than did trade in piece
goods, cloth and other finished products.1
Finally, it is necessary to note the special problems of particular
countries and regions. Striking and familiar examples are presented
by the problem of the cotton textile industry in the United Kingdom
as compared with that of Japan. Since the World War, the cotton
industry in the United Kingdom has suffered from a prolonged
and drastic contraction of its export markets. Thus in 1913 the
United Kingdom exported 7,075.3 million linear yards of cotton
piece goods. By 1924 exports had declined to 4,585.1 million linear
yards, and fell further to 2,013.4 million linear yards in 1935. In
1
For further analysis, see Chapter VI.
— 17 —
contrast, the volume of Japanese exports of cotton piece goods
has expanded steadily, increasing from 1,418.8 million square
yards in 1928 to 2,725.1 million in 1935.
In the United States, to take another example in the field of
cotton textiles, the economic problems of New England mills have
developed under conditions totally different from those of the
southern mills.1
Similarly, in India, mills in Bombay, the original manufacturing
centre, have been suffering for many years from a sort of chronic
depression largly attributable to the shifting of productive capacity
toward " up-country " districts, particularly Ahmedabad.2
As regards wool textiles, such countries as the United Kingdom,
France and Japan are very sensitive to the influences operating
upon world markets. In 1930 and 1933, 36 per cent, and 24 per
cent, respectively of the United Kingdom's output of woollen and
worsted tissues in volume were exported. In 1928 and 1935, the
northern French mills exported 38 and 13 per cent, by value
respectively of their total wool tissue production, while Japan
exported, in value, 2 per cent, of its wool tissues in 1929 and 11
per cent, in 1934.3 Wool manufacturing countries such as the
United States and the U.S.S.R., in contrast, are much less sensitive
to the forces which affect the currents of world trade. Although
the U.S.S.R. has a substantial production of wool tissues, its
foreign trade in such tissues is very small. United States woollen
and worsted mills produced, in 1933, manufactured goods worth
$445 million, as compared with exports of woollens in that same
year of §1.1 million.
It is clear that textile industries exposed to the disturbances of
world commerce have to grapple with somewhat different problems
than textile industries orientated primarily towards domestic
markets. To differentiate the problems of the textile industry by
countries and regions is thus important in giving concrete form to
the concept of a world, textile industry.
III. — THE UNITY OF THE INDUSTRY
Although the existence of many important sub-industries, each
facing a specific complex of problems, must be kept in mind, the
many characteristics which these sub-industries share in common
1
2
3
For detailed analysis, see Chapter VI.
For detailed discussion, see Chapter VI.
See Chapters V-VI for statistical data.
2
— 18 —
are so important as to justify the concept of the textile industry
as a unit. More particularly, for reasons indicated below, textile
manufacturing has to be regarded as a unified entity in the discussion of proposals to introduce, internationally, major reforms in
conditions of employment. To begin with, the various textile
materials minister substantially to the same groups of economic
wants: of individuals and families for articles of clothing; of households for furnishing; of industrial and agricultural enterprises for
semi-finished and finished fabrics. In the United States, for instance,
according to the Cabinet Committee Report, " estimates for all
textile fibres indicate that normally about two-fifths is used for
wearing apparel, another two-fifths for agricultural and industrial
purposes, and about one-fifth in households ". The same Report
also refers to trade estimates indicating that at present more than
half of the volume of cotton cloth produced in the United States
is used for manufacturing and farm purposes; it gives statistics on
rayon shipments by trades which show that in 1934 about 68 per
cent, of rayon tissues were used for woven goods and the balance for
knit goods; it mentions that probably 75 per cent, of the jute
used for agricultural and industrial purposes is used for bags 1 ;
and analyses the fields of use for woven goods produced by woollen
and worsted mills in 1929 and 1933 as follows2:
UTILISATION OF WOOLLEN AND WORSTED WOVEN GOODS,
UNITED STATES, 1929 AND 1933
Percentage of total
Field of use
Wearing apparel
Agricultural and industrial
Household
Unclassified
1929
1933
74.4
2.4
8.8
14.4
78.1
2.5
11.1
8.3
100.0
100.0
1
Of the jute bags, 39 per cent. f ordinili feed, 13 per cent, for fertiliser,
9 per cent, for potatoes, 10 per cent, for the grocery trade, 8 per cent, each
for wheat and exported flour, and 13 per cent, for other purposes.
2
Omitting, however, carpets and rugs. All figures on the uses of textile
fibres in the United States from Cabinet Committee Report, pp. 86-90.
— 19 —
In Germany a detailed analysis of the uses to which t h e textile
production of 1928 was put gave the following results (in percentages
of value) 1 :
GERMANY, FIELDS OF USE OF 1 9 2 8 TEXTILE PRODUCTION
IN PER CENT. OF VALUE
For clothing For furnishings
All cloth fabrics:
Silk
Rayon
Wool
Flax, hemp, jute and sisal .
Knit goods
83
73
80
43
34
For industrial
and agricultural uses
17
27
18
54
22
0
0
2
3
44
24
5
100
Total
71
Although no conclusive international estimates appear to be
available, general knowledge suggests the validity of certain
important generalisations; for example, jute textiles are largely
produced for industrial and agricultural uses (that is, for sacks,
bags, etc.); silk and rayon textiles, largely for clothing (dress
materials, hosiery, etc.). As among cotton, wool and linen, linen
probably finds its chief uses in household furnishings and wearing
apparel, wool in articles of clothing and in carpets and upholstery,
while t h e industrial and agricultural uses of cotton would appear
to be, at least in t h e United States, of equal importance with its
personal and household uses. In general, the patterns of utilisation
vary from country to country, but in all countries all textile fibres
are put to all three uses indicated. They are thus in a high degree
substitutive and competitive.
The subject is well summarised by two students of the problem
of the place of raw materials in modern industrialism.
With
reference to cotton, they remark:
The most ambitious statistician would hardly dare to try to arrange
the ultimate uses for cotton in order of their importance. From 80 to
90 per cent, of the raw cotton consumed in the United States goes into
woven goods. The census figures show that more sheeting is manufactured
than any other one type of cloth, using about 16 per cent, of the raw
1
GERMAN INSTITUTE FOR BUSINESS RESEARCH (Institut für
Konjunktur-
forschung), Berlin: Weekly Report, Vol. VIII, No. 30/31, 7 August 1935.
— 20 —
cotton consumed in the United States. But that does not mean that
supplying the beds of the world with sheets and pillow-cases is cotton's
most important function. Sheeting is used for bags, imitation leather,
automobile tops, raincoats, linings, shirts, smocks, and a number of
other things, including sheets and pillow-cases. Print cloth takes about
ten per cent, of the cotton consumed in the United States. It is used
widely for clothing and has a variety of other uses including meat coverings used by packers, umbrella cloths, and artificial flowers. Six per
cent, of the cotton consumed in the United States goes into tyre fabrics
and cords, which, strangely enough, are practically all used for tyres.
A list of all known uses for cotton would doubtless contain thousands
of items. That needs for cotton goods have changed and are changing
is illustrated by the fact that the rubber trade, the automobile industry,
and makers of wall coverings, artificial leather .
. are to-day
using cotton sheetings, drills, muslins, ducks, lawns, sateens, osnaburgs,
yarns, and raw cotton in many ways unknown a quarter of a century
ago.1
As regards wool, the same writers allude to the continued
substitution of cotton, silk and rayon for t h a t material, and
continue :
The extent of further substitution of cotton, silk, and rayon for wool
depends to some degree upon the character of uses for wool. In 1925
a total of about 355 million pounds of scoured wool were consumed in
the wool manufacturing and knit goods industries of the United States.
Of this total less than one-fifth went into the manufacture of knit goods
and about four-fifths into the manufacture of woollen and worsted woven
goods. A large percentage of the total quantity of wool now consumed
goes into the making of suitings, dress goods, overcoatings, cloakings, and
other outer garments, for which cotton and silk may not be such satisfactory substitutes as they are in the underwear and hosiery trades.
For this reason the limits of substitution of cotton, silk, and rayon for
wool, with wool prices no higher than they are at the present time (1929),
may soon be reached.2
As regards silk, after discussing the popularity of silk manufactures in women's clothing, in hosiery and in haberdashery, they
add:
Other articles of silk in common use are handkerchiefs, velvets, ribbons,
upholstery, mufflers, tassels, cords, trimmings and ornaments, hair nets,
veils, hats, shoes, slippers, gloves, raincoats, nightgowns, robes, shawls,
handbags, strings for musical instruments, lamp shades, box covers and
linings, quilts, artificial flowers, garters, leggings, kneecaps and anklets,
purses, doilies and table sets, rugs, pincushions, umbrellas and parasols,
hat braids and gunpowder bags. (Not to speak of airplane parachutes.)3
In a broad sense, therefore, the different textile products are all
capable of satisfying approximately the same groups of wants. As
1
H.B. and L.W.
1929, pp. 99-100.
2
Ibid., p. 126.
3
Ibid., p. 136.
KILLOUGH:
Raw Materials of Industrialism, New York,
— 21 —
raw materials for certain finished commodities, the various textile
fibres are largely interchangeable. Hosiery and other knit goods
are made of silk, cotton, rayon, wool, or mixtures thereof. Wool,
cotton, silk or artificial fibres furnish the raw materials of men's
or women's clothing. Wool, mohair, cotton, and jute are used as
upholstering materials. Experiments are now in progress to
substitute rayon for cotton in the manufacture of automobile
tyres. Hemp, sisal, jute and cotton are employed for rope,
canvas, cordage and twine; cotton and jute for bagging. Cotton,
wool, linen and rayon are all employed in household furnishings,
etc. Of course, the different textile fibres are not, technologically, completely interchangeable, for there are certain uses of
textile products where physical characteristics govern the type
of textile fibre used. 1 What matters for economic analysis is t h a t
consumers' preferences as determined by climate, convenience,
habit, fashion, and technical suitability, in the context of the
pricings of the different textile materials, still leave room for a
very large range within which the several fibres compete directly
with one another. The relative importance of these factors,
especially of price, in determining the interchangeability of textile
fibres, is discussed at length in the Cabinet Committee Report:
The price charged the consumer for a cotton fabric or article is still
a governing influence on choice.
Other fibres, as well as paper, wood, metals, and many more materials,
are constantly being offered in substitution for cotton. Paper towels,
napkins, twine, handkerchiefs, and sacks have undoubtedly taken some
of the market from cotton fabrics. Wooden blinds have replaced cottonfabric shades. Metal awnings and tennis nets are a few of the comparatively new metal products in the array of competition. . . .
Cotton's competition with some of the other fibres for personal use
meets one of its strongest opponents in the form of considerations of
economy. A cotton dress may cost the consumer less than a silk or
rayon garment, but during the course of its life or vogue the cotton
dress has to be cleansed and refreshed much more often than the other.
If this work is done outside the home, the total upkeep is a financial
burden of proportions sufficient to influence original choice. Much the
same considerations pertain to cotton versus silk and synthetic-fibre
underwear and hosiery.
. . .
In the competition between textile fibres, price advantage is of
unquestioned importance, but is modified in varying degree by factors
that have to do with relative utility, adaptability, quality, and style.
Its importance in the whole chain of controlling factors is probably in
inverse ratio to the price spread and general economic conditions.
1
Such characteristics are durability, tensile strength, impermeability, heat
resistance, capacity to take dye, etc. Thus, regardless of price, rayon is
unsuitable for bagging or cordage, while silk, because of its lightness and
strength and despite its cost, is eminently suited for airplane parachutes.
— 22 —
Industry invariably seeks to utilise price differentials. This urge is
always emphasised in a period of depression or stagnation. . . .
Between cotton and rayon . . .
as the price differential narrows,
competition becomes keener. The prices of the two may never meet
—indeed, the spread may remain fairly substantial—but at this point
style acceptance, a most important factor, steps in to shorten the
gap. . . .
In most competition between cotton and jute (and likewise between
silk and rayon) the price factor is of great and probably controlling
importance for products at all readily adaptable to the same purposes.
However, in the competition between cotton and rayon, or cotton and
silk, the emphasis frequently rests more on the utility and style factors
than on the price differential. It must be recognised . . . that
price disparity between rayon and cotton at present-day prices is not
so wide if they are considered in truly comparable form and for closely
competing uses.
In the industrial field cotton seems to be favourably placed with
respect to price and utility, except when it competes with the coarser
fibres of lower price and almost equal adaptability for established and
definite uses. The prospects are that jute, hemp, sisal, flax, etc., will
not be able to offer much greater competition than they now do unless
cotton moves up quite out of range in price. Rayon and the synthetic
fibres are new and not completely developed, and they will unquestionably be brought to a lower price base and a greater utility than they
now possess. For household and personal uses it is quite likely that
the synthetic fibres will offer increasingly greater competition. Rayon
manufacturers are also making a serious effort to accommodate their
product to industrial uses and have had some success, notably in the
electrical field. It is reported that experiments
with rayon with the
automobile tyre are making progress.1
Because textile fibres all compete with one another, it follows
that to impose extensive labour reforms upon the manufacturing
of a particular fibre, and on t h a t fibre alone, may burden its
competitive position vis-à-vis other fibres. The national and
international competition of fibres thus links together the different
textile trades into one textile industry.
A second important reason for treating the textile industry as a
unified entity is that the manufacturing operations performed upon
the different fibres are, giving due weight to the technological
differences which exist, substantially similar.
To repeat, the
manufacturing of every textile product invariably begins with the
preliminary preparation, for spinning, of some animal, vegetable,
or mineral fibre. (To this general rule, of course, the chemical
production of rayon yarn forms an important exception.) The
fibre thus prepared, textile manufacturing proceeds by spinning
it into a yarn and then by weaving or knitting the yarn into a
fabric. Textile manufacturing comes to a provisional end with the
1
Cabinet Committee Report, pp. 96-99.
— 23 —
finishing of the woven fabric or knitted article, a process which
ordinarily calls for chemical operations such as bleaching and
dyeing, as well as for physical operations, such as packing and
pressing.1
As a result of the essential similarity of the manufacturing
processes applied to the several fibres, the plant and equipment
in the different branches of the textile industry are largely interchangeable. This fact was recognised in the United States in the
Textile Codes formulated under the National Industrial Recovery
Act, and is shown in the United Kingdom by the Report on the
Import Duties Act Inquiry (1933), as well as for Germany by the
statistics of production of the various weaving branches. The definitions of cotton, silk, wool, and rayon manufacturing under the N.R.A.
Codes, as well as the figures showing the significant proportions of
their output made of fibres other than their principal raw material
by cotton, silk, wool, and rayon establishments in Germany and the
United Kingdom, prove that in these countries as elsewhere the
concept of a " cotton ", a "wool ", or a " rayon " mill is a very
flexible one indeed.2 On the one hand, it is nothing unusual to find
cotton mills spinning appreciable amounts of wool and silk and
weaving wool, silk, or rayon ; woollen mills spinning cotton and silk
and weaving cotton, silk, or rayon; linen mills producing yarns or
fabrics of one or another of the other fibres. On the other hand,
much of the output of all textile plants consists of mixtures of
different fabrics; such as wool/silk mixtures; cotton/rayon mixtures,
cotton/wool mixtures, etc. In fact, the greater part of so-called
rayon tissues are mixtures of rayon with silk, wool or cotton. These
(what might be called) margins of indifference in the functioning
of plant and equipment are large enough to constitute another
major reason for attributing unity to the separate parts of the
textile industry.
A third major reason for attributing such unity resides in the
fact that, by and large, labour requirements are fairly uniform
1
To define precisely the " incoming " and " outgoing " frontiers of textile
manufacturing is an intricate problem which this Report does not attempt
to solve. Should the washing and scouring of wool, the retting of flax, jute
and hemp, not to speak of the ginning of cotton, be regarded within the
boundaries of textile manufacturing ? At what margin, with specific reference
to knitted goods and to the making up of other articles of clothing, does
the textile industry proper cease and the clothing trades begin? For a
definition of these frontiers, see proposed Draft Convention Concerning the
Reduction of Hours of Work in the Textile Industry adopted by the Textile
Committee of the International Labour Conference in 1936; also Report VII,
pp. 162-164.
2
See Vol. II, Part I, section 1.
— 24 —
throughout the range of textile manufacturing.
What textile
manufacturing processes primarily require of the labour force are
deftness, speed, attention rather than (with many important
exceptions, of course) the exercise of muscular strength or the
possession of high-grade craftsmanship. 1 To quote an earlier Report
of the International Labour Office:
The textile industry is equipped with very highly perfected machinery.
In practically all its processes machines have more or less completely
replaced human labour, although, of course, mechanisation has not
everywhere reached the same level of development. In the most
modern mills for the manufacture of various kinds of textiles several
operai ions are now performed by the same machine, with a consequent
speeding up of production. In the case of weaving, the extent of
mechanisation varies according to the kind of goods produced. Some
looms are automatically stopped by the breaking of a warp or weft
thread, and the most modern type of loom isolates a broken warp thread
by leaving a gap in the weft. Lastly, looms with automaticallychanging shuttles and looms without quills have also been introduced.
For several reasons the quantity of labour employed in the textile
industry is still comparatively high. In the first place, the machines
are delical e and complex ; they work at a high speed and require constant
watching. Secondly, the thread is easily broken and irregularities in
the working of the machines are of frequent occurrence. These irregularities (breaking of the thread in spinning frames, warping frames
and weaving looms) can only be repaired by hand. Lastly, the processes
of cleaning, refining, bleaching, dyeing and finishing involve a number
of operations which cannot always be performed mechanically.2
And further:
As regards the type of effort required of workers in the textile industry,
those employed on the principal manufacturing machines—that is to
say, the vast majority of textile workers—are not usually called upon
to furnish any considerable muscular effort, a fact which explains the
high proportion of female labour employed. On the other hand, both
in spinning and weaving the work involves a constant effort of attention
and considerable nervous strain, as well as requiring great dexterity,
since it consists mainly in minding a large number of looms and joining
up broken threads. In the more highly skilled occupations, particularly
in the case of hand-weavers employed in the manufacture of luxury
materials, the work requires greater muscular effort and more initiative,
but, on the other hand, involves less nervous strain. Lastly, in many
of the occupations peculiar to special branches of the textile industry
the effort required is very similar to that in the principal occupations.3
There are two additional reasons for treating the textile manufacturing industry as a homogeneous entity. The first relates to
the circumstance that, although textile establishments characteristi1
2
3
See Chapter IX.
Report VII, p. 11.
Ibid., p. 12.
— 25 —
cally specialise in the performance of some particular productive
operation, many textile undertakings are either partially or fully
" integrated " (spinning with weaving; or throwing with weaving;
both with or without dyeing and finishing). To the degree that
partial or complete integration prevails in different countries and
regions, it would be an artificial procedure to single out spinning or
throwing from weaving or knitting, carding or combing from printing
or dyeing, etc., in attempts to introduce general, labour reforms.
Second, although the problems of the textile industry vary to some
extent from country to country, these problems are by no means
matters of domestic economy only. On the contrary, textiles
are one of the staple commodities of world trade; perhaps the world
trade commodity par excellence. As will be brought out subsequently, the textile industries in many countries are primarily or
very largely geared to export markets (for example, the United
Kingdom, Japan, France, Switzerland), while in other countries
(such as the United States, India and the U.S.S.R.), where domestic
markets count far more than foreign outlets, the export trade is
by no means negligible. Besides, many of the most pressing problems
of the textile industry are rooted primarily in the establishment of
" protected " home or colonial markets. In short, international
competition among the various textile-manufacturing countries is
itself a principal factor in transforming what might otherwise be a
diversity of unrelated industries into a unity of interrelated parts.
IV.
— IMPORTANCE OF THE INDUSTRY
As defined in the broad sense of the preceding sections, the
textile industry is one of the most important of the world's industries. This is true from the point of view of the number of
workers engaged in the industry, the value of its output and the
volume of foreign trade.
As will be shown in Chapter IX, the total number of persons
gainfully occupied in recent years in the textile industry may be
estimated at 14 millions at least, or between 3 and 4 per cent, of
the world total of persons in gainful occupations. This figure,
however, includes home-workers and small family concerns which
are of considerable importance in certain countries, but it may be
estimated that in 1930-1931, a period of relatively good employment, the number of persons actually employed in textile establishments was about 10 millions. Of this total four countries—the
— 26 —
United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and Japan—had
slightly over one million employees each; France and the U.S.S.R.
about 900,000 each; and India and Italy somewhat over 700,000
each; thus, more than three-quarters of all textile workers were
concentrated in these eight countries.
The proportion of textile workers to all workers in industry (in
the narrow sense of the term, i.e. manufactures, mines and transport) is, of course, much higher than the proportion of 3 to 4 per
cent, indicated above for all the gainfully occupied, and varies
considerably from country to country. At the lower limit is such
a country as the United States (with about 6 per cent.), where
the industrial structure is very diversified; then come Germany,
the U.S.S.R., France and the United Kingdom, where textile industries play a larger rôle, with percentages of about 8, 8, 11 and 13
respectively. At the upper limit are India, China and Japan, where
the structure of industrial production pivots largely on textiles;
in the latter country almost 50 per cent, of the industrial workers
are employed in textile undertakings.
As regards the value of the output of the textile industries, it is
only possible, in the absence of reliable estimates for many countries, to give indications for a few of the principal countries. In
the United States textile mill products in 1933 accounted for about
9 per cent, of the net value of manufactures; in the U.S.S.R. for
about 13 per cent, in 1933; in the United Kingdom in 1930 about
14 per cent, of all factory production; and in Japan in 1933 about
26 per cent, of all factory output.
Another indication of the importance of the textile industry is
furnished by the percentage which the output of textile raw
materials x constituted of the quantum of world production of
primary commodities from 1925 to 1934. During the period 19251929, this percentage averaged 5.9; from 1930 to 1934 it was 5.9,
6.2, 6.0, 6.3 and 6.1 respectively. 2
Finally, a substantial part of all world trade consists of textile
commodities, as shown below 3:
1
The following fibres are included : ginned cotton, flax fibre, hemp fibre,
manila hemp, sisal hemp, Mauritius hemp, New Zealand hemp, jute fibre,
greasy sheep's wool, mohair, raw silk, rayon and staple fibre.
2
LEAGUE OF NATIONS: World Production and Prices, 1935-36, p. 134.
In 1934 corresponding percentages by continents were: Europe 2.4 (including
U.S.S.R. 3.0), North America 5.7, Latin America 6.0, Africa 14.1, Asia 13.3,
Oceania 17.4. Ibid., pp. 134-137.
3
Abstracted from Vol. II, Part I, section 2, table 1. " R a w " silk and
silk waste are here regarded as raw materials.
— 27 —
EXPORTS OF TEXTILES AS PERCENTAGE OF WORLD EXPORTS
(value)
Commodity
All textile goods
Raw materials
Semi-manufactures
Finished manufactures
Cloth
Knitted goods
1929
1932
1935
20.7
9.8
2.3
8.6
7.9
0.7
18.3
8.1
2.4
7.7
7.1
0.6
17.6
8.7
2.4
6.6
6.1
0.5
In many individual countries, however, the ratio of textiles to
all exports rises far above these world averages. A few representative percentages for 1935 are as follows *:
TEXTILE EXPORTS AS PERCENTAGES OF TOTAL EXPORTS, 1935
(by value, selected countries)
Country
Japan
Australia (1934/35)
India
Italy (1934)
China
United Kingdom
Switzerland
United States
. . . .
Rawmaterials
Semimanufactures
Finished
manufactures
15.8
33.8
22.3
3.3
13.8
1.9
1.7
17.4
4.5
5.0
0.2
12.1
35.7
6.2
4.7
12.1
15.2
15.1
19.0
15.3
2.9
Total
56.0
38.8
34.6
30.6
28.9
27.1
21.7
20.3
Almost every country in the world, moreover, expends a significant proportion of its total payments for imports on imported
textile materials or products, as shown by a few percentages for
1935 2 :
1
These percentages are abstracted from the more complete data exhibited
in Vol. II, Part I, section 2, table 2. " Raw " silk and silk waste are here
considered
as raw materials.
2
Ibid., table 3.
— 28 —
TEXTILE
IMPORTS AS PERCENTAGES
OF TOTAL IMPORTS, 1 9 3 5
(by value, selected countries)
Country
United Kingdom
United States
Chile
Germany
I t a l y (1934)
Argentina
Estonia
India
Netherlands East Indies (1934)
R u m a n i a (1934)
Turkey (1933)
Japan
Raw
materials
Semimanufactures
Finished
manufactures
Total
5.1
2.7
23.9
7.8
0.1
1.9
6.4
13.5
3.2
1.4
23.2
10.8
17.4
28.2
8.9
27.8
0.3
13.2
13.6
17.5
19.0
19.7
24.7
25.3
28.0
30.9
34.7
35.6
40.5
11.3
7.2
.13.7
16.7
14.5
5.5
1.9
40.1
All criteria thus lead to the same conclusion; textile manufacturing and trade constitute a fundamental element in the national
economy of a great number of countries. In the three chapters
which follow,*this important industry will be described in detail
in terms of the distribution of its raw materials, its manufacturing
capacity and output, and its export and import markets.
CHAPTER III
SOURCES OF RAW MATERIALS
Before discussing the manufacturing and trade structure of the
world textile industry, the regional distribution of its raw materials
must first be considered. This distribution varies considerably as
among the different fibres. It will be most convenient, therefore,
to consider each of the separate fibres in turn. In a subsequent
chapter the bearing of the distribution of textile raw materials
upon international competition will be examined. The present
discussion is limited to a description of how natural resources of
cotton, wool, silk, flax, jute and wood-pulp 1 are shared among the
countries of the world.
I. — R A W COTTON
Cotton is grown in many countries. As among the major types
of raw cotton—American, Egyptian, Indian and Brazilian—
considerable differences in quality exist. In general, Egypt grows
predominantly the finest long fibres, with a staple length of 1 |
inches or longer. The United States and Brazil grow raw cotton
chiefly of medium grade with a staple length ranging from | inch
to l j ¡ inches. Indian cotton is weighted heavily in the coarser
grades with a staple length shorter than | inch.
The world's cotton production consists of many different types with
distinct but overlapping ranges of staple. About one-third of India's
total crop now consists of cotton having a staple of 5 inch and over,
grown principally in the Punjab and Sind and comparable with the
lower grades of American crop, the bulk of which is below 1 inch staple.
1
Wood-pulp, together with cotton linters, is the primary raw material of
rayon, staple fibre, and other synthetic fibres.
— 30 —
In Southern Brazil, only American upland varieties are grown, and
nearly the whole of the Russian crop falls under this category. Peruvian
and Sudanese crops, three-quarters of which are of staple length of more
than I5 inches, bridge the gulf between the long staple Egyptian and
medium staple American varieties. At the top of the scale is the Sea
Island cotton grown in the British West Indies. 1
Thus, in considering the international distribution of raw cotton,
important reservations bearing on quality must be kept in mind.
The cotton-growing countries of t h e world, during t h e season
1934-1935, produced a total of approximately 51.6 million quintals
of " ginned " cotton. 2 Of this total, the United States was responsible for approximately 41 per cent. The next most important
producer, British India, accounted for about 17 per cent., followed
by China, t h e U.S.S.R., Egypt and Brazil as shown in table 1.
1
UNITED KINGDOM, IMPERIAL ECONOMIC COMMITTEE: Industrial
Fibres,
London, 1936, pp. 16-17. The percentages which the different staple lengths
constituted of the total raw cotton output of 1934-1935 in the four major
cotton-producing countries were as follows:
Country and Staple Length
United States:
Shorter than | inch
" | - 1 ¿ inches
l | inches and longer
Percentage
8
83
9
100
India :
Shorter than | inch
| inch and longer
75
25
100
Brazil :
Shorter than | inch
|-lf 2 inches
1¿ inches and longer
2
79
19
100
Egypt (percentage of sown acreage) :
Shorter than 1 j inches (mostly over l | inches)
1 - inches and longer
51
49
100
2
Ginned cotton is raw cotton which has undergone preliminary manufacturing (removal of seeds). In the present Report, cotton ginning is
not treated as part of textile manufacturing.
— 31 —
TABLE 1 .
ESTIMATED PRODUCTION OF GINNED COTTON,
1934-1935
United States
India
China
U.S.S.R
Egypt
Brazil
Peru
Argentina
Anglo-Egyptian Sudan
O t h e r countries (a)
Production
(in thousand
quintals)
20,893
8,814
6,772
4,078
3,504 .
3,050
741
640
493
2,615
Total
51,600 (b)
Country
Percentage
40.5
17.1
13.1
7.9
6.8
5.9
1.4
1.2
1.0
5.1
100.0
(a) Less than 1 per cent. each.
(ft) Total refers only to recorded output of 1934-1935.
SOURCE: Statistical Year-Booh of the League of Nations, 1935/36, p. 119.
Thus, cotton is cultivated in at least 50 countries in both hemispheres. An overwhelming proportion, however, over 90 per cent.
in 1934-1935, was grown in the United States, India, China, the
U.S.S.R., Egypt and Brazil.
II. — RAW W O O L
In considering statistics relating to the world production of raw
wool, the following reservations must be kept in mind:
The statistics relating to wool production being rather incomplete,
the figures given in the table are in many cases only estimates based
on the sheep population. They refer to sheep's wool only; mohair,
camel's hair and similar fibres are excluded. They comprise shorn and
skin wool, and, as far as possible, wool recovered from sheepskins. For
reasons of comparability, the data have been computed on a " greasy "
basis. 1
World output of raw wool in 1934, as shown in table 2 below,
was thus estimated at 1,656.3 thousand metric tons. Although
this total was produced in some sixty different countries, it was
highly concentrated in five countries: Australia, the United States,
Argentina, New Zealand, and the Union of South Africa, which
together produced approximately 64 per cent, of the world total,
while Australia alone was responsible for more than 25 per cent.
1
Statistical
Year-Book
of the League
of Nations,
1935/36, p . 122.
— 32 —
TABLE 2 .
ESTIMATED PRODUCTION OF RAW WOOL, 1 9 3 4
(greasy basis)
Country
Australia (a)
United States
Argentina (a)
New Zealand (a)
Union of South Africa (a)
U.S.S.R
Uruguay (a)
United Kingdom
India
China (incl. Manchuria) (b)
Spain
Rumania
France
Iran . .Algeria
Turkey
Brazil
Italy
Other countries (c)
Total
Production
(in thousand
metric tons)
462.7
204.0
170.6
125.1
100.7
64.0
53.1
51.7
45.4
41.0
33.1
26.0
24.3
22.2
18.1
17.1
16.5
16.3
164.4
Percentage
1,656.3
27.9
12.3
10.3
7.6
6.1
3.9
3.2
3.1
2.7
2.5
2.0
1.6
1.5
1.3
1.1
1.0
1.0
1.0
9.9
100.0
(a) Crop or fiscal year 1934-1935.
(b) Exports.
(c) Less than 1 per cent. each.
SOURCE: Statistical Year-Book of the League of Nations, 1935/36, pp. 123-123.
Several facts are interesting in connexion with table 2. First, the
very wide range of raw wool culture ; in all regions of the world—from
Iceland to Ecuador, from New Zealand to Canada, from Manchuria
to the Falkland Islands—sheep are raised in appreciable quantities
for the wool clip. Second, the world output is somewhat concentrated in the southern hemisphere. Thus, in 1934 Oceania accounted
for 35.5 per cent.; South America for 16.0 per cent.; and Africa
for 8.8 per cent.; altogether 60.3 per cent, of the world total. Third,
the world output is also somewhat concentrated in the British
Empire: Australia, New Zealand, the Union of South Africa, the
United Kingdom, India, Canada, the Irish Free State, Basutoland,
the ' Falkland Islands, Cyprus, and Newfoundland altogether
supplied nearly half of the world total. Fourth, outside the British
Empire and outside the southern hemisphere, the most important
producers are the United States and the Soviet Union. Fifth, all
of the major wool manufacturing countries (except Japan) are also
producers of raw wool in substantial quantity.
In considering quantities of raw wool produced in different
countries, allowance should be made for quality. The quality of
raw wool depends on breed of sheep:
— 33 —
Broadly speaking, there are three main sheep types: (1) the merino,
(2) the crossbred, and (3) the native. The first two are heavy-woolled
types. The merino sheep has a limited amount of flesh but bears an
abundance of fine wool and is frequently of smaller size than the crossbred sheep. Sheep of the crossbred type produce a high quality of
mutton for which they are largely bred, and also a "valuable ileece
covering a wide range of qualities but in the main much coarser than
the merino, although in exceptional cases not widely differing in fineness
from the coarsest qualities of the merino. The term " crossbred " is
here used to denote sheep yielding wool of the quality known as
" crossbred " and does not refer to sheep which are the result of crossbreeding.
The third type comprises various kinds of sheep producing either a
short, coarse wool or a hairy fibre of little or no commercial value.
The first1 class are known as low-woolled and the second as nonwoolled.
In Australia merino sheep predominate, although the proportion
of merino wool output during the period 1911-1931 varied from
66 to 84 per cent. In New Zealand crossbred sheep predominate,
the merino percentage of total output having fallen from 90 per
cent, in 1882 to 2 per cent, in 1932. Merino sheep are the most
common type of woolled sheep in the Union of South Africa; those
of the United Kingdom are almost entirely crossbred, and crossbred
sheep form two-thirds of the total in Canada. The sheep of Northwest India are mostly native, while those of Central and Southern
India are mostly hair-sheep. 2
In so far as countries outside of the British Empire are concerned,
the sheep of Argentina are largely crossbred, although a considerable
proportion is intermediate between crossbred and merino. The
sheep of the United States are divided about equally between
merino and crossbred types. The great bulk of the sheep in t h e
Soviet Union are coarse-woolled, merino forming a very small
proportion of the flocks. About three-fourths of the sheep of Spain
are coarse-woolled, the remainder being merinos. 3 To sum u p :
With the exception of the United States, the Soviet Union and Spain,
no important manufacturing country produces wool in anything like
sufficient quantity to satisfy the needs of its local industry. Even in
the case of the two former countries home-grown supplies have to be
supplemented by imports, although not to the same extent as in countries
such as the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Japan and Belgium.
This position applies, of course, particularly to wools for industrial use.
Countries such as India, China and the Balkan States are large reservoirs
of coarse or " carpet " wools, the uses of which are largely limited to
1
UNITED KINGDOM, EMPIRE MARKETING BOARD:
1932,
p. 59.
2
Ibid., pp. 59-62.
3
Ibid., pp. 62-65.
Wool Survey, London,
3
— 34 —
the carpet and felt trades. In these countries, domestic handicraft
industries and the local use of woolled skins renders adequate estimates
of consumption of wool, and even of production, impossible.
A feature of general interest has been the recent development of
wool textile industries in the primary producing countries, which are
now consuming an increasing quantity of their own wool. Australia
and Argentina in particular have built up modern industries, and the
Union of South Africa is now the only producing country of any
importance which does not manufacture wool goods in any quantity. 1
.
III.
—
SILK COCOONS
Production of silk cocoons 2 in 1934 may be estimated as
amounting to at least 938.8 million lbs. Japan alone was responsible
for 76.7 per cent., and together with Korea supplied 82.1 per cent.
of the world total. Other substantial producers were: China, Italy,
the U.S.S.R. and India, as is shown in table 3 below:
TABLE 3 .
ESTIMATED PRODUCTION OF SILK COCOONS, 1 9 3 4
Country
Japanese Empire
Japan Proper
Korea
China
Italv
U.S"S.R
India (1931-1932)
Greece
Turkey
Bulgaria
Syria and Lebanon
France
Hungary
Spain
Cyprus
Yugoslavia
Total (c)
Production
(in million lbs.)
771.1
720.4
50.7
Percentage
82.1
76.7
5.4
(2.4)
(22.3) (a)
63.6
6.8
33.5
3.6
(28.2) (b)
(3.0)
5.7
0.6
0.5
4.3
0.3
3.1
2.6
0.3
2.1
0.2
0.9
0.1
0.8 1
0.3 \ less t h a n 0.1
0.3 J
938.8 (c)
100.0
(o) No production figures available. Total here given is sum of 1934 exports of silk
cocoons (0.5), raw silk (7.3) and silk waste (14.5).
(6) Estimate of Indian Tariff Board for the year in question.
(c) Includes China exports, 1934, and India production, 1931-1932; total in source
cited given as 888.3 excluding China and India.
SOURCE : Industrial Fibres, p. 46.
1
UNITED KINGDOM, IMPERIAL ECONOMIC COMMITTEE: World Consumption
of 2Wool, 1929-1935, London, 1936, p. 11.
Cocoons are the true raw material of silk textiles. So-called " raw silk ",
together with silk waste, may be regarded as a semi-finished manufacture,
and will be so treated in this Report.
— 35 —
Japan's predominance appears clearly. It would be materially
diminished, however, if full data were available for India and
especially for China.
IV.
—
WOOD-PULP
The discussion which follows is confined to wood-pulp as the raw
material of rayon. What is said applies, however, with equal force
to wood-pulp as the raw material for so-called " staple fibre "
and other synthetic textile products.
The principal raw materials used for rayon manufacture are cotton
linters and wood-pulp. The cellulose obtained from these materials is
treated chemically and dissolved in a solvent, after which it is extruded
through jets into a coagulating bath or into warm air. Numbers of
the filaments thus obtained are twisted together to make yarn. There
are four different processes for the manufacture of rayon, their products
being nitrocellulose (Chardonnet), cuprammonium, viscose, and cellulose
acetate rayon.
Viscose is easily the most important product in all countries, and
accounted for 88 per cent, of the aggregate world production in 1935.
Its supremacy is chiefly due to the relative cheapness of production.
The proportion of acetate in the total has increased1 slightly since 1929,
but is still quite small as compared with viscose.
So far as cotton linters are used as the raw material of rayon
yarn, the international distribution of " raw rayon " coincides with
t h a t of raw cotton. So far as wood-pulp constitutes the raw
material, however, the international distribution of " raw rayon "
corresponds with that of capacity to produce wood-pulp; this, in
turn, depends largely on the world localisation of forest resources.
The data are presented in table 4.
Two features are noteworthy. First, there is a considerable
concentration of wood-pulp output in North America (41.8 per
cent, of the world total), and Scandinavia plus the U.S.S.R. (33 per
cent.). This concentration is clearly related to the international
distribution of forest resources readily exploitable. Second, except
for the United States and Germany, no major rayon-manufacturing
country takes significant rank as a producer of wood-pulp. The low
percentages of the world total of wood-pulp for such countries as
Italy, Japan, France, the United Kingdom and Switzerland are
the result of their deficiency in timber.
1
Industrial
Fibres,
p. 94.
— 36 —
TABLE 4 . — ESTIMATED PRODUCTION OF WOOD-PULP, 1 9 3 4
Production
(in thousand
metric tons,
dry weight)
Country
United States
Canada
Sweden
Germany
Finland
Norway
U.S.S.R. (1933)
Japan
Czechoslovakia
Austria
Saghalien
France
Newfoundland
United Kingdom
Poland
Netherlands
Estonia
Italy (1932)
Switzerland
Lithuania
Rumania
Korea and Kwantung
Mexico
Latvia
Belgium, Spain, Portugal
Percentage
3,910
3,298
2,870
1,934
1,568
982
483
365
325
319
319
280
278
233 (a)
123
1Ö1
86
82
77
50
46
32
30
22
85
Total
17,898
21.8
18.4
16.0
10.8
8.8
5.5
2.7
2.0
1.8
1.7
1.7
1.6
1.6
1.3
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.3
0.2
0.2
0.1
0.5
100.0
(a) Mainly esparto pulp.
SOURCE: Statistical Year-Booh of the League of Nations, 1936/36, pp. 126-127.
V. — FLAX
Flax is the raw material of linen textile manufacturing:
The " Linum " plant is generally cultivated either for the fibre or
for the seed. In some countries, however, the crop, grown primarily
for linseed, yields an appreciable by-product of fibre, but at a considerably
increased labour cost. Thus in thé main flax-growing regions of the
Soviet Union the fibre obtainable from straw of linseed varieties was
estimated at about 90,000 tons in 1933. . . . The flax plant can
adapt itself to extremes of climatic and soil conditions, but the best
fibres are produced in countries having a temperate climate such as
prevails in Central Europe. 1
1
Industrial
Fibres,
p. 62.
— 37 —
In 1935 world production of flax amounted to 751 thousand
tons. Over 72 per cent, of this total was produced in one country,
the U.S.S.R., while most of the remainder was raised in the Baltic
countries (Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia) and Germany,
which together accounted for 14.4 per cent. The detailed figures
are given in table 5.
TABLE 5. —- ESTIMATED PRODUCTION OF FLAX, 1935
Production
(in thousand
tons)
541
39
31 (a)
28
• 24
14
14
11
10
7
7
7
6 (J)
5
4
2
1
Country
U.S.S.R
Poland
Lithuania
Belgium
Latvia
France
Germany
Yugoslavia (1934)
Estonia
United Kingdom
Netherlands
Rumania
Canada
Czechoslovakia
Japan (1933)
Italy (1934)
Irish Free State
Total
(a)
(ò)
(c)
inseed
751 (c)
Percentage
72.0
5.2
4.1
3.7
3.2
1.9
1.9
1.5
1.4
0.9
0.9
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.5
0.3
0.1
100.0
Including small amount of hemp.
Mainly flax tow.
Includes Japan 1933, and Yugoslavia and Italy, 1934; so far as possible flax for
has been excluded.
SOURCE: Industrial Fibres, p. 64.
VI. — RAW JUTE
Jute is here selected for analysis as the most important of the
many fibres used almost exclusively for industrial and agricultural
purposes.1
1
Hemp fibres, divided into soft and hard hemps, are also used almost
entirely for agricultural and industrial purposes. The Philippine Islands
produce practically all of the world's manila hemp; Mexico is the only significant producer of henequén; the Netherlands Indies and Tanganyika are the
most important growers of sisal; while the Soviet Union, Italy, Yugoslavia
and Rumania have the most substantial outputs of true hemp. Cf. Industrial
Fibres, p. 84.
— 38 —
Jute is virtually a monopoly of India and ranks next to cotton and
tea as a principal export commodity of that country. The cultivation
of jute is concentrated in the Province of Bengal, which accounts for
90 per cent, of the total Indian output, the adjoining
parts of Assam
and Bihar producing the remaining 10 per cent.1
In 1934 India alone produced almost 99 per cent, of the total
world output of raw jute, amounting to 1,540 thousand tons. The
details are given in table 6.
TABLE 6.
PRODUCTION OF R A W JUTE, 1934
Production
(in thousand
tons)
Country
Japanese Empire
Formosa
Japan
. . . .
. . . .
Indo-China
Total
. . . .
Percentage
1,518
10 (a)
10
98.5
0.6
0.6
3(6)
-(c)
0.2
9
1
1,541
100.0
(o) Exports to India.
(6) Exports.
(c) Under 500 tons.
SOURCE: Industrial Fibres, p. 73.
VII.
— TEXTILE RAW MATERIALS IN THE NATIONAL ECONOMY
The principal findings which emerge from the foregoing analysis
may be summarised as follows:
First, of the important textile-manufacturing countries, many
are deficient in one or more of the raw materials. Thus Japan, the
United Kingdom, France, Germany, etc., have no raw cotton
whatever; only the United States, the Soviet Union and Spain
attain anything like self-sufficiency in raw wool; silk manufacturing
the world over has to depend on raw materials produced in the
Japanese Empire, linen manufacturing on flax grown in the Soviet
Union and the Baltic States, rayon manufacturing on wood-pulp
produced mainly in countries with large stands of timber, and jute
manufacturing almost entirely on a commodity produced in India.
Second, some of the principal textile-manufacturing countries are
more or less self-sufficient in one or more raw materials. This is
1
Ibid., p. 72.
— 39 —
true of the United States as regards cotton and to a less extent
wool; of India as regards cotton and jute; of the Soviet Union as
regards wool, cotton and flax; of Japan as regards silk; of China,
Brazil and Mexico as regards cotton, etc.
Third, a good part of the world's textile raw materials is produced
in countries which are not themselves important manufacturing
centres. Thus, the output of wood-pulp for rayon is heavily concentrated in the Scandinavian States; the production of manila
hemp for cordage is entirely confined to the Philippine Islands;
so far as cotton is concerned, countries such as Egypt, Peru,
Argentina and Turkey are all appreciable producers; at least one
important raw wool producer, the Union of South Africa, has not
yet developed an important wool manufacturing industry.
Finally, in many countries textile raw materials are grown
primarily for the export trade, and such exports are often of great
importance to the national economy. If the " export quota " be
defined as the ratio of exports to domestic production, 1 then the
textile export quotas of particular countries in recent years were
as shown in table 7.
TABLE 7 . —• RATIO OF EXPORTS TO DOMESTIC PRODUCTION,
TEXTILE RAW MATERIALS
Selected countries., 1934 or 1935 (volume)
CountryArgentina
Australia
Brazil
Egypt
United States . . . .
India
Italy
Japan
Lithuania
New Zealand . . . .
Peru
U.S.S.R
Union of South Africa
iotton
64
—
41
108
64
66
—
—
96
1
Wool (a)
82
92
30
—
—
48
—
—
74
76
—
106
Silk (
Flax
—.
—
—
—
—
—
70
67
33
—
—
—
11
—
Jute export quota: India, 70.
Export quotas for hemp fibres: Netherlands East Indies 86 (sisal); Italy, 95 (true hemp);
Mexico, 98 (henequén); Philippine Islands, 98 (manila hemp).
(a) Export ratios somewhat underestimated; production on greasy basis, exports actual
weight.
(b) " Raw " silk, not silk cocoons.
SOURCES: Computed from Industrial Fibres, 1936; Statistical Year-Book of the League of
Nations, 1935/36; and LEAGUE OF NATIONS: International Trade Statistics, 1935.
1
Export quotas of over 100 per cent, indicate exports out of accumulated
stocks.
— 40 —
Table 8 shows exports of textile raw materials as percentages
of the value of all exports for particular countries:
TABLE 8.
EXPORTS OF TEXTILE R A W MATERIALS AS PERCENTAGE
OF ALL EXPORTS, SELECTED COUNTRIES, 1934 OR 1935
(Value)
'
Cotton
Country
Argentina
Australia
Brazil
Egypt
United States . . . .
India
Italy
Japan
Lithuania
New Zealand . . . .
Peru
U.S.S.R
Union of South Africa
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
15
76
17
20
Wool
7
39
1
Silk
Flax
—
1
3
16
. . . .
26
15
3
—
10
Jute export percentage: India, 9.
Export percentages for hemp fibres: Netherlands East Indies, 2; Mexico, 3; Italy 3;
Philippine Islands, 13.
SOURCES: Industrial Fibres, 1936; LEAGUE OF NATIONS: International Trade Statistics,
1935.
The economic fortunes of many countries are thus seen to be
closely bound to world trade in textile raw materials. Even
countries which are not themselves important manufacturers of
textile products are thus concerned in economic and social measures
affecting the textile industry.
CHAPTER IV
WORLD TEXTILE MANUFACTURING
The present chapter deals with available statistics relating
to the distribution of textile manufacturing among the different
countries of the world. The influences and forces working to reshape
the structure of world textile manufacturing, that is, the dynamic
aspects of the problem, are considered in Chapter VI.
I. —
HANDICRAFT PRODUCTION
Textile manufacturing for the purposes of this chapter is limited
to factory production. A substantial part, however, of the world's
total output of textiles is still to-day produced by hand spinners
and weavers. In India, China, Japan, the Near East, and other
parts of the world, the handicraft artisan of textile fabrics still
flourishes. He represents, in a world transformed by the Industrial
Revolution, the survival of one of the most ancient of human crafts.
Statistical data relating to handicraft production of textile
manufactures are so fragmentary t h a t it would be useless to try
to include the home workshop with the power factory in a picture
of the world structure of textile manufacturing.
Further,
hand-loom weaving, and still more so hand spinning, bear
economically on home rather than world markets. 1 Besides,
the difficulties of enforcing labour reforms upon family artisans
working in home workshops necessarily limit the scope of such
reforms to the factory. Nevertheless, in view of the substantial
contribution of handicraft to total textile output, a brief survey
of handicraft production in three Asiatic countries may be useful.
India. — I t has been estimated that in India, in the making of
cotton textiles, there are " intermittently at work 50 million
1
This does not hold true for certain hand-made products, such as linen
and cotton embroidery and lace, which do enter into world trade to an
appreciable extent.
— 42 —
spinning wheels (charkas) . . . and almost 2 million hand
looms " ; and that these looms produce about 40 per cent, of the
total cloth produced by India and furnish about 25 per cent, of
t h a t country's total consumption of cloth. 1 The importance of
hand spinn ng and weaving to the economic life of India becomes
still clearer from the fact that of nearly 4 million persons gainfully
occupied in the textile industry in 1931, only 20 per cent, at most
were employed in factories. 2
An informed observer of the Indian cotton textile industry
believes that the hand loom is by no means destined to be completely overcome by the competition of the power loom. In his
opinion:
The hand-loom weaving industry has certain advantages over the
power-loom factories, viz. smallness of capital for the outlay, cheapness
of labour, its suitability to village life, proximity of market, the facility
of working in one's cottage and for one's self, the facility of taking up
and leaving off the work at any time, the help from the family (not in
the limited sense of the English usage), i.e. from the householders, the
absence of manifold disadvantages of working in mills under factory
conditions, being exposed to risks, accidents, vices, etc., and other evils
of industrialism, the absence of the disintegrating influence on family
life, the patronage of noblemen for fancy products
in which the individual
artist's skill can be appreciated, etc., etc. 3
Another student of Indian economics contends that hand-loom
and power-loom weaving are not entirely competitive:
The hand loom does not compete with the mill, it supplements it in the
following ways: (1) It produces special kinds of goods which cannot be
woven in the mills; (2) it utilises yarn which cannot at present be used on
the power loom; (3) it will consume the surplus stock of Indian spinning
mills which need not be sent out of the country; (4) being mainly a
village industry, it supplies the local demand and at the same time gives
employment to capitalists, weavers and other workmen; (5) lastly, it
will supply the long-felt
want of an honest field for work and livelihood
for educated Indians.4
China. — Handicraft production of cotton textiles in China is
discussed by a student of the subject as follows:
Among the leading Oriental countries where cotton hand looms are
still employed, China, the most densely populated and probably no
1
A. S. PEARSE: The Cotton Industry of India, Manchester, 1930, pp. 25, 27;
M. P. GANDHI: The Indian Cotton Textile Industry, Calcutta, 1930, p. 86.
In 1935, according to an estimate made by the Economic Department of the
Joint Committee of Cotton Trade Organisations, 31 per cent, of the total
Indian
production came from hand looms.
2
Compare
Chapter IX.
3
GANDHI: The Indian Cotton Textile Industry, p. 86.
4
The Indian Cotton Textile Industry, p. 88, quoting from R. K. MOOKERJEE,
Foundations of Indian Economics.
— 43 —
less backward in industrial development than India, is the only nation
where hand-loom weaving still predominates over power-loom weaving.
In 1925 there were in Japan 238,999 cotton power looms as against
126,360 cotton hand looms, while in India in 1926 the cotton cloth
production amounted to J ,950 million yards from power looms as against
1,160 million yards from hand looms. In China the proportion of power
weaving to hand weaving, in terms of yarn consumption, is only 1 to 4. 1
The author goes on to quote official and semi-official estimates
which would indicate that in 1930, of a total Chinese cotton yarn
consumption of 961 million lbs., power looms consumed no more
than 22 per cent., and hand looms over 78 per cent. On the other
hand, although cotton yarn consumption by hand looms increased
39 per cent, from 1913 to 1930, consumption by power looms
increased almost thirteen times within the same interval. The
extreme discrepancies in these two rates of increase do not, however,
deter the author from concluding that despite the amazing rate
of progress in power-loom weaving " hand-loom weaving will
undoubtedly persist so long as the agricultural economy, coupled
with an over-growth of population and a low standard of living,
remains primarily unaffected by modern industrial changes ".2
Hand-loom weaving of cotton in China is carried on both in
country districts and urban centres. In some of the Chinese cities
•—Wusih, for example—hand-loom weaving is a workshop trade on
a family basis; in others, notably Tientsin, the small hand-loom
workshops are under master craftsmen and merchant employers.
In the country districts,
cotton hand-loom weaving is a by-employment to agriculture in most
cases. It is a dovetailing occupation, in which almost every member
in the farmer's family is engaged in one way or the other during the off
seasons. Wherever the cloth produced is barely sufficient for home
consumption, the industry is par excellence in the household stage. But
oftentimes the farmers work for market production in addition to meeting
their own needs, in which case the type of organisation is no3 different
from that existing elsewhere during the pre-industrial days.
Japan. — Even
home market—a
entirely displaced
textile industry it
in Japan, hand weaving of cotton cloth for the
subsidiary peasant occupation—has not been
by the power loom. In a recent study of the
was noted t h a t :
the number of hand looms has declined from 165,117 in 1922 to 99,684
in 1927 and to about 86,000 to-day (1931). Even so the number of hand
1
H. D. FONG: Cotton Industry and Trade in China, Nankai Institute of
Economics, Tientsin, 1932, Vol. I, p. 230.
2
Ibid., p. 230.
Ibid., pp. 232-233.
— 44 —
looms still in use is not negligible in so far as home consumption of cotton
cloth is concerned (they are all narrow-width looms for making kimono
cloth). There is still room for the expansion of the machine industry
in the home market. 1
As regards finishing, at least of cotton flannelettes, an export
cloth of considerable importance:
the dyeing is done for the most part in very small establishments with
little assistance from machinery and by rather primitive methods. . . .
For the most part the bleaching is done at a charge for a merchant or a
manufacturer, and is done mainly by hand. . . . Although bleaching,
dyeing and printing are still done in Japan for the most part in very
small establishments, and although the cheaper goods may be poorly
finished, the exquisite printed silks worn by Japanese ladies show that
the Japanese are capable of the finest work.2
Handicraft production is especially important in the silk-reeling
industry. It is true t h a t as compared with the years preceding the
Russo-Japanese War the present ratio of " machine-reeled " to
all raw silk has risen from 70 to over 90 per cent., while that of
" hand-reeled " silk has fallen from almost 30 to under 3 per cent.
Nevertheless the silk-reeling industry of Japan
still remains in the stage of a handicraft, labour constituting the most
important element. Employing as it does a certain amount of machine
power, the industry, as it is to-day, cannot claim the name of a factory
industry in the modern sense of the word, and in this respect may be
differentiated from the other textile industries, in which machine power
is employed to the highest pitch.3
II. — FACTORY PRODUCTION
Textile manufacturing as a modern factory industry originated
in Great Britain, as the first large phase of the Industrial Revolution.
From this origin the factory system of textile production soon
spread to the continent of Europe, and to North America; in the
course of time to the F a r East and Latin America; and is to-day
penetrating into almost all countries formerly regarded as purely
agricultural. In fact, the world-wide diffusion of the industrial
technique of textile manufacturing shows no signs of having
reached its end. To-day, as in the past, most countries tend to
take their first plunge into the Industrial Revolution by establishing
a domestic textile manufacturing industry.
1
2
3
F . U T L E Y : Lancashire
Ibid., p . 98.
and the Far East, London, 1931, p . 84.
M I T S U B I S H I ECONOMIC R E S E A R C H B U R E A U : Japanese
(English edition), London, 1936, p p . 252, 259.
Trade and
Industry,
— 45 —
Despite this process of dispersion, textile manufacturing still
shows characteristic patterns of international localisation for each
fibre and for each process.1 In the following pages, the geographic
distribution of the industry will be considered separately for cotton,
wool, silk, rayon, linen, and jute.
A. — Cotton Textiles .
None of the several methods by which the world structure of
cotton manufacturing may be described is in itself entirely adequate.
To enumerate spindles and looms in place is to distort their true
productive significance, which depends on degree of utilisation and
on differences in mechanical efficiency. Measurement in terms of
volume of output not only fails to reflect existing capacities, but
also suffers from the defect that totals of volume disguise differences
in quality or grade and thus also significant differences in unit and
total value.
Measurement in terms of value of output has its
drawbacks in that the purchasing power of national currencies, as
determined by price levels and foreign exchange rates, may fluctuate
over a wide range within a brief period. To measure the industry
either by volume or value of exports is to eliminate important
distinctions between countries which produce largely for home
markets and those which produce primarily for world markets.
Perhaps one of the least unsatisfactory measurements of localisation is furnished by data relating to annual mill consumption
of raw cotton over a period during which most manufacturing
countries experienced the same cyclical forces. Even this standard
is far from perfect. Mill consumption of raw cotton as a criterion
of the international localisation of manufacturing capacity is a
variable determined by at least three factors: (1) the average
count of yarn manufactured in a particular country; (2) the
proportions of the several grades of raw cotton consumed ; (3) the
relations within a given country between spinning and weaving,
and between weaving and knitting. Unless proper adjustments
can be made for each of these factors, variations in annual
1
In general, a country developing a domestic textile industry tends to
build up weaving sheds more rapidly than spinning mills. Eventually, the
national spinning capacity expands to a point where it furnishes domestic
weaving with all its yarn requirements, and, in many cases, even produces
an excess of yarn for export. On the tendency to establish weaving before
spinning in countries where textile manufacturing is being introduced, see
E. B. DIETRICH, " Textile Industry, History and Organisation ", in Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, New York, 1934, Vol. XIV, p. 585 ff.
— 46 —
amounts of mill-consumed raw cotton may be misinterpreted,
whether two countries or two periods be compared.
The purpose here is to describe the world structure of cotton
manufacturing by various criteria, in the hope that distortions
attributable to any one criterion taken singly will thus be offset.
Mill Consumption of Raw Cotton
The International Federation of Master Cotton Spinners' and
Manufacturers' Associations supplies semi-annual data on mill
consumption of raw cotton in all manufacturing countries.1 These
data have been analysed here for the years 1933-1934 to 1935-1936
with a view to determining the world structure of cotton manufacturing as it exists to-day. The analysis reveals that the cotton
manufacturing countries fall into five major groupings: (1) the
older European cotton textile area, whose mills consume from
30 to 33 per cent, of the world's raw cotton ; (2) the Asiatic cotton
textile area, whose mills also consume from 30 to 33 per cent, of
the total ; (3) the North American textile area, responsible for more
than 25 per cent.; (4) the Latin-American textile area, which
accounts for approximately 2.5 per cent.; and (5) other textile
areas, processing about 10 per cent. The most important country
as a mill consumer of raw cotton is the United States (about
25 per cent.); followed by Japan (13-14 per cent.); the United
Kingdom (10-11 per cent.); India (9-10 per cent.); China (7-10
per cent.); Germany and the U.S.S.R. (about 6 per cent. each).
The United States mills alone consume approximately as much
raw cotton each year as do all the mills of Germany, France, Italy
and the United Kingdom together; and somewhat less than all
the mills of China, India and Japan combined. Table 1 presents
the relevant data.
To show the present mill consumption of raw cotton by individual
countries in more detail, the data which relate to the operating
year ended 31 July 1936 have been converted here from running
into standard bales. During this year, mills were active in some
fifty countries and processed close to 25.2 million (standard) bales
of raw cotton. Of this total, nearly two-thirds was consumed in
five countries—the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom,
1
Raw cotton is distinguished in these data as American, Bast Indian,
Egyptian and " sundries " (Argentina, Australia, Brazil, British West Indies,
China, East Africa, Mesopotamia, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Sudan, Turkey,
U.S.S.R., Union of South Africa, West Africa). By proper weighting, actual
bales of the four types of raw cotton can be converted into standard bales
of a given weight.
— 47 —
India and China—and nearly half in the first three countries alone.
In short, although cotton manufacturing is widely diffused, the
overwhelming bulk of its output (about 94 per cent.) is handled
by mills operating in fifteen countries, each of which consumed
in 1935-1936, 1 per cent, or more of the world total of raw cotton.
Table 2 presents the detailed figures.
TABLE 1.
MILL CONSUMPTION OF RAW COTTON, 1 9 3 3 - 1 9 3 6 ( ß )
(percentage of world total, by volume)
Country or group
" Old " European cotton textile area :
Germany
France
Italv
Other (b)
Above countries
Asiatic area:
China
-—;
Above countries
1933-1934
1934-1935
1935-1936
6.5
4.8
3.7
10.5
6.5
4.1
3.3
10.3
6.0
4.6
3.1
10.6
25.5
7.0
24.2
7.3
24.3
7.6
32.5
31.5
31.9
10.4
8.7
12.6
8.1
10.2
14.4
6.9
9.7
13.0
31.7
32.7
29.6
1.0
23.2
1.0
22.7
1.0
25.2
24.2
23.7
26.2
1.8
0.7
1.8
0.6
1.9
0.6
2,5
2.4
2.5
5.7
3.5
6.2
3.5
6.0
3.8
9.2
9.7
9.8
100.0
100.0
100.0
North American area :
Above countries
Latin-American
Brazil
Mexico
area:
Above countries (c)
Other areas :
U.S.S.R
Other countries (d)
Above countries
(a) Operating years ending 31 July.
(6) Austria, Belgium, Spain, Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia.
(c) No separate figures are available for other Latin-American countries; the latter
are included under " other areas "; their consumption of raw cotton, however, is small.
(d) Includes Baltic countries, Balkan and Near Eastern countries, Scandinavian
countries .some Latin-American countries, etc.
SOURCES.•—Computed from JOINT COMMITTEE OF COTTON TRADE ORGANISATIONS: Cotton
Trade Statistics, Manchester, 1936, table 72; International Cotton Bulletin, October 1935
and October 1936.
— 48 —
TABLE 2 .
MILL CONSUMPTION OF RAW COTTON, 1 9 3 5 - 1 9 3 6
(in thousand standard United States bales)
Mill
Country
1.
2.
United States
Japan
4. I n d i a
5. China
6. G e r m a n y (1934-1935)
7. U.S.S.R
8. F r a n c e
9. I t a l v (1934-1935)
10. Brazil
11. Spain (b)
12. Czechoslovakia
13. Belgium
14. P o l a n d
15. Canada
16. N e t h e r l a n d s
17. Austria
18. Mexico
19. Sweden
„„ 1 H u n g a r y
' 1 Switzerland
23.
24.
consumption
(a)
. . .
Portugal
Finland
26. N o r w a y
27-50. O t h e r countries (c) _. . .
6,336
3,281
2,662
2,440
1,740
1,522
1,517
1,163
780
471
406
379
349
302
253
196
178
147
127
106
105
79
71
57
32
13
476
25,188
Percentage
25.2
13.0
10.6
9.7
6.9
6.0
6.0
4.6
3.1
1.9
1.6
1.5
1.4
1.2 '
1.0
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.4
0.3
0.3
0.2
0.1
0.1
1.9
Cumulative
percentage
25.2
38.2
48.8
58.5
65.4
71.4
77.4
82.0
85.1
87.0
88.6
90.1
91.5
92.7
93.7
94.5
95.2
95.8
96.3
96.7
97.1
97.4
97.7
97.9
98.0
98.1
100.0
100.0
(a) Converted from running bales by these weights: bales of American cotton, 1.0;
of East Indian, 0.8; of Egyptian, 1.5; of " sundries ", 0.72.
(b) Year ending 31 January 1936.
(c) Includes, in addition to some unspecified countries, Argentina, Australia, Bolivia,
Bulgaria, Ceylon, Colombia, Cyprus, Ecuador, Egypt, Estonia, Greece, Guatemala, IndoChina, Iran, Latvia, Lithuania, Peru, Rumania, and Turkey.
SOURCE: International Cotton Bulletin, Oct. 1936, pp. 146-147.
Plant and Equipment: Spinning
Two major criteria exist by which to measure the world localisation of cotton textile productive capacity in terms of plant and
equipment: the first is spindles in place; the second, looms in place.
Spindles in place may be divided into two important categories,
mule spindles and ring spindles, both of which may be again
divided into spindles mainly engaged on Egyptian cotton and those
normally spinning shorter staple cottons. Looms in place may
be subdivided into four categories: total looms, ordinary looms,
ordinary looms with automatic attachment, and automatic looms.
— 49 —
TABLE 3 .
COTTON-SPINNING SPINDLES IN PLACE, BY TYPES AND
COUNTRIES, 3 1 JULY 1 9 3 6
(in percentage of world total)
Country or group
All
spindles
Mule
Ring
All countries : n u m b e r (millions)
" Old " European cotton textile
area :
Germany
France
Italy
United Kingdom
. . . .
(151.7)
(44.0)
(107.8)
(26.4)
6.7
6.5
3.6
27.3
7.4
5.5
1.3
69.0
6.4
7.0
4.6
10.2
5.5
7.9
2.7
64.5
Egyptian
cotton
Major countries
Other (a)
. . . .
44.1
8.2
83.2
7.9
28.2
8.5
80.6
6.8
Above countries
. . . .
52.3
91.1
36.7
87.4
3.3
6.4
7.2
1.4
4.6
8.4
10.1
1.9
3.3
16.9
1.4
23.1
5.2
0.7
18.6
0.1
0.9
1.0
25.8
0.3
3.8
19.3
1.0
26.8
4.1
1.8
0.6
2.5
0.8
0.8
2.4
3.3
0.8
Asiatic area :
China
India
Japan
Above countries
North American
Canada
. . . .
area:
United States
Above countries
Latin-American
Mexico
Brazil
. . . .
area:
Above countries (b)
. .
Other areas :
U.S.S.R
O t h e r countries (c)
. . .
Above countries
. . . .
6.5
2.6
5.0
1.5
7.1
3.0
2.5
9.1
6.5
10.1
2.5
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
All countries
(a) Austria, Belgium, Spain, Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia.
(b) Other Latin-American countries included under " other countries " had 0.2 per cent.
of all spindles.
(c) Includes Baltic countries, Balkan and Near Eastern countries, Scandinavian countries,
Latin-American countries, etc.
SOURCE: Computed from International Cotton Bulletin, Vol. XV, No. 57, Oct. 1936,
pp. 150-151.
The world distribution of spindles is presented in table 3.
On 31 July 1936, according to returns made to the International
— 50 —
Federation of Master Cotton Spinners' and Manufacturers' Associations, there were 151.7 million cotton spinning spindles *• in
place, of which 44.0 million (29 per cent.) were mule and 107.7
million (71 per cent.) ring spindles. All spinning spindles in place
—ring and mule—included 26.4 million (17 per cent.) spindles
engaged on Egyptian cotton.
The number of spindles in place can measure nothing more
than " potential " productive capacity, and this roughly at best ;
it ignores the effects of hours of work and shifts in different countries, as well as the technological factors of suitability for specific
yarn counts, extent of mechanisation, and obsolescence. Nevertheless the pattern of distribution shown in table 3 is suggestive.
In a general way it indicates that potential productive capacity
in cotton manufacturing is concentrated in the same areas and
countries whose mills consume the overwhelming bulk of all raw
cotton. In some specific ways, however, the distribution of raw
cotton consumption diverges from that of spindle capacity.
Especially important are the differences in the international
localisation of ring and mule spindles, and in the proportions of the
total engaged in spinning Egyptian cotton at a given time.
As between mule and ring spindles, the world distribution of.
" mule " roughly measures potential capacity to produce high
grades of yarn by processes in which labour skills count heavily;
that of " ring " measures capacity to manufacture low or medium
grades of yarn by a highly mechanised technique.2 In this connection, table 3 shows that the " old " European textile area with
some 37 per cent, of world ring capacity has some 91 per cent, of
world mule capacity; while the Far Eastern textile area has no
more than 2 per cent, mule and no less than 23 per cent, of the
ring equipment. In so far as individual countries are concerned,
the United Kingdom and the United States mark the extreme
limits of variation. Thus, the United Kingdom has 27 per cent, of
all the spindles of the world, only 10 per cent, of all " rings " and
close to 70 per cent, of all " mules ". In contrast, the United States
has 19 per cent, of all the spindles of the world, over 25 per
cent, of the " ring " total, and under 1 per cent, of the " mule "
total.
1
2
Doubling spindles are not included.
These propositions are true only approximately. To a considerable
extent, mule and ring spindles may be used for similar manufacturing purposes.
From this point of view, mule spindles present a lower and ring spindles a
higher degree of mechanisation.
— 51 —
TABLE 4 .
COTTON-SPINNING SPINDLES, BY TYPES, 3 1 JULY 1 9 3 6
(by percentage of all types)
Country or group
Ring
Over 95 per cent, ring :
Brazil
China
Denmark
Japan
Mexico
United States
. . . .
100
100
100
100
99
99
Mule
0
—
—
0
1
1
From 95 to 85 per cent, ring :
Canada
India
Sweden
Italy
Hungary
Finland
" Other " countries (a) .
Belgium
94
93
93
89
88
87
86
85
6
7
7
11
12
13
14
15
From 85 to 75 per cent, ring :
Norway
Spain
Netherlands
U.S.S.R
France
83
79
78
77
76
17
21
22
23
24
From 75 lo 70 per cent, ring :
Yugoslavia
Poland
Austria
Portugal
74
73
70
70
26
27
30
30
Below 70 per cent, ring :
Germany
Switzerland
Czechoslovakia
United Kingdom . . . .
67
67
58
27
33
33
42
73
71
29
All countries
. . . .
(a) Almost entirely " new industrial " countries (e.g. Argentina, Bulgaria, Colombia,
Greece, Rumania, Turkey).
SOURCE: International Cotton Bulletin, Vol. XV, No. 57, Oct. 1936, pp. 150-151.
The capacity to produce the finest grades of cotton yarn is thus
apparently concentrated in Western Europe almost to the exclusion
of other areas. On the other hand, the Asiatic and the North
American textile areas combined possess one-third more capacity
to manufacture mass-production yarns than all the European
countries together. This conclusion is further confirmed when the
distribution of " all " spindles (operating on low, medium and
— 52 —
high grade cotton indifferently) is contrasted with that of
" Egyptian " spindles operating on the finest grades alone. Close to
90 per cent, of the " Egyptian " spindles are concentrated in
Europe (65 per cent, in the United Kingdom alone) as compared
with 52 per cent, of " all " spindles. On the other hand, with
20 per cent, of " all " spindles, the North American textile area
holds only 4 per cent, of the " Egyptian " spindles; similarly, with
17 per cent, of " all ", the Far Eastern textile area has only 5 per
cent, of " Egyptian ".
Limitations of space preclude a detailed discussion of the internal
composition of spindle capacity in the various cotton manufacturing
countries. Broadly speaking, the range of variation runs all the
way from such countries as Brazil, China and Japan, where virtually
all equipment is of the highly-mechanised, mass-production (ring)
type, to such countries as Switzerland, Czechoslovakia and the
United Kingdom, where plant and equipment are heavily biased
toward the skilled-labour, quality-production (mule) types. Detailed comparisons can be made by consulting table 4.
To translate " potential " capacity represented by spindles in
place into " actual " commercial capacity is too big and complicated a task, considering the statistical and technical data which
bear on the problem. All that is attempted here is to suggest a
method, entirely for purposes of illustration, by which such a
translation may be made. The method is to convert the number
of spindles actually in place into equivalent ring spindles and then
reduce the latter to their commercial capacity. 1 By applying this
method to seven important cotton manufacturing countries, the
following approximate conclusions are obtained: (1) the United
States has somewhat less capacity than the United Kingdom and
Japan (or India) together; (2) the United Kingdom's capacity
is about 10 per cent, greater than that of either India or Japan;
(3) India and Japan possess substantially identical capacities,
and (4) Germany and France also have essentially equal capacities.
1
In reducing actual to equivalent ring spindles, it may be assumed that
ring spindles operate at an appreciably higher level of mechanised technique
than do mule spindles, at least to the extent that both types are employed
for similar manufacturing purposes. In reducing equivalent ring spindles to
their actual (commercially feasible) capacities, it has been assumed that
various economic and social factors hold down spinning activities in all
countries below the theoretical maximum of 168 hours weekly. Custom,
collective agreement, law, or all three combined, assign limits which vary
among countries to the maximum labour week and to the number of daily
operating shifts. It should be stressed that the conversions in question have had
to neglect the extremely important factors of relative obsolescence and relative
— 53 —
The comparisons which emerge from the application of the
method used are valid, if at all, only in their bearing on relative
capacity to produce intermediate counts of cotton yarns for which
both mule and ring spindles may be used.
Plant and Equipment: Weaving
Spinning machinery is not by itself an adequate measure of
national capacities to produce cotton goods, for the same equilibrium
does not necessarily exist between the spinning and weavingknitting sections of the cotton textile industry in different
countries. On the one hand, spindles may be producing more
than enough, just enough, or less than enough yarn to satisfy
domestic weaving and knitting requirements. On the other hand,
the proportion of yarn output going either to the weaving or to
the knitting section varies considerably in time and among countries. For a more complete picture of world productive capacity,
the distribution of weaving looms and of knitting machines should
be considered ; limitations of available data restrict the present
analysis to looms.1
According to the last census of cotton-weaving equipment made
by the International Federation of Master Cotton Spinners' and
machine speed. Moreover, no adjustment has been made for variations in
average yarn counts produced by different countries. Despite these important
limitations, the results obtained would appear to approximate much more
closely to the actual relative capacities than do mere numbers of spindles
in place. The results obtained are presented (in millions of spindles) as follows :
Country
Actual
n u m b e r of
spindles (a)
Equivalent
ring
spindles (6)
Germany
China
France
India
Japan
United K i n g d o m . . .
United States . . . .
10.1
5.0
9.9
9.7
10.9
41.4
28.2
8.8
5.0
8.9
9.5
10.9
29.2
28.0
¡MechanicalMachine
equivalentworking-time commercially
factor (c)
available
spindles
1.0
3.0
0.9
2.6
2.3
1.0
1.7
8.8
15.0
8.0
24.7
25.1
29.2
47.7
(a) As of 31 July 1936.
(6) Computed by weights as follows: mule spindles, 0.6; ring spindles, 1.0. The weights
used are more or less conventional. In actual practice, the spread in productivity between
ring and mule spindles varies considerably with yarn count. The spread is at its maximum
for the coarse counts (one ring spindle equals about two mule spindles), and falls as count
rises (for counts over 60's one ring spindle equals somewhat less than one and a half mule
spindles).
(c) Computed by assuming maximum man-hour weeks as follows: Germany, 48
China, 71; France, 40; India, 54; Japan, 55; United Kingdom, 48; and United States, 40
and by assuming average daily shifts numbering: Germanv, 1; China, 2; France, 1.1
India, 2.3; Japan, 2; United Kingdom, 1.0, and United States, 2.
1
The error involved in limiting the analysis to looms is not negligible.
In many countries (e.g. Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the
United States) knitting plants consume very large proportions of yarn output.
Moreover, knit goods have been growing rapidly in importance relative to
woven goods.
— 54 —
Manufacturers' Associations, the cotton power looms of the world
in 1934 numbered 3.1 million, of which about 79 per cent, were
" ordinary ", about 20 per cent. " automatic ", and the small
balance ordinary looms with " automatic attachments ". The
world distribution by categories of loom is given in table 5.
TABLE 5 . — COTTON LOOMS IN PLACE, BY TYPE, JANUARY
1934
(in percentages of world totals)
All countries : n u m b e r (millions)
" Old " European cotton textile
area :
Germany
France
Italy
U n i t e d Kingdom
. . . .
Major countries
Other (a)
. . . .
Total above
Asiatic
area:
China
India
Japan
Automatic
attachment
(2.5)
(0.05)
(0.6)
7.1
6.3
4.7
18.8
7.8
6.6
3.7
23.0
23.4
11.0
41.3
6.8
2.7
4.6
5.6
2.3
36.9
11.4
41.1
13.2
82.5
6.8
15.2
4.5
48.3
54.3
89.3
19.7
1.8
7.5
10.3(c)
0.0
0.8
3.5
19.6
0.0
4.3
(3.1)
1.4
6.1
8.9
16.4
Total a b o v e
North American
Canada
Ordinary
Total
looms
Country or group
Automatic
area :
0.8
19.6
0.5
7.8(d)
0.0
2.2
70.4
20.4
8.3
0.0
72.6
2.6
1.1
0.4
3.0
1.3
0.4
6.5
0.5
0.1
0.3
4.1
4.7
6.5
0.9
8.0
2.8
10.1
3.0
4.2
2.5
10.8
13.1
4.2
2.5
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
United S t a t e s
Total above
Latin-American
Brazil
Other
area :
Total above
Other areas :
U.S.S.R.
Other countries (b)
Total above
All countries
. . . .
• (a) Austria, Belgium, Spain, Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia.
(6) Includes Balkan, Baltic, Near Eastern, Far Eastern, Scandinavian countries.
(c) Includes 0.1 million looms only 15 inches wide.
(d) Includes 0.03 million returned as automatic attachments in 1930.
SOURCE: International Cotton Bulletin, July 1934, pp. 538-539.
— 55 —
In general, table 5 shows that potential weaving capacity is
heavily concentrated in the old European textile area, which
possesses about 48 per cent, of all the cotton looms of the world,
and about 54 per cent, of all " ordinary " looms. Adjustment of
potential to actual capacity by the statistical procedures previously
employed would undoubtedly raise the combined importance of
the Asiatic and North American areas as compared with t h a t of
the European, but such adjustment has not been attempted here. 1
As regards the different types of looms, the most important
distinction is that between ordinary and automatic. In part, this
distinction reflects the difference between capacity to produce
" high grade " and " mass production " qualities of cotton cloth
respectively. In part, also, it reflects the distinction between
TABLE 6. —
COTTON LOOMS IN PLACE, BY TYPE,
COUNTRIES, 1 JANUARY
SELECTED
1934
(in percentages of national totals)
Country or group
Over SO per cent,
United States
Canada
Ordinary
Automatic
attachment
Automatic
automatic:
From 20 to 50 per cent. :
Italy
From 10 to 20 per cent. :
Poland
Switzerland
Minor " New Industrial
France
Japan (b)
Under 10 per cent.:
Germany
Brazil
United Kingdom
India
Czechoslovakia
U.S.S.R
0.1
68.4
52.7
62.4
14.7
22.9
80.0
74.9
81.8
83.3
87.5
0.8
6.1
2.1
2.9
19.2
19.0
16.1
13.8
12.5
87.3
92.0
97.0
97.6
98.3
100.0
5.5
4.1
0.6
0.0
0.3
7.2
3.9
2.4
2.4
1.4
31.6 (a)
47.2
" . . .
(a) Includes about 5 per cent, returned as automatic attachments in 1930.
(6) Excluding all narrow looms for home market cloth.
SOUHCE: Cotton Cloth Report, p. 143.
1
As in the case of spindles, it would be possible to calculate for each
country the commercially feasible weekly hours of loom activity. The
technical differences between ordinary and automatic looms are, however,
so considerable and so variable that no reduction to mechanical-equivalent
looms would be feasible.
" highly " mechanised plant and equipment, operating at relatively
low labour costs, and " moderately " mechanised plant and equipment, working at relatively higher labour costs.
From the distributions for each country given in table 6, it
may be seen that the striking features of the situation are: first,
" ordinary " looms are dominant in all countries except Canada and
the United States; second, they are overwhelmingly preponderant in
such countries as Germany, Brazil, India, Czechoslovakia, the
U.S.S.R., and the United Kingdom; third, automatic looms are a
marked proportion of the total in such countries as France, Italy,
Japan, Poland, Switzerland, and minor " newer " producing
countries; and fourth, automatic looms form a large majority
of all looms in the United States and a slight majority of the total
in Canada.
These differences in the distribution between automatic and
ordinary looms and between ring and mule spindles have considerable importance, as they affect the ratio of man-hours to machinehours and consequently labour costs.1
Volume of Output
Next to the throughput of raw cotton in spinning mills, and
to spindle and loom equipment, the actual output of cotton
yarn and piece goods may now be briefly considered.
It may be estimated that in 1935 United States mills manufactured about 22 per cent., mills in Japan about 13 per cent., those
of the United Kingdom nearly 12, and those of India about 10 per
cent, of the world output of cotton yarn. Other major producers
were such countries as Austria, Belgium, China, France, Italy,
Netherlands, and U.S.S.R. Table 7 presents the available data.
It may be further estimated, more roughly than in the case of
yarn, that in 1935 United States mills produced almost 29 per
cent, of the volume of cotton piece goods manufactured by thirteen
of the leading textile countries. Japan's mills accounted for some
15 per cent, of this total, the United Kingdom for a little over
11 per cent., India's mills for a slightly lower percentage, and the
U.S.S.R. for about 9 per cent. Other significant producing countries,
among those for which data are available, were Germany, Belgium,
Brazil, Canada, China, France, Italy, and the Netherlands. Table 8
presents the available figures.
1
See Chapters VIII and X.
— 57 —
TABLE 7.
ESTIMATED PRODUCTION OF COTTON YARN IN MAJOR
MANUFACTURING COUNTRIES, 1 9 3 5
(in percentage of world total)
Last recorded
production
Estimated production,
1935(a)
Country
Year
United States . . . .
Japan
United Kingdom (e) .
India
China
U.S.S.R
Germany
France
Italy
Belgium
Netherlands
Austria
All other countries (d)
World (d) . . .
1929
1935
1935
1935
1934
1930
1933
1932
1934
1933
1934
1930
1935
Million lbs. Million lbs. Percentage
2,906
1,424
1,225
1,040
909
660
634
404
381
99
86
44
1,400
2,367
1,424
1,225
1,040
870
696
695(6)
481
368(c)
142
95
77
1,400
10,880
21.8
13.1
11.3
9.5
8.0
6.4
6.4
4.4
3.4
1.3
0.9
0.7
12.8
100.0
(a) Estimated, by assuming that the ratio of 1935 yarn output to mill consumption
of raw cotton in the year ending 31 January 1936 was the same as the corresponding ratio
in the year of last recorded production.
(6) 1933-1934.
(c) 1934-1935.
(d) Computed from world average weekly yarn output as estimated in Cotton Trade
Statistics, 1936, table 86.
(e) Single yarn only (Board of Trade Journal, 28 Jan. 1937).
SOURCE. — JOINT COMMITTEE OF COTTON TRADE URBANISATIONS: Cotton Trade Statistics,
1936, tables 72, 73.
By and large, the available data on output of yarn and piece
goods confirm the main outlines of the international structure of
productive capacity revealed by throughput and equipment.1 For
the rest, the data on output are important principally for what
they suggest about the internal balance between spinning and
weaving capacities in particular countries. On the one hand,
they suggest that such countries as Japan, the United States, and
the U.S.S.R. use almost all their yarn output for weaving by
home mills. On the other hand, they suggest that the United
Kingdom exports an appreciable share of her yarn output, while
China exports a considerable proportion and at the same time
furnishes yarn for the large Chinese hand-loom industry.
1
For complete data on yarn and piece-goods output, spindle and loom
equipment, and mill consumption of raw cotton in recent years, see statistical
tables in Volume II.
— 58 —
TABLE
8.
ESTIMATED
PRODUCTION
OF COTTON
PIECE
GOODS
IN MAJOR MANUFACTURING COUNTRIES, 1 9 3 5
(in percentage of total for countries specified)
Last recorded
production
Country
Year
United States . .
Japan
United Kingdom
India
U.S.S.R
Germany . . . .
France
Italy
China
Brazil
Netherlands . . .
Belgium . . . .
Canada
1933
1935
1935
1935
1934
1928
1932
1934
1934
1929
1933
1933
1934
Estimated production,
1935(b)
Converted In million
to million
quintals (o) quintals
9.9
4.9
3.5
3.3
2.6
2.2
1.1
1.1
0.9
0.7
0.4
0.4
0.3
Total. . .
Percentage
9.2
4.8
3.5
3.4
3.0
2.3
1.4
1.1
0.9
0.9
0.5
0.5
0.3
28.9
15.1
11.0
10.7
9.5
7.2
4.4
3.5
2.8
2.8
1.6
1.6
0.9
31.8
100.0
(a) Where weight totals are not available, yardage converted by assuming 1.0 million
linear yards = 1,000 quintals, except: for Canada, 0.794 million linear yards = 1,000 quintals; for United States, 0.794 million square yards = 1,000 quintals; for Japan 1.0 million
square yards = 1,000 quintals.
(¡>) Estimated by assuming that the ratio of 1935 cloth output to the mill consumption
of raw cotton in the year ending 31 January 1936 was the same as the corresponding ratio
in the year of last recorded production. This presupposes, among other things, constancy
in weight of cloth, in proportions of yarn imported and exported, and in relative consumption
of yarn by knitting and weaving. For certain countries (e.g. China and Netherlands) the
cumulative errors of these presuppositions mav be considerable.
(c) 1933-1934.
(d) 1934-1935.
SOURCES. — Computed from JOINT COMMITTEE OF COTTON TRADE ORGANISATIONS: Cotton
Trade Statistics, 1936, tables 72 and 97; Board of Trade Journal, 28 Jan. 1937.
B. — Wool Textiles
The same general considerations which apply to the criteria of
localisation for cotton textiles apply als'o to the criteria for determining the world distribution of wool manufacturing. For practical
purposes only two standards of measurement are available: (1)
estimates of available supplies of raw wool in the principal consuming countries 1; and (2) statistics of the distribution of wool
manufacturing machinery.
1
A s c o m p u t e d b y t h e Imperial Economic Committee, a n n u a l available
supplies of r a w wool are almost, b u t n o t quite, t h e equivalent of mill
consumption of r a w wool (reduced to actual weight from t h e greasy basis).
Account is t a k e n of domestic production of r a w wool, together with exports
a n d i m p o r t s ; carry-over of mill stocks is, however, ignored. T h e t e r m
— 59 —
TABLE 9.
ESTIMATED AVAILABLE SUPPLIES OF RAW WOOL,
PRINCIPAL CONSUMING COUNTRIES, 1934
(in percentages of world total)
Country or group
World available supplies (in million lbs.)
(3,301.0)
" Old " woollen textile area :
Germany
France
Italy
United Kingdom
Other Europe (a)
Total Europe
Percentage
10.6
11.8
5.5
18.2
8.7
5478
Canada
United States
Total North America
Total " old " woollen textile area
" New " woollen textile area :
China
India
Japan
Total Asia
0.9
16.9
17.8
72.6
1.2
1.5
5.5
872
Argentina
Brazil
Peru
Other Latin America (6)
Total Latin America
1.8
0.9
0.4
0.5
3.6
Australia
U.S.S.R
Other (c)
2.0
5.9
7V7
Total miscellaneous
Total " new " woollen textile area
15.6
27.4
All countries
100.0
(a) Includes Austria, Belgium, Spain, Irish Free State, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal,
Switzerland, Czechoslovakia.
(6) Chile, Mexico, Uruguay.
(c) Includes Balkan, Baltic, Scandinavian, Oceanic and Near Eastern countries.
SOURCE. — IMPERIAL ECONOMIC COMMITTEE: World Consumption of Wool, J92S-1935,
London, 1936, pp. 296-297.
"consuming" countries is employed advisedly. In the most important
consuming countries raw wool is processed in mills; in other consuming
countries there is a large handicraft production. In short, although all
manufacturing countries are consuming countries, not all consuming countries
are manufacturing countries to the same extent.
— 60 —
Available Supplies of Raw Wool
Throughout the period of 1928-1934, according to the Imperial
Economic Committee, 11 wool-consuming countries out of 46
surveyed accounted on the average for 84 per cent, of the actual
weight of estimated supplies of raw wool available. These 11
countries in the order of their importance in 1935 had (in million
lbs.): the United States, 651; the United Kingdom, 646; France,
441; Germany, 319; Japan, 244; the U.S.S.R., 240; Italy,
150 ; Belgium, 118 ; Spain, 75 ; Poland, 51 ; and Czechoslovakia,
38. !
The most recent complete statistics relate to 1934. In that year,
some 40 odd wool-consuming countries had available supplies of
3,301 million lbs. Of this total, almost 73 per cent, was available
in the woollen textile area of Europe and North America. The
remainder—about 27 per cent.—was available in countries scattered
throughout the " new " woollen textile area. Table 9 on page 59
gives the relevant data.
The distribution of available supplies in 1934 corresponds rather
closely to the average pattern of the previous six years. The United
Kingdom and the United States (approximately equal in that year)
had over 35 per cent, of the available supplies of raw wool; the
seven most important wool-producing countries—the United
Kingdom, the United States, France, Germany, the U.S.S.R.,
Italy and Japan—accounted for over 75 per cent, of the total
available wool supplies. Table 10 gives the percentages for the
seventeen major wool-consuming countries.
Wool-manufacturing Machinery
Data on available supplies of the raw material necessarily fail to
show the distribution of output in different countries between
semi-finished manufactures—yarn and tops—and finished manufactures—worsted and woollen cloth and knitted goods. Perhaps
the most convenient way of determining relative capacities to
produce specific varieties of wool manufactures is to consider the
statistics of plant and equipment, particularly as comparable
statistics of output are extremely difficult to obtain.
1
I M P E R I A L ECONOMIC COMMITTEE: World Consumption
pp. 1 1 , 13.
of Wool,
1928-1935,
— 61 —
TABLE 1 0 .
ESTIMATED AVAILABLE SUPPLIES OF RAW WOOL,
PRINCIPAL CONSUMING COUNTRIES, 1 9 3 4
(in percentages of world total)
Country
Percentage
United Kingdom
United States
France
Germany
U.S.S.R
Italy
Japan
Spain
Australia
Belgium
Argentina
India
Rumania
Iran
China
Yugoslavia
Czechoslovakia
All other countries
Total
18.2
16.9
11.8
10.6
5.9
5.5
5.5
2.3
2.0
2.0
1.8
1.5
1.3
1.2
1.2
1.1
1.0
10.2
100.0
Cum^e
18.2
35.1
46.9
57.5
63.4
68.9
74.4
76.7
78.7
80.7
82.5
84.0
85.3
86.5
87.7
88.8
89.8
100.0
SOURCE. — IMPERIAL ECONOMIC COMMITTEE: World Consumption o/ Wool, 1928-193
pp. 296-297.
The distribution of combing machines, an approximate measure
of capacity to produce wool tops, is shown in table 11.
TABLE
11.
WOOL-COMBING MACHINES, IN PRINCIPAL COUNTRIES
MANUFACTURING WOOL TOPS,
1933-1935
(in percentages of world total)
Country
Number M
Germany
United Kingdom
France
United States
Japan
Italv
Belgium
Poland
Spain
Australia
U.S.S.R
Czechoslovakia
Switzerland
Yugoslavia
All other (6)
World total (a)
. . . .
Percentage (a)
3,436
2,800
2,800
2,655
1,129
850
650
454
365
282
199
194
160
100
175
21.2
17.2
17.2
16.3
7.0
5.2
4.0
2.8
2.2
1.7
1.2
1.2
1.0
0.6
1.2
16,249
100.0
Cumulative
21.2
38.4
55.6
71.9
78.9
84.1
88.1
90.9
93.1
94.8
96.2
97.2
98.2
98.8
100.0
(a) Excluding Argentina, Austria, Bulgaria, India and Sweden for which no data are
available.
(6) Including Canada, China, Hungary, Irish Free State, New Zealand.^Netherlands
Portugal, Rumania, and Turkey.
SOURCE: World Consumption of Wool, 192S-193S, pp. 305-306.
— 62 —
TABLE 1 2 .
WOOLLEN AND WORSTED SPINDLES, BY TYPES,
IN PRINCIPAL MANUFACTURING COUNTRIES,
1933-1935
Spindles (in thousands)
Woollen
Worsted
Total
Percentage
of total
spindles (a)
1,818
376
680
570
476
2,037
439
2,300
640
472
2,600
4,250
3,855
815
2,980
1,210
948
1,310
6,850
14.7
3.1
11.4
4.6
3.6
5.0
26.2
Country
" Old " woollen textil s
area:
Germany
. . . .
Belgium
France
Italy
Poland
Czechoslovakia. .
United Kingdom.
Other (b) . . . .
Total Euroi>e
Canada
United States . .
Total
N o r t li
America
All " old " woollen tex
tile area
. . . .
" New " woollen textil
area :
Argentina . . . .
Australia
. . . .
India
Japan
U.S.S.R
Other(c)
. . . .
All " new " woollen tex
tile area
All countries
. . .
622 (d)
467 (d)
1,342
5.1
7,142 (d)
10,605 (d)
19,310
73.7
107
1,651
81
2,366
188
4,017
0.7
15.3
1,758
2,447
4,205
16.0
23,515
89.7
8,900 (d)
13,052 (d)
75
65
41
88
259
501 (e)
34
731
175
140
312
75
819
434
0.5
1.2
0.3
3.1
1.7
134
915 (e)
3.5
964 (d)
1,139 (d)
' 2,695 (e)
10.3
9,864 (d)
14,191 (d)
26,210 (e)
100.0
(a) Percentages of world totals not calculated for woollen and worsted spindles
separately, because full details are not available for Australia, Bulgaria, China, Netherlands,
Sweden, Czechoslovakia.
(6) Including Austria, Spain, Irish Free State, Netherlands, Portugal and Switzerland.
(c) Including Bulgaria, China, Denmark, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, New Zealand,
Norway, Panama, Sweden, Turkey and Yugoslavia.
(d) Incomplete; see footnote (a).
(e) Excluding China.
SOURCE: World Consumption of Wool, 1928-1035, pp. 305-306.
It is evident from table 11 that the production of wool tops is a
highly specialised branch of textile manufacturing, localised as to
almost three-fourths of its capacity in Germany, the United
— 63 —
TABLE 1 3 .
WOOLLEN AND WORSTED LOOMS, IN PRINCIPAL
MANUFACTURING COUNTRIES, 1 9 3 3 - 1 9 3 5
Looms
Country or group
" Old " woollen textile area :
Germany
Belgium
France
Italy
Czechoslovakia
United Kingdom
Other(a)
Total Europe
Canada
United States
Total North America
.
All " old " woollen textile area .
" New " woollen textile area :
Argentina
Australia
India
Japan
. . ." .
U.S.S.R
Other (b)
All " new " woollen textile area
Thousands
Percentages of
world total
87.5
7.5
50.0
21.0
16.2
22.3
101.0
28.7
19.2
1.6
11.0
4.6
3.5
'4.9
22.2
6.3
334.2
73.3
2.2
55.7
0.5
12.2
57.9
12.7
392.1
86.0
2.2
3.8
1.6
26.9
11.9
17.3
0.5
0.8
0.4
5.9
2.6
3.8
63.7
14.0
455.8
100.0
(a) Including Austria, Spain, Irish Free State, Netherlands, Portugal and Switzerland.
(6) Including Bulgaria, China, Denmark, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, New Zealand,
Norway, Rumania, Sweden, Turkey and Yugoslavia.
SOURCE: World Consumption of Wool, 1928-1935, pp. 305-306.
Kingdom, France, and the United States. The spinning of woollen
and worsted yarn, in contrast to the combing of wool tops, is more
widely diffused, as shown by table 12. 1
It is evident from the table t h a t capacity to spin woollen and
especially worsted yarns is highly concentrated in the older industrial areas of Europe and in the United States. As for weaving
1
Table 12 must be read with caution owing to the inclusion of twisting
spindles, hosiery spindles, or both in the returns for some countries (e.g. the
United Kingdom, Czechoslovakia, etc.) and their exclusion from the returns
for other countries (e.g. Germany, Switzerland).
— 64 —
capacity, judged by the distribution of looms, this is shown in
table 13. 1
It will be observed in table 13 that the concentration of weaving
and knitting equipment in the older industrial countries of Europe
and in North America runs to 86 per cent., as compared with that
area's 73 per cent, of available supplies of raw wool. The divergence
is to be explained principally by different bases of computation:
supplies include wool available both to mills and to handicraftsmen ;
looms are limited to power looms in factories. More significant is
a divergence between relative spinning and weaving capacity for
the " new area " countries. It suggests a flow of yarn from " old "
to " new " countries which re-emphasises the more advanced
development of weaving over spinning in new industrial countries.
C. — Silk Textiles
Capacity to produce silk textiles may be estimated indirectly by
examining the data on (1) raw silk, the basic semi-manufacture;
and (2) on silk tissues, the finished product. Data at present
available permit direct description, although somewhat incomplete,
of capacity to produce raw silk; but necessitate, so far as silk tissues
are concerned, indirect estimates by calculating available supplies
of raw silk and silk wastes, since only fragmentary figures for a few
producing countries exist on estimated consumption of raw silk
and on output of silk and silk mixture tissues. The relevant data
for 1935 are presented in table 14; it must, however, be noted
that no allowance is made for carry-over of stocks of raw silk in
producing or consuming countries, an omission which may involve
considerable error, notably in the case of Japan and the United
States.2
Capacity to produce raw silk is highly concentrated in the Far
East: Japan and Korea, China, Manchuria, and India together
account for well over 90 per cent, of the world total. Japan and
Korea are overwhelmingly predominant in this group, although
full data on Chinese and Manchurian output would raise these two
1
Like table 12, table 13 must also be read with reservations. Hosiery
equipment is included in the returns for some countries (e.g. the United
States, the United Kingdom, Rumania) ; it is excluded from other returns
(e.g. Germany, France, Sweden).
2
In a complete determination of available supplies, account would have
to be taken of trade in other semi-manufactures: thrown silk, silk yarn, etc.
These data, however, are very difficult to obtain; their omission involves
only a small error.
— 65 —
countries much higher in the scale ; even figures limited to exports
show that these two producers account for almost 25 per cent.,
compared with 64 per cent, for Japan proper. The Mediterranean
countries—such as France, Italy, and Greece—the U.S.S.R., and
the Near Eastern countries—Bulgaria, Turkey, Iran, Syria and
Lebanon—constitute secondary centres. Of these secondary groups,
the Mediterranean, with over 5 per cent, of the total, is the
most important.
TABLE
14.
ESTIMATED
PRODUCTION,
TRADE
AND AVAILABLE
SUPPLIES, RAW SILK AND SILK WASTES, 1 9 3 5 (à)
Trade
(million lbs.)
Production
Estimated
available supplies
Country
United States . .
Japan
China
France
I t a l y (1934) . . .
Manchuria. . . .
United Kingdom .
India
Canada
Germany . . . .
U.S.S.R
Switzerland . . .
Korea
Greece (1934) . .
Turkey
Bulgaria (1934) .
Austria
O t h e r countries (c)
Total
. . .
Million
lbs.
Percentage
86.73
22.88(E)
0.13
6.36
8.09(E)
64.1
16.9
0.1
4.7
6.0
2.00 (6)
3.40
3.62
0.68
0.36
0.25
0.70
135.20
—
1.5
—
—
2.5
—
2.7
0.5
0.3
0,2
—
0.5
100.0
( + ) Im- (—) Ex- ( = ) Mil- Percentports
ports
lion lbs.
age
72.36
5.16
72.36
17.27
52.3
12.5
—
14.46
9.96
10.4
7.2
—
0.42
5.92
4.13
3.27
3.14
3.10
2.03
1.04
0.68
0.36
0.25
0.16
0.28
4.3
3.0
2.4
2.3
2.2
1.5
0.7
0.5
0.3
0.2
0.1
0.2
118.01
138.41
100.0
—
74.62
22.88
—
8.19
8.09
14.33
11.79
5.92
3.06
3.27
3.14
—
2.03
—
—
—
—
0.16
—
121.20
0.93
—
—
0.30
—
2.58
—
—
—
—
(o) As far as possible, silk wastes, a valuable semi-manufactured by-product of raw
silk production, are included, and silk cocoons, the basic raw material, excluded.
(6) 1931-1932, as estimated by the Indian Tariff Board.
(c) In the approximate order of their consumption: Iran, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Spain,
Czechoslovakia, Rumania, Syria and Lebanon, Indo-China. For the probably substantial
production of Iran, the export figure has had to be used.
(E) = Exports.
SOURCES. — Computed from IMPERIAL ECONOMIC COMMITTEE: Industrial Fibres, 1936,
pp. 47, 48, 50, 56 and 57; and Staiisticai Year-Booh of the League o/ Nations, 193511936,
0.124.
In contrast, judging by estimated available supplies of raw
silk as calculated in table 14, the United States dominates by far
in the manufacture of silk tissues ; this one country alone takes a full
half of the available raw silk of the world (excluding China). Japan
5
-
66 —
and Korea, France, Italy, and, if data were available, probably
China, are the other most important producers of silk tissues, as
judged by this criterion. The United Kingdom, India, Canada,
Germany, the U.S.S.R., and Switzerland, in approximately that
order, follow at a third level of importance. Minor producers are
such countries as Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria and Austria.
The available data on estimated actual consumption of raw
silk in Japan and in the United States suggest that Japanese silk and
mixture tissue output in 1935 was relatively larger than the
above figures appear to indicate. United States mills, according
to the Silk Association of America, consumed 65.8 million lbs.
of raw silk in 1935, compared with the Japanese consumption
of 33.1 million lbs. as estimated by the Oriental Economist.1
Data on actual output of tissues is limited to fragmentary figures
for the United States, Japan, and the United Kingdom; as they
relate to non-comparable years, however, no definite conclusions
can be drawn.2
D. — Rayon and Similar Synthetic Fibres
To describe the world distribution of rayon and staple fibre
manufacturing capacity, the same procedure can be followed as
in the case of silk. Table 15 gives the available data.
For all practical purposes, the world production of rayon
yarn and staple fibre is confined to six countries: the United States,
Japan, Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom, and France in that
order of importance. The first two countries produce about 46 per
cent, of the world total; the first four over 71 per cent., and the
six together almost 90 per cent. Belgium and the Netherlands
are the only other producers of consequence.
1
Industrial Fibres, p. 60.
The figures supplied by the Joint Committee of Cotton Trade Organisations
(Manchester) are as follows ; the importance of silk mixture output may be
noted :
Thousand square yards
United Kingdom :
1930
1934
Pure silk tissues
7,665
6,077
Silk mixture tissues
7,619
2,320
United States:
Tissues (excluding velvets, plushes, uphol1929
1933
steries and tapestries) :
All silk
446,107
201,438
Silk and rayon
( s o ¿QQ Í
30,183
Silk and cotton
Ì D 0 '" d a
\
5,226
Japan :
Pure silk tissues:
1934
Broad width—over 15 inches
225,157 thousand yards.
Narrow width
35,369 thousand pieces.
2
— 67 —
Although the weaving of rayon and staple fibre goods is much
more scattered (nearly forty countries) than the production of
rayon yarn and staple fibre (less than twenty countries), the effective
manufacturing area is almost as restricted in the case of the finished
products as in that of the semi-manufactures. Judged by available
supplies of rayon yarn and staple fibre, the United States and Japan
together weave about 43 per cent, of the total; the addition of
Germany and the United Kingdom brings the share close to 66 per
cent. ; that of Italy and France raises it to 82 per cent. The remaining output is distributed among more than thirty countries in all
parts of the world.
TABLE
15.
SUPPLIES
ESTIMATED
OF RAYON
PRODUCTION,
YARN
TRADE
AND STAPLE
Production
AND AVAILABLE
FIBRE, 1 9 3 5
Trade (a)
(million lbs.)
Estimated
available supplies
Country
Million
lbs.
United States
Japan. .
Germany
United Kingdom
Italy . .
France .
Belgium
India . .
Spain . .
Canada .
Czechoslovakia
U.S.S.R.
Poland . .
China . . .
Mexico . .
Argentina .
Manchuria .
Australia .
Switzerland
Sweden
Hungary .
Yugoslavia
Brazil . . .
Netherlands
Other countries W
Total
261.7
231.0
130.0
118.3
154.0
79.0
22.7
6.0
12.7
6.1
12.3
12.0
8.1
1.3
0.3(E)
4.2
21.2
2.1
1,083.0
Percentage
24.2
21.3
12.0
10.9
14.2
7.3
2.1
( + ) Imports
(—) E x ports
0.4
2.0
0.2
0.3
8.5
8.3
7.6
7.4
6.3
4.1
4.2
5.2
5.0
0.3
4.0
23.9
21.0
2.5
259.5
200.7
133.6
110.9
109.1
65.7
18.7
15.9
15.4
13.9
13.9
12.3
11.7
8.5
8.3
7.6
7.4
6.3
5.9
5.5
5.2
5.0
4.5
4.2
23.9
100.0
142.8
152.6
1,073.6
—
0.6
1.2
0.6
1.1
1.1
—
—
—
—
—
0.7
0.1
0.0
—
0.1
13.2
2.4
2.0
1.9
2.6
15.9
9.4
1.2
9.0
—
2.2
30.4
9.6
9.8
46.9
15.2
6.6
( = 1 Mil- Percentlion lbs.
age
—
—
—
1.2
—
0.6
—
—
—
—
—
6.3
—
0.3
—
—.
24.2
18.7
12.5
10.3
10.2
6.1
1.7
1.5
1.4
1.3
1.3
1.1
1.1
0.8
0.8
0.7
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.5
0.5
0.5
0.4
0.4
2.2
100.0
(a) Rayon only.
lb) Austria, Chile, Denmark, E g y p t , Estonia, Finland, Greece, Netherlands Indies,
Latvia, Lithuania, Nonvav, Peru, Portusal, Rumania, Syria and Turkev.
(E) = Exports.
SOURCE
— I M P E B I A L ECONOMIC C O M M I T T E E :
Industrial
Fibres,
1936, p p . 96-9S. 101
— 68 —
E . — Linen
Textiles
T h e i n t e r n a t i o n a l d i s t r i b u t i o n of linen t e x t i l e m a n u f a c t u r i n g
likewise h a s t o b e e s t i m a t e d i n d i r e c t l y from figures of p r o d u c t i o n
a n d t r a d e for flax, t h e r a w m a t e r i a l . 1 T h e available d a t a are
p r e s e n t e d in t a b l e 16.
TABLE 16.
ESTIMATED PRODUCTION, TRADE, AND AVAILABLE
SUPPLIES, FIBRE FLAX, 1935
Trade (a)
Estimated
Produc- (thousand tons) available supplies
tion
(thousand
( + ) Im- (—) Ex- (^Thou- Percenttons)
age
ports
ports sand tons
Country
U.S.S.R
United Kingdom
France
Germany . . . .
Poland
Lithuania . . .
Czechoslovakia .
Latvia
Japan
Yugoslavia- . . .
Belgium . . . .
Rumania . . . .
Estonia
Canada . . . .
Italy (1934) . .
United States
Sweden
. . . .
Netherlands . .
Irish Free State
Total
.
541
7
14
14
39
31
5
24
4
11
28
7
10
6
2
62.6
8.0
5.6
4.3
3.5
2.7
2.6
2.1
1.9
1.4
1.3
0.9
0.8
0.8
0.6
0.6
0.3
—
—
4
—
0
—.
—
7
1
483
62
43
33
27
21
20
16
15
11
10
7
6
6
5
5
2
0
0
140
119
772
100.0
56
29
19
—
—.
15
—
11
—
—
—
3
5
o
751
58
1
—
—
12
10
—
8
—
—
18(e)
(a) Flax and tow.
(6) Net export balance.
SOURCE. — IMPEMAL ECONOMIC COMMITTEE: Industrial Fibres, pp. G4, 66, 70.
T h e p r e d o m i n a n c e of t h e Soviet U n i o n as a p r o d u c e r of flax
fibre, a s s h o w n in C h a p t e r I I I , t h u s c o r r e s p o n d s t o its leadership
as a m a n u f a c t u r e r of linen t e x t i l e s . 2 O t h e r significant m a n u f a c 1
Fragmentary output statistics for flax yarn in a few countries (in thousand
tons) are: U.S.S.R. (factory-spun only), 58 in 1933; United Kingdom (line
and tow yarns), 46.6 in 1934 ; Germany, 13 in 1933. (Industrial Fibres, pp. 70-71 ).
2
I t must be recognised that the Soviet Union's predominance as a producer
of linen textiles reflects largely the handicraft production of such fabrics.
In factory production, the United Kingdom is a substantial rival of the
U.S.S.R. In 1930 flax yarn produced by mills in the Soviet Union totalled
69,000 tons; the United Kingdom's factory production totalled 34,000 tons.
In 1933 the corresponding volumes were 58 and 40 thousand tons respectively.
— 69 —
turing countries, at least in volume, are the United Kingdom,
France, Germany, Poland, and the Baltic and Balkan countries
taken as groups. If data on the value of linen manufactures
produced could be obtained, such countries as Belgium and Czechoslovakia would probably attain more significant rank than
they enjoy from the point of view of volume.
F. — Jute Textiles
The world distribution of capacity to produce jute yarn and cloth
is suggested by the data given in table 17; the figures thus presented are confirmed for India, the United Kingdom, and Germany,
by returns giving either mill consumption of jute or yarn output. x
TABLE
1 7 . — ESTIMATED
PRODUCTION,
TRADE, AND AVAILABLE
SUPPLIES, RAW JUTE, 1 9 3 4
Country
Production
(thousand
tons)
India
United Kingdom
Germany . . .
France . . . .
Italy
United States .
Spain
Belgium . . . .
Czechoslovakia .
Japan (including
Formosa) . .
Brazil
Poland . . . .
Argentina . . .
China
. . . .
Netherlands . .
Nepal
Manchuria . . .
1,518
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
Total .
1,544
10
—
—
—
3(E)
—
10(E)
3(E)
Trade
(thousand tons)
( + ) Imports
Available
supplies
(—) Ex- ( = ) Thou- Percentsand tons
ports
aee
10
173
105
91
55
53
46
40
37
721
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
807
173
105
91
55
53
46
40
37
54.
11.
7.
6.
3.
3.6
3.1
2.7
2.5
19
18
11
9
8
7
—
—
—
—
—
3
—
10
3
29
18
11
9
8
7
•—
—
1.9
1.2
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.5
682
737
1,489
100.0
(E) = Exports.
SOURCE. — IMPERIAL ECONOMIC COMMITTEE: Industrial Fibres, 1936, pp. 73,
78.
No statistics of the production of handspun yarns in the U.S.S.R. are available.
(Data
from Industrial Fibres, 1936, pp. 70-71.)
1
Estimated mill consumption of jute (in thousand tons) : India, 770 in
1933-1934 and 820 in 1934-1935; in Germany, 105 in 1933: estimated production of jute yarn (in thousand tons): United Kingdom, 167 in 1933
[Industrial Fibres, pp. 79-80).
— 70 —
Although India does not, as a manufacturer of jute cloth and
bagging, enjoy anything like its monopoly as a producer of raw
jute, nevertheless that country is responsible for considerably
more than half of the world's consumption of the raw material. The
other important jute manufacturing countries are either countries
of advanced industrialism (e.g. the United Kingdom, Germany,
and France); or countries in whose economic life agricultural
exports play an important part (e.g. Brazil, Argentina, and China).
III. — SUMMARY
Each textile manufacturing branch considered in the foregoing
pages thus reveals its own peculiar pattern of concentration and
diffusion. Thus world capacity to produce cotton yarn, cloth and
knit goods is predominantly concentrated in nine countries (the
United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, India, China, Germany
the U.S.S.R., France and Italy) ; the capacity to produce woollen and
worsted semi-finished and finished manufactures, likewise in nine
countries (the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Germany,
the U.S.S.R., Italy, Japan, Spain and Belgium); the capacity
to produce raw silk, in the Far East (mainly Japan) ; silk manufactures, in three Western countries (the United States, France
and Italy), and in two Far Eastern ones (Japan and China), etc.
Significant variations in the structure of world textile production
appear also when the individual countries are arranged in larger
regional groups. Thus the " old " European industrial area, most
diversified of all, is heavily predominant in wool, has a slight
margin on any other area in cotton, and ranks important in silk,
linen, rayon, and jute. The Asiatic industrial area is close behind
Europe in cotton, is very important in silk and rayon, has a fair
share of wool manufacturing, and dominates absolutely in jute.
The North American industrial area, heavily predominant in silk
and rayon, is one of the leaders in cotton and wool, and manufactures a fair share of the world's jute. The Latin-American area
is significant in cotton, wool, and jute manufacturing. Of other
countries, the U.S.S.R. predominates in linen, while enjoying
appreciable importance in at least cotton and wool. All things
considered, the centre of gravity of textile manufacturing is still
in Western and Central Europe, with a definite tendency to shift
towards the Far East and other areas of rapid industrialisation.
CHAPTER V
WORLD TRADE IN TEXTILES
The present chapter aims to outline the channels of international
trade through which the different textile fibres and their products
flow. On the one hand, it examines the countries which export and
import raw materials, semi-manufactures, and fully manufactured
products. On the other hand, it considers the specific networks
of trade between exporting and importing centres. Each fibre is
considered in turn.
I. — COTTON TEXTILES
The cotton textile trade will be examined first, in its export
and import phases, from the trade in raw cotton to that in cotton
piece goods.
A. — Raw Cotton
Some of the major cotton textile countries are virtually selfsufficient as regards raw cotton. This is true of Brazil, China, the
United States, India, Mexico and the U.S.S.R. The other manufacturing countries import practically all of their raw cotton.
Taking the world as a whole, the United States furnishes from
40 to 50 per cent, of the mill consumption of raw cotton, India
more than 20 per cent., Egypt from 4 to 5 per cent., and other
countries from 20 to 25 per cent. Of the other countries whose
output of raw cotton flows into world trade, the most important,
to judge by mill consumption data, are China, Brazil, East and
West Africa, Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, and Peru in approximately
that order. Certain importing countries show special features in
their patterns of trade in raw cotton. Thus Germany's imports of
raw cotton, in recent years, have been drawn heavily from Brazilian
and Peruvian sources; cotton from the Belgian Congo forms a
substantial part of Belgian imports; Egyptian cotton predominates
in imports to Switzerland, and forms a very important part of
— 72 —
imports into the United Kingdom; cotton from the British colonies
in Africa figures prominently in the imports of both India and the
United Kingdom.1 These special features are to be explained
partly by differences in the quality of yarn output in the various
countries, and partly by considerations of commercial policy.
Table 1 presents a summary picture of world trade in raw cotton.
TABLE 1.
TRADE IN RAW COTTON, SELECTED COUNTRIES,
1935
(in million lbs.)
Imports from
Imports into
Egypt
Germany
Belgium
China
United States (1934)
France
India
Italy (1934). . . .
Japan
Netherlands
. . .
Poland
United Kingdom .
Switzerland . . . .
Czechoslovakia . .
87.0
7.5
(a)
47.0
102.1
45.4
74.0
71.0
1.8
16.5
272.0
31.0
24.8
United
States
India
Brazil
Other
countries
61.0
62.8
47.0
13.0
92.1
182.0
11.7
(a)
(a)
26.6
.(a)
(a)
(a)
6.3
(a)
60.0
(a)
(a)
188.0
65.0
13.0
21.0
38.5
126.1
14.0
103.0
24.7
8.8
205.0
5.9
82.0
165.0
65.4
61.0
—
238.9
23.5
254.0
762.0
38.7
107.8
567.0
18.1
44.4
—
70.0
689.0
18.3
14.3
165.0
3.5
15.9
(a) Included in imports from " other countries '
SOURCE: Cotton Trade Statistics, 1936, tables 33-46.
B. — Cotton Yarn
Although cotton yarn is manufactured the world over, only
fourteen countries produce an appreciable " surplus " for the
export trade. Ten countries of Western and Central Europe
account for 75 to 80 per cent, of the volume of world exports;
the three industrial countries of Asia, for 20 per cent. ; the United
States is responsible for the remainder. So far as individual
exporters are concerned, the United Kingdom overshadows all
the rest, supplying over a third of the total, with Italy supplying
an additional seventh. Japan and China, among Far Eastern,
1
F o r complete d a t a on consumption of particular t y p e s of cotton b y
p a r t i c u l a r countries in recent years, see April and October numbers (1933-1936)
of t h e International
Cotton Bulletin.
— 73 —
and Czechoslovakia, Austria, France and Belgium among European
countries, lead the remaining principal exporters. Table 2 presents
the relevant data.
TABLE 2 .
EXPORTS OF COTTON YARN, PRINCIPAL EXPORTERS, 1 9 3 5
(in percentages of world total)
Country
United Kingdom
I t a l y (1934)
Japan
China
Czechoslovakia
Austria
France
Belgium
India
Switzerland
United States
Netherlands
Germany
Poland
SOURCE: Cotton Trade Statistics, 1936, table 131.
Percentage
36.0
14.5
9.7
8.2
8.1
5.8
4.5
3.6
2.5
2.4
1.6
1.5
1.4
0.2
Cumulative
percentage
36.0
50.5
60.2
68.4
76.5
82.3
S6.8
90.4
92.9
95.3
96.9
98.4
99.8
100.0
100.0
Cotton yarn exports find their consumption uses in the weaving
mills and in the handloom workshops of foreign countries. The
resulting pattern of world trade exhibits complexities characteristic of many semi-finished manufactures. Thus, countries with
old-established cotton textile industries export yarn to countries
where cotton manufacturing is still a " new " industry (e.g. the
United Kingdom exports to Argentina, Australia, Rumania,
Denmark, etc.; Italy to Argentina, Rumania and Yugoslavia;
Czechoslovakia to Rumania and Yugoslavia, etc.). Again, countries
manufacturing special qualities of yarn export to other countries
where domestic output of such yarn does not satisfy requirements
(e.g. the United Kingdom exports the largest part of such yarn
to such countries as Germany, Canada, India, the Netherlands,
Sweden and Switzerland ; France its largest share to such countries
as Germany, Netherlands and Switzerland; China and Japan each
to India ; Czechoslovakia and Italy fair proportions of their exports
to Germany and Switzerland, etc.). Finally, the same country often
appears both as an importer and an exporter of cotton yarn (e.g. the
United Kingdom, which exports on such a large scale, also imports
cotton yarn from the Netherlands, Belgium, India, Germany, etc. ;
China, which exports to India, imports cotton yarn from Japan
and the United Kingdom; Germany, Belgium, France, the Nether-
— 74 —
lands, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia, etc., are all involved in similar
export-import relations with regard to cotton yarn).
Despite these complexities of trade among individual countries
and groups of countries, several fairly well-defined regional patterns
emerge. First, the highly industrialised countries of Western Europe
participate in a large two-way trade in cotton yarn among themselves. Second, these same countries furnish substantial quantities
of yarn to the less industrialised countries of the Balkans and of
Latin America. Third, China, India and Japan constitute for
cotton yarn trade almost a self-enclosed system, in which the
United Kingdom is practically the only outside participant.
Table 3 is suggestive of the complex structure of cotton yarn trade.
TABLE 3 .
TRADE IN COTTON YARN, SELECTED COUNTRIES, 1 9 3 5
(in million lbs.)
Exports from
Exports to
Germany . .
. .
Argentina
China . . .
India
. . .
Netherlands .
Rumania . .
Switzerland .
Yugoslavia .
British Dominic>ns(d)
Scandinavia (e
Other countrie 5 . .
All countries
(a)
(ft)
(c)
(d)
(e)
France
Italv
(1934)
Japan
Czechoslovakia
4.41
1.31
(a)
(a)
0.54
0.60
0.52
(a)
(a)
(a)
10.27
1.0
4.1
(a)
(a)
(a)
13.7
0.3
21.4
(a)
(a)
16.8
(a)
(a)
6.9
17.8
(a)
(a)
(a)
(a)
(a)
13.6
2.0
(a)
(a)
(a)
(a)
12.8
(a)
8.7
(a)
(a)
8.2
17.65
57.3
38.3
31.7
(«)
United
Kingdom
30:3
8.4
0.9(e)
10.6
15.2
4.0
4.7
(a)
10.1
13.3
44.2
141.7
China
(a)
(a)
14.4(c)
(a)
(a)
(a)
(a)
(a)
(a)
17.8
32.2
Included in " other countries " or nil.
Chinese imports from the United Kingdom.
Indian imports from China.
Australia and Canada.
Norway, Sweden and Denmark.
SOURCE: Cotton Trade Statistics, 1936, tables 131-140, 149-156.
C. — Cotton Piece Goods
Exports
Practically all exports of cotton piece goods are furnished by
the seventeen countries for which data are given in table 4. Judged
by these 1935 figures, two of these countries, Japan and the United
Kingdom, furnish about 70 per cent, of the total in volume and
about 64 per cent, in value. As between the United Kingdom and
Japan-, the latter leads in volume of exports (approximately 4 to 3
by weight and 5 to 4 by yardage in 1935), while the former leads
in value (approximately 7 to 5). France and Italy, together responsible for about 10 per cent, of exports in volume and about 12 per
cent, in value, are the second most important group. Of the
remaining major exporters, the United States, India, Belgium,
the U.S.S.R., Czechoslovakia, the Netherlands, Germany and
Switzerland, in that order, are substantial factors as measured by
1935 export values.
TABLE 4 .
EXPORTS OF COTTON PIECE GOODS, SELECTED
COUNTRIES,
1935
Volume
Country
Value
Million
Thousand
quintals (a) Percentage £ sterling
United Kingdom . . . .
Japan
France
Italy (1934)
United States
India (by sea)
„
(by land)
. . . .
Belgium
U.S.S.R
Czechoslovakia
. . . .
Netherlands
Germany
Switzerland
Spain
Austria
Portugal
China
Poland
1,762.6
2,410.8
346.7
241.9
186.6
68.1
114.8
169.7
191.7
64.5
103.4
95.7
24.7
34.5
10.3
25.1
28.5
3.7
29.9
41.0
5.9
4.1
3.2
Total above countries
5,883.3
100.0
3.1
2.9
3.3
1.1
1.8
1.6
0.4
0.6
0.2
0.4
0.5
0.1
39.5
29.1
8.3
4.4
4.1
1.5
2.5(i)
3.9
2.8
2.3
2.3
2.2
1.7
0.8
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.1
106.7
Percentage
37.0
27.3
7.8
4.1
3.8
3.8
3.6
2.6
2.1
2.1
2.1
1.6
0.8
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.1
100.0
(a) Conversions to thousand quintals as follows:
United Kingdom, 1,949.1 million square yards at actual ratio of 11.05S square yards
per kilogram (computed from Board of Trade Journal, 24 September 1936, p. 430).
Japan, 2,725.1 million square yards at a ratio estimated at 0.8 of the United Kingdom
figure, or 8.8464 square yards per kilogram.
United States, 186.6 million square yards at estimated rate of 10 square yards per kilogram.
India, 68.1 million linear yards by sea at estimated rate of 10 yards per kilogram.
(6) Value of Indian exports by land computed by assuming per unit value same as for
exports by sea.
SOURCE: Cotton Trade Statistics, 1936, tables 178, 179.
— 76 —
As will be brought out in the sequel, the various exporting
countries compete directly over a wide range of the world market.
It must nevertheless be stressed that there is a considerable range
within which such exports are at least partially non-competitive.
This is suggested by the distribution of exports among different
types of cloth, and is indicated strongly by comparative unit values
of exports, and by the general grouping of the markets served by
particular exporting countries.
TABLE 5 .
EXPORTS OF COTTON PIECE GOODS, BY KIND,
SELECTED COUNTRIES,
1935
(in percentage of total of all kinds)
Germany
Grey
. . .
Bleached .
Printed . .
Piece-dyed.
Yarn-dyed .
Unspecified.
All kinds
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
20.9
5.4
28.4 1
5.4 f
36.4
3.5
100.0
Belgium
France Italy(a)
74.7
1.9
12.9
12.6
5.8]
55.5}
10.2
28.9
J 12.8
18.9
1 31.2
4.4
5.9
11.0
0.1
100.0
100.0
13.3 J
100.0
Japan
United Switz- CzechoKing- erland slovadom
kia
34.7
18.8
16.0
29.3
r 22.6
46.5 { 26.5
[ 5.5
100.0
100.0
58.3
16.2
4.0
4.0
1.2
16.2
24.0
9.5
29.9
9.9
26.5
0.1
100.0
100.0
(a) 1934.
SOURCE: Cotton Trade Statistics, 1936, tables 180-198.
To contrast the United Kingdom and Japan, the two great
export competitors in world cloth markets, Japan's exports of
uncoloured cloth are seen in table 5 to be heavier in goods in the
grey, while those of the United Kingdom are biased toward bleached
fabrics. To select other groups of competitors, the distribution by
types of cloth is much the same for Germany and Czechoslovakia,
appreciably different for France and Italy, and divergent for
Belgium and Switzerland.
Similar differences are revealed by figures on the unit values of
countable cotton cloth exports.1 A few typical examples for 1934
are given in table 6.
1
" Countable cotton cloth " is a designation used in United States statistics,
and signifies all cotton cloth on which, if it were imported, the import duty
would be based on the average yarn count. The term is practically coterminous with the more inclusive term " cotton piece goods ".
— 77 —
TABLE 6 .
UNIT VALUE, EXPORTS OF COUNTABLE COTTON CLOTH,
SELECTED COUNTRIES, 1 9 3 4
(in United States dollars)
Country
Japan
United Kingdom
5
'"W"8
0.056
0.100
S per lb.
Germany
Austria
Belgium
France
Italy
Switzerland
Czechoslovakia
0.607
0.978
0.700
0.577
0.417
1.419
0.823
SOURCE. — UNITED STATES TARIFF COMMISSION: Colton Cloth, (Report No. 112, second
series), Washington, 1936, p. 141.
Even allowing for disequilibrium in exchange rates, these
variations in unit values are striking. It is seen t h a t on a square
yard basis, unit values of cotton goods exports from the United
Kingdom average almost double those of Japanese exports. 1 The
spread is so large, even allowing for the possibility of some equivalent goods being sold at divergent prices, as to suggest that
exports of the two countries are destined in some measure
for non-competing levels of income. As between France and
Italy, the unit values of French exports exceed those of Italian
goods in a ratio of over 5 to 4. Switzerland's exports attain t h e
highest unit values of any country; they are about 40 per cent.
above those of the nearest exporter, Austria. Their high value
indicates exports destined in a large measure for specialised markets.
Switzerland, Austria, and Czechoslovakia together might be
described as joint competitors in quality markets.
Similarly,
Belgium, Germany and France might be regarded, from the price
range point of view, as also constituting a somewhat homogeneous
competitive group.
Subsequently in this chapter, and still more fully in Chapters VI
and V I I I , the question of how particular import markets are
attached to particular countries exporting cotton fabrics will
be considered. For the time being, a few brief generalisations
will suffice. As between Japan and the United Kingdom, t h e
chief shipments are in each case towards the Far East and India,
1
In this respect, 1934 figures are not essentially different from those of
the two previous years. Compare Cotton Cloth Report, pp. 139-141.
— 78 —
Africa, and Latin America. Nevertheless, the Far Eastern and
Indian markets have been the destination for 50 per cent, or more
of Japan's but for only 30 per cent, of the United Kingdom's
shipments by yardage in recent years. 1 In contrast, Africa as a
whole takes from 15 to 20 per cent, of Japan's but about 25 per
cent, of British exports.2 Again, the Latin-American market
purchases close to 20 per cent, of the exports from the United
Kingdom, but accounts for only 10 per cent, of those from Japan.
Moreover, the various qualities of cotton cloth involved in exports
from the two countries are, in each case, distributed over somewhat
different markets.3
Of the other major exporting countries, each serves in large measure
a network of markets more or less peculiar unto itself. Thus Latin
America and the Philippine Islands dominate in the markets for
cotton cloths exported by the United States; the French colonies
comprise almost the totality of the consuming centres served by
France; Balkan, Near Eastern and Latin-American countries
dominate in the export markets of Italy; Central European and
Balkan countries in those of Czechoslovakia and, together with
the Near East, in those of Germany ; Central and Western European
countries in those of Switzerland; Ceylon in those of India, etc.*
As these markets of the different exporting countries interlace to a
considerable degree, all exporting countries meet in direct competition in many markets. Nevertheless the export market structures
peculiar to each case reflect, in part, the existence of areas from
which effective competition is more or less excluded, whether
owing to trade policies, specific consumer requirements, geographical
conditions, or tradition.5
Imports
As an imported commodity, cotton cloth enters two main
types of markets. First, there is what might be called the market
1
British India, however, takes one-fourth of cotton cloth exports from the
United Kingdom and only one-fifth of Japan's; while the Netherlands
Indies, in contrast, buy almost one-seventh of Japan's exports and a negligible
proportion of the United Kingdom's.
2
Egypt is an exception, consuming 6 per cent, of Japanese exports and
well under half that proportion of British cloth shipments.
3
For supporting data, see: Japanese Trade and Industry, p. 510; Board of
Trade Journal, 24 September 1936; Cotton Trade Statistics, 1936, tables 180,
184,
220; UNITED STATES TARIFF COMMISSION: Recent Developments in the
Foreign Trade of Japan (Report No. 105, second series), Washington, 1936.
pp. 65-66.
4
See Cotton Trade Statistics, 1936, tables 190-198.
5
See Chapter VIII.
— 79 —
of final consumption : here the buying is either directly by individuals for clothing and other purposes, or by finishing and making-up
enterprises and by industrial consumers for the manufacture of
clothing, furnishings, tyres, bags, belting, etc. Second, there is what
might be called the market of intermediate consumption: here the
buying is by textile finishing enterprises active in the improvement
trade for re-export purposes. In the present section, primary
emphasis will be laid on the final consumption market, although
in such countries as Belgium, the Netherlands and Switzerland
the improvement trade accounts for a very substantial share of
piece goods imports.1 Moreover, the present section emphasises
imports of cotton cloth destined for clothing and furnishings,
despite the recognised important industrial and agricultural uses
of cloth in all countries.
In an attempt to establish the approximate outlines of the
international cotton piece goods markets, table 7 below has been
compiled from the most recent data available. In presenting
table 7, its incompleteness, particularly as regards Colonial Africa
and Latin America, must be strongly emphasised, together with the
rough character of the conversions from units of yardage into units
of weight, and the implied assumption, in certain cases, that 1935
imports did not differ greatly from those of 1934. Despite these
reservations, the table is believed to present a picture which, with
proper adjustments as regards Colonial Africa and Latin America,
supports the conclusions given below.
Virtually all countries import more or less substantial quantities
of cotton tissues for final consumption as above defined. Nevertheless, several well-articulated areas of concentration appear when
the data on imports are considered. First, it becomes evident that
the Far Eastern and Indian markets outrank all others, absorbing
not far from a third, in volume and in value, of all the cotton cloth
moving in world trade. Second, the probability is indicated that
upon a full accounting the Colonial African and Latin-American
markets would rank next to the Far East. Third, the British
Dominions, regarded as a market unit, probably are responsible
for something like a tenth of the value of world cotton fabric
importSj and the Near Eastern market for approximately the
1
Thus in 1935 Switzerland's net imports of cotton piece goods for final
consumption amounted to 9.2 thousand quintals, while imports for the
improvement trade came to 28.3 thousand. Similarly, in 1934, over 85 per
cent, of the imports of cotton cloth in the grey into the Netherlands was
for bleaching, printing, and dyeing for re-export (Cotton Trade Statistics.
1936, tables 225, 226).
-
80 —
same percentage. Fourth, excluding the Balkan countries (about
3 per cent, of the value total), the remaining imports are taken
by the more highly industrialised countries, themselves major
manufacturers and exporters of such commodities.
Almost all of the cotton cloth moving toward the Far Eastern,
Indian, Colonial African, Latin-American, British Dominions, Near
Eastern and Balkan markets, is destined for final consumption in the
importing country. To a large extent this is also true of the imports
taken by the more highly industrialised countries. Nevertheless, a
considerable proportion of the latter imports represents the
improvement-re-export trade, particularly in Western and Central
Europe, while entrepôt trade reaches substantial dimensions in
such centres as Aden, Singapore, and Hong Kong.
TABLE
7.
I M P O R T S O F COTTON
FABRICS, MAJOR
MARKETS,
1934 OR 1935
(by volume and value, percentage of world exports)
Value
Volume
Market or country
Amount
Unit
Asiatic: Total
India
Netherlands East Indies
Philippine Islands . . ,
Siam
,
China
French Indo-China . . .
British Malaya
Ceylon
1,958
1,033
600
135
X
L
L
S
74
60
•56
L
L
Colonial Africa : Total . .
Algeria
Nigeria
Northern Rhodesia. . . .
Other Africa
786
117
115
5
549
Q
S
L
X
Latin America: Total . .
Argentina
Cuba
Colombia
Haiti
Other countries . . . ,
612
295
95
84
8
130
British Dominions : Total .
Australia
Union of South Africa
Canada
New Zealand
Southern Rhodesia . . .
421
163
186
72
Percent£
Percentage (X) millions
age
30.7
30.28
13.64
7.73
2.01
1.81
1.57
1.39
1.08
1.05
28.4
12.3
5.83
3.21
2.50
0.12
5.6
X
Q
Q
Q
S
X
9.6
13.19
7.22
1.73
1.65
0.48
2.11
12.4
X
L
L
Q
6.6
11.46
4.26
3.70
1.52
1.70
0.28
10.7
X
81 —
TABLE 7 .
IMPORTS O F
COTTON
F A B R I C S , MAJOR
MARKETS,
1934 OR 1935 (continued)
(by volume and value, percentage of world exports)
Volume
Market or country
Amount
Near East : Total
Egypt
Turkey
Iran
Other
Larger industrial
Smaller
industrial
Scandinavian
countries
. .
countries
and Baltic . . .
Total, above figures . .
E x p o r t s , 17 countries
. . . .
Unit
Value
Percentage (X)
£
Percentmillions
age
708
231
132
98
247
X
S
Q
Q
X
11.1
9.78
3.75
2.21
1.74
2.08
9.2
155
X
2.4
5.19
4.9
98
Q
1.5
3.47
3.3
122
Q
1.9
3.18
3.0
106
Q
1.7
3.16
3.0
4,966
X
77.8
85.5
80.1
6,384
X
100.0
106.7
100.0
iVoie. — Most d a t a relate to 1935; for Frenen Indo-China and Turkey, to 1933. Available
values computed at average sterling r a t e for year in question, as quoted in Statistical YearBoohs of the League of Nations.
Available volume figures in million linear (L) or square
(S) y a r d s taken equal to thousands of quintals (Q) for totals ; totals involving such
calculation are marked X. For export total figures and sources, see table 4; volume
total, however, computed here as for imports (one million yards, linear or square, equal
to one thousand quintals).
Other Africa: French West Africa, Belgian Congo, Gold Coast, Gambia, K e n y a and
Uganda, Morocco, Nyasaland, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanganyika, Zanzibar,
Other Latin America: Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Guatemala,
Honduras, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Panama, Salvador, Venezuela. E x c e p t for Brazil, imports
from J a p a n and United States only.
Other Near East: 'Iraq, Palestine, Aden.
Larger industrial: Germany, United States, France, I t a l y , United Kingdom.
Smaller industrial: Austria, Belgium, Netherlands, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Switzerland.
Scandinavian
and Baltic: Finland, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden.
Balkan: Bulgaria, Greece, Rumania, Yugoslavia.
SOURCES: Cotton Trade Statistics, 1936, tables 212-250; LEAGUE OF NATIONS,
International
Trade Statistics, 1935, passim; U . S . T A R I F F COMMISSION: Cotton Cloth Report, 1936,
pp. 77, 140-141; I D E M : Recent Developments in the Foreign Trade of Japan, 1936, pp. 63-66.
The divergences shown in table 7 between percentages in volume
and percentages in value are suggestive, even with necessary
reservations owing to incompleteness. They suggest, above all,
that the Asiatic markets consume the cheaper qualities of cotton
cloth, while the British Dominions and industrial countries
take cloth of the more expensive qualities. These deduction
6
— 82 —
are confirmed by the typical 1934 unit value figures given in
table 8.
TABLE 8 .
UNIT VALUES, IMPORTS OF COUNTABLE COTTON CLOTH,
SELECTED
COUNTRIES, 1 9 3 4
(in United States dollars per volume unit)
Country
France
Germany
Yugoslavia
Sweden
Czechoslovakia
Canada
Argentina
Cuba
Nigeria
Philippine Islands
India
. . . .
Unit value
$
2.617 per kilogram
1.806 „
))
1.276 „
1.206 „
1.129 „
1.098 „
1.093 „
0.871 „
1.090 p e r 10 sq. y d s .
0.820 „
0.690 p e r 10 linear yds
SOURCE: Computed from Cotton Cloth Report, 1936, p. 141; LEAGUE OF NATIONS, International Trade Statistics, 1935. For purposes of approximate comparison, 10 yards
(linear or square) may be taken equal to one kilogram.
For a variety of reasons—economic, commercial, and political—
each important country takes its cotton cloth from a somewhat
different group of suppliers. India, Egypt, and China, for example,
obtain virtually all their imports from Japan and the United
Kingdom; in the Netherlands East Indies, Japanese goods are
overwhelmingly predominant, followed by imports from the
Netherlands ; in Argentina, the main supplier is the United Kingdom
whose only substantial rivals are Japan and Italy; in the Philippine
Islands, the United States shares the market with Japan; in Turkey
and in Yugoslavia, the major furnishers of cotton cloth are Japan,
the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, and Czechoslovakia;
in French West Africa, the mother country controls" the market;
the bulk of the exports to Nigeria are supplied by the United
Kingdom; Switzerland purchases a substantial majority of its net
imports from the United Kingdom, and of its imports for improvement and re-export, from Germany. Some typical import market
patterns are presented in table 9.
The heart of the problem of international competition in cotton
textiles is revealed in table 9. All major cotton manufacturing
countries have some appreciable stake in almost all importing
markets. To this extent, all the cotton manufacturing countries
meet in world competition.
TABLE 9. —
IMPORTS OF COTTON PIECE GOODS, BY ORIGIN, SE
(by volume)
Imports fro
Imports into
French W e s t Africa (thousand quintals) (b)
Argentina (thousand quintals) (c)
. . . .
Australia (million linear yards) (d)
. . .
Colombia (thousand quintals) (c)
. . . .
E g y p t (million square yards)
United S t a t e s (million square yards) . . .
India (million linear yards)
J a v a and Madura (million linear yards)
Nigeria (million square yards)
Philippine Islands (million square yards) .
United Kingdom (million square yards)
Sweden (thousand quintals)
Switzerland (thousand quintals)
net imports
imports for i m p r o v e m e n t
T u r k e y (thousand quintals)
Yugoslavia (thousand quintals)
Germany
0.4
0.9
(a)
(a)
(a)
0.5
(a)
(a)
2.9
United
States France Italy
Japan
Netherlands
1.7
1.8
(a)
1.0
1.9
15.8
(a)
(a)
6.0
0.1
(a)
42.2
0.3
0.1
52.4
1.0
(a)
(a)
(a)
0.3
(a)
(a)
(a)
(a)
0.6
0.4
(a)
62.3
(a)
(a)
19.0
0.9
1.3
0.7
2.1
0.1
(a)
0.6
10.5
49.9
52.5
20.5
169.9
36.5
525.8
308.5
2.2
86.6
10.3
5.3
2.2
2.0
(a)
(a)
(a)
1.0
1.6
50.3
2.4
(a)
4.2
1.1
18.2
13.4
(a)
(a)
(a)
(a)
(a)
1.0
2.5
0.3
(a)
0.3
(a)
28.1
7.7
(a)
(a)
25.1
3.3
(a)
(a)
0.4
1,131
(a)
(«)
(by value)
China (thousand £ sterling)
(a)
(b)
(c)
(ti)
(a)
(a)
(a)
Included In " oilier countries ", or nil.
Including 10.0 million yards taken as 10.G thousand quintals.
1934.
Fiscal year 1034-1935.
(a)
SOURCES: Cotton T
COMMISSION: C
table, millions
equivalent to t
— 84 —
IL
WOOLLEN TEXTILES
As in the case of cotton, so also in that of wool, the world market
structure will be described separately for raw materials, semimanufactures, and finished goods.
A. — Raw Wool
As indicated in Chapter III, the only wool-manufacturing
countries of consequence which approach self-sufficiency in the
raw material are Spain, the United States, and the U.S.S.R.
As for the wool-manufacturing world as a whole, it is almost
entirely dependent on imports supplied by five countries : Australia,
Argentina, Union of South Africa, New Zealand, and Uruguay in
that order of importance. In fact, of the total world clip of 1935,
almost 60 per cent, entered the channels of international trade; of
this quantity, over 85 per cent, was supplied by the five countries
specified.1 The relevant data are summarised in table 10.
TABLE
10.
TRADE
IN RAW WOOL,
SELECTED
(in million lbs., greasy
COUNTRIES,
Total imports
(actual weight)
Exports from
Exports to
Union
New
of
South Zealand
Africa
Australia
Argentina
. .
1,005
341
268
249
121
United Kingdom
France
Germany . . . .
Japan
Belgium
. . . .
United States . .
314
108
37
236
156
12
12
130
87
54
46
1
20
65
40
28
57
66
83
5
24
2
13
18
173
12
3
8
18
10
27
12
21
1
11
12
23
14
All countries
Italy
Other countries .
1935
basis)
25
Uruguay-
Gross
Net
2,092(a)
864
386
273
244
235
200
110
581
338
270
244
118
193(5)
109
239
(a) World export total (30 countries) excluding re-exports.
(Í)) Computed by assuming ratio to gross figures same as in 1934.
SOURCE: Industria! Fibres, 193fi, pp. 35, 38, 41.
1
For supporting data, see Industrial
Fibres, 1936, p. 32 and p. 35. The
percentages given are based on a conversion ratio of 1.046 greasy to 1.0 a c t u a l
weight; t h e y also compare 1935 exports w i t h t h e average of 1934-1935 and
1935-1936 clip year production figures.
— 85 —
It is seen in table 10 that the seven countries specified as importers
of raw wool in 1935 were responsible for close to 90 per cent, of
all wool imports by all countries. It follows t h a t the raw wool
trading relations between the five great exporters and these seven
importers constitute almost the entire system of international
buying and selling of raw wool. The somewhat divergent patterns
of particular outlets attaching to individual exporters, and of
particular suppliers to individual importers, are to be explained,
as in the case of cotton, largely by trade policies, geographical
factors, and specific consumer requirements.
B. — Wool Tops and Yarns
World trade in wool tops is extremely specialised and limited,
for,
The combing industry demands large-scale operation and a high
degree of organisation, and the industry is, therefore, concentrated in
the more important wool textile countries. Of the chief producing
countries, Japan, Italy and the United States retain the whole of their
output. The United Kingdom, France. Germany and the United State
are the chief producers.1
Some thirteen wool manufacturing countries constitute almost
the entire wool top trading system of the world. All of them, with
the exception of Canada (an importer on balance) and Australia
(a net exporter) are Western or Central European ; more than half
of them export to a greater or lesser degree (France and the United
Kingdom, approximately equal exporters, providing the bulk); all
of them except Australia import in substantial quantities (Germany,
Czechoslovakia and Belgium taking well over half of total imports) ;
three countries ordinarily show net exports, seven usually have a
surplus of imports, while in three the balance is very small. Relevant
figures for 1934 and 1935 are shown in table 11.
World trade in wool yarns covers a wider range of countries than
does world trade in wool tops, for the production of wool yarn is more
widespread than t h a t of wool tops, and woollen manufacturing likewise more widespread than worsted manufacturing. Although twelve
countries ordinarily export substantial quantities of wool yarn,
more than a third of the to^al is supplied by the United Kingdom,
about one-fourth by France, and the largest shares of the remainder
by Czechoslovakia, Germany and Belgium. Japan is the only
1
World Consumption of Wool, 1928-1935, p. 18.
— 86 —
country outside of Central and Western Europe which exports
wool yarn in any quantity. The importing market is, in contrast,
extremely diversified. It includes some thirty countries, among
which are found all twelve of the substantial exporters. The great
bulk of wool yarn imports is taken by Western and Central European
countries, of which Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium are
the most important. Substantial proportions go also to the BalkanNear Eastern markets, to Scandinavia, to the Far East, to the
Baltic countries, and to Latin America, in roughly that order of
importance. Table 12 shows recent data in point.
TABLE 1 1 .
TRADE IN WOOL TOPS, MAJOR TRADING COUNTRIES,
1934 AND 1935
(in million lbs.)
Trading
Imports — Exports =balance
1934
1934
1934
Country
Ordinarily net exporters :
France
United Kingdom
. . . .
Australia
Trading
balance
1935
0.8
0.8
46.5
41.7
2.9
— 45.7
— 40.9
— 2.9
— 45.4
— 54.9
Ordinarily small balances:
Italy
Switzerland
Belgium
1.0
4.5
13.0
0.9
3.7
12.2
+
+
+
+
+
0.9
0.7
Ordinarily net importers :
Netherlands
Austria
Poland
Sweden
Canada
Czechoslovakia
Germany
2.2
4.9
5.6
6.1
8.9
19.2
23.9
+
+
+
2.7
1.8
5.4
SOUBCE: World Consumption
2.7
0.1
0.1
4.5
0.1
0.8
0.8
+ 2.2
+ 2.2
+ 5.5
+ 6.1
+ 8.9
+ 19.1
+ 19.4
+ 12.1
+ 18.2
+ 29.8
of Wool, 1928-1935, p p . 20, 299.
C. — Woollen and Worsted Tissues
Except for Japan, a large supplier, and the United States, an
insignificant one, all of the sixteen manufacturing countries which
export woollen and worsted tissues in quantity are to be found in
Central and Western Europe. Ordinarily, the United Kingdom is
responsible for about half of all these exports; Italy, Germany,
France, Poland, Japan, and Czechoslovakia—in that approximate
order—are also prominent factors. From Western and Central
— 87 —
Europe, and to a much smaller extent from Japan, woollen and
worsted exports stream toward all parts of the world in what is
probably the most diversified and evenly distributed of all textile
markets. The significant importing countries number over 40;
so far as the incomplete data permit them usefully to be arranged
in groups, Western and Central Europe is by far the largest market,
with the Far East and the British Dominions approximately equal in
second place. Other significant markets are found in Latin America.
¿he Balkans and Near Eastern Countries; the United States by itself
is not an inconsequential importer of the more expensive varieties.1
TABLE 12.
EXPORT AND IMPORT BALANCES, WOOL YARN, MAJOR
TRADING COUNTRIES, 1934
(in million lbs.)
Imports
Total, significant trading countries
112.5
121.2
Major net exporters:
United Kingdom
France
Czechoslovakia
Japan
Italy
0.7
1.6
1.6
0.9
0.3
42.9
30.4
12.3
5.9
2.6
— 42.2
— 28.8
— 10.7
— 5.0
— 2.3
Relatively small balance:
Belgium
Austria
8.4
5.4
8.7
3.3
— 0.3
+ 2.1
Major net importers:
Argentina
Brazil
Switzerland .
Turkey
India
Canada
Greece
Baltic countries
Sweden
China
Rumania
Germany
Netherlands
1.6
2.0
4.2
2.7
2.9
3.3
3.3
4.0
6.8
7.1
7.3
17.3
14.4
• Exports
= Trading
balance
Country
—
1.9
—
—
—
—
—
0.2
—
—
9.6
1.0
+ 1.6
+ 2.0
+ 2.3
+ 2.7
+ 2.9
+ 3.3
+ 3.3
+ 4.0
+ 6.6
+ 7.1
+ 7.3
+ 7.7
+ 13.4
SOURCE: World Consumption of Wool, 1928-1935, pp. 301-302.
1
Such recent data as are available on the entire international trading
market in wool tissues are presented in Volume II. The principal weakness
of these data is that, except for Canada, imports into the British Dominions
— 88
-
Figures relating to the exports and imports of wool tissues
in 1935 are presented in table 13.
TABLE 13.
EXPORTS AND IMPORTS OF WOOL TISSUES, MAJOR
TRADING COUNTRIES, 1935
(by volume)
Exports
In million lbs.
United Kingdom
Italy
Germany
France
Poland
Czechoslovakia
Belgium
Sweden
Netherlands
Switzerland
Imports
61.3
15.0
8.9
5.7
4.5
4.5
1.4
0.8
0.6
0.6
In million square yards
Japan
21.3
In million lbs.
Canada
Netherlands
Argentina (1934)
Denmark
China
Switzerland
United States (1934) . . .
United Kingdom (1934). .
Germany
Belgium
8.3
6.7
5.4
5.3
3.6
2.8
2.5
2.0
1.9
1.3
In millions of yards
India (linear)
Irish Free State (square) .
Japan (square)
8.4
7.2
4.1
SOURCE: World Consumption of Wool, 1928-1936, pp. 26-27.
As in the case of cotton, so also in that of wool, the network of
trading relationships differs somewhat for each important exporting
and importing country. Thus to judge from the 1934 figures,
Canada, the most significant importer, is furnished almost exclusively by the United Kingdom, the leading exporter; at the same
time the British Dominions taken together bulk largest in shipments from the United Kingdom. The United States, a final
consumption market, is supplied almost entirely by the United
Kingdom and France; Belgium and the Netherlands, in contrast,
both in part intermediate consumption markets, receive their
woollen cloth imports from the United Kingdom, France, Germany,
and Czechoslovakia. In India, furnished by almost all major
exporters, Japan and the United Kingdom are the most important ;
while Ceylon and India together take close to half of all exports
from Italy. The United Kingdom and Japan would appear to
predominate in China; Germany, France and Italy are important
are not recorded by weight. Nevertheless, examination of comparative
values, as well as of the volume of exports from the chief exporting countries,
supports the high rank assigned to the Dominions in the present discussion.
— 89 —
suppliers to the United Kingdom. These and other typical trade
patterns for woollen and worsted tissues are presented in table 14.
TABLE 1 4 .
WORLD TRADE, WOOLLEN AND WORSTED TISSUES,
SELECTED COUNTRIES,
1934
(in million lbs.)
Exports from
Exports to
Germany . . .
.Argentina. . .
Australia . . .
Belgium . . .
Canada . . . .
China
. . . .
Denmark . . .
Egypt
. . . .
United S t a t e s .
India
. . . .
K w a n t u n g , L.T.
Manchuria . .
New Zealand .
Netherlands. .
United Kingdom
Sweden. . . .
Turkey . . . .
Union of Soutl i
Africa . . .
Other countries
Germany
(a)
(a)
0.5
(a)
(a)
1.0
(a)
(a)
0.3
(a)
(a)
(a)
2.1
1.0
0.6
{a)
France
0.5
0.9
(a)
0.8
0.1
0.1
(a)
0.3
0.3
0.2
(a)
(a)
(a)
(a)
0.5
(a)
Italy
(a)
0.8
(a)
(a)
(a)
0.7
(a)
0.7
(a)
8.4(d)
Total
United Czechoimports
King- slova- Japan (6)
dom
kia
1.2
3.6
0.9
1.6
7.2
1.9
3.6
2.1
2.1
2.4
(a)
(a)
2.4
2.4
0.3
(a)
(a)
ta)
(0.2)
(0.1)
(0.1)
ta)
(a)
(3.0)
(a)
(2.8)
(a)
(8.4) (d)
(8.3)
(1.6)
(a)
(a)
(0.1)
(0.1)
(a)
2.5
5.4
3.0
8.1
4.7
5.7
2.1(c)
2.5
. («)
0.6
(a)
»
(a)
(a)
(a)
(a)
0.2
(a)
(a)
(a)
(a)
(a)
(a)
0.4
(a)
0.2
0.2
(a)
4.4
(a)
5.1
1.4
5.7
5.2
21.1
(a)
3.0
(0.4)
(4.7)
2l'3(/)
All countries. .
9.9
8.8
18.3
57.7
4.3
(29.8)
71- 0(f)
I m p o r t s into India
(million linear
yards)
. . . .
0.5
0.5
1.0
4.1
(a)
• (a)
(a)
(a)
6.8
(«)
3.3
7.0
2.0
2.3
1.1
13.4
(a) Included in " other countries " or nil.
(b) Value figures, in million yen.
(c) Plus 2.2 million linear yards.
(d) Exports to India and Ceylon ; compare Indian import data below. Japanese exports
to Ceylon alone, 0.2 million yen.
(e) 13.4 million linear yards.
(/) Including only imports recorded by weight.
SOUBCE: World Consumption of Wool, 192S-1935, pp. 4C, 75, 91, 114, 124-125, 236, 303-304.
More complete trade figures than those now available would be
required to describe fully, for worsted and woollen tissues, the
international set-up of importing markets and the inter-relations
of buyers with sellers. Even in their incomplete state, however,
the data suggest the existence of several distinct channels of commerce. First and most important are the channels through which
-
90 —
pass the fabrics shipped back and forth among the highly industrialised European countries. Second, comes the movement in
woollen goods exported from such manufacturing countries as
France, Italy and the United Kingdom to such agricultural countries as Argentina, Canada, and the Union of South Africa. Third,
is the trade in woollen tissues destined for the growing markets
of China and India and shipped by such centres of industrial
activity as Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom. All things
considered, it would appear that the pattern of world trade in
woollens and worsteds is shaped in part by the fact that it serves
consumers at higher levels of income than does the world trade in
cotton tissues. In part it is determined by climatic factors: just
as climatic conditions direct trade in cotton cloth toward tropical
and semi-tropical regions in the main (India, the Netherlands
East Indies, the Philippine Islands, Egypt, Colonial Africa, etc.),
they place the most important wool and worsted goods markets
in countries of cooler climate (Canada, Denmark, Manchuria, the
Union of South Africa, Sweden, etc.).
III. — SILK
World trade in silk cocoons is negligible, largely because cocoons
are technically difficult to transport and involve such a large
proportion of waste that transportation costs are excessive.1 Policies
of self-sufficiency with regard to agricultural raw materials also
play a part in this connection, while particularly in Japan sericulture
is regarded as of more than usual importance in the agricultural
economy.2 In any event the countries manufacturing raw silk all
aim, some with more success than others, at providing domestically
their own raw materials. In the small world trade in cocoons,3
China, Korea, and to a less extent Iran are the only regular exporters
in appreciable quantity; the bulk of such shipments from China
and Korea go to Japan, where they are reeled into raw silk, chiefly
for the export trade. 4
1
Thus from 1928 to 1934 inclusive, world production of silk cocoons
averaged 993 million lbs. yearly, that of raw silk 128 million lbs., a ratio of
about 8 to 1 (Industrial Fibres, 1936, pp. 46-47).
2
In 1934 nearly 37 per cent, of all agrarian households in Japan were
reported as engaged in the production of silk cocoons (Ibid., p. 45).
3
World production of 883.3 million lbs. in 1934 — a typical year — may
be compared with exports amounting in the same year to 6.01 million lbs.
(Ibid.,
pp. 46, 49).
4
Ibid., p. 53.
— 91 —
Raw silk—the basic semi-manufacture of the silk textile
industry—and silk waste (also an important semi-manufacture),
enter into world trade on a large scale. Although the international
structure of raw silk trading is extensive, it is also relatively simple.
As shown in Chapter IV, about three-quarters of the world trade
shipments of raw silk come from Japan, most of the remainder from
China and Manchuria.1
As also shown in Chapter IV, from 70 to 75 per cent, of all raw
silk exports are taken by the United States; France, Japan, the
TABLE 1 5 .
WORLD TRADE IN RAW SILK, MAJOR TRADING
COUNTRIES, 1935
(in million lbs.)
Exports from
Exports to
Japan
United States . .
France
United Kingdom
India
Australia . . . .
Switzerland . . .
Germany . . . .
Japan
China
Others
61.71
4.60
3.76
1.80
0.67
0.05
Total . . .
—
—•
—
ManchuChina (a) ria (6)
3.20
3.19
0.34
1.37
—
—
—.
0.26
—
—
—
—
—
—
4.92
2.55
0.47
0.58
—
1.81
—
—
—
73.17
10.17
3.02
Percentage
United States
France . . .
Japan . . .
—
—
—
—
—
—
Korea
84
6
Italy (c)
0.20
0.42
0.20
—
—
0.43
1.15
—
• —.
Total
retained
imports
67.67
8.28
4.03
3.06
0.59
2.44
5.16
• 0.89
4.39(d)
4.92
3.29
95.62 Ic)
_
—
6
15
71
9
5
distribution
31
31
3
—
84
100
(a) Includes some wild silk.
(b) Chiefly wild silk.
(c) 1 January to 30 September 1935.
(d) Includes Austria, Canada, Italy.
(e) Above countries only.
SOURCE: Industrial Fibres, 1936, pp. 52 and 56.
1
In 1934 Japan exported 66.93 million, China 7.27 million and Manchuria
3.28 million lbs. of world exports totalling 85.35 million lbs. In 1935 these
three producers shipped 73.17, 10.17 and 3.03 million lbs. respectively of a
world export total of 99.06 million lbs. Italy and Korea are also important
exporters; small quantities are likewise shipped by Syria and Lebanon, India,
the U.S.S.R., Iran, Yugoslavia and Cyprus (Ibid., p. 48).
— 92 —
United Kingdom, India, Canada and Germany, in approximately that
order, are the major constituent elements in the remainder of the
market. 1 Table 15 pictures the existing network of world trade.
Jt is seen again from table 15 that world trade in raw silk consists
almost entirely in a flow from reeling establishments in Japan to
throwing and weaving mills in the United States. A secondary
stream involves Japan and China as sellers, and France, the United
Kingdom and India as buyers. The minor currents bring together
Japan as an importer from Korea, Manchuria and China; Italy as
an exporter to Germany, France and Switzerland.
TABLE
16.
—
WORLD
TRADE
IN
SILK WASTES,
MAJOR
TRADING
COUNTRIES, 1935
(in million lbs.)
Exports from
Exports to
China
Italy (a)
Japan
Italy
United States . .
France
United Kingdom
Germany . . . .
Others
3.71
2.31
2.23
2.23
1.44
0.79
0.35
0.87
0.66
0.91
0.95
Total . . .
12.71
3.74
—
• —
Japan
India (6)
0.41
0.15
0.24
0.04
0.39
Total
retained
imports (c)
—
0.17
0.09
0.01
0.85
—
10.83 (a)
4.69
4.63
1.89
0.70
1.44 (d)
1.69
0.66
24.18 (e)
—
Percentage distribution
Italy . . . .
United States
France . . .
18
18
18
9
23
24
9
14
59
—
26
(a) 1934.
(6) Fiscal year ending 31 March 1935.
(c) Includes small amounts of cocoons.
(d) Switzerland only.
(e) Above countries only.
SOURCES: Industrial Fibres, 1936, pp. 53, 5 / ; and Statistique Mensuelle du Commerce
Extérieur de la France, Dec. 1935, p. 62.
International trade in silk wastes is dominated on the export side
by China, which usually furnishes 50 per cent, or more of the total ;
1
The percentage given for the United States represents the average for
the period 1928-1935 inclusive. In addition to the six other significant
importers given in the text, Italy, Switzerland and Austria also import small
amounts (Ibid., p. 56).
— 93 —
Manchuria, shipping almost half of China's volume, and Italy
supplying about a third, are next in importance. 1 On the import
side, similarly, Italy is predominant, ordinarily taking a good third
of all retained imports; France and the United States follow well
behind Italy. 2 Table 16 summarises the pattern of this commerce.
No convenient, international summaries, on the basis of which
world trade in silk tissues might be fully described, appear to be
available. It is known, however, that Italy, France, Switzerland,
and Japan are all important factors on the export side of world
trade. Analysis of trade data for these countries will therefore
throw some light on the problem; such data are summarised in
table 17 below.
From the fragmentary data assembled in table 17, it would
appear that the United Kingdom is the principal final consumption
market for the silk tissues exported by France, Italy, Japan, and
Switzerland taken together, although the exact importance of that
country as a final consumer would be hard to define. The United
States and India apparently follow the United Kingdom; in each
of these countries almost all of the imports are probably for final
consumption. Argentina, Australia, and the Union of South Africa
are other important consumption markets. As regards Germany,
Belgium, the Netherlands, and Switzerland, the considerable
exports of silk tissues to these countries probably represent in large
measure the passage of products destined for improvement and
re-export; the export data for Switzerland are suggestive on this
point. It would be hazardous, in view of the incompleteness and
incomparability of the figures given in the table, to attempt to
assign definite ranking to the export countries; in fact other countries, such as the United Kingdom, Germany, the United States, and
China are all known to export silk tissues in appreciable quantity.
It is nevertheless clear that international markets for silk fabrics
are largely dominated by France and Japan.
IV. — RAYON YARN AND MANUFACTURES
Rayon yarn, as shown in Chapter IV, is produced in some
twenty countries; most of the production, however, is retained
1
Other substantial exporters of silk wastes are Japan and India; minute
proportions are also supplied by Iran, Syria and Lebanon, Yugoslavia and
Cyprus (Ibid., p. 50)."
2
Other substantial importers of silk wastes are Germany, the United
Kingdom and Switzerland (Ibid., p. 57).
— 94 —
lor domestic use, less than one-fifth of the output finding its way
into world trade. 1 Among the thirteen countries, more or less,
which export in quantity, Italy is by far the most important,
TABLE
17.
WORLD
TRADE
IN SILK T I S S U E S ,
SELECTED
COUNTRIES, 1 9 3 5
(in millions of French francs)
Exports from
Switzerland
Exports to
France (b)
Germany
Argentina
Australia
Austria
Belgium
Egypt
United States . . .
France
F r e n c h colonies . .
India
N e t h e r l a n d s Indies .
Italy
Netherlands . . . .
United Kingdom . .
Sweden
Switzerland . . . .
Union of S o u t h Africa
O t h e r countries . .
All countries
.
3.7
20.5
10.9
6.0
36.7
9.6
57.7
Italy (c)
1.0
1.3
(a)
0.7
0.7
2.0
3.4
4.9
(a)
0.1
1.0
65.5
1.8
1.6
17.4
30.5
168.3
4.1
22.6
4.2
41.9
(a)
11.0
(a)
4.1
(a)
(a)
503.0
30.2 (e)
Japan
3.9
5.6
28.8
(a)
(a)
11.2
29.2
7.3
(a)
77.8
6.0
(a)
7.3(a)
52.0
(a)
(a)
17.2
86.5
332.8
Total
Improvement
trade
• 57.5
1.5
1.5
2.5
(a)
(a)
2.5
6.0
(a)
(a)
(a)
9.0
(a)
27.5
3.0
54.5
(a)
(a)
0.5
(a)
(a)
(a)
2.0
(a)
(a)
(a)
9.0
(a)
3.0
0.5
(a)
20.0
(a)
6.5
131.0
76.0
(a) Not listed separately; nil or (except for Italian exports) included in " other
countries ".
(b) " Tissus de soie, de bourre de soie e t de rayonne." The proportion of rayon tissues
by weight is very large. T h e value figures, however, probably reflect silk more than
they do rayon; detailed examination of French trade statistics indicates t h a t t h e United
Kingdom, t h e United States, and Argentina are t h e principal markets of final consumption
for pure silk tissues, while t h e fabrics going to t h e colonies are almost entirely rayon or
mixtures.
(c) 1 J a n u a r y t o 30 September, 1935; "tissues and other manufactures of s i l k " ,
excluding yarns.
(d) Including rayon tissues.
(e) Above countries only.
SOURCES: Sfaiistigue Mensuelle du Commerce Extérieur de la France, December 1935,
pp. 49, 404-519; Statistica dì Importazione e di Esportazione, 1 January-30 September
1935,
Rome,
1935, p p . 264-347; MITSUBISHI ECONOMIC R E S E A R C H B U R E A U :
Japanese
Trade and Industry, 1936, p p . 509, 542-614; Statistique du Commerce Suisse,
Rapport
Annuel 1935, P a r t I, p . 64. Conversion into French francs a t average rates for year
in question, as given in Statistical Year-Boohs of the League of Nations.
1
Industrial
Fibres,
1936, p. 94.
— 95 —
accounting for from one-fourth to one-third of the total. Japan,
the Netherlands, and France are also substantial exporters; together
they ship an additional 40 per cent, of all exports. The United
Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, and Switzerland are likewise
substantial exporters. 1
On the importing side, almost all textile manufacturing countries
figure more or less promine.ntly :
Rayon yarn is imported by a number of countries which possess no
rayon spinning equipment of their own, but which do possess looms or
hosiery machinery. British India and China are the most important
of these. . . . On the other hand many of the countries which produce
large amounts of rayon are also importers. Germany was until 1935
the largest world importer, and despite heavy
exports, continues to
show a considerable import balance in rayon.2
TABLE 1 8 .
WORLD TRADE IN RAYON YARN, PRINCIPAL
TRADING
COUNTRIES, 1 9 3 5
(in millions lbs.)
E x p o r t s from
E x p o r t s to
Italy(a)
Japan
10.1
0.1
(e)
3.2
1.5
(«)
(«)
(«)
.
5.7
0.9
4.8
3.4
1.0
1.6
2.4
1.0
2.9
1.3
1.3
1.0
1.6
19.0
. . . .
47.9
' India
Germany . . . . .
" Hungary
China
Australia
Argentina
. . .
Spain
Czechoslovakia .
Switzerland . . .
Mexico
United Kingdom
Belgium
Austria
Other countries .
Total
.
.
.
.
.
GermNetherlands^) France any(c)
13.1
1.5
6.6
0.1
1.8
0.8
0.7
1.7
0.8
0.7
0.3
(d)
1.0
0.9
5.3
(d)
1.7
(e)
(d)
(e)
2.6
0.9
(e)
2.8
0.3
1.7
(dì
(e)
5.2
30.4
22.2
15.2
2.4
M
(e)
M
2.6
(d)
(d)
0.3
0.8
1.3
0.6
0.1
(e)
0.1 •
0.6
6.1
12.5
United
Kingdom
0.4
0.1
(d)
(dì
2.6
0.5
0.2
. 0.1
0.1
0.2
Total (/)
imports
(dì
Id)
5.6
15.9
13.2
5.2
8.5
6.3
7.6
9.4
9.0
4.1
8.3
2.4
2.6
3.3
47.0
9.8
142.8(g)
(a) 1934. Total exports for 1935 estimated at 46.9 million lbs.
(6) 1931. Total exports for 1935 were 21.0 million lbs.
(c) Includes improvement trade (2.9 million lbs.).
(d) Less than 50,000 lbs.
(e) Included in " other countries " or nil.
(/) Partly excluding improvement trade.
(g) 37 countries.
SOOHCE: Industrial Fibres, 1936, pp. 100, 101.
1
Austria, the United S t a t e s , Czechoslovakia, Poland, and H u n g a r y also
export rayon yarn in q u a n t i t y (Ibid., p . 98).
2
Ibid., p. 100.
— 96 —
Exports of the semi-manufacture thus pass in large quantities,
for the most part from more highly to less highly industrialised
countries, and for the rest between and among countries of equal
degree of industrialisation. In short, world trade m rayon yarn is as
widespread, as diversified and as complex as the whole range of
textile manufacturing.1 This is shown in table 18.
Incomplete data on world trade in pure rayon piece goods and in
rayon mixtures strongly indicate that Japan is overwhelmingly
predominant as an exporter. Although France, Italy, Germany and
the United Kingdom, among others, are also substantial exporters,
it would appear that Japan's shipments are not far from double
the combined exports of these four and the four other countries for
which statistics have been assembled. The available data are
presented in table 19.
TABLE 1 9 .
EXPORTS OF RAYON PIECE GOODS AND RAYON MIXTURF.
PIECE GOODS, SELECTED COUNTRIES, 1 9 3 5
Country
Rayon piece
goods
Rayon mixture
piece goods
Thousand
Japan
United Kingdom
United S t a t e s
424,193 (a)
14,945
6,049
square
36,750
1,547
Total
yards
424,193
51,695
7,596
Quintals
I t a l y (1934) .
France
Germany
Czechoslovakia
Switzerland
:
Netherlands .
.
.
.
.
24,129
29,391 (a)
19,112
5,620
1,999
620
22,265
6,168
323
460
46,394
29,391
25,280
5,620 (b)
2,322
1,080
(a) Includes a small quantity of rayon mixture piece goods.
(b) Plus an unknown quantity of rayon mixture piece goods.
SOUBCE: Cotton Trade Statistics, 1936, tables 210, 211.
For all practical purposes, to delineate world import markets for
rayon and rayon mixtures it will suffice to set forth briefly the
distribution of exports from Japan, the United Kingdom and Italy.
In 1935 almost half of Japanese shipments went to Asiatic countries,
Complete t r a d e d a t a for recent years are given in Volume I I .
— 97 —
of which India, the Netherlands Indies, and China were the
chief consumers. The second most important market was Australia,
followed by Latin America, Colonial Africa, Egypt, and the Union of
South Africa in that order.1 In the export outlets of the United
Kingdom, in 1934, the British Dominions were by far the most
important, taking half of the total. Other significant destinations
were India, Argentina, the Netherlands, and British West Africa.2
From Italy, almost half of 1934 exports went to Western and
Central Europe; India, Egypt, Latin America, and the United
States also took appreciable proportions.3 In sum, rayon piece
goods, and fabrics embodying rayon in mixture with other fibres, go
substantially to the same markets as do cotton piece goods.
TABLE 2 0 .
WORLD TRADE IN FLAX AND TOW
COUNTRIES, 1 9 3 5
CHIEF TRADING
(in thousand tons)
Exports from
Exports to
United Kingdom
Belgium . . . .
Germany . . . .
France
Czechoslovakia .
United States . .
Italy
Other countries .
Total
. . .
Belgium
21.5
8.6
15.5
8.2
16.4
1.7
1.4
1.2
1.3
58.1
0.1
1.8
0.2
0.3
6.4
(«)
1.4
2.0
2.6
2.5
1.7
0.2
0.5
1.7
3.1
1.4
37.5
11.9
10.1
2.5
15.6
Percentage
United Kingdom.
Germany . . . .
France
. . . .
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
37
27
14
NetherLithuPoland ania Latvia lands
2
44
7
42
1
2
3
Less than 500 tons.
Gross exports 37, net export balance 18.
1934.
Japan 11, Sweden 2.
Above countries only.
3
Cotton Trade Statistics,
Ibid., table 182.
Ibid.. table 193.
0.5
2.0
2.9
1.0
0.2
.0.2
0.1
(a)
0.5
56
19(e)
19
29
15
5
3(c)
13(d)
8.0
6.9
159(e)
33
21
3
29
14
3
35
12
18
distribution
SOURCE: Industrial Fibres, 1936, pp. 66, 68, 69.
1
3.9
1.4
Total
retained
imports
1936, table 185.
39
—
14
— 98 —
V. —
FLAX AND L I N E N
As was seen in Chapter III, the U.S.S.R. predominates in flax
production; Belgian exports, however, attain a volume not much
less than the shipments from the U.S.S.R. Poland, Lithuania,
Latvia, and the Netherlands likewise figure prominently. More
than half of all flax exports go to the United Kingdom; France,
Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Japan are other leading markets.
Outside of the Soviet Union and the Baltic States, none of the linen
manufacturing countries approaches self-sufficiency in the raw
material. The characteristic patterns of recent world trade in the
fibre are shown in table 20.
The distributions shown in the table become more meaningful
when it is realised that " the bulk of the raw material requirements
of the Belfast (linen manufacturing) industry is met by imports,
chiefly from the Soviet Union ", while " Belgium supplies high-grade
flax for the fine-quality light-weight linen fabrics forming an
important section " of that industry. 1 Moreover
the trade in flax between France and Belgium is largely complementary.
Large quantities of flax grown on the French side of the frontier are
scutched in Belgium to be eventually returned to France. Flax grown
in the Netherlands is also sent to Belgium, but the fibre is not returned
to the country of origin.2
International compilations which would permit a description of
world trade in linen manufactures seem unavailable. It is known,
however, t h a t the United Kingdom is by far the leading supplier
to world markets; that Belgium and Czechoslovakia form a second
group of exporters, with the U.S.S.R. not far behind ; while Germany,
France and Italy make up a minor group. Confirmation for these
statements is found in the trade returns of the United States, the
largest linen.importing market in the world. 3
The dominant rôle of the United States linen piece-goods market
appears clearly from the trade returns of the United Kingdom.
Thus in 1935 the United States alone took over 40 per cent, of the
yardage shipped from the United Kingdom. The British Dominions
came next, absorbing a quarter of the shipments, with Australia
the leading single market. Aside from substantial exports to China,
1
2
3
Industrial Fibres, 1936, p. 68.
Ibid., p. 67.
See, for example, Foreign Commerce and Navigation of the United States,
1934, Vol. I, " Imports for Consumption ", pp. 106-107.
— 99 —
the remaining British goods were diversified as to destination,
with the Scandinavian countries, Brazil, Cuba, New Zealand,
Madeira and Argentina figuring prominently.1
On the limited basis of the trade returns of the dominant exporting
and importing countries, certain provisional generalisations may be
permissible. International commerce in linen manufactures consists
largely of a current of commodities from Europe (mainly the
United Kingdom) toward the United States. The minor currents
involved carry almost exclusively goods from Belgium, Czechoslovakia, the United Kingdom, and the U.S.S.R., to markets in all
parts of the world.
VI.
JUTE
The structure of world trade in jute is less complex than that of
any other textile raw material. To begin with, virtually all exports
originate in India.2 These exports are destined in overwhelming
proportion for advanced industrial countries, such as Germany, the
United States, and the United Kingdom. The distribution of exports
of jute in 1935 is shown in table 21.
TABLE 2 1 .
DISTRIBUTION OF EXPORTS OF RAW JUTE FROM
INDIA, 1935
(in percentage of total volume)
Country
United Kingdom
Germany
France "
United States
Italy
Belgium
Spain
Japan
Brazil
Netherlands
China
Argentina
Other countries
•
All countries
Percentage.
21
21
10
9
9
7
7
3
2
2
1
1
7
" U v e
21
42
52
61
70
77
84
87
89
91
92
93
100
100
SOURCE: Industrial Fibres, 1936, p. 76.
1
Annual Statements of the Trade of the United Kingdom, 1935, Vol. I l l ,
pp. 294-295.
2
China and Manchuria also export small quantities, while the small
exports of Nepal go entirely to India (Industrial Fibres, 1936, p. 75).
— 100 —
To determine roughly the outlines of world trade in the
semi-manufactures and manufactures of jute, it will suffice to
consider the trade returns of the two most important exporting
countries, India and the United Kingdom. As regards yarn, the
statistics of the United Kingdom show that Brazil is by far her most
important market for jute yarn; the Netherlands, Canada, Denmark
and Portugal likewise take significant amounts.1 Similarly, the
Indian statistics for recent years show that an overwhelming proportion of exports of jute twist and yarn from India are purchased
by Argentina, while important proportions are also destined for
Portuguese East Africa, the Union of South Africa, Uruguay, Peru,
and the Straits Settlements.2 It is noteworthy that the countries
importing raw jute, presumably for spinning and weaving, should
be chiefly those of advanced industrialism, while agricultural
countries should be the principal importers of jute yarn, presumably
for weaving alone.
More than half of the jute piece goods exported by the United
Kingdom go to the United States. Other major destinations, in the
order of their importance in 1935, are Argentina, Canada, Denmark,
Australia, and the Irish Free State. The five leading markets for
the shipments of jute sacks and bags from the United Kingdom,
to judge likewise by the 1935 data, are the Netherlands, Irish Free
State, Belgium, Sweden, and Chile.3 India's exports of gunny bags
and gunny cloth, both sacking and hessian, may also be considered.
The leading market for gunny bags, on the basis of recent returns,
is Australia, with the United Kingdom a good distance behind.
Other major importers from India are Hong Kong, Egypt, Hawaii,
the Union of South Africa, the Straits Settlements, Cuba, Chile,
Siam, Java, and Portuguese East Africa. Considerably more than
half of the yardage of Indian gunny cloth goes to the United States ;
Argentina, Canada, and the United Kingdom also buy important
proportions; the remainder is distributed among many countries,
of which Australia, the Philippine Islands, Egypt, Uruguay and
Norway are the most important.4
To generalise from the returns of the United Kingdom and India,
1
Annual Statement of the Trade of the United Kingdom, 1935, Vol. I l l ,
" Exports ", p. 297.
2
See, for example, Annual Statement of the Sea-borne Trade of British India,
fiscal year ending 31 March 1934, Vol. I, " General Exports", p. 676-677.
3
Annual Statement of the Trade of the United Kingdom, 1935, Vol. I l l ,
" Exports ", p. 297-299.
4
Annual Statement of the Sea-borne Trade of British India, Vol. I, pp. 681683, 686-687.
— 101 —
fully-manufactured jute goods find extensive markets in both
industrial and agricultural countries. Among the industrial
countries, the United States and the United Kingdom predominate
as importers; among agricultural countries, the leading consumers
are Australia, Argentina, and Canada.
VII. — SUMMARY
The international trade in textiles examined in the present
chapter, despite many specific and complex features, shows certain
uniform tendencies.
In so far as textile raw materials are concerned, the larger
proportion of exports flows from the countries of great natural
resources—India, the United States, Canada, Argentina, the
Union of South Africa, the U.S.S.R., etc.—to countries of limited
resources—the United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, Italy, Belgium,
France, etc. Nevertheless, the distribution of textile natural
resources is highly specific: Japan, for example, though an importei
of all her cotton, is a country of large resources as regards silk;
the United States, the world's largest source of cotton, is a land
of limited resources as regards silk, flax and jute.
With regard to textile semi-manufactures, three major types of
international trade may be distinguished. First, export surpluses
(of cotton yarn, wool yarn, jute yarn, etc.) pass from countries
where spinning is relatively more developed to countries where it is
relatively less developed. Such is the character of the movements
of yarn from Europe to Latin America; from Western Europe to
the Balkans, etc. Second, manufacturing countries enjoying natural
or technical advantages (e.g. Japan in the reeling of raw silk; the
United Kingdom in the spinning of the highest cotton yarn counts)
export to other manufacturing countries. Third, semi-finished
textile manufactures of all kinds pass and repass national
frontiers in the improvement trade for re-export and re-import.
The trade in finished textile goods consists in large measure in the
movement of manufactured commodities from regions and countries
of more intensive to regions and countries of less intensive industrialism. This is notably true of cotton goods, substantially true of
woollen goods, and to a considerable degree also of jute. Another
large part of international commerce in finished textile manufactures consists in the movement of the specialities of one industrial
country to the final consumption markets of other industrial
countries. Examples in point are the exports of silk tissues from
— 102 —
Japan, France, Italy and Switzerland to the United Kingdom and
the United States, and of linen manufactures from the United
Kingdom, Belgium, Czechoslovakia and the U.S.S.R. to the United
States. To a considerable extent, also, world trade in all finished
textile manufactures consists in the transfer back and forth among
manufacturing countries of goods destined for, or having undergone,
improvement. Complementary trade of this kind reaches its
maximum between and among the textile manufacturing countries
of Western and Central Europe.
The great bulk of all manufactured textile exports originates
in the mills of Central and Western Europe. This is true both of
semi-finished and of finished manufactures; Europe's leadership is
greatest, however, in semi-finished goods. Nevertheless at least two
other regions are an important factor on the export side of the textile
trade: the Far East and India enjoy a generous share of world
commerce in the manufactures of cotton, silk, rayon and jute.
Taking manufactured textile imports as a whole, the great
bulk passes into intermediate or final consumption in Central and
Western Europe. The dominance of this area is greater, however,
as a market of intermediate than of final consumption. For certain
classes of textile manufactures, however, Central and Western
Europe are not the largest markets. The outstanding case is that
of cotton piece goods for final consumption, which gravitate for the
most part toward the Far East, India, Colonial Africa, and Latin
America. For imports of woollen and worsted piece goods, moreover,
the British Dominions are as important a market as Europe. So far
as jute manufactures are concerned, the flow is not only to Europe,
but in even larger measure to the great industrial and agricultural
countries of other continents. In linen goods and in raw silk, the
United States is the country to which the bulk of exports is directed.
In sum, the interfacings of the world textile trade bind together
all countries and regions: industrial with agricultural, industrial
with industrial, agricultural with agricultural. A disturbance of the
economic and social equilibrium in any part of this interdependent
system must inevitably be transmitted to all other parts; the
competitive forces operating within any country or group of
countries must sooner or later react upon all countries and groups
of countries. The equilibrium in world textile manufacturing and
trade has in recent years in fact not been stable. The chief structural
changes within the world textile industry and the problems resulting
from these changes constitute the subject-matter of Chapter VI.
CHAPTER VI
CHANGING PATTERNS OF TEXTILE PRODUCTION AND TRADE
The economic and social problems which have afflicted the
textile industry during recent years are attributable to the interaction of business cycle influences with long-run forces making
for basic changes in textile production and trade. Many of the
more acute problems facing the world textile industry at the
depths of the recent economic crisis were due in large measure to
the impact of the cyclical downswing. To examine the play of
cyclical forces upon the world textile industry from 1925 to 1935
lies outside the scope of this Report. Certain broad generalisations
may, however, be indicated here.
First, textile manufacturing as a whole, while sensitive to cyclical
forces between 1925 and 1935, rose and fell much less sharply
than did all manufacturing. 1 Second, the raw materials and products of the several textile fibres responded with varying sensitivity
to the impact of the business cycle during the period under review.
Output of the industrial fibres, for example, fell much more than
did t h a t of the fibres supplying chiefly personal consumption uses ;
while world trade in textile semi-manufactures contracted less
in quantum during the crisis than did world trade in the fullyfinished manufactures. 2 Third, as among the various textile manufacturing processes, spinning activity was curtailed much less than
weaving activity. This was largely owing to a relatively sustained
volume of yarn exports and to a continuing demand for knitting
yarn.
While the cyclical factors must be kept in mind, the present
chapter is concerned primarily with the long-run forces operating
1
See the world production and activity indices in LEAGUE OF NATIONS:
World Production and Prices. 1935/36, Appendix I, table 2, and Appendix II,
table 1.
2
See GERMANY : Statistisches Jahrbuch, 1936, " Internationale Uebersichten",
p. 145.
— 104 —
to modify fundamentally the international structure of textile
production and trade. These factors of structural change, which
are rooted in industrial shifts and in changing habits of consumption, are certainly not an entirely new phenomenon, but they
have become accentuated and complicated during the past decade,
by monetary policies, efforts towards national self-sufficiency, etc.
T. — CHANGES IN PRODUCTION
The principal changes operating in recent years to modify
fundamentally the international localisation of textile manufacturing will be considered first. The several fibres will, so far as
convenient and possible, be treated separately.
A. — Cotton Textile Manufacturing
The major problems of structural change impinging upon cotton
textile manufacturing may be stated briefly as follows : first, while
the productive importance of the United Kingdom has been
diminishing, that of Japan and India has been increasing. Second,
cotton textile manufacturing capacity has been developing rapidly
in " newly industrialising " areas, notably China, Latin America,
and the Balkan countries. Third, within the internal economy of
two of the largest textile manufacturing countries—India and the
United States—capacity has been shifting from regions of higher
to regions of lower labour costs. Fourth, cotton manufacturing
in several European countries has been subjected to a more or less
permanent marketing disequilibrium, as a consequence of the new
national boundaries carved out after the World War. Fifth,
difficulties in obtaining raw materials resulting from policies of
foreign exchange control and of bilateral trade agreements have
stimulated peculiar structural problems for cotton textile manufacturing in such countries as Germany and Italy.
1. •— Changes in Productive Capacity in India, Japan and the United
Kingdom
Whichever criterion of measurement is employed, a prolonged
movement can be discerned of capacity to manufacture cotton
textiles from the United Kingdom in the direction of Japan and
India. In subsequent sections of this chapter, the trading relationships among the United Kingdom, Japan and India which primarily
— 105 —
underlie this movement will be considered. But anticipating the
discussion, it is expedient to indicate here three principal features:
First, the United Kingdom's decline from its former status as the
" workshop of the world ", in so far as cotton piece goods are
concerned, is closely related to the downward trend of her exports
to India. Second, Japan's continuing rise to the status of what
might be called the " workshop of the Far East " in cotton textiles
is in part due to her success in obtaining a larger proportional share
of the Indian market, although this is only one phase of a much
larger process of expansion in which Colonial Africa, the Netherlands Indies, Latin America, etc., also figure. Third, the
continued growth of cotton textile manufacturing in India has
accelerated the decline of tlje United Kingdom's and retarded the
advance of Japan's cotton textile manufacturing capacity.
All the relevant indices testify to the progressive loss by the
United Kingdom of the dominance it once held in world cotton
textile manufacturing, and to the increasing importance of India
and Japan. This tendency is clearly shown by the figures of mill
consumption of raw cotton between 1909 and 193G as presented
in table 1.
TABLE 1.
MILL CONSUMPTION OF RAW COTTON, I N D l ^ ,
JAPAN, AND THE UNITED KINGDOM
(in percentages of world total)
1909-1913 (a)
India
Japan
.United Kingdom
. . . .
10.2
6.6
18.0
1928-1929 (6)
7.7
10.7
10.8
1935-1936 (b)
9.7
13.0
10.6
(a) Average for the five-year period.
(b) Year ending 31 July; in computing world total, 1934-1935 figures used for Germany
and Italy, for which later figures are unavailable.
SOURCES: 1935-1936 figures from table 1, Chapter IV. Other figures from A. SPALTY:
Die Lage der englischen Baumviollindustrie, Zürich, 1936, p. 61, quoting Slater, Lancashire
Statistical Service.
The same tendency is shown by the statistics of cotton spindles
and looms. In 1913, 38.8 per cent, ot the world's cotton spindles
were held by the United Kingdom; India held 4.2 per cent, and
Japan 1.6 per cent. By 1929, the United Kingdom's share of
world cotton spindles had declined to 34.1 per cent., that of India
had risen to 5.3 per cent, and that of Japan to 4.0. By 31 July 1936,
the United Kingdom's share of the world's cotton spindles had
— 106 —
declined still further to 27.3 per cent., that of Japan had risen
to 7.2 per cent, and that of India to 6.4 per cent.1
As regards cotton power looms, the United Kingdom in 19131914 had 28.7 per cent, of all such looms, India only 3.4 per cent.
and Japan 0.7 per cent. By 1928-1929, the United Kingdom's
percentage of world looms had declined to 23.8, that of India
rising to 5.3 and that of Japan to 2.6.2 On 31 July 1934, the
United Kingdom's proportion of the world's cotton power looms
was down to 18.8 per cent., while Japan's proportion was up to
8.8 per cent, and India's to 6.1 per cent.3
Clearly, Japan and India have been catching up with the United
Kingdom in capacity to produce cotton yarn and piece goods. As
shown in Chapter IV, however, the productive capacity oi both
Japan and India consists largely in the ability to manufacture
cotton yarn and goods in medium or low grades. So far as the
finest counts and grades of cotton yarns and fabrics are concerned,
the United Kingdom is still the undisputed leader of the world,
although both in India and Japan average yarn count has been
rising and average cloth construction improving. At the same
time the average output of cotton cloth by Lancashire mills has
been showing a distinct tendency in recent years to become heavier
and coarser.4
As among the three countries concerned, not only relative but
absolute productive capacities have been changing profoundly.
Table 2 presents the number of spinning spindles in the United
Kingdom, Japan and India at three selected dates.
The tremendous and continuing. increase in the number of
spindles in Japan commands attention. It indicates that the forces
which are transforming Japan into the world's leading exporter of
cotton textiles have been operating for nearly a quarter of a
century. The very slight increase in the spindlage of the United
Kingdom between 1913 and 1929 indicates clearly that the influences
1
A. SPÄLTY: Die Lage der englischen Baiimtvollindustrie, Zürich, 1936,
p. 58; International Cotton Bulletin, October 193G, p. 150. On the basis of
figures on active spindle hours per normal operating week, Spälty presents
estimates by Slater, Lancashire Statistical Service, that in 1929 the United
Kingdom possessed only 26.8 per cent, of the effective world spindlage, while
Japan possessed 7.1 per cent., and India 6.2. These estimates, however,
make no allowance for differences in the inherent mechanical efficiency of
mule and ring spindles. See Chapter IV, pp. 52-53.
2
Ibid., p. 64.
3
International Cotton Bulletin, July 1934, pp. 538-539. See Chapter IV,
pp. 54-55.
4
See Cotton Trade Statistics, 1936, tables 74, 76 and 77.
— 107 —
TABLE 2.
NUMBER OF SPINNING SPINDLES IN PLACE,
UNITED KINGDOM, JAPAN AND INDIA, 1913 TO 1936
(in thousands)
1913
Country
1929
1936
Change, 1913-1936
In thousands Percentage
United Kingdom
Japan
India
.
55,652
2,300
6,084
55,917
6,530
8,704
41,391
10,867
9,705
— 14,261
+ 8,567
+
3,621
— 25.6
+ 372.5
+
59.5
SOURCES. — SPÂLTY: Die Lage der englischen Baumwollindustrie, 1936, p. 58, quoting
Slater,-Lancashire Statistical Service; International Cotton Bulletin, Oct. 1936, p. 150.
which once established Lancashire as the centre of world cotton
textiles had by then already ceased to operate. The growth of Indian
spindlage was quite rapid from 1913 to 1929—suggesting the great
impulse given to the development of cotton manufacturing in that
country during the World War. In table 3 the absolute weaving
capacities of the United Kingdom, Japan and India are presented
for three significant dates.
TABLE 3 . — NUMBER OF COTTON POWER LOOMS,
UNITED KINGDOM, JAPAN AND INDIA, 1913 TO 1934
(in thousands)
Country
1913-1914
1928-1929
1933-1934
Change, 1913-1934
In thousands Percentage
u n i t e d Kingdom
Japan
India
.
805.5
20.6
94.1
739.9
82.3
166.5
588.0
277.3
189.7
— 217.5
+ 256.7
+
95.6
—
27.0
+ 1,346.1
+
101.6
SOURCES. — SPÂLTY: Op. cit., p. 64; International Cotton Bulletin, July 1934 .pp.538-539.
These changes in absolute weaving capacity correspond to the
changes already noted in absolute spinning capacity. Japanese
looms show an increase for the twenty-year period at an extraordinary rate. Looms in the United Kingdom show a continued
decline, accelerated after 1929. Indian looms rise very rapidly
from 1913 to 1929 and less rapidly thereafter.
— 108 —
The general trends are even more strikingly shown by existing
data on the production of cotton manufactures in the three countries
concerned. The relevant figures are summarised in table 4.
TABLE 4 .
PRODUCTION OF COTTON YARN AND PIECE GOODS,
UNITED KINGDOM, JAPAN AND INDIA, 1 9 1 2 - 1 9 3 5
1912
Yarn (million lbs.) :
United Kingdom
Japan
India
Piece goods :
U n i t e d Kingdom : Million sq. yds.
J a p a n : Million sq. yds
Y a r n consumed,millionlbs.
India, mill production :
In million linear yards . . . .
In million lbs
(a)
(6)
(c)
1924
1930
1935
1,983
1,395
661
829
683 (a)
647
1,047
1,010
861
1,225
1,424
1,040
8,050(6)
.
(392)
3,399
3,159
3,354
4,908
2,494
3,555
6,026
2,965 (c)
(922)(c)
.
1,841
(274) (a) (430)
1912-1913.
¡Million linear y a r d s .
1926.
.SOURCES. — Cotton Trade Statistics, 1933, table 97, and 1936,' tables 74, 77, 97, 98;
A. S. P E A K S E : Japan and China Cotton Industry Report, Manchester, 1929, p . 126;
I N D I A N T A R I F F B O A R D : Report on the Cotton Textile Industry Enquiry, 1927, Calcutta,
1927, p . 5.
As the table shows, the production of both cotton yarn and piece
goods declined considerably in the United Kingdom between 1912
and 1935, the output of piece goods falling further than that of
yarn. The fact of such marked decline in both categories is of
fundamental importance ; it drives home the contraction of textile
manufacturing in the United Kingdom since the World War.
Nevertheless the divergence in the two rates of decline is also
significant, for it may be construed in part as showing that the
United Kingdom has held on to its export markets for yarn more
firmly than to its export markets for piece goods. Other factors
which explain the divergence are the growth of demand for yarn
by home knitting mills as well as increased average weight of
cotton cloth woven.
The very large increase in Japan's production both of yarn and
of piece goods is also notable. In the case of Japan, by far the
more astonishing rate of increase is shown by piece goods, just as
the chief thrust of Japan has been into export markets for finished
cloth rather than for semi-manufactures. In India the output
both of cotton yarn and piece goods has been rising steadily since
1912, piece goods at a much more rapid rate. The continuing rise
— 109 —
in both rates suggests that while Indian weaving is becoming
increasingly more capable of satisfying domestic demands for
cloth, Indian spinning is maintaining its capacity to lurnish
domestic supplies of yarn. 1
2. — China, Brazil and other " New Textile Countries "
The most fundamental and widespread structural change in
textile manufacturing, namely, the diffusion of machine technology
from old centres of industrialisation to newly industrialised areas,
is exemplified also by developments in China, Brazil, the Balkan
countries, and elsewhere.
In few countries undergoing industrialisation has cotton
manufacturing advanced more rapidly than in China. A country
which, some years ago, was one of the great world import markets
for cotton piece goods and later for yarns, China is to-day rapidly
approaching self-sufficiency in both. Table 5 presents the increase
of cotton manufacturing equipment in China from 1890 to 1936.
TABLE 5.
v „„_
ledr
1890
1900
1913
1920
1928
1934
1936
COTTON SPINDLES AND LOOMS IN CHINA, 1890-1936
Spindles
Looms
(in thousands) (1913 = 100) (in thousands) (1913 = 100
114.7
11.7
1.6
17.2
638.0
64.9
8.9
94.5
982.8
100.0
9.4
100.0
2,052.6
208.9
17.0
181.0
4,115.3
418.7
29.3
311.8
4,680.0
476.2
44.0
468.1
5,010.0
509.8
SOURCES. — H. D. FONO: Cotton Industry and Trade in China, 1932, Vol. 1, p. 8; UNITED
STATES TARIFF COMMISSION: Cotton Cloth Report, 1936, p. 143, and International Cotton
Bulletin, Oct. 1936.
Although the phenomenal early rate of increase has since slowed
down, continued rapid expansion of spindle and loom capacity
has characterised cotton manufacturing in China from 1920 down
to the present. Furthermore, spinning and weaving capacity have
increased in close parallelism, with the result that China has become
progressively independent of both foreign yarns and piece goods.
In fact, China now exports appreciable " surpluses " of cotton yarn
to India.2
1
The failure of Indian yarn output to rise more rapidly is largely to be
explained by the progressive disappearance of a once large export market in
China. See G. E. HUBBARD: Eastern Industrialisation and its Effect on the
West, London, 1935, pp. 272-273; Cotton Trade Statistics, 1936, table 136.
2
Cotton Trade Statistics, 1936, tables 152, 156, 215.
— 110 —
Latin America and the Balkan-Near Eastern countries are two
other outstanding regions of " new industrialism " in textiles. To be
sure, cotton manufacturing on a large scale is not, for Latin America,
the altogether new industry it is sometimes supposed to be. Both
Brazil and Mexico had fairly well-established cotton textile
industries before the World War. Nevertheless, the industry
expanded remarkably both in Brazil and Mexico between 1913
and 1929 as is shown in table 6.
TABLE 6.
GROWTH OF COTTON MANUFACTURING IN BRAZIL ANDMEXICO, 1913-1929
M,
Spindles in place
Looms in place
0" " ! ? ? g "
(thousands)
(thousands)
( t h o S d haïes)
1913
1929 1913-1914 1928-1929 1909-1913 1928-1929
Brazil. . . .
1,200
2,750
50
79
168
472
Mexico . . .
700
751
27
30
43
164
SOURCE. — SPÄLTY: Die Lage der englischen BaumwoUindustrie, 1936, pp. 58, 61, 64.
In both Brazil and Mexico the main conditioning factors have
been much the same: a home market sheltered by commercial
policy, and self-sufficiency in raw material. Among other LatinAmerican countries in which cotton manufacturing has been
expanding rapidly of late are Argentina, Bolivia, and Peru.1
Among the Balkan and Near Eastern countries where cotton
manufacturing is now in process of development, Rumania,
Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey are all significant.
In these countries, cotton manufacturing is dependent almost
exclusively on sales in the sheltered home market. On the other
hand, the only appreciable raw cotton producer in the group is
Turkey. Data suggesting the growth of the industry in Latin
America, the Balkan countries, and the Near East are given in
table 7.
The data on spindles and looms in place, by omitting to give
weight to extent of mechanisation and degree of effective use,
necessarily understate the true rates of growth or decline for cotton
manufacturing in all countries. As regards certain Balkan countries
1
It would appear that in many Latin-American countries imports of secondhand textile machinery from the United States have been an important factor.
Limitations of time in preparing this Report have prevented the Office from
gathering precise data on this point. For new machinery in Latin America,
as practically everywhere else, the United Kingdom is the chief supplier. Data
on exports and imports of textile machinery up to 1930 may be consulted in
H. GRÜNBAUM: Die Welttexiilkrise, 1931, pp. 48-51. The statistical material
there presented is included in Volume II.
— Ill —
since 1929, more satisfactory measurements which unequivocally
reveal rapid structural growth are the indices of activity in cotton
spinning and weaving given in Volume II.
TABLE 7 .
COTTON TEXTILE MANUFACTURING IN LATIN-AMERICAN,
BALKAN, AND NEAR EASTERN COUNTRIES,
Spindles in place
(thousands)
AH countries
1936(b)
161,002
153,130
43
6
2,690
40
40
5
830
86
47
159
32
2,711
55
40
12
862
123
47
1.5
0.40
77.9
3.2
1.2
0.1
31.4
3.7
1.4
1.8
0.45
81.9
2.4
0.6
0.1
33.2
3.8
1.5
. . .
3,787
4,041
121.5(d)
126.7(d)
.
10
87
231
40
34
101
146
34
97
231
40
35
104
141
5.8.
1.2
11.7
1.2
1.7
3.5
0.3
4.2
1.4
10.9
649
682
24.7
23.2
Argentina
Bolivia
Brazil
Colombia
Ecuador
Guatemala
Mexico (e)
Peru
Venezuela
Bulgaria
Egypt
Greece
Iran
Rumania
Turkey
Yugoslavia
Total B a l k a n s and N e a r E a s t
Percent, of world total :
Latin America
B a l k a n s and Near E a s t
Looms in place
(thousands)
1932(a)
.
Total Latin America
1931-1936
. .
2.35
0.40
2.64
0.45
1931 (c)
3,158.8
1.3
1.2
3.5
3.85
0.78
1934 (c)
3,130.0
4.05
0.74
a) 31 July.
(6) ' 31 January.
(c) 31 December 1930 and 1933.
(d) Including other Latin-American countries: 1931, 0.7 thousand; 1934 0.9 thousand.
SOURCES. —Statistical Year-Booh of the League of Nations, 1935/36, p. 168; International
Cotton Bulletin, July 1934, pp. 538-539.
The causes underlying the diffusion of cotton textile manufacturing from a few centres of advanced industrialism to newer
countries are complex. In general, four main factors may be
emphasised.
First is the post-war development of economic nationalism,
aiming at the maximum of economic self-sufficiency, and stimulated
— 112 —
in raw material producing countries by their inability to pay for
imports as a result of their inability to sell their raw materials profitably in falling markets during the recent depression.
Second is the continued advance of the Industrial Revolution.
Despite the recognised advantages of the international division
of labour, the application of this principle is far from requiring
that each important commodity be produced in one country or
district, and in that one country or district alone. In view of the
capacity of modern machine technology to raise national standards
of living in industrially undeveloped countries, it is natural that
in many such countries possessing access to sufficient capital and
labour, programmes of industrialisation should be undertaken.
Third, cotton manufacturing seems to be peculiarly appropriate
as a first step for countries seeking to incorporate modern industrial
technology into economic systems still predominantly agricultural.
The techniques of production are relatively simple, standardised
and stable ; in the weaving section, at least, the capital requirements
are fairly moderate.
Fourth, cotton manufacturing calls for plentiful supplies of more
or less unskilled workers; and in the agricultural regions, where
the industry has been expanding during recent years, supplies of
such workers have been plentiful. In fact it would be permissible
to speak of a tendency for cotton manufacturing to move from
countries or regions of higher to those of lower labour costs.
3. — Intra-National Shifts: India and the United States
Two striking examples of the tendency for cotton manufacturing
capacity to move within the same country from regions of higher to
those of lower labour costs are furnished by India and the United
States. In India capacity has long been moving from Bombay to
" up-country " districts, notably Ahmedabad ; in the United States,
similarly, a shift has long been in progress from New England to
the Southern States.
India. — Already in 1927 the Indian Tariff Board reported that
" the present depression in the cotton textile industry has been
and is much more acutely felt in Bombay than in other centres ".l
Nine years later, students of the problem again pointed out that
" there has been a continuous depression in the cotton mills of
Bombay, which have suffered severely from the competition of
INDIAN T A R I F F B O A R D : Report on the Cotton Textile Industry,
1927,p.206.
— 113 —
lower-cost goods from the new ' up-country mills ' ".x The extent
until 1926, of the movement away from Bombay to such centres
as Ahmedabad, Sholapur, Cawnpore, Delhi, Nagpur, Baroda State,
is shown in table 8.
TABLE 8 .
REGIONAL SHIFT OF COTTON MANUFACTURING
CAPACITY, INDIA, 1923-1926
Year
1903-1904
1912-1913
1920-1921
1924-1925
1925-1926
Bombay's percentage of
mill production of:
Yarn
Cloth
57.6
52.0
50.3
45.5
38.2
58.5
50.3
51.3
47.9
44.6
SOURCES. — INDIA: Report of the Indian Tariff Board; Cotton Textile Inquiry, 1927, Calcutta,
1927, pp. 5, 7, 9, 14.
That differences in labour costs were one of the primary factors
in motivating the movement shown in table 8 is the conclusion
reached by the Indian Tariff Board; it reported as follows:
Our examination of the costs of production in the various centres
will, we think, have shown that by far the greatest disability from which
Bombay suffers is in its high costs of labour. It is also under substantial
disadvantages in regard to cost of fuel and power, cost of water, and
higher local taxation, but it would seem . . . that these are rather
more than offset by advantages in regard to the cost of stores, of insurance
and of office expenses. So far as costs of production are concerned, it is in
labour costs that is to be found the main reason why the depression in
the industry has been felt so much more acutely in Bombay than it has
elsewhere.2
The United States. —• Even larger in scope and consequences
than the inter-regional movement within India has been the
transfer of cotton manufacturing activity in the United States
from the New England States (above all, Massachusetts and
Rhode Island) to the South (above all, North and South Carolina,
Georgia and Alabama).
All statistical measurements testify
to the great magnitude of this movement; three of the most
important, quantum of cloth output, spindles in place and active
spindle hours may here be briefly examined. 3
1
2
The Economist (London), 12 Dec. 1936, " A Survey of India To-day ", p. 77.
For a discussion on differential labour costs and wage rates in India, see
INDIAN TARIFF BOARD, op. cit., pp. 109-116, 117-123. See also Chapters VIII
and3 XIII.
So far as the movement has involved major changes in numbers of workers
attached to cotton manufacturing in the two regions, it is considered in
Chapter XII, pp. 310-311.
— 114 —
In 1923, Southern mills produced 51 per cent, of the value of all
cotton goods manufactured in the United States, New England
mills, 38 per cent. By 1933, the percentage for mills in the
South had risen to as high as 69 per cent., t h a t of New England
had fallen to as low as 24 per cent. To appreciate the full meaning
of this change, in terms of quantum, it should be kept in mind that
New England mills tend to operate more on light, fine goods,
Southern mills more on heavy, coarser fabrics. More specifically,
the South's share of all woven cotton goods rose, between 1923 and
1933, from 61 to 80 per cent, by weight and from 58 to 78 per cent.
by yardage. 1
As regards number of spindles and active spindle hours, the
United States Cabinet Committee Report of 1935 may be cited.
With reference to number of spindles, the Committee summarised
the relevant statistics as follows:
In 1922-1923 the New England States reached a peak of approximately
19 million spindles, and subsequently declined to an average of
10.8 million spindles in 1932-1933. The spindlage in the cotton-growing
States continued to grow from approximately 16.5 million spindles in
1922-1923 to 19.1 million spindles in 1929-1930. At this point there was
an approximate stabilisation of Southern spindlage. Spindlage in
place in the South overtook that of New England during the year
1925-1926. . . . The movement has not been uniform in all the
States in the North and South. Relatively the greatest loss of spindlage
in place occurred in Massachusetts. The smallest losses of spindlage
in New England have been in Maine and Connecticut. In the Southern
States the most marked percentage growth of spindlage has been in the
deep South. Thus, from August 1921 to March 1935, spindles in place
increased 49 per cent, in Alabama, 25 per cent, in Georgia, approximately
16 per cent, in North and South Carolina, and 12 per cent, in Virginia.
Substantial growth ceased in Virginia in 1924 and 1925, in North Carolina
in 1927 and 1928, in South Carolina in 1930 and 1931, and2 in Georgia
in 1932. In Alabama growth continued to the end of 1934.
With reference to active spindle hours, which are still a more
sensitive index than spindles in place, the Committee reported:
In 1921-1922, the cotton-growing States had 53.5 per cent, of the
spindle hours in the United States, and the New England States 41.2 per
cent. The cotton-growing States continued to grow in relative importance, and in the extreme depression year of 1931-1932, accounted
for 78 per cent, of the total spindle hours of the United States. Under the
Code (N.I.R.A.) New England recovered somewhat more than the South,
so that the share of the cotton-growing States in the national total of
spindle hours amounted to 73.8 per cent. (1933-1934).s
1
2
3
Cabinet Committee Report, 1935, pp. 38, 39.
Op. cit., p. 46.
Ibid., p. 50.
— 115 —
A number of factors are responsible for the displacement of
cotton manufacturing from New England toward the South. It
appears clear, however, that the principal factor has been, and is,
the disparity in labour costs between the regions.1 Significantly,
the narrowing of the differential wage-margin under the N.I.R.A.
codes of fair competition was accompanied by a larger measure of
recovery in New England than in the South.2
The movement of cotton manufacturing to the South has
created in New England (in such cities as New Bedford, Fall River
and Lowell, and especially in the smaller towns) a serious problem of
more or less permanently " stranded populations " similar to that
of the " distressed or special areas " of the United Kingdom.
The Cabinet Committee reported that :
The evidence is clear that mill closings in New England, which occurred
largely prior to 1933, have left large stranded populations which will
probably never be reabsorbed in cotton manufacture. Further loss
in
spindlage will accentuate this already serious national problem.3
4. — Changes effected by the World War
Followed as it was by the carving out of new national boundaries,
the World War brought about many significant changes in the
international localisation of cotton textile manufacturing. The
nature of these changes and of the resulting problems may be
summarised in the formula of constant productive capacity in the
face of contracted national markets. Three changes are particularly
noteworthy in Europe. First, the establishment of Poland as a
national State cut off a major cotton manufacturing district
from the territory of the old Russian Empire. Second, the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire into the Succession States
created certain problems of manufacturing-marketing disequilibrium in several of the component parts of the old Monarchy.4
Third, the transfer of Alsace-Lorraine from German to French
1
For an authoritative study of differential wage rates and earnings, see
A. F. HINRICHS, assisted by R. CLEM: " Historical Review of Wage Rates and
Wage Differentials in the Cotton Textile Industry " in U.S. Monthly Labor
Review, Vol. 40, No. 5, May 1935, pp. 1170-1180. It should be noted that
differences in State regulations as to hours of work contributed to the disparity
in labour costs.
2
See HINRICHS and CLEM, op. cit.; also Cabinet Committee Report, pp. 50,
125-126.
3
Ibid., p. 51.
4
For a full discussion of these problems see E. B. DIETRICH: " Textile
Industry; History and Organisation", in Encyclopeedia of the Social Sciences,
Vol. XIV, New York, 1934.
— 116 —
sovereignty shifted with it a major cotton manufacturing district.
The productive capacity of the Polish cotton industry before 1914
was based upon a market as extensive as the whole of the Russian
Empire. After 1919 the national market freely available to the
output of Polish mills suffered radical contraction; the capacity,
however, remained—-discounting deterioration because of the
war—as large as it used to be. Much of the continuing strain
which, independently of cyclical fluctuations, Polish textile manufacturing has experienced in the last fifteen years may be attributed
to this disproportion between potential capacity and effective
markets. As for the capacity which was retained by the U.S.S.R.,
this had a market of large possibilities. With fluctuations to be
explained mainly by the relative emphasis laid by national economic
policies on the production of capital and consumers' goods, cotton
manufacturing in the U.S.S.R. has been expanding steadily and
rapidly. The cotton textile industry in the Soviet Union is to-day
one of the largest in the world, with prospects of continued growth.
Its potential domestic market is very large, and there are distinct
tendencies towards the development of a considerable export trade. 1
In the old Austro-Hungarian Empire the regions which later
became Czechoslovakia and Austria were both important cotton
manufacturing districts, although Bohemia was by far the larger
producer. When the old Monarchy was dissolved, Czechoslovakia
inherited about three-quarters of the cotton spindles and about
nine-tenths of the power looms, most of the rest going to Austria.
The results both for Czechoslovakia and for Austria were largely
similar to those described above for Poland: enormous productive
capacities predicated upon free access to a wide national market
now found their areas of tariff-free sales drastically curtailed.
Moreover the assignment of relatively more weaving sheds to
Czechoslovakia, and of relatively more spinning capacity to
Austria, created for cotton manufacturing in both countries serious
problems of internal disequilibrium.2
When in 1919 Alsace-Lorraine was joined to France, 1,891.5
thousand cotton spindles and 50.3 thousand power looms went
along with the transfer. This transfer represented, in terms of the
1
For data on the division of spindles and looms between Poland and the
U.S.S.R., see SPÄLTY: Die Lage der englischen Baumwollindustrie, table 12,
p. 258, reproducing estimates compiled by Slater, Lancashire Statistical Service.
See L. EISENMANN: La Tchécoslovaquie, Paris, 1921, and A. TIBAL: La
Tchécoslovaquie, Paris, 1935.
— 117 —
capacity which Germany lost, about 17 per cent, of the latter's 1913
cotton spindles and about 22 per cent, of her 1913 looms, and, in
terms of the capacity which France gained, an increase over 1913 of
approximately .26 per cent, in spindles and about 42 per cent, in
looms.1 The social and economic strains which accompanied the
inclusion of Alsace-Lorraine's large productive capacity into a new
national marketing system were, of course, considerable; the
repercussions upon Germany's national textile market were also
serious and profound. In fact it may be questioned whether the
process of readjustment for Alsace-Lorraine as a cotton manufacturing region is complete even at this date.
5. — Germany and Italy: Policies of Self-sufficiency
The recent difficulties of the cotton textile industry in Germany
and Italy represent a type of structural change unknown before the
recent worldwide economic crisis. In both of these countries,
rigid control of foreign exchange has gone hand in hand with
bilateral trade arrangements : both largely in the pursuit of economic
self-sufficiency with emphasis on national defence. As a consequence, cotton manufacturing in Germany and Italy is at present
suffering from a scarcity of the raw material due to a decrease
in imports of raw cotton.2 In their dependence upon imports of
raw cotton, the two countries mentioned are no different from
such countries as France, Japan, and the United Kingdom. In
pursuing national self-sufficiency, however,, to a much greater
extent than most other countries, Germany and Italy have brought
structural strains to bear upon their cotton textile industries.
On the one hand there is reason to suppose that accumulated funds
of " free " foreign exchange have been allocated so as to obtain a
maximum import of materials regarded as essential, to the detriment
of consumption goods, including the textile raw materials. As a
consequence, Germany and Italy have pushed the use of synthetic
textile fibres (and of " recovered " cotton, wool, etc.) further
than most other countries. On the other hand, bilateral trade
arrangements have operated in such a way as to deflect the purchase
of raw cotton away from the cheaper world markets toward the
dearer " compensation " markets. This is particularly true in the
. case of Germany, as evidenced both by the distribution of its cotton
1
See SPÄLTY, op. cit., pp. 58,
2
See Cotton Trade Statistics, 1936, tables 60, 64.
64.
— 118 —
imports as to source and by the unit values of imports derived
from particular sources.1
It is against the background of this scarcity in raw materials,
largely induced by national economic policies, that the present
condition of cotton manufacturing in Germany and Italy has to be
considered.2 The extent to which the failure of cotton textile
manufacturing in these two countries to respond fully to the
stimulus of world industrial recovery may be attributed to export
marketing problems is considered below.
B. — Wool Manufacturing
In wool manufacturing, the same countries which were the
predominant manufacturers in 1928—the United Kingdom, the
United States, France and Germany—were still predominant in
1935.3 Nevertheless, a number of significant changes were operative
during the period. First, in Japan, wool manufacturing was
expanding at a very rapid rate. Second, wool manufacturing was
undergoing rapid development also in countries which are themselves important producers of the raw material, notably Australia
and Argentina. Third, the importance of the U.S.S.R. as a wool
manufacturer was fluctuating downward. Fourth, Germany and
Italy as wool manufacturers no less than as cotton manufacturers
were beginning to feel the effects of their special monetary and
trade policies.
The conclusions summarised above are illustrated by the statistics in Volume II. Only a few comments need be added
here. In the first place, two factors combine to explain the United
Kingdom's maintenance of her relative status as one of the world's
1
Thus the percentage of total cotton iniDorts supplied to Germany by the
United States fell from 72.1 in 1933 to 55.1 in 1934 and 26.7 in 1935; some
reversal of this tendency became evident in 1936, largely because of the difficulties encountered by Germany in purchasing South American raw cotton on
the basis of compensation agreements. On the other hand, imports of Brazilian
raw cotton, negligible in 1933, rose to 2.1 per cent, in 1934 and 20.8 per cent.
in 1935; during this period, sharp percentage rises were also registered by raw
cotton imports originating in Argentina, Peru, Turkey and the " other countries " group. See Weekly Report of the German Institute for Business
Research, Berlin, 20 May 1936. In 1935, each ton of raw cotton imported into
Germany from Brazil had an average value of RM. 1,115; the somewhat better
grades from the United States averaged RM. 805 per ton; the extremely fine
grades imported from Egypt averaged RM. 1,000 per ton. See Manchester
Guardian, 30 Nov. 1936, " Finance and Business".
2
See indices of activity, LEAGUE OF NATIONS: World Production and Prices,
1935/36, p. 145.
3
See World Consumption of Wool, 1928-1935, p. 13.
— 119 —
two leading producers of woollen and worsted manufactures. First,
the United Kingdom has had to meet much less competition in its
export markets for wool than for cotton goods. Second, the depreciation of the pound sterling and the simultaneous new measures
of tariff protection stimulated the domestic market for home
produced woollens and worsteds after 1931. In contrast, the slowness with which wool manufacturing in France responded to world
recovery is attributable in part to the delayed devaluation of the
franc, and in part also to the collapse of the United Kingdom
market after 1931. 1
As to the woollen manufacturing industry in Japan, it expanded
with considerable rapidity from 1928 straight through the world
crisis and down to date. 2 After import duties on tops and yarn
were first imposed in 1926, Japan became virtually self-sufficient
as regards these semi-manufactures. As for wool tissues,
the wool textile industry in Japan produces two main classes of finished
products, mainly lightweight woven tissues known as " mousseline de
laine " which are used chiefly for Japanese garments, and woollen
and worsted tissues of heavier weights, amongst which worsted goods
predominate.
The production of " mousseline de laine " expanded rapidly in the
early post-war years, and reached a maximum in 1927, when, judging
from the partial figures available, output approached 200 million linear
yards. Since then, the output has declined slightly on account of changing fashion in favour of European dress and the use of silk and silk
waste in place of wool. There was some recovery in 1931 and 1932 but a
renewal of the downward trend occurred in 1933 and 1934. "Mousseline
de laine " is made almost entirely for home consumption, and the exports,
the greater part of which go to Japanese Dependencies, account for
probably less than 5 per cent, of the output. Japan herself produces the
whole of her requirements of this class of tissue. The weaving of foreign
type serges by small weavers in the Nagoya district is a comparatively
recent development, and production is now estimated to be in the
neighbourhood of 30 million square yards, of which more than a third
is exported.
Compared with the extent of her trade in cotton and rayon products,
Japan's exports of woollen and worsted goods are very small. Their
significance lies in the fact that they are expanding rapidly. The bulk
of the exports are of medium quality light worsteds for shipment to
tropical and sub-tropical countries, the manufacture
of woollen goods
in Japan being as yet relatively unimportant. 3
1
France's exports of wool tissues to the United Kingdom, which averaged
10.6 million lbs. from 1928 to 1931, dropped to an average of 0.6 million lbs.
from 1931 to 1935. The entire change occurred between 1931 and 1932.
See2 World Consumption of Wool, p. 75.
From a yearly average of 132 million lbs. from 1928 to 1931, available
supplies of raw wool in Japan rose to an average of 217 million lbs. from 1932
to 3 1935 (World Consumption of Wool, p. 13).
World Consumption of Wool, pp. 122-123.
— 120 —
The recent developments of wool manufacturing in Argentina and
Australia are typical examples of industrial changes impinging
upon the national economy of countries rich in agricultural
resources. In fact, of the major raw wool producers, only the
Union of South Africa is to-day without a wool manufacturing
industry of appreciable magnitude. 1 As for Argentina,
although the Argentine wool textile industry was established over
fifty years ago, development was slow and less than five mills were in
existence before the World War. During the war, however, the difficulties
of foreign trade gave the wool industry the opportunity of development,
and although it subsequently suffered a set-back, it received a fresh
impetus after 1930, owing to increasing home demand, to an increase
in duties on wool textiles in 1931, and to the depreciation of the peso.
During the succeeding three years manufacturers increased their capacity and established many small mills, which almost without exception
prospered. 2
In the case of Australia,
it is only quite recently that the Australian wool textile industry
has acquired almost complete command of the domestic market for
wool products. . . . The fact that the greatest development in the
manufacturing side of the industry has taken place during the last
thirty years has resulted in a high level of efficiency as regards plant and
machinery. A large measure of tariff protection has been afforded the
industry, and the home manufacturer also benefited by the depreciation
of the Australian currency. The consequent decline in imports of
woven products has been mainly at the expense of the United Kingdom.
. . . Available statistics indicate that with the exception of certain
specialised classes of goods Australia now manufactures the greater
part of her requirements and
in addition is developing an export trade
in tops, noils and wastes. 3
Other examples of the recent expansion of wool manufacturing
in agricultural countries are furnished by Chile, Denmark, Hungary,
and New Zealand among others. 4
In so far as the Soviet Union is concerned, wool manufacturing
activity, as judged by estimated available supplies of the raw
material, fluctuated toward lower levels from 1928 to 1935. This
downward tendency is in all probability a short-run phenomenon
related to internal economic policies.
As for Germany and Italy, wool manufacturing in these countries
is now facing the same scarcity of raw materials as cotton manu1
2
3
4
See ibid., p. 11.
Ibid., p. 209.
Ibid., p. 249.
See World Production and Prices, 1935/36, p. 147.
— 121 —
facturing, and for substantially the same reasons. Between 1933
and 1935, for example, available supplies of raw wool in both
Germany and. Italy contracted sharply. Moreover, the sources of
supplies shifted materially, much as in the case of cotton, from
free world markets to " compensation " markets. Again, programmes stimulating home production of wool substitutes, and
maximum recovery of used wool and waste, have been promoted
energetically in both cases.1
C. — Silk and Rayon
In most of the countries manufacturing silk tissues on a large
scale, notably the United States, the fortunes of the silk manufacturing industry have in recent years fluctuated for the most part
cyclically. It would nevertheless appear, from the figures of
retained imports of raw silk and the indices of manufacturing
activity, that the silk textile industry is undergoing structural
expansion in a number of countries, of which the United Kingdom,
Japan and Canada are the most important. 2 It is altogether probable
that the rapid expansión indicated by these figures foretells serious
and more or less permanent strains upon such silk manufacturing
countries as France, Italy, and Switzerland, where the export
ratios run high.
In all countries, rayon manufacturing is a new industry, developing with all the vigour of youth. From 1925 to 1935, with hardly
a break or pause, world production of and world trade in rayon
yarn went on rising. The speed and extent of the movement are
shown in table 9.
Naturally the rates of expansion of rayon weaving (where
capacity, as shown in Chapter IV, has to be estimated from production and trade data for rayon yarn), differ widely among
countries. Of those rayon yarn producers where output of yarn
is by itself a rough measure of capacity to weave, the most phenomenal rate of increase in that of Japan: output here multiplied
from 3.2 million lbs. in 1925 to 217.4 million lbs. in 1935.- Expansion
in output in the United States from 51.1 million lbs. in 1925 to
1
See World Consumption of Wool, p. 13; Weekly Report of the GERMAN
INSTITUTE FOR BUSINESS RESEARCH, Berlin, 6 May
and
20 May
1936;
and
Statistica del Comercio Speciale di Importazione e di Esportazione, 1 Jan. to
30 Sept. 1935, p. 162, and current press literature cited earlier in connection
with cotton.
2
Other countries showing evidence of structural expansion are Greece,
Portwral and Rumania. See Industrial Fibres, 1936, p. 56; World Production
6.
— 122 —
TABLE 9 .
WORLD PRODUCTION AND WORLD TRADE IN RAYON YARN
AND STAPLE FIBRE, 1925-1935
(in million lbs.)
Production
Year
1925
1929
1932
1935
Trade in rayon yarn
Rayon yarn
Staple fibre
Exports
Imports
186
432
529
949
8
22
134
124
126
153
103
114
143
SOURCE: industrial Fibres, 1936, pp. 96, 97, 98, 101.
256.7 million in 1935 was also remarkable both for rapidity and
absolute volume. Of the countries where weaving capacity may be
estimated by retained yarn imports alone, striking rates of expansion, between 1928 and 1935, are shown, in particular, by Argentina,
India, Mexico, and Yugoslavia.1
More important than the differential rates of increase for particular countries, however, is the fact of rapid expansion in rayon
manufacturing the world over. Inevitably, because rayon and staple
fibre compete with the natural textile fibres, some downward
pressure on other branches of the textile industry is brought into
play. The extent of this pressure is by no means as great, however,
as is often supposed. First, as a large part of rayon yarn goes into
mixtures with silk, wool and cotton, the downward pressure on
markets for silk, wool and cotton is considerably eased. At the same
time, even pure rayon tissues are generally woven on looms already
in existence as part of the cotton, wool or silk textile industries.
Thus, the expansion of rayon largely replaces one weaving material
by another without affecting seriously total manufacturing activity
or employment. The development of staple fibre, moreover,
carries this process back a step further and compensates spinning
mills, in part, for the curtailed activity attributable to the competition of rayon yarn chemically produced. In the long run, rayon
may be regarded as a catalytic agent operating to unify the various
branches of the textile industry. Even to-day, the progressive
development of mixed îayon tissues is blurring further the already
indistinct boundaries between " cotton ", " wool " and " silk "
mills.
1
Industrial
Fibres,
1936, p p . 96, 1 0 1 .
— 123 —
D. — Linen and Jute
Both linen and jute manufacturing, from 1928 to 1935, experienced material structural changes. In many countries, above all
the Soviet Union, linen manufacturing expanded between 1928
and 1935. Other countries where the movements of available flax
supplies and of indices of linen manufacturing activity point to a
structural expansion of the linen textile industry are Poland,
Rumania, Denmark and the Irish Free State. 1
As for jute, the dominant positions of India and of the United
Kingdom as manufacturing countries remain unshaken.
In
other important manufacturing countries—for example, Germany,
the United States, and Czechoslovakia—recent fluctuations in
activity seem to be entirely cyclical. Nevertheless, there would
appear to be a tendency for jute, like all other branches of textile
manufacturing, to develop in new countries. This is evidenced
by the increasing imports of raw jute from India by such countries
for manufacturing purposes.2
II. — CHANGES IN WORLD TRADE
Structural changes in production are intimately connected with
structural changes in world trade, and vice versa. On the one hand,
changes in import and export markets caused by commercial and
monetary policies modify the international distribution of textile
manufacturing. On the other hand, expansion and contraction of
textile manufacturing in particular countries at differential rates
modify the channels through which textile manufactures flow in
world commerce.
A. — Trade in Cotton Goods
1. — Changes in Import Markets
India. — Some of the most significant structural changes in the
world trade in cotton textiles focus upon the Indian market. Briefly,
the shifts are threefold : first, imports of cotton cloth into India are
declining as Indian mills become increasingly capable of satisfying
domestic requirements. Second, as the Indian market has
1
a
Ibid., pp. 64, 66: World Production and Prices, 1935/36, p. 146.
Industrial Fibres, p. 76. The chief countries concerned are Japan, Brazil,
China, Argentina.
— 124 —
contracted in the absolute volume of cloth imported, the United
Kingdom has had declining absolute and percentage shares in it.
Third, Japan's absolute and percentage shares of the Indian import
market have been rising.
The evolution of the Indian cotton cloth market from 1913
to 1935 is presented in table 10.
TABLE 1 0 .
THE INDIAN COTTON CLOTH MARKET,
1913-1935
(in million linear y a r d s and percentages)
Indian mill production
. .
+ Retained imports
. . .
— E x p o r t s , Indian goods (a)
=
Mill cloth available
consumption
Percentage of imports
by:
United Kingdom
Japan
AH other
1928-1929
1932-1933
1935
1,164
3,135
89
1,893
1,913
149
3,170
1,204
66
3,555
1,033
68
4,210
3,657
4,307
4,520
for
India's percentage of available mill cloth
Imports by source :
United Kingdom
Japan
All other
1913-1914
. . . .
27.6
3,044
9
82
51.8
1,439
352
122
73.6
586
570
48
78.7
489
526
18
supplied
. . . .
97.1
0.3
2.6
75.2
18.4
6.4
48.7
•47.3
4.0
47.3
50.9
1.8
(a) Excluding exports by land, generally about 4 per cent, of total available.
JVole. — The relative proportions of imports furnished to India by the United Kingdom
and Japan are to-day largely governed by the Indo-Japanese Agreement, to be considered
in Chapter VIII, which fixes import quotas for Japanese piece goods scaled in accordance
with Japan's purchases of Indian raw cotton.
SOURCES: Computed from G. B. HUBBAHD: Eastern Industrialisation and its Effects on the
West, pp. 273-274; Cotton Trade Statistics, 1936, tables 101, 187, 213 A.
China. — As was shown earlier in this chapter, cotton
manufacturing has been an ever-expanding industry in China
since 1890. Within recent years, this process of internal expansion
has finally brought Chinese mills to the point where they are
capable of supplying almost the full effective home demand for
cotton cloth. Between 1926 and 1935, in particular, production
of piece goods by Chinese mills almost tripled in volume, while
imports of piece goods, as measured by value, practically disappeared. As a consequence, both the United Kingdom and Japan
— 125 —
have had to adjust themselves as exporters to the virtual extinction
of a former major market; Japan, however, has retained its market
in Manchuria. The evolution of China as a piece-goods market
is summarised in table 11.
TABLE 1 1 .
CHINA AS A COTTON PIECE-GOODS MARKET, 1 9 2 6 - 1 9 3 5
A. — Imports
Imports from
in thousand
£
1926
1929
1932
1935
. .
26,630
22,035
7,064
1,570
U n i t e d Kingdom
Japan
H o n g Kong
. .
U.S.S.R
O t h e r countries .
6,288
17,917
1,281
317
827
4,810
14,646
1,489
504
586
2,303
4,369
48
101
243
389
1,131
1
All Countries
B. — Production
China's mill production (million linear yards)
. . . .
Exports to China (million
square yards) from :
United Kingdom (a) . . .
Japan: to China
. . . .
to Manchuria . .
and Trade
in
49
Volume
1927
1929
1932
1934
360
590
810
939
103
188
125
187
15
20
56
170
[ 494 (b) 1I 375
156
(a) Exports to China and Hong Kong.
(b) Million linear yards.
Note. — For purposes of comparison : exports from the United Kingdom to China from
1909 to 1913, averaged 587 million linear yards annually.
SOURCE: Coííon Trade Siaiislics, 1936, tables 97, 180, 184, 215.
South America. — Another important market for piece-goods
exports, South America has since 1929 been the centre of structural
shifts in world trade. In the first place, in many South American
countries—Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Peru—cotton
manufacturing has been expanding at a rapid rate, so that significant proportions of home demand formerly supplied by imports
are now satisfied by domestic production. At the same time, as
in the case of India, this shrinkage of the import market has
coincided with a shift in the relative proportions of that market
held by the various oversea suppliers. Japan, in particular, has
— 126 —
been greatly increasing her share of total imports of cotton cloth
into South America; meanwhile the United Kingdom, although
still retaining her position as the leading piece-goods exporter
to that continent, has had a smaller share of the total. Italy and
the United States, formerly following the United Kingdom as
furnishers of important proportions of total South American cotton
cloth purchases, have seen their shipments fall off rapidly and
continuously during the last six years; the decline for the United
States is particularly striking. Table 12 shows the recent changes
in the South American market as they affect its major suppliers.
TABLE 1 2 .
THE SOUTH AMERICAN COTTON PIECE-GOODS MARKET,
1929-35.
Exports from
1929
1932
In million
United Kingdom
United States
Japan
. . . .
Total above
. .
square
Total (b)
. . . .
1935
yards
346
111
29
204
64
28
269
57
57
278
34
166
238
24
198
486
296
383
488
460
In thousand
Italy
1934
1933
qilintals
164
86
92
74
650
382
475
562
53(a)
513
(a) 1 January to 30 September 1935.
(b) For rough comparative purposes only, assuming one million square yards equal to
one thousand quintals.
SOURCE: Cotton Trade Statistics, table 317.
2. — Trends in Exports
The United Kingdom. — Before 1914 the predominant supplier
of cotton cloth to the world, and still to-day the leading exporter
by total value, the United Kingdom has suffered from a drastic
and almost unbroken decline in export shipments ever since the
end of the World War. By far the largest factor in this decline, when
1913 is compared with 1935, has been the huge curtailment of
purchases by India. Other major elements have been the almost
complete collapse of outlets in China and other Far Eastern countries, the considerable contraction in Latin-American sales, as
TABLE 1 3 .
EXPORTS OF COTTON PIECE GOODS, UNITED KINGDOM, COUNT
(in million linear yards)
All kinds
1913
British India
China, Japan and Hong Kong, etc.
Notherland East Indies; Ceylon,
Straits Settlements, etc. . . .
South America
Mexico, Central America and West
Indies
United States and Canada . . .
Australia and New Zealand . .
Europe (excepting the Balkans) .
Balkans, Near and Middle East .
North Africa
West Africa
South and East Africa
3,057
Total, all countries . . .
1935
Grey, unbleached White, bleached
1913
1935
1913
1935
498
18
1,483
773
265
91
1
782
275
234
4
539
582
83
280
83
46
5
18
152
182
35
58
168
157
211
389
478
357
243
121
86
70
167
200
95
60
236
178
8
28
35
198
94
87
14
16
3
20
48
84
6
7
27
6
63
49
66
69
147
155
71
33
14
17
31
25
38
30
64
33
7,075
1,970
2,357
315
2,045
582
SOURCE: Board oí Trade Journal, 24 Sept. 1936, pp. 430-431.
1
1,
Small exports to Irish Free State (1935
— 128 —
well as the sharp reduction in exports to the Balkans, the Near and
Middle East, to North Africa, to the rest of Europe, and to North
America. In the face of this universal decline, only in a few markets
have British piece goods found anything like continuing or increased
acceptance: South and East Africa, West Africa, Australia and
New Zealand. The extent and character of the shrinkage is
summarised in table 13.
It is seen from table 13 that in this more or less general decline the
categories of exports hardest hit by far were the plain cloths, that
is goods in the grey together with bleached fabrics. It is no mere
coincidence that a catastrophic contraction which, viewed in terms
of regional markets, took place principally in India, China, and
other Asiatic countries, should, when viewed in terms of cloth
types, have taken place mainly in the coarser and cheaper fabrics.
In fact, the predominant element in Lancashire's persisting structural depression may be defined as the progressive decline of power
to sell the plainest kinds of cotton cloth in the lowest income
markets of the world. During the last three or four years, however,
British fabrics have succeeded in maintaining their value share
of the contracting world market for cotton piece goods, while the
absolute volume of such exports has more or less been stabilised
at the level of about 2 billion square yards annually. Excepting
India, the volume of United Kingdom exports of cotton cloth has
in fact shown a rising tendency.1
TABLE 1 4 .
UNITED KINGDOM EXPORTS OF COTTON PIECE GOODS,
1 9 2 9 AND 1 9 3 5 , ACCORDING TO TARIFF TREATMENT IN 1 9 3 5
(in percentages of total volume exported t o all countries)
1929
1935
Quota
only on
competitors
of
United
Kingdom
7.5
14.1
Tariff
preference
for
United
Kingdom
12.6
19.5
Quota
Exon
change United
restric- Kingtions
dom
10.7
14.1
11.2
9.0
Nondiscriminatory
nigh
tariff
Nondiscriminatory
low
tariff
British
India
(a)
All
other
2.4
0.7
13.9
10.3
37.5
27.9
4.2
4.4
(a) Protective tariff; tariff preference for United Kingdom; quota on imports from
Japan.
SOURCES: Computed from JOINT COMMITTEE OF COTTON TRADE ORGANISATIONS: The
Changing Conditions of World Trade in Cotton and Rayon Goods, Manchester, 1936,
" V. — The Commercial Policies of Foreign Countries ", Statistical Appendix, p. 2.
Exports to India from Cotton Trade Statistics, 1936, table 180, and Board of Trade
Journal, 24 Sept. 1936, p. 430.
1
See t h e Economist, London, 21 and 28 Nov. 1936, " L a n c a s h i r e ' s F u t u r e " ,
a n d I I . Compare Cotton Trade Statistics, 1936, tables 178, 179, 180.
— 129 —
In the process of contraction in United Kingdom shipments
since 1929, the regional composition of the markets of the United
Kingdom has been modified under the influence of four factors:
(1) increased import duties, (2) quota restrictions, (3) preferential
tariff rates, and (4) exchange restrictions. The net results on the
structure of the existing British world market are shown in table 14.
Japan. — From 1924 to the end of 1935, the volume of cotton
cloth exports from Japan experienced unbroken expansion, the
major leap forward occurring between 1931 and 1932.1 In fact the
so-called problem of " Japanese competition " has arisen principally
by virtue of a rising volume of textile exports from that country
in a world market which was shrinking because of cyclical and
structural developments. The comparative evolution of cotton
cloth exports from Japan and the United Kingdom is shown in
table 15; attention may be directed especially to the varying
developments of grey, bleached and coloured fabric shipments.
Another major element in the problem of " Japanese competition " has been the preponderant orientation of Japanese cloth
exports, in a world everywhere suffering from curtailed incomes,
toward regional markets lowest in the income scale: South Asia,
the Far East, Colonial Africa, etc. Thus between 1931 and 1935,
Japanese shipments of cotton goods to Colonial Africa multiplied
threefold ; shipments to India and Ceylon rose by 40 per cent. ;
the decline in shipments to China was more than made up for
by a greater than twofold increase in exports to other parts of the
Far East. At the same time, it should be realised that Japanese
exports to national markets quite high in the income scale, e.g. the
United States and some of the British Dominions, have also risen
markedly. The changing Japanese export market structure is
shown in table 16.
In the process of Japan's expansion as an exporter of cotton
cloth, the United States and Italy as well as the United Kingdom
have felt the impact of profound structural changes. First, Japan
has entered Latin-American markets on a large scale during recent
years; this entry has coincided with a drastic decline of exports
from the United States and Italy, together with a moderate drop
in shipments from the United Kingdom, as shown in table 12.
Second, Japan has replaced the United States as the principal
1
The value of Japan's exports, as computed in foreign exchange, has not
kept pace with the increased volume. The j'en value has, of course, expanded
considerably, but at the same time the yen has depreciated further than most
other major currencies.
9
TABLE 1 5 .
JAPAN AND THE UNITED KINGDOM AS COTTON PIECE-G
(value and volume)
Value in million £ :
United Kingdom .
Japan
Volume in million square yards :
United Kingdom
Japan
Volume in million square yards, by kind :
Grey, unbleached:
United Kingdom
Japan
W h i t e , bleached:
United Kingdom
Japan
Coloured (printed;
dyed) :
United Kingdom
Japan
yarn
or
1924
1928
153.4
30.4
107.3
33.6
1929
99.3
39.2
1930
61.3
27.7
1931
37.3
21.5
4,444
3,867
997(a) 1,418
3,672
1,791
2,407
1,572
1,716
1,414
1,515
1,084
608
1,034
816
581
672
302
561
1,394
1,349
115
1,295
128
877
163
639
190
1,535
1,434
696
1,342
846
950
737
776
662
piece
(a) Million linear yards.
SOURCE: Cotton Trade Statistics, 1933, tables 180,184; 1936, tables 178,180, 186; Manchester Guardian, 17
1937, p. 82.
— 131 —
supplier of cotton cloth to the Philippine Islands. Third, Japanese
exports of cotton cloth to the United States itself have been mounting rapidly. Each of these three problems may in turn be briefly
considered.
TABLE 1 6 . — EXPORTS OF COTTON PIECE GOODS, JAPAN, BY MARKETS,
1924-1935
(million square yards)
1924
(a)
Total
. . .
British India
Ceylon
. . .
Kwantung
H o n g Kong
Manchuria
China
. . . .
. . . .
. . . .
. .
N e t h e r l a n d Indies .
Malaya
Siam
Philippine Islands .
Total a b o v e .
South America
. .
. .
1931
1932
1933
1934
1935
997
1,791
1,414
2,032
2,090
2,577
2,725
¡•144
581
404
645
452
1«
1 411
556
5
45
53
56
85
J 156
Ì 375
38
63
21
218
89
23
15
187
86
29
92
113
84
36
170
59
68
49
161
56
672
340
314
320
349
334
193
30
18
27
212
41
6
33
352
82
25
21
423
96
40
35
441
91
61
76
371
47
70
88
268
292
480
594
669
576
29
17
28
57
166
198
¡418
Total a b o v e .
1929
516
89
15
4
18
126
8(6)
. . .
21
2
14
1
21
1
36
1
55
3
75
3
87
5
Total Australia
and New Zealand
23
15
22
37
58
78
92
57
(c)
13
107
M
104
35
25
195
61
42
210
39
11
234
45
8
164
60
20
(118)(C)
164
298
260
287
244
Australia
New Zealand
Egypt
Aden
Turkey
Total above . . .
(70)(c)
11
South Africa
. . .
1
14
39
36
26
16
26
Other Africa
. . .
(c)
41
83
128
187
256
286
(53)(/)
52
65
137
305
407
Other countries . .
(99) (e)
(a) Million linear yards.
(b) Argentina only.
(c) Nil, or included with " other countries ".
(d) Not including Aden.
(e) Including " Aden " and " other Africa ", if any.
(/) Including " Aden ", if any.
SOURCE: Cotton Trade Statistics, 1933, tables 18 Í, 186; 1936, tables 184, 186, 317
— 132 —
Latín America. — Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Cuba and Haiti
are major Latin-American markets meriting particular analysis.
The rise of Japan as an exporter to these markets since 1929, and
the decline in the importance of the United States, Italy and the
United Kingdom are summarised in table 17; in examining the
table, it should be kept in mind that Japan's exports to most
Latin-American markets reached their peak in 1934, and have
since declined somewhat, largely as a consequence of tariff restrictions and discrimination considered in Chapter VIII.
TABLE 1 7 .
CHANGES IN L A T I N - A M E R I C A N COTTON CLOTH M A R K E T S ,
1929-1935
(in million square yards)
E x p o r t s from
Exports
to
Argentina (a)
Chile . . . .
Colombia . .
Cuba. . . .
Haiti. . . .
Japan
United States
United Kingdom
1929
1931
1935
1929
1931
23.9
28.2
26.0
76.6
14.5
12.8
13.0
26.4
53.6
14.7
0.4
11.8
8.8
55.4
4.9
17.6
4.4
10.5 103.4 144.2
2.4 26.8 49.9
22.0 41.8
0.4
9.8 18.9
15.4
2.0
0.1
1935
1929
1931
1935
93.1 134.2
8.5
16.9
31.4 40.5
4.1
9.1
2.0
3.1
(o) E x p o r t s from Italy to Argentina, in thousand quintals: 1929, 118.5; 1931, 70.5;
1934, 62.3.
S O U R C E S : Cotton Trade Stalistics, table 190; U N I T E D STATES T A R I F F COMMISSION: Recent
Developments in the Foreign Trade of Japan, 1936, p p . 65-66; Annual Statement of the
Trade of the United Kingdom, 1930, p p . 180-181; 1935, p p . 245-246.
It would be incorrect to interpret these figures without allowing
for the fact that Latin America, a producer above all of raw materials, was very hard hit by the world economic crisis. Given the
reduction of national income which occurred in Latin-American
countries, it was only natural that they should turn from the
relatively dearer and finer types of cloths provided by the United
States and the United Kingdom to the relatively coarser and
cheaper fabrics supplied by Japan. In this connection, it should
be emphasized that after 1933, increased production costs and
higher selling prices operated to reduce United States exports of
cotton cloth to Latin America. In any event, the extent to which
Japan's cloth exports to Latin America appeal particularly to the
lower ranges in the income scale is suggested in table 18.
— 133 —
TABLE 1 8 .
UNIT VALUES OF COTTON CLOTH IMPORTS INTO SELECTED
LATIN-AMERICAN
COUNTRIES, BY SOURCE, 1 9 3 4
(in United States dollars per volume unit) (a)
Imports into
Imports from
United States
Italy
Japan
United K i n g d o m .
All other
All countries
. . .
. . . .
Argentina
Colombia
Cuba
Haiti
S
0.500
0.444
0.398
0.464
0.437
S
0.482
(b)
0.301
0.597
0.509
$
(0.392)
(b)
(0.277)
(0.498)
(0.658)
$
0.365
(b)
0.260
0.490
0.546
0.446
0.490
(0.398)
0.300
(a) Dollars per square yard; for Cuba, dollars per lb.
(b) Included in " All other ".
SOURCE.
UNITED STATES TARIFF COMMISSION: Cotton Cloth Report, 1936, p. 77.
The greater part of Japan's increased exports of cotton cloth to
Latin America from 1929 to 1935 was achieved at the expense of
contraction in exports from the United States, Italy and the
United Kingdom. To a considerable degree, however, Japan was
probably exploiting levels of demand which would have remained
unresponsive if cheap cotton goods had not become available
to consumers with much reduced incomes. In short, Japan was not
merely competing with the United States, Italy and the United
Kingdom, and displacing them as competitors; Japan was also
keeping open markets which the depression might otherwise have
kept closed.
The Philippines. — The same general analysis holds true of the
Philippine Islands as a market for cotton cloth. In 1929 the
Islands imported 139.8 million square yards of piece goods ; of this
total, the United States supplied 93.2 million, Japan 23.6 million,
the United Kingdom 11.9 million, and China and Switzerland,
among other countries, the small balance. In 1931 imports from the
United States fell to 55.9 million and from the United Kingdom
to 5.1 million, while those from Japan forged ahead to 39.2 million
square yards. In 1934 Japan and the United States occupied the
market almost by themselves: imports from Japan now rose to
67.4 million square yards, those from the United States sank
— 134 —
further to 51.8 million.1 In short, imports from Japan were progressively replacing imports from all other major suppliers
throughout the depression period 1929-1934. What is more, these
imports from Japan were definitely being directed towards the
lower levels of demand : thus in 1934 the average per unit value of
Japanese cloth (§0.056 per square yard) was only half the unit value
of United States cloth (SO.l 11) and a still smaller fraction of the
unit value of United Kingdom cloth ($0.136).2
The United States Home Market. — Although imports supply the
United States with but a negligible proportion of its cotton cloth
domestically consumed, in absolute volume such imports are
substantial. Before 1931 the United Kingdom furnished threequarters of the yardage of cotton cloth annually imported into the
United States, followed by Switzerland, France, Czechoslovakia,
Japan and Germany, in the order mentioned. From 1931 to 1934
the demand for British cloths contracted sharply, so that Switzerland took the lead by virtue of its exports of permanent finished
organdies, a fine-yarned, high-priced speciality. In the beginning
of 1934, however, " imports of lower-grade, lower-price staples
from Japan increased sharply with the result that in December
of 1934 and throughout 1935 Japan was the main source on the
square-yard basis of American imports of cotton cloths ".3
In terms of percentage change, the United States has been one
of the most rapidly expanding markets for Japanese exports of
piece goods since 1929. In that year such shipments totalled 1.22
million square yards; they rose to 7.29 million in 1934 and to
36.5 million in 1935; a total rise of about 3,000 per cent, over the
whole period. Meanwhile the yardage of imports from the United
Kingdom to the United States fell below a third of the 1929 level;
imports from Switzerland were cut by a full half; from Czechoslovakia, by more than a half, etc.4 As in Latin America and the
Philippine Islands, so also in the United States, imports of cloth
from Japan are of particular appeal to the lower-income groups. Thus
in 1935 the unit value of Japanese cloth averaged 31.2 cents per
lb., of United Kingdom cloths $1.13, and of Swiss cloths $2.10, etc.5
1
At present, Japanese imports into the Philippine Islands are restricted
in total quantity in accordance with a voluntary agreement, discussed in
Chapter VIII.
2
Data on imports into the Philippine Islands from Cotton Trade Statistics,
1936,
table 218; on unit values, from Cotton Cloth Report, 1936, p. 11.
3
Cotton Cloth Report, p. 48.
4
Cotton Trade Statistics, 1936, table 247.
6
Cotton Cloth Report, p. 49.
— 135 —
French Export Markets. — Recession in the volume of cotton
fabric exports from France between 1927 and 1935 was quite
drastic. From the prosperity level of 784.2 thousand quintals
attained in 1927, exports had already declined to 672.2 thousand by
1929; from this level, they sank to 389.4 thousand in 1932, a volume
maintained in 1935.1 To appreciate the full meaning of this slump,
it must be realised that France is one of the countries where the
prosperity of cotton manufacturing is tied up with the export trade ;
about one-third in value of all its cotton fabrics are manufactured
for export.
To a considerable extent the contraction in French exports
reflects the influence of the world crisis, reinforced by the adverse
effects of French monetary policy. Nevertheless a close examination of the distribution of exports discloses profound structural
elements connected with the worldwide movement towards the
erection of prohibitive tariff barriers, quantitative limitations of
imports, bilateral trade restrictions, and foreign exchange control.
Thus, in 1930 the French colonies imported 18 per cent, of the
value of France's entire domestic output of cotton textiles; foreign
countries 14 per cent, of the total value. In 1934 only 3 per cent.
of France's output of cotton piece goods was exported to foreign
countries, and as much as 28 per cent, to the colonies.2 These
figures give some idea of how the pressures operating to exclude
France from foreign markets were driving that country into almost
exclusive reliance on her colonies as an outlet for cotton cloth
exports.3 The changes in France's export markets since 1927
are shown in table 19.
The extreme contraction of France's foreign markets which this
table reveals calls for some comment. The virtual disappearance
of the once high-ranking German market is largely to be explained
by the cumulative effects of that country's commercial and economic
policies. The radical contraction of the British market no doubt
reflects currency factors and changed tariff policies. The shrinkage
in the Argentine markets is largely attributable to foreign
exchange difficulties in Argentina and to delayed devaluation in
France. Had it not been for France's success in maintaining
colonial markets, its exports of cotton textiles .between 1932 and
1935 would have become negligible.
1
2
3
Cotton Trade Statistics, 1936, tabic 191.
Bulletin de la Statistique générale de la France, Oct. to Dec. 1936, p. 115.
The nature of the commercial policies by which France implemented its
progressive reliance on the colonial market is discussed in Chapter VIII.
— 136 —
TABLE
19.
EXPORTS
OF COTTON
FABRICS
(ß)
FROM
FRANCE,
SELECTED MARKETS, 1 9 2 7 - 1 9 3 5
(in t h o u s a n d quintals)
1927
1932
1935
To selected
colonies:
Algeria
French Indo-China
Madagascar. . .'
Tunis
French West Africa
156.5
99.7
44.9
31.3
18.6
109.2
75.3
35.4
36.5
11.6
132.8
79.9
35.1
46.4
46.2
Total above
351.0
268.0
. 340.4
129.2
44.4
40.4
20.1
5.4
10.2
5.3
4.7
1.2
4.1
2.8
2.7
234.1
25.6
10.8
To other countries
199.1
95.8
38.2
To all countries
784.2
38 9.4
389.4
44.8
29.8
25.4
68.8
6.6
24.6
87.4
2.8
9.8
100.0
100.0
100.0
To selected foreign
countries:
Germany
Switzerland. .
United Kingdom
Argentina
Total above
Percentage share of:
Selected colonies
Selected foreign countries
O t h e r countries
(a)
Including curtains, embroidery, lace, etc.
SOURCE: Cotton Trade Statistics, 1936, table 191.
German Exports. — Exports of cotton piece goods from Germany
also contracted between 1929 and 1935. In 1929 such exports
amounted to 200 thousand quintals; by 1932 they had receded
to 80 thousand, and by 1935 had risen somewhat to 96 thousand
quintals. At the same time the structure of export markets underwent radical changes as shown in table 20 below.
In 1929, it is seen, the chief markets for Germany's exports of
cotton piece goods were the smaller countries adjoining her boundaries, which might be called her " neighbour market ", and the
United Kingdom. Such countries as Argentina, the United States,
Turkey, and the Union of South Africa, were also individually
important. By 1932 shipments to all markets had declined 60 per
cent, in obvious response to cyclical influences; the market which
held up best was that of the neighbouring small countries. The
true structural changes became operative between 1932 and 1935.
— 137 —
While total exports rose almost 20 per cent., those to the " neighbour
market " were more than cut in half; those to Argentina, the
United Kingdom and the United States continued their earlier
decline. Other markets, however, had expanded by 1935. In that
year Turkey took more than five times its 1932 volume, China over
four times its 1932 purchases, and British West Africa just seven
times as much; the miscellaneous category "all other countries "
(where certain Balkan, Near Eastern and Latin-American countries
bulk large) increased its purchases by about 50 per cent. On the
whole, the changing structure reflects the recent economic and
commercial policies of the Third Reich—notably exchange control,
clearing agreements, and compensation accords—which have
resulted in difficulties in some markets and in trading advantages
in others.
TABLE 2 0 .
EXPORTS OF COTTON PIECE GOODS FROM GERMANY,
SELECTED MARKETS, 1 9 2 9 - 1 9 3 5
(iñ thousand quintals)
1929
1932
1935
4.3
9.9
10.9
5.0
1.4
4.6
14.3
5.6
0.4
2.9
4.5
2.5
30.1
25.9
10.3
Kingdom
of South Africa
3.8
2.8
29.6
7.3
0.8
1.6
8.1
1.1
5.7
1.5
6.0
0.2
Total above
43.5
11.6
13.4
14.2
5.2
14.0
9.1
84.2
1.6
1.4
3.3
2.7
33.9
0.5
6.0
1.2 .
15.8
48.5
126.7
42.9
72.0
200.3
80.4
95.7
To selected European
Austria
Denmark
Netherlands
Switzerland
countries:
Total above
To selected
British
India
United
Union
countries of the British Empire :
West Africa
To other selected countries:
Argentina
China
United States
Turkey
All other countries
Total above
To all countries
SOURCE: Cotton Trade Statistics. 1936, table 197.
Italian Exports. — Italy's exports of cotton piece goods were
also drastically curtailed between 1929 and 1934. From the level
— 138 —
of 567.4 thousand quintals reached in 1929, such exports had fallen
by 1932 to 339.9 thousand, and by 1934 still further to 241.9
thousand. 1 The regional distribution of export markets, moreover,
underwent a significant transformation during the period in
question, as evidenced by table 21.
TABLE
21.
COTTON PIECE
GOODS EXPORTED
FROM ITALY TO
SELECTED MARKETS, 1 9 2 9 - 1 9 3 4
(in thousand quintals)
To selected Balkan
Greece
Rumania
Yugoslavia
Total above
To selected Near Eastern
Egypt
Turkey
1932
1934(a)
21.4
16.4
25.8
6.3
11.3
8.6
8.5
3.6
11.6
63.6
26.2
23.7
69.3
-57.6
47.6
34.3
32.8
7.1
126.9
81.9
39.9
18.1
20.6
20.0
18.1
18.3
16.8
38.7
38.1
35.1
countries :
Total above
To selected African
Eritrea
Morocco
1929
countries:
countries :
Total above . . . . . . .
To selected Asiatic countries :
India and Ceylon
Netherlands Indies
Total above
To selected South American
Argentina
Uruguay
Total above
To all other countries
30.2
12.1
2.8
16.4
5.5
1.4
46.6
17.6
4.2
118.5
78.4
62.3
11.6
3.5
6.0
130.1
81.9
68.3
161.4
94.2
70.7
countries :
To all countries
567.4
339.9
241.9
(a) The distribution of exports for the first nine months of 1935 did not differ materially
from the 1934 figures here given. Compare Statistica del Commercio Speciale di Importazione e di Esportazione, September 1935, pp. 186-187.
SOURCE: Colion Trade .Statistics, 1936, table 192.
1
This tendency was continued in 1935; see Annuario
1936, p . 116.
Statistico
Italiano,
— 139 —
Table 21 shows that the leading markets for Italian exports of
cotton piece goods in 1929 were South America and the Near East,
each of which took at least a fourth of the total. The Balkan,.
the Asiatic and the African markets were also responsible for
substantial proportions in the order given. The changes between
1929 and 1932 were, as in the case of Germany, almost entirely
cyclical, except for the pronounced resistance of markets in Eritrea
and Morocco, and the particularly sharp decline in the shipments
to India, Ceylon and the Netherlands East Indies. Between 1932
and 1934, however, the changes were almost entirely structural.
First, the African markets were maintained almost intact in the
face of general contraction. Second, the Balkan markets also
held up at virtually their 1932 level. On the other hand, third,
the chief Asiatic markets came close to disappearing. Fourth,
the Latin-American markets yielded ground moderately. By and
large, these changes mainly reflect the influence of Italy's economic
and commercial policies of the last few years, particularly the
commercial drive towards Northern Africa, the Balkans and the
Near East, and the maintenance to a considerable degree of Italian
economic ties with South America.
Summary. — Limitations of space make it impossible to examine
the distribution of exports for other countries such as the U.S.S.R.,
Czechoslovakia, Poland, Belgium, Netherlands and Switzerland.
Such an examination would serve to reinforce the fact that at the
root of all the structural changes in the cotton textile trade here
described are the " natural " or " induced " advance of industrialism in many countries, restrictive commercial policies, and
changing standards of consumption. Almost all major exporters
of cotton textiles have not only experienced contraction in the
absolute volume of their market, but have also undergone transformations in market structure. At the same time, other cotton
manufacturing countries—Japan above all, but the Soviet Union
and Portugal as well—have succeeded in expanding the quantity
of their cotton cloth exports in the face of the general world crisis.1
Owing to these policies, combined with the effects of the depression,
1
Exports from the Soviet Union rose from 38 thousand quintals in 1928
to 188 thousand in 1932 and to an average of 200 thousand quintals in 1934
and 1935. Portugal's exports, which declined from 15 to 9 thousand quintals
between 1919 and 1930, thereafter rose steadily to 25 thousand in 1935 (Cotton
Trade Statistics, 1936, table 179). Scattered trade returns indicate that Soviet
exports have recently been, or are at present, a substantial factor in such
countries as Argentina, China, Iran, and Turkey.
— 140 —
the increased exports from particular countries were bound to
strain the world trading mechanism at critical points. So far as
cotton goods are concerned these critical points were located in
South Asia, the Far East, and tropical Africa; and in all regions,
at the lower levels of the income scale. Moreover, the capacity
of such regions as the Balkans, the Near East, South America,
and Northern Africa to absorb imports of cotton cloth through
long-established channels was being radically modified, after 1932
at least, by the evolution of many new commercial devices and
policies tending toward the widespread replacement of multilateral by bilateral trade.
Although exports of cotton cloth were falling heavily duiing the
depression, those of cotton yarn suffered only a moderate decline.
At the same time, and still more significantly, mill consumption
of raw cotton was extremely well maintained. These three interrelated but differing movements, summarised in table 22, resulted
from the interaction of at least three factors: (1) the continued
spread of the cotton textile industry to newer manufacturing
countries and its continued growth therein; (2) the well-recognised
tendency to develop weaving ahead of spinning in such countries,
and (3) the relative resistance of the textile knitting industries to
the world slump and the resultant maintenance of demand for yarn.
An additional influence was the probable tendency, during a world
economic crisis, to produce coarser and heavier constructions of
cotton cloth.
TABLE
22.
WORLD
PRODUCTION
AND WORLD
TRADE
IN
COTTON
TEXTILES, 1929-1935
Production (mill consumption of raw
cotton)
Exports of yarn
Exports of piece goods
S O U R C E : Computed from Cotton Trade Statistics,
B.
1929
1931
1933
1935
100
100
100
87
83
63
96
76
68
99
75
72
1936, tables 72, 131 and 179.
Trade in Wool Textiles
As in cotton textiles, so also in wool textiles, world trade has
contracted much more sharply, since 1928, than world output.
— 141 —
The situation, so far as it lends itself to statistical determination,
is presented in table 23.
TABLE 2 3 .
WORLD PRODUCTION AND WORLD
TRADE IN WOOL
TEXTILES, 1929-1934
Production
Exports of
Exports of
Exports of
of tops and yarn
tops
yarn
tissues
1929
1932
1934
100
100
100
100
92
103
58
44
87
98
62
47
SOURCE : Computed from World Consumption of Wool, 1928-1935, Appendices 2, 4, 6 and 7.
Production figure is estimated available supplies of raw wool in consuming countries.
All four of the movements shown in table 23 are interrelated.
largely by the increasing productive activity at all stages of
manufacture in a number of countries where wool manufacturing
is a developing industry. First and foremost, the index of activity
in manufacturing tops and yarn for the world as a whole conceals
divergent movements in its component regional parts. Thus, during
the period under review, the index for the eleven countries which
were major wool manufacturers in 1929 declined from 100 in
that year to 89 in 1932 and 82 in 1934.1 In contrast, the same index
for nine countries of recent expansion in wool manufacturing rose
during the corresponding period from 100 to 130 to 162.2 These
divergences mean, second, that pre-existing export channels for
wool tissues have become clogged, inasmuch as the newer manufacturing countries are spinning the yarn and combing the tops for
home weaving at the expense of former imports. Third, because
weaving tends to develop more rapidly than combing and spinning
in at least the early stages of establishing a domestic wool-textile
industry, world trade in yarns and tops has been somewhat better
maintained than international commerce in finished tissues.3
As table 23 shows, trade in wool tops, a highly specialised semimanufacture, was the only form of international wool textile trade
which remained actually constant in quantum during the world
crisis. On the import side, this constancy was mainly to be attributed to the relatively small annual variations of imports into
1
The countries are Germany, Belgium, Spain, the United States, France,
Italy, Japan, Poland, United Kingdom, Czechoslovakia, and the U.S.S.R.
(World Consumption of Wool, p. 13).
2
The countries are Argentina, Australia, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia,
Lithuania, Norway, and Sweden (ibid., p. 14).
3
See World Consumption of Wool, Appendices 4 and 6.
— 142 —
Germany, Belgium, and Czechoslovakia as a group, together with
expanding imports into Canada, Hungary, Sweden, and Switzerland.1 On the export side, total shipments from France and the
United Kingdom, the principal suppliers, varied little from year
to year; those from Germany, particularly to Czechoslovakia,
contracted severely; those from Belgium rose substantially.2 As
also shown in table 23, trade in wool and worsted yarn went down
considerably between 1929 and 1934. Although the United Kingdom
maintained substantially the whole volume of its 1929 exports
intact during that period, shipments from the other principal
suppliers contracted—those from France by almost half, those
from Czechoslovakia by approximately the same amount, and
those from Germany by almost two-thirds. The decline in the case
of French exports was mainly attributable to the complete collapse
of almost all yarn imports into the United Kingdom between
1931 and 1932.3 In the case of Czechoslovakia, the decline is to be
carried back fundamentally to reduced takings by Germany,
Austria, and, to a lesser extent, by the United Kingdom.4 Among
the major elements in the shrinking markets for Germany's wool
yarn exports were the reduced takings above all by China, and
also by Japan in the Far East and by the Netherlands, the United
Kingdom, and Sweden in Western and Northern Europe.5
On the import side of world trade in woollen and worsted yarn
from 1928 to 1934, the total decline was almost entirely attributable
to three factors. First, between 1931 and 1932, the United Kingdom,
formerly a large market, particularly for worsted yarns from France,
ceased, for all practical purposes, to be a market at all. Second,
without break in each year from 1928 forward, Germany was
curtailing at a rapid rate its once heavy imports. Third, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Belgium and Japan similarly were purchasing
less and less from foreign suppliers, the Japanese market practically
disappearing in 1934. On the other hand, import volumes were
well maintained, on the whole, in the Scandinavian countries, in
the Baltic and Balkan States, in China, and in Switzerland. In fact
sharp increases of imports, at rates suggesting more than cyclical
growth in weaving capacity, were registered by India, the Irish
Free State, and Turkey.6
1
2
3
4
5
6
Ibid.,
Ibid.,
Ibid.,
Ibid.,
Ibid.,
Ibid.,
p. 299.
p. 85.
pp. 73, 302.
p. 152.
p. 87.
pp. 301-302.
— 143 —
Most drastic among the declines shown in table 23 was that for
international trade in woollen and worsted tissues. The extremely
sharp fall between 1931 and 1932, as in the case of yarn, requires
that particular attention be given to this critical period, during
which the United Kingdom allowed the pound sterling to depreciate
and broke with its traditional free trade policy. World imports of
wool tissues, so far as recorded by weight, fell from 121 to 71 million
lbs. between 1931 and 1932, a total fall of 50 million lbs. Imports
into the United Kingdom alone fell from 28 million to 3 million lbs.,
or 50 per cent, of the whole world decline.1
This contraction in British imports, fraught with serious consequences to its old suppliers, was concentrated heavily on three
of them: France, above all, and then Germany and Italy. So far
as France was concerned, its exports of wool tissues to the United
Kingdom went down from almost 9 million lbs. to less than 1 million
lbs., almost a complete disappearance of what had been by far the
most important export market for French mills. As regards
Germany, her sales of wool clothing tissues to the British market
fell from over 7 to less than half a million lbs., also a virtual
disappearance of the major export outlet. As for Italy, her exports
of wool and mixed wool tissues to the United Kingdom went down
from over 8 to less than 1 million lbs., i.e. an amount equal to
almost all of Italy's export decline.2 In brief, the tightening of
the United Kingdom market against imports of wool fabrics from
Germany, France and Italy accounted for about one-fourth of
the total shrinkage in the world trade of woollen tissues.
In fact, it would be permissible to conclude that the most
profound structural factor in curtailing woollen and worsted trade
since 1928 was brought into play when the United Kingdom decided
late in 1931 simultaneously to detach the pound sterling from its
fixed gold base and to generalise individual safeguarding duties into
a protective tariff regime. A second curtailing influence, slower but
no less certain in its operation, has been the more than cyclical
drop of imports into old final consumption markets now vigorously
promoting their own wool manufacturing industry on the basis,
in whole or in part, of home supplies of the raw material: China,
Hungary, Turkey, as well as Chile, Peru and Uruguay in
South America. A third structural restrictive influence has resulted
from the gradual closing of certain markets, notably those of
1
2
Ibid., pp. 303, 304.
Ibid., pp. 75, 91, 114.
— 144 —
Germany and Italy, in their evolution away from multilateral
toward bilateral trade, and away from full contact with the world
economic system toward self-sufficiency.1
In the general process of contracting trade, the United Kingdom
has suffered perhaps less than most other countries. Between 1928
and 1931, it is true, her exports of woollen and worsted tissues were
cut to just half their former volume; in fact, the net drop, about
49 million lbs., was close to 60 per cent, of the decline by weight of
exports for all countries recorded.2 Since 1931, however, British
exports have been more than sustained ; by 1934, in fact, they had
risen from 49 million lbs. in the earlier to 58 million lbs. in the later
year, against a global decline, for all recording countries, from 156
to 108 million lbs.3 The fall from 1928 to 1931 was no doubt the
result mainly of the industrial depression; the rise since then may
be attributed, structurally at least, to the early depreciation of the
pound sterling, and to the maintenance of export status in the
British Dominions and India, as well as in foreign countries closely
tied to the United Kingdom economically, notably Argentina,
Denmark and Egypt.4 Next to the countries considered above, Czechoslovakia also
belongs to the group of countries whose exports of wool tissues
experiences a catastrophic fall during the course of the world crisis.
Exports from Czechoslovakia began to fall in response to cyclical
forces in 1929; they declined from 24 million lbs. in that year to
14 million in 1931. Between 1931 and 1932 they were more than
halved in volume, and thereafter remained more or less constant
until 1935 at the level of about 4 or 5 million lbs. yearly. A large
part of the collapse between 1931 and 1932 was attributable to
lessened exports, not only to the United Kingdom, but also to
a number of countries, notably Denmark and Sweden, which at
once readjusted their currencies and joined the " sterling bloc".
A somewhat more important part of the collapse, however, resulted
from the shrinkage in exports to Czechoslovakia's neighbouring
markets, Austria, Yugoslavia, Germany, and Hungary. The
failure of exports to revive since 1931 is to be explained, in large
measure, by the commercial policies pursued during this period by
the various countries constituting that " neighbour market " ;
1
For data on reduced imports of wool tissues into the countries here
specified, see ibid., pp. 303-304.
2
Ibid., p. 303.
3
In 1935, moreover, these tendencies continued (ibid., p. 26).
4
For exports to these and other countries, ibid., p. 46.
— 145 —
trade barriers have multiplied perhaps more in Central and Balkan
Europe than in most other regions.1
Only one country has succeeded, and spectacularly, in expanding
its exports of woollen and worsted tissues since 1929 ; that country
is Japan. The development of the Japanese export trade in
these manufactures is shown in table 24.
TABLE
24.
EXPORTS
OF WOOLLEN
JAPAN,
AND
WORSTED
TISSUES
FROM
1929-1935
(volume and value)
1929
Value (a) in t h o u s a n d yen 4,153
Volume (b) in million square
yards
3.4
1931
1932
1933
1934
1935
1,396
4,481
12,377
29,849
32,401
1.4
4.4
10.3
20.2
21.3
(o) All woollen and worsted tissues.
(6) Mousseline de laine and wool cloths and serges only, that is, about three-fourths
of the total yardage in 1935.
SOURCES: World Consumption of Wool, p. 123; Japanese Trade and Industry, 1936, p. 512.
In the expansion of Japanese exports it has only been a question
of which markets developed more rapidly than others. The
total expansion has been largest in the Kwantung Territory,
British India, China, and Manchuria in that order. The largest
percentage increases are those for India, Manchuria, the Kwantung
Territory and China in that order.2 Although in absolute quantities
involved, the increased Japanese shipments are still inconsiderable
when compared with shipments from any of the major European
centres, what does command attention is the tempo at which
exports have been rising, as well as their regional distribution over
much the same markets that Japan exploits most successfully in
cotton and rayon tissues.
To conclude the present discussion of shifting world trade in
wool tissues, table 25 presents a number of the most important
changes.
C. — Trade in other Textiles
That the quantum of trade in silk textiles has contracted more
than that of production is strongly suggested by the comparative
movements of consumption of raw silk in three groups of major
1
2
F o r exports b y Czechoslovakia, see ibid., p . 154.
Japanese Trade and Industry, 1936, p . 512. .
10
— 146 —
producers: the United States and the United Kingdom, which
manufacture almost entirely for domestic consumption; Japan,
which produces heavily both for home and export markets; and
France and Italy, in which output is destined in large measure
for sale abroad. Figures indicative of raw silk consumption
in these countries are given in table 26.
TABLE 2 5 .
WORLD TRADE IN WOOL TISSUES, SELECTED EXPORTERS
AND IMPORTERS,
1928-1935
(in million lbs.)
Exports from
Exports
to
United
Kingdom
1928
1934
United K.in gd onn
Germany
U n i t e d S ta tes
Argentin a
Canada
France
Italy .
Japan
Austria
British Iiid a
4.2
7.4
6.2
17.5
1.8
1.4
7.0
(0.8)
3.4
1.2
2.1
3.6
7.2
1.3
1.0
1.0
(0.4)
2.4
E x p o r t s to al 1
countr es
97.1
57.7
France
Germany
1928
1935
1928
1935
13.1
1.9
1.5
3.2
2.4
0.4
0.1
0.3
0.5
0.1
7.1
0.5
1.1
46.9
JVote. — Figures in parentheses are for imports.
separately recorded.
(a) India and Ceylon.
5.7
(0.8)
0.8
0.3
2.2
1.5
0.1
0.1
35.3
8.9
Czechoslovakia
Italy
1928
1934
1.2
1.3
6.2(a)
21.7
1928
1935
0.6
2.5
2.6
0.1
0.1
0.8
(0.1)
(0.1)
1.0
0.1
5.8
0.9
23.7
4.5
8.4(a)
18.3
Where no figures are given, trade was nil or
SOUHCE: World Consumption of Wool, pp. 46, 75, 91, 114, 153, 186, 213.
In the United States, for many years by far the largest producer
and consumer of silk tissues, the index moved with the business
cycle. In the United Kingdom, in contrast, where silk manufacture
for the home market has been in rapid development since 1931-1932,
the index rose at a rate to be explained only by strong structural
factors. Activity in silk mills in France and Italy, the largest
exporters of silk tissues in Europe, dropped precipitously in a
manner to suggest drastic and far-reaching changes in the permanent set-up of their export outlets. These marked declines,
there is reason to believe on the basis of evidence presented above,
are largely related to the expansion of the industry in the United
no
— 147 —
TABLE 2 6 .
CONSUMPTION OF RAW SILK, SELECTED
COUNTRIES,
1928-1935
(1928 = 100)
1928
United S t a t e s (a)
United Kingdom (b)
J a p a n (a)
F r a n c e (d)
I t a l y (e)
100
.
100
100
100
. . .
1929
4932
109
97
(100) (c) .
95
148
83
32
94
46
1933
1934
1935
82
(156)
154
37
51
81
(178)
175
40
48
87
45
(a) Consumption of raw silk.
(b) Production of silk yarns, thrown and spun; 1930 = 100. For 1924, the index
was 83.
(c) 1930.
(d) Production of silk textiles.
(e) Production of silk yarns.
SOURCE: Industrial Fibres, pp. 60-61.
Kingdom in response to currency depreciation and tariff protection.
Finally, the marked rise in the index for Japan suggests strongly
that in silk, as in the case of cotton and wool, that country has
been exploiting foreign cloth markets—mostly Asiatic—with
growing success ever since the devaluation of the yen in 1931-1932.
In the case of rayon yarn, trade and production have both
expanded considerably during the last decade. While output of
yarn, however, more than doubled between 1929 and 1935, world
exports rose no more than a fourth; the respective developments
are shown in table 27.
TABLE 2 7 .
WORLD PRODUCTION AND WORLD TRADE IN RAYON
YARN,
1929-1935
(1929 = 100)
Production
Exports
1929
1932
100
100
123
102
1935
220
124
SOUBCE : Industrial Fibres, pp. 96, 98. Production excluding staple fibre, which is included
in exports.
In jute again, as in the other fibres, quantum of output has, in
general, held up much better than quantum of international trade.
From 1929 to 1935, production of jute yarn in three major manufacturing countries (India, the United Kingdom, and Germany)
fell off by less than 20 per cent. ; world exports of yarn, in contrast,
were almost cut in half—a phenomenon directly related to the
increased takings of raw jute by agricultural countries as described
— 148 —
earlier in this chapter. On the other hand, exports of jute bags
were even more constant than yarn output, although shipments of
cloth dropped far more, declining heavily relative to yarn output
but not to the extent of yarn exports. It might be surmised that
the manufacture of jute bags was relatively uninfluenced by
structural developments during the period under review, but that
the dispersion of jute textile production has included the weaving
of cloth as well as the spinning of yarn. The relevant indices are
given in table 28.
TABLE 2 8 .
WORLD PRODUCTION
AND WORLD
TRADE
IN
JUTE
TEXTILES, 1928-1935
(1928-1929 = 100)
Production
E x p o r t s of
E x p o r t s of
E x p o r t s of
of y a r n (a)
y a r n (6)
cloth (b)
bags (b) . . . . . . .
'
1928-1929
100
100
100
100
1932-1933
77
57
52
78
1934-1935
82
57
73
88
(a) Mill consumption of raw jute: for India, 1928-1929, 1932-1933, 1934-1935; for
United Kingdom, 1928, 1933, 1934; for Germany, 1928, 1933, and (estimated) 1934.
(b) Exports 1928, 1932, 1935. Cloth exports estimated from value data, assuming
unit value to have varied directly with that of jute bags.
SOUHCES: Computed from Industrial Fibres, pp. 79-80; GERMANY: Statistisches Jahrbuch,
1936, " Internationale Uebersichten ", p. 145.
As regards the remaining textile fibres, the output of fibre flax
rose considerably from 1929 to 1935 ; that of hemp fibre fell slightly.
Exports of yarn of flax, hemp, and ramie, in contrast, dropped
almost 40 per cent., while shipments of tissues of the three materials
declined about 30 per cent., as shown in table 29.
TABLE 2 9 .
WORLD PRODUCTION AND WORLD TRADE, FLAX, HEMP,
AND RAMIE, 1929-1935
(1929 = 100)
Production :
Fibre flax
Hemp
. .
Exports :
Flax, h e m p , ramie yarns
F l a x , h e m p , ramie cloth
1929
1932
1935
100
100
98
89
125
97
100
100
60
74
63
67
SOUBCES: Computed from Industrial Fibres, pp. 64, 84; GERMANY: Statistisches Jahrbuch
1936, p. 145.
— 149 —
These differential movements seem to indicate that production
and trade in the manufacture of flax, hemp and ramie were subject
from 1929 to 1935 to the same play of structural forces as operated
on trade and' activity in the manufacture of all the other textile
fibres.
D. — Summary
Thus, so far as textile manufacturing was concerned, the period
under consideration was one during which the Industrial Revolution
leaped across old regional boundaries to spread to new and distant
countries. Superimposed as it was on a long and deep economic
crisis, this spread of the Industrial Revolution brought sharp
pressures to bear upon international trade in textiles and rearranged its entire network. At the same time, despite the growth of
new manufacturing centres, the total output of textile products
failed to rise appreciably, partly owing to the depression. By 1936,
despite the growth of the world's population, the world output
of all textiles combined was at best probably somewhat short of the
1929 level. Was this 1929 level itself adequate to furnish the
requirements of the world for clothing, furnishings, and industrial
and agricultural fabrics ? This is the problem to be considered
in Chapter VII.
CHAPTER VII
PROBLEMS OP "OVER-PRODUCTION " AND
« UNDER-CONSUMPTION "
The problems created by structural changes in textile production
and trade and by the depression, have strengthened the widespread
belief that the basic difficulty of the world textile industry is a
condition of " excess capacity " resulting in " over-production ".
On the other hand, it has been contended that the real trouble
lies in " lack of purchasing power " resulting in " underconsumption " of textile products. This chapter is concerned with an
examination of the available data bearing upon these issues.
I. —
SCHEMES FOR THE RESTRICTION OF OUTPUT
The widespread belief t h a t the textile industry suffers from
" over-production " is evidenced by the efforts made in different
countries to hold down textile output and to curtail productive
capacity. In reporting in 1935 to the President of the United
States on the cotton textile industry of that country, his Cabinet
Committee stated:
Perhaps the most serious problem facing the cotton textile industry
is the over-capacity of the mills when measured by the commercially
possible production. Most indices of capacity are based on single-shift
operations, whereas normally, especially in the South, two shifts are
the rule. Measured by commercially possible operations, 60 per cent.
capacity is a fair average in normal times; that is to say, production
could be increased by about two-thirds. This excess capacity overhanging the market leads to a constant tendency to build up surpluses,
with resulting price depressions in various lines, more or less chronic.
Control of excess capacity through limitations in operating hours and
possibly the retirement of some of the obsolete equipment is a problem
of great importance to the industry. 1
1
Cabinet Committee Report, 1935, p. 31.
— 151 —
The codes of fair competition for the textile industry under the
National Industrial Recovery Act between 1933 and 1935 were
largely inspired by this point of view.
Almost all of them
embodied provisions restricting productive capacity by limiting
machine and plant hours. Under the cotton and silk textile and
hosiery codes, for example, manufacturing operations were limited
to 80 hours a week—two shifts a day and 40 hours weekly per shift.
The wool textile code provided for limitation of operations to two
daily shifts of not more than 40 hours a week each; under the
cotton garment code there could be no more than one daily shift,
limited to 40 hours a week ; the rayon and silk dyeing code provided
for two shifts limited to 40 hours weekly each, with allowance,
however, for varying the total between 80 and 96 hours weekly,
etc.1
It is questionable how far the N.R.A. codes for the textile
industry succeeded in limiting output. As regards the cotton
textile code, at least:
The maximum two-shift, 80-hour week basis, was designed to limit
production. . . . It soon developed that mills which had formerly
operated on a one-shift basis were operating two shifts under the code,
thus neutralising the effective curtailment in mills formerly operating
long hours in two and even three shifts. . . . Following the introduction
of the code, a large section of New England changed from a single-shift
of 48 to 54 hours to a double-shift, 80-hour week. In the South, the
fairly customary double-shift system of 110 hours was reduced to an
80-hour week basis. Offsetting this reduction, many mills in the South
formerly operating a single shift of 55 to 60 hours adopted the two-shift,
80-hour a week system. In general, it is evident that the code resulted
in no increase in the number of active spindles in the North, while the
total weekly hours of operation per spindle increased substantially. On
the other hand, in the South, the number of active spindles increased
slightly (about 5 per cent.) as did also the number
of hours of average
spindle operation per week (about 3 per cent.).3
In fact as a result of the above changes and of the failure " to
limit the speeding up of machinery and to limit the number of
machines to be operated by individual workers ", 3 it was deemed
necessary by the National Recovery Administration, several times
during the life of the cotton textile code, to issue curtailment
orders limiting hours of machine operation to 75 per cent, of the
maximum permitted by the code.
1
L. S. LYON and others: The National Recovery Administration, Washington,
1936, pp. 626-627.
2
Cabinet Committee Report, 1935, pp. 125-126.
3
Ibid., pp. 124-125.
— 152 —
In the United Kingdom, more or less organised experiments in
curtailing output and holding down productive capacity have been
in progress for the last sixteen years. Between 1921-1926, when
the Lancashire cotton industry had to readjust itself to the local
crisis arising out of post-war changes, short-time agreements were
frequently attempted in the spinning section. These agreements
broke down both before and after 1926 largely because of difficulty
in obtaining compliance. In 1927 the Cotton Yarn Association was
organised to hold British yarn prices at profitable levels, under a
system whereby penalties were collected from spinners who sold
below the officially fixed rates. This plan also broke down after
a few months. In 1929 the Lancashire Cotton Corporation was
founded, with the financial assistance of the Bank of England, in
order to amalgamate producing units in the spinning section so as
to offset the contraction of export markets by greater productive,
commercial and financial efficiency. For a variety of reasons, the
Corporation did not make any real progress towards these objectives, and other measures were judged to be necessary.1
Proposals to eliminate surplus equipment by statutory measures
began to be advanced in 1931 and 1932. At length in September
1934 a majority of the spinners came to approve a programme
whereby spindles could be eliminated by purchase through funds
provided by a tax on the industry. This plan took legislative form
in the Cotton Spinning Industry Act, 1936. It is too early to judge
the efficacy of this Act. If, as is generally supposed, the Cotton
Spindles Board buys up, to hold out of production, some 10 million
spindles, this would amount to diminishing the number of cotton
spindles in the United Kingdom by approximately 25 per cent.
The true reduction in productive capacity would, however, be less
than 25 per cent., for it may reasonably be supposed that the Board
will try to eliminate, by voluntary purchase, the largest possible
proportion of the obsolete and inefficient spindles remaining in
active operation.
Plans for controlling productive capacity in other sections of the
British textile industry are also current. Thus, on 16 June 1936,
a draft scheme for dealing with surplus capacity in the cotton and
artificial silk piece-goods dyeing trade of Great Britain and Northern
Ireland, was distributed to members of the trade by a committee
1
For a full discussion of attempts to reconstruct the cotton textile industry
of the United Kingdom from 1920-1930 see SPÄLTY: Die Lage der englischen
Baumwollindustrie, Chapter 10; G. W. DANIELS and H. CAMPION: Britain in
the Depression, 1935, Chapter 14.
— 153 —
consisting of representatives of competent producers' organisations.1
On 4 November 1936, again, the Joint Committee of Cotton Trade
Organisations decided to prepare proposals to give statutory
authority to control schemes approved by an adequate majority
in each section of the cotton industry.2
In Japan, where legislation enacted in 1931 aims at the control
of the principal industries by cartel schemes,3 the Japanese Cotton
Spinners' Association is so set up as to be able to control the output
rates of member mills. The technique of control is to limit the
proportion of spindle capacity which may be employed in a given
quarterly period. In compliance with this method, spindles have
been sealed and extra holidays observed more or less regularly
during recent years. On the other hand, the full curtailment rate
applies only to spindles producing yarn for sale; it does not apply
to spindles manufacturing yarn to be woven by the looms of the
same enterprise. It would appear that the principal results of this
curtailment scheme are to maintain and strengthen the differential
in cost between yarn for the home and that for the export weaving
trade. How far real success has been obtained in restricting volume
of output seems questionable. On the one hand, many undertakings
retain obsolete equipment so as to apply the curtailment rate over
a larger base; on the other, the force of the curtailment rate can
be more than offset by adding new spindlage.4
In Germany, after sporadic experiments in short-time working
throughout the depression, the Government took over the control
of productive capacity in the cotton textile industry beginning in
July 1933. A major step was taken in 1934 with the appointment
of a textile industry Leiter empowered to regulate hours of work
and the opening or extension of factories. Later in the same year,
with heavily declining production in most branches of textile
m anufacturing, a decree was issued limiting hours of work (except
in cotton, hemp, and jute spinning) to 70 per cent, of the daily
average for the first six months of 1934. Furthermore, new undertakings were not to be established, or existing undertakings expanded,
without express permission from the Minister of National Economy.5
1
2
3
4
Manchester Guardian, 17 June 1936.
Ibid., 5 November 1936.
Control of Principal Industries Act, 1931.
JOINT COMMITTEE OF COTTON TRADE ORGANISATIONS:
The Changing
Conditions of World Trade in Cotton and Rayon Goods. IV. " Collective Regulation in the World's Cotton Industries ", Manchester, 1936, pp. 23-24. .
6
Faserstoffverordnung, Neufassung, 6 September 1934, Reichsgesetzblatt, I,
1934, S. 819 (INTERNATIONAL LABOUR OFFICE, Legislative Series, 1934-Ger.l.
— 154 —
Because of improved technology, and the growth of the more
looms-per-weaver system, the order of 1934 was not completely
successful. It was accordingly supplemented, toward the end of
1935, by a new technique of regulation, the Textile Materials
Law.1 Under the terms of this law, the quantities of specified
raw or spun materials consumed by textile undertakings are
subjected to administrative control. Textile undertakings, moreover, are released from the obligation to operate 48 hours a week,
to the extent that they consume imported raw materials subject
to quota.2
Italy has also made experiments in regulating output and
productive capacity in cotton manufacturing. In 1934, in pursuance of the decree of 1932 providing for the establishment of
compulsory syndicates, the Government empowered the Italian
Cotton Institute to exercise compulsory control over the spinning
section of the industry. The Institute, financed by a levy on
imported raw cotton, is authorised to enforce restrictions of output.
It has, in fact, enforced all-round rates of curtailment, without
acting, however, on the problem of surplus capacity.3
In India, in an effort to meet what was regarded as an overexpansion of productive capacity, the Indian Jute Mills Association
decided to reduce working hours and seal up a certain percentage
of the machines as from March 1931. With the rising tide of
world recovery, two-thirds of the sealed machinery was released
for productive operations as from November 1935.4 In Bulgaria
a number of industries including cotton and wool textiles have
been declared to be " saturated ", with the result that permission
for the opening of new factories is withheld.5 In Czechoslovakia
the Cabinet on 9 July 1936 issued a legislative decree including
provision for the establishment of a National Committee of the
Textile Industry, and prohibiting the establishment, extension or
reopening of textile undertakings without express permission of
the administrative authorities.6
1
2
Spinnstoffgesetz, 6 December 1935, Reichs gesetzblau, I, 1935, S. 1411.
JOINT COMMITTEE OF COTTON TRADE ORGANISATIONS, op. cit., pp. 10-11;
Wochenbericht des Instituts für Konjunkturforschung,
Sondernummer, pp. 8-9. See also Chapter XII.
3
4
5
Berlin, 21 March 1936,
JOINT COMMITTEE: op. cit., p. 14.
Industrial Fibres, 1936, p. 79.
International Labour Conference, Twentieth Session, Geneva 1936,
Report of the Director, p. 48.
6
INTERNATIONAL LABOUR OFFICE: Industrial and Labour Information, Vol.
LIX., No. 6, 10 August 1936, p. 176.
?,
— 155 —
Cartel schemes, of varying scope and efficacy, have been a
favourite device for regulating output in many textile manufacturing countries during recent years. In cotton spinning, for example,
cartels or their equivalents are functioning or have recently functioned in Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Poland, and Czechoslovakia. As in all cartels, their modus operandi has generally
been the fixing of a curtailment rate and the allocation of output
quotas. Whether because of the weaknesses to which cartels in
general are susceptible, or because cotton spinning does not, in the
present state of commercial organisation, lend itself readily to
cartelisation, these European cartels have almost all tended to
break down; indeed, of them all, the Dutch cartel is almost the
only successful example.1
II. — AREAS OF LOCALISED EXCESS CAPACITY
The widespread character of the restriction schemes summarised
above does not prove the existence of a worldwide excess capacity
to manufacture textiles. It does, however, point to the existence
—in some regions and under particular circumstances—of a disequilibrium between potential supply and actual effective demand as
a result of which textile undertakings are unable to sell their full
output, or to utilise their full capacity, at prices yielding satisfactory
profits to entrepreneurs.
The existence of such regions of localised excess producing
capacity is one of the most serious problems ot the world textile
industry. In cotton manufacturing, Lancashire is one such area,
New England another, Bombay a third. In the textile industries
generally, the several European countries formed after the dissolution of the Russian and Austro-Hungarian Empires are almost
all in the possession of productive capacity far transcending the
limitations of national markets. Still more generally, the dispersion
of textile manufacturing to agricultural regions, and the shift of
the industry from areas of higher to areas of lower labour costs,
are tending to render redundant a substantial share of the preexisting capacity in the older industrial areas.
The acuteness of the problem presented by these areas of excess
capacity, to the extent that they generate a rigid mass of more
or less permanent unemployment—in the United States " stranded
J O I N T C O M M I T T E E : op.
cit.,
pp.
12-19.
— 156 —
populations ", in the United Kingdom, " special (i.e. distressed)
areas "—will be examined in a subsequent chapter.1 In the present
chapter, the analysis is concerned, not with the special problems
of these areas, but with the general problem of the relations of
production and consumption as a whole. The main questions to
be answered are as follows:
First, as textile manufacturing followed the upswing of industrial
activity between 1925 and 1929, at what rate did output increase,
what peaks were reached, and what was the state of effective
demand ?
Second, at the 1929 peak of industrial activity, how did the level
of textile production then attained compare with the corresponding
level of the immediate pre-war years, and to what extent had
world consumption of textile products increased as compared with
pre-war years ?
Third, is the demand for textile manufactures—by individuals
and households, on the one hand, and by industrial and agricultural
consumers, on the other—elastic or inelastic; and, if elastic, to
what approximate degree ?
In the remainder of this chapter, these questions will be discussed
in turn.
III. — PRODUCTION AND PRICES, 1925-1929
Textile manufactures did not fail to participate in the upswing
of the cycle from 1925 to 1929. If the total volume of all primary
textile materials available for or used in mill consumption in 1925
be taken as 100, then the corresponding volume in 1929 had
risen to 115; that of what might be roughly called "personal
consumption " fibres also to 115, and that of the " industrial
consumption " fibres to 112.2 Significantly, almost all of the
rise occurred between 1925 and 1927. There was a sharp dip in
1
2
See Chapter XII.
The " personal consumption " fibres as here defined include cotton, wool,
silk, rayon and flax; the "industrial consumption" fibres, jute and hemp. This
grouping is of course only a very rough one ; in particular, large quantities
of cotton are used in agriculture and industry, in the form, for example, of
canvas, tyre fabrics, bags, etc. The index numbers cited throughout this
chapter are based, in general, on the world volumes of output as recorded in
the Statistical Year-Books of the League of Nations from 1927 to 1936; on the
indices of world primary production and world industrial activity as given
in World Production and Prices, 1935/36; and wherever possible on actual
mill consumption or its equivalent as indicated in Cotton Trade Statistics,
1936, World Consumption of Wool, 1928-1935, and Industrial Fibres, 1936.
— 157 —
1928, which was immediately followed by a renewed turn upward
to the highest levels of the period. This general pattern of a rapid
rise in the first three years, then of recession, followed by a final
spurt, characterises all textile fibres taken together, as well as
the " personal consumption " group taken separately.
The
" industrial consumption " group, in contrast, reached its high
peak in 1927, and thereafter receded considerably.
In their movement toward the top levels of 1929, the textile
fibres progressed more rapidly than most of the major foodstuffs,
such as wheat, beef, and milk, but at a much slower rate than
many of the most important primary materials of industrialism,
such as steel, copper, sulphate of ammonia, and hydroelectric
power. In short, the textile fibres as a whole expanded in output
much as might have been expected of commodities whose consumption uses are mixed, and whose personal consumption uses
in particular are necessarily more elastic on the whole than those
of the basic foodstuffs. The tables showing the relevant indices
are given in Volume II.
This increased production went hand in hand with increasing
efficiency of plant and equipment and of labour,1 of which it was
in part the result. Though exact calculations are impossible, it
is known that technology during the period under consideration
was improving the world over, that in the shift of the industry to
new centres much obsolete machinery was discarded, and that in
newer as well as in some of the older textile areas rationalisation
measures were applied on a large scale.2
Equally important, as indicative of the relation of productive
capacity to effective demand, is the fact that a considerable
proportion of unused capacity overhung the market between 1926
and 1929 in a number of important manufacturing countries. This
can be shown, so far as cotton textiles are concerned, by spindles
active as percentage of spindles in place. Table 1 presents the
percentages concerned.
Detailed information on several branches of textile manufacturing
is available for the United States. According to a recent study of
productive capacity in the United States,
the use of cotton mill equipment in the five years 1925-1929 was not
less than in the pre-war years—in fact it was somewhat greater. . . .
1
See Chapters VIII and XII. For figures showing increased machine
efficiency in cotton yarn and cloth production in the United States, see
Volume II.
2
See Chapter XII, pp.- 297-304.
— 158 —
During this five-year period approximately 20 per cent, of our cotton
mill equipment on the average was not in use.1
TABLE 1.
COTTON SPINDLES ACTIVE AS PERCENTAGE OF SPINDLES
INSTALLED, SELECTED COUNTRIES., 1 9 2 6 - 1 9 2 9
Country
United States
China
British India
Japan
U.S.S.R
Germany
France
Italy
1926
1927
1928
1929
86
.
85
90
73
91
98
94
89
99
86
81
.
96
94
85
84
99
75
77
.
92
96
90
87
80
89
97
89
96
91
SOURCE: Statistical Year-Booh of the League o/ Nations, 1935-1936, p. 169.
It was found in the same study t h a t percentages of utilisation to
capacity for wool manufacturing, during the period 1925-1929,
were as follows: cards, 73.2; combs, 67.1; woollen spindles, 70.9;
worsted spindles, 61.9; broad looms, 59.9; narrow looms, 59.5;
and carpet-and-rug looms, 63.0. 2 As regards silk, however, it was
found t h a t " there is not enough capacity to satisfy the needs of
the industry if it were restricted to the single-shift operation, which
is regarded as normal in most industries " ; nevertheless, on the
single-shift basis, the average ratio of utilisation in the period
1925-1929 was 96.1 per cent, for broad looms and 60.4 per cent.
for narrow looms, while on a double-shift basis spinning spindles
were operated at 64 per cent, utilisation. 3
At the same time, the available evidence brought together in
the section which follows 4 on the relatively moderate rise in the
actual or available mill consumption of textile fibres during the
prosperity years suggests a somewhat sluggish development of
demand as compared with the probable rates of growth of productive capacity.
In view of all the evidence of rising output, increased machine
productivity, overhanging mill capacity and sluggish demand, it
would be only reasonable to suppose t h a t the levels of textile
manufacturing activity reached in the later phases of the cycle
1
E. G. NOURSE and associates: America's Capacity to Produce, Washington,
1934, pp. 203-204.
2
Ibid., p. 207.
3
Ibid., pp. 211-212.
1
See pp. 164-165.
— 159 —
exceeded in some measure the limits of effective demand. This
supposition is strongly supported by the available statistics of
price movements. Prices of textile manufactures tended to decline
heavily between 1925 and 1929. To a large extent, these declines
were due to falling costs of raw materials, which, together with
accessory materials, generally average from half to over two-thirds
of gross sales value in most branches of textile manufacturing,1 and
to increased efficiency of production. In sum, however, the prices
of textile manufactures declined at such a rapid rate relative to the
prices of raw fibres that mill margins tended to contract.
The mill margin, or the difference between the cost of the raw
material required to make up a given quantity of cloth, and the
selling price of that same volume of cloth, is one of the basic
financial factors in textile manufacturing. It is the mill margin
which supplies the fund out of which the textile entrepreneur pays
for labour, power, administrative expenses, taxes, depreciation, etc.,
and from which he takes the net profits, if any. Although widening
mill margins are not synonymous with profits, or narrowing
margins with losses, nevertheless continued shrinkage of mill
margins in the course of a few years may well give rise to certain
financial difficulties.
TABLE 2 .
AVERAGE PRICES AND MARGINS IN COTTON SPINNING,
UNITED KINGDOM, 1 9 1 3 - 1 9 3 6
Prices in pence
American cotton
and yarn
Year
1913 .
1924 .
1925 .
1926 .
1927 .
(1936)
.
.
.
.
.
.
Egyptian cotton
and yarn
1.12 1b.
American
cotton
1 lb. 32's
cop
twist yarn
1.12 lb.
Egyptian
cotton
1 lb. 60's
cop
twist yarn
7.56
18.13
13.84
9.92
10.27
10.56
25.88
20.99
15.47
15.36
10.95
25.44
30.26
17.01
18.08
17.50
36.64
39.89
28.69
28.17
Estimated
spinning margins
pence per
1 lb. yarn
American
Egyptian
3.00
7.55
7.15
5.55
5.09
(4.0)
6.55
11.20
9.63
11.68
10.09
(6.3)
SOURCES. — UNITED KINGDOM, COMMITTEE ON INDUSTRY AND TRADE (BALFOUR COM-
MITTEE): Survey of Textile Industries, 1928, pp. 139-140; for 1936, The Economist, London,
28 November 1936, p. 402. Prices and margins are averages for the year in question;
1936 margins before November-December yarn-price rise. The low waste allowances,
notably for Egyptian cotton, are offset by the yield of saleable wastes.
1
See Chapter V I I I , p p . 204-207.
— 160 —
In the United Kingdom, between 1924 and 1927, as a result of
differential declines in the prices of raw cotton and of cotton yarn,
spinning margins, at least in the American section, were definitely
narrowing, as shown in table 2.
In 1927, moreover, the United Kingdom index of prices for all
cotton cloths (1913 = 100) stood at 164, as compared with 234
three years earlier. After a small rise to 169 in 1928, the index
declined again to 166 in 1929 (during the depression period which
followed it fell very rapidly). For British weaving margins between
1924 and 1927, the Balfour Committee reached no definite
conclusions.1
The combined spinning-weaving margins in United States mills
very definitely shortened during that period in response to differences in rate of decline between prices for raw material and
finished products. Such narrowed mill margins in United States
cotton weaving affected every variety of cloth; in all cases the
narrowing was considerable. This is shown in table 3.
TABLE 3 .
MILL MARGINS, SELECTED TYPES OF COTTON CLOTH,
UNITED STATES, 1 9 2 5 - 1 9 2 9
(cents)
Year
1924
1925
1926
1927
1928
1929
.
.
.
.
.
.
•
Combed
lawn
Voile
Broad
cloth,
combed
Broad
cloth,
carded
.
.
.
.
.
.
71.1
70.0
74.2
71.5
66.6
53.6
62.3
54.2
55.2
55.8
50.5
45.7
64.7
51.1
51.0
45.5
44.2
43.0
26.3
27.7
10.7
21.4
17.3
Printed
cloth
Sheeting
21.6
24.0
21.2
20.5
18.7
16.6
15.5
17.0
13.4
11.7
12.3
11.0
SOURCE: Cabinet Committee Report, pp. 76-79. Figures are for December of years given;
they refer to pound price of cloth minus cost of cotton in one pound of cloth.
In Germany, finally, between 1924 and 1929, the mill margins
of both cotton yarn and cotton cloth were also subject to severe
compression, as shown in Table 4.
For Germany, the information on cotton can be supplemented
by data on wool and linen. Between 1924 and 1929, weaving
1
P . E . P . , Report on the British
mittee Survey, p. 137.
Cotton Industry,
1934, p. 3 1 ; Balfour
Com-
161
TABLE 4 .
MILL MARGINS, REPRESENTATIVE COTTON YARNS AND
CLOTHS, GERMANY, 1924-1929
(in Reichsmarks)
Yarn . . .
Cloth
1924
1925
1926
1927
1928
1929
1.17
1.33
1.37
1.72
0.94
1.48
0.96
1.58
0.81
1.41
0.76
1.21
SOURCE.
Heft 2,—
Teil B,INp.STI39.TUT FÜR KONJUNKTURFORSCHUNG: Vierteljahrshefte, 5. Jahrgang (1930),
margins in the manufacture of worsted tissues fluctuated considerably, with extreme downward pressure during the first three
years, and considerable recovery thereafter. In linen spinning,
margins were weakening more or less continuously, and in weaving
were retained until 1928, and then began to decline. These
movements are shown in table 5.
TABLE 5.
MILL MARGINS, REPRESENTATIVE WORSTED AND LINEN
MANUFACTURES, GERMANY, 1924-1929
(in Reichsmarks)
Worsted cloth .
Flax yarn. . .
Linen cloth . .
1924
1925
1926
1927
1928
1929
10.6
2.7
8.1
8.1
2.6
9.0
7.3
2.0
8.5
10.0
2.2
8.3
12.0
2.0
8.9
10.9
2.0
8.6
SOURCE.
Heft 2,—
Teil B,INpp.STITUT40,FÜR41. KONJUNKTURFORSCHUNG: Vierteljahrshefte, 5. Jahrgang (1930),
Although movements of mill margins cannot be determined
thereby, it should be noted that the prices also of all wool manufactures, and of raw silk and rayon yarn, both important semimanufactures, were falling heavily throughout the period of
industrial prosperity as is shown by figures in Volume II,
Part I.
The price behaviour of the various textile materials during the
years of prosperity paralleled the price movement of other commodity groups. It would be wrong, however, to conclude from
this that textile prices presented no special problem. What is
more probable is that, judging from output, capacity, and price
movements, the plant and equipment of the textile industry were
H
— 162 —
definitely turning out a volume of output which pressed down
upon prices and mill margins together.
IV. — THE CONSUMPTION OF TEXTILES
As suggested above, the effective demand for textiles during the
post-war period was probably rising at a much slower rate than
production. In any case, at the peak levels of output in 1928-1929,
the total consumption of textile fibres for all uses was only a little
larger on a per capita basis than the consumption of 1909-1913;
the increase was in fact so moderate that it might even reasonably
be supposed, allowing for increased industrial and agricultural
uses, that personal and household consumption per capita may
have remained on the whole stationary, though increasing in some
countries.
It is possible to compare levels of per capita consumption between
1909-1913 and 1928-1929 for the world as a whole and for the
United States separately as regards most of the major textile fibres;
for Japan, it is possible to make a similar comparison as regards
cotton and wool, and for India as regards cotton cloth alone. In
presenting these comparisons, it must be emphasised that the
figures for the United States, India and Japan are much more reliable
than those for the world as a whole. Population totals for these
three countries are known more or less exactly; totals for the world
as a whole represent only estimates.
So far as the available production and population data for the
world as a whole are trustworthy, it may be calculated that in
1909-1913 the per capita consumption of all textile fibres averaged
4.95 kilograms and in 1928-1929, 5.47 kilograms—a net increase
of about one-half a kilogram per person. Taking 10 linear yards
per kilogram as a rough conversion factor, the average inhabitant of the world consumed just before the war 50 yards of textile
» manufactures yearly, and his counterpart at the height of post-war
prosperity, 55 yards, a net increase of only 5 yards. These estimates, however, summate consumption for personal and household
uses with that for agricultural and industrial purposes. Unfortunately, the data permit only partial differentiation—in particular,
the changing distribution of cotton between these two groups of
uses is unknown. So far as any differentiation can be made at all,
the per capita consumption of textile fibres consumed largely in
personal and household uses rose from 3.69 kilograms (or about
— 163 —
37 yards) yearly, to 4.16 kilograms (or about 42 yards) yearly;
that of fibres consumed almost entirely in industrial or agricultural
uses from 1.26 kilograms (about 13 yards) to 1.31 kilograms
(substantially the same yardage).1
It is known, however, that between 1913 and - 1929 almost all
of the textile fibres, notably cotton and silk, were being used to
an increasing extent as the raw materials for such non-personal
consumption products as tyre fabric, sacks and bags, belting, gas
masks, parachutes, covering for electrical wires, etc. It is in the
light of this known but indeterminate tendency that the growth
in per capita consumption of the individual fibres must be considered. Consumption of raw silk—still mainly a personal-use
fibre in the luxury or semi-luxury classes—manifests, unequivocally,
rising standards of living; the increase was almost twofold, from
16 grammes to 31 grammes per capita.2 Consumption of raw wool
—also a personal-use fibre for higher income groups in the main—
likewise expanded notably from 780 grammes to 900 grammes.
That of raw cotton—in its personal uses serving mostly low income
groups and the most mixed of the fibres in its uses—rose in contrast
only moderately from 2.56 to 2.85 kilograms, suggesting the
probability of an actual decline on a per capita basis of use in
clothing and furnishings alone. In this connection, two other facts
are significant. First, per capita consumption of flax—for the
most part a personal-use fibre, and, outside of the United States,
primarily one for low or moderate income groups—hardly
changed during the period. Second, of the fibres competing
industrially with cotton, consumption of jute rose proportionally
less than that of cotton, while that of hemp actually declined.3
In any event, comparing 1929 with 1913, the rates of increased
absolute consumption for the several textile fibres were, with the
exception of rayon and silk, notably lower than the corresponding
1
All the figures here given on per capita consumption of textiles are
summarised from table 6 below.
2
It is impossible to estimate how far this increase reflected increased
purchases by individuals already wealthy enough to buy silk tissues, and how
far it reflected the improving income status of wage earners and salaried
employees in the lower ranges of income. Nor can it be estimated how far
the increase reflected increased consumption of silk by the electrical and
aviation industries.
3
Of course the most astounding rate of increase was that of rayon. Neither
in 1913 nor in 1929, however, were the absolute volumes of rayon of any
consequence as compared with those of any fibre except silk. Much of the
increased use of rayon, moreover, may have been achieved at the expense of
reduced use of cotton, wool, silk, etc.
— 164 —
rates for most other primary commodities except the basic foodstuffs; this is shown in one of the tables in Volume II, Part I. In
general, consumption indices exhibit the usual differences between
textile fibres and ' the other primary commodities ; that is, the
changes in textile consumption are located between the crude
materials of heavy industry and the major foodstuffs of inelastic
demand. So far as the individual textile materials are concerned,
the variations in absolute and per capita consumption for the
period in question are presented in table 6.
TABLE 6.
WORLD PRODUCTION OR CONSUMPTION OF TEXTILE
FIBRES,
1909/1913-1928/1929
In thousand metric tons
In kilograms per person
1909-13
1925-26
1928-29
1909-13
1925-26
1928-29
4,583
1,392
578
29
11
5,247
1,582
581
50
91
5,593
1,765
573
60
180
2.56
0.78
0.32
0.016
0.006
2.72
0.82
0.30
0.026
0.047
2.85
0.90
0.29
0.031
0.092
6,593
7,551
8,171
3.69
3.92
4.16
1,546
705
1,627
745
1,842
730
0.87
0.39
0.84
0.39
0.94
0.37
Total
" industrialagricultural " fibres
2,251
2,372
2,572
1.26
1.23
1.31
All above fibres
8,844
9,923
10,743
4.95
5.15
5.47
Cotton
Wool
Flax
Silk
Rayon
Total " personal consumption " fibres .
Jute
Hemp
SOURCES: Mill Consumption of Cotton from Cotton Trade Statistics, 1936, table 71, and
Balfour Committee Survey of Textile Industries, 1928, p. 154. Other data from Statistical
Year-Boohs of the League of Nations, 1927-1936; production of the raw fibre for wool,
flax, jute, hemp; for silk, output of raw silk; for rayon, output of rayon yarn.
The more exact figures available for the United States on per
capita use of the major textile fibres confirm, by and large, the
less exact figures here cited for the world as a whole. In summary,
the United States data reveal that the total per capita use of all
textile fibres between 1911-1914 and 1927 * rose by just over
1
In the United States, 1927 was the peak year in textile output for the
post-war period. For comparative 1929 figures, see table 7 below.
— 165 —
12 per cent, and, excluding jute, by about 14 per cent. To consider
individual fibres, the per capita use of cotton expanded by not
quite 13 per cent. ; of silk, by more than 100 per cent. ; of rayon,
1,900 per cent.; of jute, between 3 and 4 per cent.; while the use
of wool per person declined by almost 17 per cent. Like the
world data, the figures for the United States drive home the
conclusion that rising standards of living between 1913 and 1929
were expressed only to a limited degree in the consumption of
textile products. Table 7 presents the statistical picture for the
United States.
TABLE 7.
MILL CONSUMPTION OF MAJOR TEXTILE FIBRES,
UNITED STATES, PER CAPITA,
1911-1929
(Kilograms per person)
Year
Lint
cotton
1911-1914
average. .
1927. . . .
1929. . . .
12.2
13.8
12.8
Raw jute,
silk Scoured jute
Rayon . Raw
yarn
delivyarn
wool
and
eries
fabric
0.02
0.4
0.5
0.14
0.3
0.3
1.2
1.0
0.9
2.9
3.0
3.0
Total
Total
minus
jute (a)
16.4
18.4
17.5
13.5
15.4
14.5
(a) Jute may be distinguished because its uses are entirely industrial and agricultural,
rather than personal or household.
SOURCE: Compiled from Cabinet Committee Report, 1935, p. 82. Compilations neglect,
however, exports and imports of semi-manufactures and manufactured goods. Nevertheless, the volume of textile imports and exports of the United States is extremely
small compared to total domestic production.
In striking contrast to the moderate per capita increases shown
for the world as a whole and for the United States separately is
the considerable expansion in the per capita consumption of wool
in Japan between 1914 and 1929. As for cotton, the rise in per
capita use between 1914 and 1927,* although moderate as compared
with wool (in one case the index rose to 277 and in the other to 122)
was substantially greater than in the United States. Both increases
undoubtedly reflect the higher standards of living which developed
in Japan during the post-war years; the more than twofold
increase in the case of wool reflects as well modified habits of
1
The 1927-1929 peak in cotton consumption was reached in J a p a n , as in t h e
United States, in the earlier year. However, t h e highest peak of t h e whole
post-war period was reached for cotton in 1922, for wool in 1933.
— 166 —
clothing consumption. Table 8 gives the movements of the
textile indices involved, and compares them with those of other
important personal-consumption commodities.
TABLE
8.
INDICES
OF
PER
CAPITA
CONSUMPTION,
JAPAN,
SELECTED COMMODITIES, 1924-1929
(1914 =
100)
Commodity
1914
1922
1927
1928
1929
Coffee
Cigarettes . . . .
Pork
Wool
Apples
Eggs
Fish
Sugar
Meat
Wheat
Beef
Green t e a . . . .
Fruits
Oranges
Rice
Cotton (a) . . . .
Cereals
Vegetables
. . .
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
411
208
221
256
201
214
197
191
163
163
164
136
120
129
115
136
110
93
996
566
206
272
204
219
214
215
164
179
148
137
136
149
114
122
107
94
1,176
639
257
277
255
233
219
216
176
167
149
140
140
139
117
121
109
90
1,323
694
304
229
266
248
223
223
186
151
146
144
136
114
114
113
104
90
(a)
Consumption for domestic use.
S O U R C E : T. U Y E D A and T. INOKUCHI, Cost of Living and Real Wages in Japan,
Tokyo, 1936, p p . 27-29.
1914-1936,
From certain points of view, the data on per capita consumption
for Japan are the most revealing of all in that they contrast textiles
with other commodities of individual use. Moreover, they cover
a period during which standards of living in a major industrial
country were rising with marked rapidity. In the course of
this rapid rise, although the per capita use of cotton goods did
mount, it was one of the laggards in rate of increase. On the other
hand, the per capita use of woollen manufactures was one of the
leaders in the general advance, although largely because of changing
consumer preferences which benefited wool at the expense, in large
part, of cotton and silk. Thus the findings for Japan are consistent
with the findings for the world as a whole and for the United States
separately.
In India, the per capita consumption of cotton piece goods during
the years 1926-1929 averaged 15.6 yards, a very slight increase
— 167 —
indeed as compared with the corresponding average of 15.3 yards
during the years 1911-1914. The increase between 1913-1914 and
1927-1928, the years of highest consumption was also very slight.
The data are shown in table 9.
TABLE
9.
PER
CAPITA CONSUMPTION,
COTTON
PIECE
GOODS,
INDIA, 1911-1914 AND 1926-1929
Indian production (a)
Mill
Handloom
Retained
imports
Total
available
for consumption
Yards
consumed
per
capita (b)
(million linear yards)
1911-1912
1912-1913
1913-1914
. . . .
. . . .
. . . .
1,018
1,095
1,034
1,044
1,040
1,068
2,262
2,848
3,042
4,324
4,983
5,144
Weighted averag e . . . .
1926-1927
1927-1928
1928-1929
. . . .
. . . .
. . . .
Weighted averag e
2,258
2,356
1,893
13.7
15.8
16.3
15.3
1,296
1,292
1,116
1,758
1,935
1,912
5,312
5,583
4,921
. . . .
15.9
16.5
14.4
15.6
(a) Minus exports of Indian-made goods, assumed to be all mill-made.
(b) Official census returns of population: 1911 — 315,156,000; 1921 — 318,942,000;
1931 — 352,838,000. Rates of increase, 1.2 per cent, between 1911 and 1921 and 10.6
per cent, between 1921 and 1931, interpolated by assuming constant yearly increments;
and roughly adjusted to fiscal years by dividing population of 1911 into total available for
consumption 1911-1912, etc.
SOURCE. — GANDHI: The Indian Cotton Textile Industry, 1930, pp. 84-85.
V. — T H E E X T E N T OF POTENTIAL DEMAND
Even if large enough, from the commercial point of view, to press
down prices and mill margins together and to condemn a part of
plant and equipment to idleness, was the volume of textile output
in 1927-1929 sufficiently large, from the social point of view, to
satisfy the true needs of the world for clothing and furnishings,
for tyres and sacks, for cordage and belting, etc. ? If the flow of
textile manufactures during t h a t period strained close against the
limits of effective demand, did it also come close to meeting the
potential demand based on adequate standards of living ? On the
basis of available statistical data, an approach may be made to
an approximate answer to these questions.
— 168 —
TABLE 1 0 . — ESTIMATED COTTON PIECE GOODS CONSUMPTION PER
HEAD IN THE PRINCIPAL MARKETS, 1 9 2 9 , BY WEIGHT, YARDAGE,
AND VALUE
United S t a t e s
Netherlands
Switzerland
N e w Zealand
Belgium
Canada
A/llStl*rllÌrl
United Kingdom (b)
F r a n c e (c)
Sweden
G e r m a n y (d)
Argentina
Malaya
Denmark
Austria
Japan
Italy
Union of South Africa
Egypt
Brazil
Turkey
'Iraq
Yugoslavia
India
Greece
Iran
Sudan
Ceylon
P o l a n d .'
Nyasaland
Kenya and Uganda
N e t h e r l a n d s Indies
China
Tanganyika
F r e n c h W e s t Africa
Bulgaria
British W e s t Africa
Kilograms
.
(5.9)
(5.3)
.
3.6
' .
.
.
(2.2)
(3.6)
3.4
(3.2)
.
(3.0)
3.0
.
2.1
.
.
.
(1.7)
...
(1.6)
.
(1.5)
(1.4)
.
.
(1.2)
.
.
.
.
.
0.7
(0.6)
.
Linear yards
64.0(a)
£
1.78
.
1.28
37.7
(35) (a)
1.19
110
l!o3
30.6
0.79
21.4
0.50
.
(19.1)
18.9
.
16.9
0.57
(0.48)
0.37
0.30
16.1 (e)
.
(0.44)
.
... .
12.6
0.21
(12.1)
(0.41)
11.8
11.8
10.4
10.0 (e)
7.6
.
0.18
0.16
0.31
(0.28)
0.19
0.21
5.9 (a)
0.20
(a) Square yards.
(b) Yardage of 1934; value figure of 1930 consumption at 1929 prices. These figures
used instead of available 1930 figures (22.7 square yards, £0.62) as 1930 consumption
and prices were abnormally depressed.
(c) 1930.
(d) 1928.
(e) Including hand-loom production: India, 4.4 yards per head; China, 7.1 yards per
head.
SOURCE: JOINT COMMITTEE OF COTTON TRADE ORGANISATIONS: The Changing Conditions
of World Trade in Cotton and Rayon Goods. I. Introduction and Survey of Present
Trade Distribution, Manchester, 1935. Statistical Appendix, table 21. Countries
arranged in approximate order of annual consumption of cotton goods per person.
Consumption figures are actual or estimated production plus imports minus exports and
re-exports. Figures estimated wholly or partly are in parentheses. Necessary
conversions made at 10 yards per kilogram; the same ratio can be used for rough
comparison of the weight and yardage data.
The data earlier brought forward on per capita consumption of
textiles in all countries together and in the United States alone,
— 169 —
indicate clearly the existence of very large differences among
regional levels of textile fibre use. In 1929, for example, the average
inhabitant of the United States was using four times more cotton
(personally and industrially) than the average inhabitant of the
world, ten times more silk, three times more jute, five times more
rayon, and an equal amount of wool—in sum, at least from three
to four times more of all textile fibres taken together. These
calculations are here presented, not to draw an invidious comparison
between standards of living in the United States and in other
countries, but to point to the heart of the problem of " overproduction-underconsumption ", which lies in the relation of consumption standards to national and family income.
An extensive international comparison of consumption of cotton
piece goods in most of the principal markets is fortunately available
in this connection for 1929. It is presented in table 10.
At the top of the scale of per capita consumption in the table
stand countries of advanced industry and agriculture which are
themselves great exporters of cotton textiles. In the middle of
the scale are found India, the world's greatest importing market,
and some of the leading markets of the Balkans and the Near East.
At the bottom of the scale stand the vast importing markets of
the Netherlands Indies and colonial Africa, together with the
huge consumption market of China. When the consumption levels
reached in India, the Balkans and the Near East are compared with
the higher ones attained in the United States, the British Dominions
and in Western and Central Europe, the resulting spread covers a
twofold to fourfold range; from the bottom to the top of the scale,
the spread is between eightfold and tenfold.
It might be argued that a large part of this difference is to be
explained by climatic factors and differences in custom, and
another large part by the comparative development of heavy
industries which consume coarse cotton fabric in large quantities.
Be this as it may, per capita consumption in India and several
Near Eastern countries is seen to be from 25 to 300 per cent, higher
than in other countries of not dissimilar climatic conditions;
such a spread is far too great to be explained, except partially, by
differences in the relative balance between personal and industrial
uses of cotton cloth.
It may reasonably be assumed that especially in such regions
as the Sudan, Ceylon, Nyasaland, Kenya and Uganda, the Netherlands East Indies, China, Tanganyika, French West Africa and
British West Africa, as well as in India, the relatively lower per
— 170 —
capita consumption of cotton piece goods is definitely related to
low incomes and lack of purchasing power. In this connection it
should be recalled that exports of cotton piece goods are destined,
for a very large part of their volume, to the " colonial " and "native"
populations of the world. Many of the difficulties of the major
industrial countries exporting cotton cloth would, in fact, be
considerably eased if effective steps could be taken to increase the
purchasing power of such " colonial " and " native " populations,
whether by the augmentation of incomes, by lower prices for cloth
or by a combination of both.
That demand for textile manufactures increases as the scale of
national or regional income rises is one of the most important
conclusions which the foregoing analysis has suggested. This
conclusion is further confirmed by available family budget studies,
which indicate that in all countries studied the demand for textile
manufactures as a function of family income is quite elastic.
Table 11 presents the results of a number of family budget studies
published in recent years by the International Labour Office.
Each of the countries considered in the table shows virtually
the same movements of expenditure on clothing account. As
total expenditure per consumption unit or per family rises, the
corresponding absolute amounts spent on clothing also rise, and by
substantial amounts. Most striking are the similarities in the
pattern of expenditure for such Far-Eastern countries as China
and Japan on the one hand, and for such a Central European
country as Czechoslovakia on the other. In both China and
Japan, not only the absolute but also the relative expenditures
on clothing rise sharply as family income moves upward. According
to the Chinese data, family expenditures for clothing increase
threefold as total family expenditure is doubled. According to the
Japanese figures, a family's clothing purchases rise over 150 per
cent, with a doubling of total expenditures for all purposes. In
Czechoslovakia clothing purchases per consumption unit more
than triple as average total expenditure rises 125 per cent. Although
the proportionate expenditures for clothing remain more or less
constant or even decline as family income rises in Germany,
Belgium and Sweden, the absolute amounts of clothing purchases
show sträng upward trends.
To be sure, the meaning of the absolute and percentage expenditures for clothing shown in table 11 must vary with the ranges
of income covered in each particular case. Thus the lowest
ranges of the income scale are represented in the table by
— 171 — China and Japan, and considerably higher ranges by Germany,
Belgium, Sweden and Czechoslovakia. Generally speaking, the
figures cover the range from the lowest paid wage earners to
salaried employees of modest status. Accordingly, the conclusion
that demand for clothing is quite elastic is confirmed in particular
for the lower ranges of income.
TABLE 1 1 .
E X P E N D I T U R E S ON C L O T H I N G , V A R Y I N G I N C O M E L E V E L S ,
SELECTED
Country
COUNTRIES
Average
expenditure per
consumption
unit or per
family
Percentage
of total
expenditure
on clothing
704 RM.
893 ,,
1,075 „
1,295 ,,
1,696 ,,
13.8
13.5
14.3
13.3
13.5
Germany
(1927-1928, per consumption unit)
Belgium
(1928-1929, per family)
Amount spent
on clothing
97 RM.
121 ) J
154 1 )
172 1 )
229 ) )
6.7
4.5
4.8
5.0
3.0
964 Fr.
845 I J
1,068 ï >
1,251 ,,
1,050 >•
6.2
6.4
7.4
8.5
8.9
10.5
21
25
33
48
59
84
610 Yen
793 ,,
984 „
1,185 ,,
9.4
10.7
11.9
12.3 .
57 Yen
85
117
146
Sweden
(1933, per consumption
unit)
2,033 Kr.
3,543 ,,
5,670 „
14.0
13.2
12.4
285 Kr.
468
703 J )
Czechoslovakia
. . . .
(1929-1930, per consumption unit)
4,830 Kö.
7,229 „
10,994 ,,
13.2
14.6
18.1
638 Kö.
1,055 ,,
1,990
China (Shanghai) . . .
(1929-1930, per family)
Japan
(1933-1934, per family)
SOURCE. —
INTERNATIONAL LABOUR
14,385 Fr.
18,777 „
22,259 ,,
25,029 ,,
34,995 „
337
385
446
566
668
796
OFFICE:
?
,,
„
,,
,,
„
Year-Book
?
1 )
)J
))
ï)
ïJ
îJ
J )
))
> í
of Labotir Statistics,
> J
1935-1936,
table XVII, p . 178.
That the principle holds substantially true also in lower income
ranges in the United States, the country of the greatest per capita
— 172 —
consumption of textile manufactures, is shown by several recent
studies of the money disbursements of wage earners in New England,
itself one of the great textile manufacturing areas of the United
States. Table 12 presents data for communities in the State of
New Hampshire and for the City of Boston.
TABLE
12.
EXPENDITURES
ON
CLOTHING
AND
FURNISHINGS,
V A R Y I N G INCOME L E V E L S , S E L E C T E D C O M M U N I T I E S , U N I T E D
Average
total expenditure
Per
consumption
unit
Per
family
Percentage of
total expenditure spent
On
clothing
Various New Hampshire
s
f 1,055
10.6
J 1,124
10.8
Under $400. .
1 1,128
11.2
[ 1,327
13.3
Over $400 . .
f
I
1
{
1,285
1,378
1,469
1,473
9.2
10.3
11.4
10.5
Cit y of Boston,
U n d e r $300. .
$300-400 . .
$400-500 . .
$500-600 . .
$600-700 . .
$700 and over
1,323
1,388
1,559
1,728
1,661
1,943
9.5
9.4
10.2
9.5
10.5
10.1
Total expenditures
On furnishings and
equipment
towns,
STATES
On
clothing
On furnishings and
equipment
2.9
2.8
3.1
3.8
1933-1934
s
112
121
126
176
31
31
35
50
5.6
3.6
5.5
3.3
118
142
167
155
72
50
81
49
126
130
159
164
174
196
16
26
41
54
56
72
S
1934-1935
1.2
1.9
2.6
3.1
3.4
3.7
S O U R C E : U N I T E D S T A T E S D E P A R T M E N T OF L A B O R , B U R E A U OF L A B O R S T A T I S T I C S :
Monthly
Labor Review, March 1936, p . 5 6 1 ; September 1936, p . 784.
To recapitulate, the budgetary studies relating to Germany,
Belgium, China, the United States, Japan, Sweden and Czechoslovakia all lead to the same results. At the lower ranges of the
income scale, in any event, the potential demand for textile manufactures is very great. If ways and means could be found to
bring textile commodities within the effective reach of wage
workers, salary earners and agricultural workers of the lowest
income status, the demand for textile manufactures would swell
out far beyond the highest levels attained in 1927-1929.
— 173 —
VI.
—
CONCLUSION
In the end, then, the analysis points to the existence of a sort
of paradox. Although the demand for textiles expands considerably
with an increase in income, the total effective demand for textile
manufactures at the period of highest prosperity grew but moderately as compared with the immediate pre-war years. Clearly, on
the basis of the evidence, textile manufacturing may be described
from the commercial point of view as an industry of over-production. From the social point of view, however—that is, from the
point of view of individual and family requirements—it may be
characterised as an industry of under-consumption. As for the
solution of the paradox, it lies in measures and policies which
would, the world over, enlarge real income and the purchasing
power of the mass of the population.
To say this is by no means to pass final judgment on the experiments in curtailment of output and of productive capacity that have
been actually undertaken. In some countries or districts, curtailment of output may be a wise formula, in the short run, to preserve
the structure of prices and wage rates, of mill margins and family
earnings, from complete collapse. In other countries or districts,
curtailment of capacity may be a wise formula, in the long run,
to offset the permanent loss of exports or domestic markets enjoyed
in the past. I t is an altogether different matter, however, to argue
that the world textile industry as a whole should hold down output
or diminish productive capacity. To evaluate this argument, the
accruing " commercial " benefits—sustained prices, profit margins
and personal incomes for some people—must be balanced against
the accruing " social " losses : lessened consumption of textile
products by wage workers, low-salaried employees and the agricultural population; reduced earnings and more or less permanent
unemployment for a large part of the industry's present labour
force.
CHAPTER VIII
FACTORS Di INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION
Owing to the shifts and changes in textile production and trade,
and to the relationships of productive capacity to effective demand,
as described in the two preceding chapters, international competition in the world trade in textiles has become increasingly
intense and critical in recent years. For a complete picture of
the industry in its international aspects, it is thus necessary to
evaluate the competitive advantages which some countries enjoy
and the disadvantages from which other countries suffer, as well
as to examine the practices and policies by means of which various
countries have tried to gain or retain for themselves as large a
share as possible of the total world market.
In this chapter, attention will be centred on four principal
factors underlying international competition in textile products:
(1) access to or exclusion from particular markets; (2) currency
devaluation; (3) commercial organisation, and (4) costs of production with emphasis on raw material and labour costs.
I. — ACCESS TO MARKETS
In Chapter II evidence was brought forth to indicate the
importance of textile production and of the foreign trade in textiles
to the national economy of various countries.1 The most recent
figures indicate that Japan exports over a third of the total
value of all its textile manufactures and the United Kingdom
over a fourth. As for Germany, although the global ratio of
exports to production has fallen heavily in recent years, it was as
high as 24 per cent, in 1928.2 In short, all the evidence points
1
F o r detailed statistics, see Volume I I , P a r t I.
Japanese Trade and Industry, p . 494; Report on the Import Duties Act
Inquiry (1933), P a r t I I , p . 2 5 1 ; International Trade Statistics, 1935, p . 2 4 8 ;
2
— 175 —
to the importance of access to foreign markets as the basis of
continued prosperity in the textile industries of most of the great
textile producing countries.
TABLE 1 .
OF
SHARE OF HOME MARKET HELD B Y DOMESTIC P R O D U C E R S
COTTON M A N U F A C T U R E S , S E L E C T E D
COUNTRIES, RECENT
YEARS
(by volume)
Yarn
Country
United States (1933) .
India (1935)
China (1934)
. . . .
U.S.S.R. (1934) . . .
J a p a n (1935) . . . .
G e r m a n y (1928) . . .
United Kingdom (1934)
I t a l y (1934)
F r a n c e (1932) . . . .
Brazil (1929)
. . . .
N e t h e r l a n d s (1933) . .
Canada (1934) . . . .
Belgium (1933)
. . .
A u s t r i a (1929) . . . .
R u m a n i a (1934) . . .
Switzerland (1929) . .
Per cent, of
consumption
domestically
produced
99.9 (Ò)
96.0 (c)
99.6 (c)
99.9
95.0 (d)
99.8
99.5 (6)
99.7
72.5 (e)
95.2 (b)
95.2
82.1
81.8
Piece goods
Estimated
consumption (a)
Total
7,625
4,405(c)
998(c)
2,382
2.184
2,139
1,491
888
780
749
352
286
239
Imported
41
1,033
125
1
152
23
7
8
49
37
72
17
Per cent, of
consumption
domestically
produced
99.5
76.5 (c)
87.5 (c)
(99.9)
99.9
92.9
98.5
99.2
99.0
93.5
89.5
74.8
92.9
52.0
88.1
88.8
(a) Million y a r d s or thousand quintals.
(6) 1929.
(c) Excluding hand-spun yarn and hand-woven cloth; in 1929, hand-loom production
estimated as constituting over 25 per cent, of total consumption in India, and over 70 p e r
cent, in China.
(d) -1933.
(e) 1934.
S O U R C E S : J O I N T COMMITTEE OF COTTON T R A D E ORGANISATIONS : (1) Cotton Trade
Statistics,
1936, tables 73, 97, 131, 149-161, 179, 180, 184, 212-249; (2) The Commercial Policies
of Foreign Countries, I, Statistical Appendix, table 5, and I I , Statistical Appendix,
table 5.
On the other hand, the importance of the home market must
not be underestimated. Thus, for the cotton textile industry of
India, China, Germany and the United States, the home market
is practically everything; for Belgium, Italy and France the home
market is several times more important than the foreign market;
R. WAGENFÜR, Die Bedeutung des Aussenmarkles für die deutsche IndustricívirtschaU, Institut für Konjunkturforschung, Berlin, 1931, pp. 11, 27. Foi
some individual branches of the industry, of course, the percentages are
much higher.
— 176 —
even in Japan and the United Kingdom, domestic purchases of
cotton cloth are from 60 to 80 per cent, of the volume of home
manufactures sold abroad. In the light of these facts, it is very
significant that almost all of the great cotton textile producing
countries dominate, when they do not entirely monopolise, their
home markets for cotton textile products. The approximate
shares of the home market enjoyed by cotton yarn and cloth of
domestic production in a number of countries are given in
table 1.
Despite the importance of home markets, access to or exclusion
from foreign markets is a matter of great moment to the textile
industry of most countries. Such access or exclusion bears directly
on costs of production. The larger the market available on favoured
or equal terms to the textile industries of particular countries, the
greater their potential volume of sales ; increase in volume of sales
makes feasible full-time instead of part-time operation of plant
and equipment, and thus results in lower overhead costs per unit
of output.
The question of access to or exclusion from special markets will
be considered here with regard to Japan, the United Kingdom,
India, France, the United States and Germany. This list of countries
is large enough, and of a sufficiently representative character, to
justify the hope that the resultant findings may have a wider
significance. Before passing, however, to the detailed problems
of each country specified, certain general principles may usefully
be stated.
The status of any market for textile manufactures (as for other
commodities) is the outcome of the operation, singly or combined,
of five major factors: (1) the height of the general duty rates
applicable to imports; (2) the preferential tariff rates, if any,
granted to or operative against particular suppliers; (3) discriminatory or non-discriminatory quantitative limitations of all kinds,
from quotas to embargoes; (4) foreign exchange control, whether
to reduce imports generally, to limit them to particular sources,
or both; and (5) over-valuation or under-valuation of the currency
in relation to other currencies. All five of these factors have been
operating in varying degrees in different countries since 1931-1932
at least.
Non-discriminatory tariffs uncomplicated by quotas or exchange
restrictions may be dismissed briefly. In such countries as the
United States, Japan and the United Kingdom, the duties on
imported textiles may be described as " high "; in such countries
— 177 —
as British East Africa, Belgian Congo, 'Iraq and Siam as
" low ". i
India and the British Dominions are the outstanding examples
of countries where preferences in favour of a particular supplier
—in this case the United Kingdom—are superimposed on protective
duties in favour of home industries. In India (cotton goods) and
in Australia (cotton and rayon goods), moreover, imports from
Japan are subject to quotas scaled in accordance with Japan's
purchases of Indian raw cotton in the one case and of Australian
raw wool in the other. As for Egypt, although the basic tariff
rate is low, Japanese imports of cotton goods are surcharged
highly to the benefit in the main of the United Kingdom.2
The major markets where, despite moderate tariff duties, discriminatory quotas are in force, are the British Crown Colonies
(with certain exceptions), the French Colonies, the Netherlands
East Indies, and the Philippine Islands. In all four cases, Japan
is the source of supply against which the quotas are chiefly directed ;
the countries which benefit from the restrictions are the United
Kingdom (Crown Colonies and, to some extent, the Netherlands
Indies), France (its own colonies), the Netherlands (the Netherlands Indies), and the United States (the Philippine Islands).3
Exchange restrictions reach their most extreme developments in
Central and South Eastern Europe and in South America. In
almost all cases, the restrictions are intended, not merely to hold
down imports below a stated level, but also to discriminate among
the sources from which such shipments can be obtained. Thus,
Argentine exchange restriction in fact operates in favour of the
United Kingdom, and against Japan and the United States; in
other South American countries, and in almost all of the Balkan
countries, it is Germany above all which benefits from the control
measures to the detriment of all other potential suppliers. In
certain extreme cases, for example Greece and Rumania, exchange
control is superimposed on import quotas together with very
high basic tariff rates: here the policies of bilateral trade come to
their fullest fruition.4 In general, moreover, exchange control automatically discriminates in favour of those countries with which the
controlling country has an active trade balance.
1
2
3
4
A large sample of representative tariff rates is given in Volume II, Part I.
For fuller discussion, see below.
For fuller discussion, see below.
For fuller discussion, see below.
12
— 178 —
As for the fifth factor in determining the status of textile markets
—under-valuation or over-valuation of particular currencies—its
effects are discussed at some length subsequently in this chapter.
Restrictions on Japanese
Exports
It has been shown at several points in this Report that the
entire national economy of Japan pivots on trade in textile raw
materials, semi-finished manufactures and fully manufactured
products. More than is the case with any other country, Japan's
ability to improve her standard of living has been dependent in
recent years upon exports of textile products on a large scale.
In fact, it would be impossible to understand the remarkable
expansion of Japan's exports of cotton, wool, silk and rayon
tissues since 1931-1932 without taking into account the fundamental re-orientation in that country's economic life which was
brought about by the drastic collapse between 1929 and 1932 in the
price of raw silk, the most important Japanese export commodity
until then.
During the pre-depression period, as to-day, Japan had to
import many essential raw materials as well as substantial amounts
of foodstuffs. In procuring them, Japan incurred a debit balance
of trade with other countries which was largely offset by a credit
balance from its exports of raw silk to the United States. But
with the severe decline in the price of raw silk between 1930 and
1932, Japan's international balance of payments was profoundly
modified.1 Although the volume of Japanese raw silk imported
by the United States was increased,2 the value of such imports
went down rapidly from 356 million dollars in 1929 to 106 million
dollars in 1932, followed by a further decline to 92 million and
70 million in the next two years.3
The result was that Japan now faced a debit balance in its
trade with the United States. In order to continue importing
essential raw materials and foodstuffs, Japan was compelled to
rearrange its trade with the rest of the world so as to yield a credit
balance. The rearrangement took a twofold form: the yen was
1
The unit value of raw silk exports declined from 13.5 yen per kin in 1929
to 6.4 in 1931, recovering to 7.0 in 1932 (UNITED STATES TARIFF COMMIS
SION:
Recent Developments in the Foreign Trade of Japan, 1936, p. 16).
2
The annual average during 1924-1928 was 55 million lbs., during 1930
1932
it was 66 millions lbs. (ibid., p. 8).
3
Ibid., p. 8.
— 179 —
devalued; exports of cotton, wool and silk tissues were pushed
vigorously. The effects upon Japan's balance of internationa
payments is shown in table 2.
TABLE
2.
JAPANESE
BALANCE
OF
PAYMENTS
IN
COMMODITY
TRADE, 1924-34
(In millions of yen)
Year
1924-1928 (average)
1929
1930
1931
1932
1933
1934
Balance in trade
with the
United States
+191
+260
+ 6 3
+ 8 3
-^65
— 129
— 370
Balance in trade
with all
other countries
— 522
— 327
— 139
— 172
+ 4 4
+ 7 3
+259
SOURCE : UNITED STATES TARIFF COMMISSION : Recent Developments in the Foreign Trade of
Japan, 1936, p. 8.
As Japan's increasing exports flowed into world markets which
were contracting owing to the depression and other causes, special
measures were taken by many Governments to limit the volume
of the stream. First and foremost, in January 1934, after denunciation by India of the Indo-Japanese Convention of 1904,1 the
so-called Raw Cotton-Cotton Piece Goods Agreement was negotiated
between the two countries. This agreement restricted the quantity
of Japanese cotton piece goods which might be imported into
India, and scaled the quantitative restrictions to accord with
Japan's purchase of Indian raw cotton.2
Second, in May and June of 1934, the United Kingdom imposed
quotas on imports of cotton and rayon piece goods into all of the
Crown Colonies (except British East Africa and Hong Kong).
Except in British West Africa (where until 1 January 1937, the
discrimination was de jure against Japan alone), imports from all
foreign countries were subject to the quotas. De facto, however,
1
The denunciation was simultaneous with an increase of duty on nonBritish piece goods to 75 per cent, ad valorem.
2
Japan was allotted an annual import quota of 125 million yards unconditionally; 325 million yards contingent upon the annual purchase of 1 million
bales of Indian raw cotton; and 400 million yards contingent upon the purchase
of 1.5 million bales. India likewise lowered the duty on non-British goods to
50 per cent., but with the reservation that extra duties might be imposed on
Japanese goods if the yen depreciated below the level attained at the end of
1933 (Eastern Industrialisation and its Effect on the West, p. 277).
— 180 —
the choice of 1927-1931 as the base years on which the quotas
were calculated caused them to act against Japan more than
against any other country.1
A third major restriction on Japanese goods arose out of the
operation, in the Netherlands Indies, of an emergency quota
system initiated by the Crisis Import Ordinance of 1933. The
quota limitations which began to be applied early in 1934 in effect
favoured the Netherlands, and to a less extent the United Kingdom,
as regards imports, inter alia, of bleached and unbleached cotton
goods, coloured woven cotton materials, cotton blankets and
towels. De facto if not de jure, it was Japan which suffered the
brunt of these measures.2
The fourth major restriction came into effect in the Philippine
Islands. On 11 October 1935, after negotiations with the United
States, the Japanese Government voluntarily agreed to limit, for
a two-year period beginning 1 August 1935, shipments of Japanese
piece goods to the Philippine Islands to 45 million square metres
annually. The quotas were to continue in effect until 1 August
1937, provided that during this interval the Philippine tariff
duties applicable to Japanese cotton goods were not raised.3
On 27 December 1936, after a so-called trade war that began
in May of that year,4 Australia became a fifth major market where
Japanese textiles could enter only under quotas. The terms of the
agreement concluded between the two Governments on that date
provided that, for a period of eighteen months thereafter, imports
into Australia of Japanese cotton and rayon piece goods would be
limited to 102.5 million square yards yearly divided equally between
the two classes, and exclusive of cotton fabrics destined lor bagging.
In return, Australia undertook to reduce the rate of duty on
Japanese goods by half (thus narrowing the preierential margin of
the United Kingdom), while Japan undertook to purchase 533
thousand bales of Australian wool per annum during the period.5
1
ROYAL INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS: Raw Materials and
Colonies, London, 1936, p. 42. Compare JOINT COMMITTEE OF COTTON
TRADE ORGANISATIONS: Empire Trade in Cotton and Rayon Goods Before and
After
Ottawa, 1935, p. 13; see also The Times (London), 6 January 1937.
2
A. N. DE WILDE, J. T. MOLL and A. J. GOOSZEN: The Netherlands Indies
during the Depression, 1936, pp. 70-71; compare Raw Materials and Colonies,
pp.3 43-44.
Cotton Cloth Report, p. 78.
4
The trade war began when Australia raised its duties on cotton and rayon
piece goods imported from Japan. In retaliation, Japan took measures to
reduce
to a minimum her imports of Australian raw wool.
6
Manchester Guardian, 28 December 1936.
— 181 —
Without going into further details, the Japanese foreign market
situation may be summarised as follows :
In June 1936 (according to a study issued by the Joint Committee
of Cotton Trade Organisations) cotton piece goods exported from Japan
were subjected to restrictive measures in 56 out of .106 markets which are
distinguished in Japanese export statistics
In 40 of these cases
the restriction took the form of a quantitative limitation, while in the
other 16 cases restriction took the form of a tariff preference in favour
of Japan's principal competitor—the United Kingdom. The quantity
of trade affected by the restrictions was about 67 per cent, of total
Japanese piece goods exports in 1935.
Obstacles to the expansion of exports of cotton goods from Japan were
first imposed in 1932 when quotas were adopted in a number of countries,
including France and some of her colonies, Turkey, Persia, Greece,
Denmark (import licence system) and Holland. In the same year the
Ottawa Agreements gave the United Kingdom a greater margin of
preference in British countries. In November 1933 the institution of the
system of prior exchange permits in Argentina in effect gave the United
Kingdom and some other countries a preferential advantage over
Japan. . . . The earliest examples of regulation directed solely
against Japan were the quotas in India and the Dutch East Indies
imposed at the beginning of 1934. Five months later quotas were introduced in the British Crown Colonies. Since then many other countries
have imposed barriers, some, as particularly in Egypt (now against
China as well), the Philippine Islands, 'Iraq, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador
and Venezuela, directed against Japan only, and some of a more general
character, as in Haiti and Cuba, which have adopted a multiple tariff
depending upon considerations of balance of trade. In addition the
United States has recently raised tariff rates
on some cotton goods items
in which Japan has a virtual monopoly.1
To estimate the exact quantitative effects of the various restrictive measures on Japanese exports of cotton cloth is impossible.
The study by the Joint Committee of Cotton Trade Organisations
suggests t h a t quotas have operated more powerfully than tariffs;
that such quotas have been particularly efficacious in the Crown
Colonies, in Peru and the Philippine Islands and have at least
prevented any great expansion of exports to India and to the
Netherlands Indies.
Tariffs are judged to have .had little
effect unless, as in Latin America, they were set at prohibitive
heights. Exchange discrimination in Argentina is noted not to
have prevented Japan from increasing her share in t h a t market;
while the 40 per cent, surcharge in the case of Egypt is considered
to have had immediate serious effects, despite a small following
recovery. 2
1
MANCHESTER CHAMBER OF COMMERCE:
No.2 9, 30 September 1936, p. 369.
Ibid., p. 370.
Monthly Record, Volume XLVII
— 182 —
Table 3 below shows the volume of Japanese exports of cotton
cloth into a number of markets at significant periods before and
after quota restrictions were applied.
TABLE 3 .
JAPANESE COTTON CLOTH EXPORTS, SELECTED
MARKETS, 1934-1935
(million square yards)
Pre-quota
period
British Crown Colonies
Quotas applied in spring of 1934; first
full year of operation, 1935:
Gold Coast and Nigeria
Ceylon
Jamaica
British Malaya
Quotas not in force :
British Bast Africa
Hong Kong
. (a)
(6)
(c)
(d)
(e)
(/)
(a)
(1934)
Under quota
restriction
(1935)
7
41
5
91
8
5
5
47
78
36
88
49
Netherlands East Indies
Quotas initiated early in 1934
432 (a)
Philippine Islands (b)
Agreement in effect 1 August 1935 . . .
76.5 (c)
(53.8) (d)
British India (b)
Raw-Cotton — Cotton Cloth Agreement,
concluded January 1934
340 (e)
374 (/)
(400) (g)
Average 1933-1934.
Imports from Japan.
Average 1934-1935.
Annual quota until 1 August 1937.
Year ending 31 March 1934.
Actual quantity, year ending 31 March 1935.
Quantity allowable under quota.
370
.
SOURCES: Eastern Industrialisation and its Effect on theWest, p. 14; Cotton Cloth Report
pp. 78-79; LEAGUE OF NATIONS: World Economic Survey, 1935/36, p. 204.
The United Kingdom
Faced with contracting markets for its textile products, particularly of cotton, woollen and worsted tissues, the United Kingdom,
beginning in 1931-1932, turned its attention to the possibilities
of the home and Empire markets. The first step was taken in the
autumn of 1931, when the depreciation of the pound sterling
automatically introduced a large measure of protection equivalent
to an increased tariff, and reduced the export prices in foreign
currencies of British commodities. The second step was taken
— 183 —
in March 1932, when the Import Duties Act, marking a detinite
breach with traditional free-trade principles, became law. The
third step followed in August of the same year, when the Ottawa
Agreements widened the preferential tariff margins which India and
the Dominions had already been granting to the United Kingdom.
Finally, and with more specific reference to textile products,
quota restrictions were introduced into the Crown Colonies early in
the summer of 1934 for the purpose of increasing British sales.
It would be difficult to exaggerate the importance, particularly
to the wool and silk sections of the United Kingdom's textile
industry, of the advantages in the home market which the monetary
and commercial measures of 1931-1932 placed at their disposal.
As for outside markets, the preferential tariff margins granted to
United Kingdom exports of textile goods under the Ottawa
Agreements have been of special importance to the British textile
industry.1 It is, of course, extremely difficult to measure the precise
effects of these preferences, particularly in view of the fact that
India and such countries as Australia and Canada have protective
tariff systems designed to favour their home textile industries and
also in view of the complicating influences of the depression and of
the following recovery. In any case, the United Kingdom since
1931 has come to rely to an increasing extent upon its Empire
preference markets as outlets both for cotton cloth and for woollen
and worsted tissues, as is shown in table 4.
TABLE 4 .
BRITISH
TEXTILE
EXPORTS TO INDIA AND
BRITISH
DOMINIONS, SELECTED CATEGORIES, 1928-1935
(in per cent, of textile exports to all countries)
A. — All Cotton Manufactures, by Value
To India
To British Dominions . . .
Total above
1929
1932
21.7
14.4
36!
16.3
18.4
3477
(flrsfLlf)
16.7
21.7
3T4
B. — Cotton Piece Goods, by Square Yardage
To India
To British Dominions . . .
Total above
1928
1931
1935
39.9
7.4
47!
22.7
13.6
3673
27.9
19.9
47.8
1
The extent of these margins in India and in the several Dominions is
shown in Volume II, Part I.
184
C. — Woollen and Worsted Tissues,
To India
To British Dominions
Total above . . .
by Square
Yardage
1928
1931
1934
3.5
31.6
35.1
1.6
28.2
29.8
4.2
34.6
38.8
SOURCE: Cotton Trade Statistics, 1936, table 180; World Consumption of Wool, 1928-1935,
p. 46; Empire Trade in Cotton and Rayon Goods Before and After Ottawa, 1935, table 11.
It is also difficult to evaluate the exact influence on British
textile exports of the import quota system established in the Crown
Colonies in May and June 1934. Table 5 presents data on the basis
of which provisional conclusions may, however, be made.
TABLE 5 .
KINGDOM
IMPORTS OF COTTON PIECE GOODS FROM THE UNITED
AND
INDIA INTO BRITISH
COLONIAL QUOTA MARKETS,
1934-1935
(in millions of square yards)
F r o m t h e United
Kingdom
Imports into
British West Africa
British Malaya
Ceylon
British West Indies
British Guiana
Mauritius
. . .
. . . .
Total (b) . .
From
India
(nrst
halt)
1934
1934
(second
half)
1935
(first
half)
1934
(first
half)
23.5
10.3
3.4
6.1
1.7
(a)
44.5
18.1
8.9
16.1
3.0
(a)
65.8
14.7
12.6
13.6
2.5
2.1
6.1
4.6
10.3
3.1
9.5
o'.2
1.6
1Ì9
45.0
90.6 109.2
8.4
16.5
14.5
1934
(second
half)
1935
(first
half)
(a) Total for 1934, 2.4.
(6) Available figures only.
SOURCES: Empire Trade in Cotton and Rayon Goods Before and After Ottawa. Appendix,
table 20.
Thus, both the United Kingdom and India doubled their volume
of exports of cotton piece goods to Crown Colonies subject to
import quotas between the first and second half of 1934. As for
Japan, the country against whose exports these quotas were in
effect imposed, her shipments to these markets were cut more
than half during the period in question. 1
1
See work cited as source in table 5.
— 185 —
In sum, the effect of all the measures specified above was, as
regards British Empire markets at least, to slow down the rate
of decline in the United Kingdom's position as an exporter of
textile manufactures.
Regardless of the continuing expansion
of textile activity in such parts of the Empire as Australia,
Canada, and India, the effect was to integrate Empire markets
more firmly than before into the system of world trade served by
textile manufacturers in the United Kingdom. So far as cotton
piece goods are concerned, the major tendencies of change are
suggested by table 6.
TABLE 6 .
ORIGIN OF COTTON PIECE GOODS CONSUMED IN THE
BRITISH EMPIRE (EXCEPT UNITED KINGDOM),
1929-1934
Million linear y a r d s
1929
Empire consumption
. . . .
Imports from United Kingdom
Imports from other countries .
Indian production (less exports)
Canadian production . . . .
1932
1934
6,788 7,101 7,103
Percentage
1929
1934
1932
100.0 100.0 100.0
27.5
16.5
16.0
15.5
15.5
13.5
3,548 4,656 4,675 52.0
340 . 4.0
263
239
65.5
3.0
66.0
5.0
1,798
1,179
1,117
1,089
1,097
991
SOURCE : Empire Trade in Cotton and Rayon Goods Before and After Ottavia, 1935, Appendix,
table 8.
Table 6 does not include consumption in the United Kingdom
itself. When the figures for 1934 are adjusted to allow for such
consumption, the outlines of the entire British Empire market for
cotton piece goods emerge as shown in table 7.
TABLE 7 .
BRITISH EMPIRE MARKET FOR COTTON PIECE GOODS,
1934
(INCLUDING UNITED KINGDOM)
Million linear
yards
Total Empire consumption
United Kingdom consumption of United Kingdom goods
I m p o r t s from United Kingdom
Imports from all other countries
Indian production (less exports)
Canadian production
Percentage
8,186
100.0
1,060
1,097
1,014
4,675
340
12.9
13.4
12.4
57.0
4.3
SOURCES: Computed from table 6 above; Cotton Trade Statistics, 1936, tables 97 and 212A;
U.K. Board of Trade Journal, 24 Sept. 1936. p. 430.
— 186 —
The United States
The magnitude of the home market in the United States for all
textile manufactures exceeds that of any other single market in
the world. This enormous home market, as is well known, is
protected for the benefit of the domestic textile industry by means
of high tariffs.1 By virtue of this privileged position, United
States textile manufacturers can exploit to the full the possibilities
of mass production, with resulting economies in overhead costs.
The fact that, despite these advantages and the high degree of
mechanisation, United States textile manufactures have but
relatively small foreign markets, and these contracting in magnitude, suggests that low overhead costs are more than offset by
other factors. Table 8 présents data which bring out the sheltered
character of the United States as a textile market, and the relative
insignificance, save in the case of imported linen and jute, both
of imports and exports.
TABLE 8 .
UNITED STATES EXPORTS AND
IMPORTS OF TEXTILE
MANUFACTURES AS PERCENTAGES OF TOTAL DOMESTIC PRODUCTION
(by value)
1929
Commodity
Cotton manufactures (a) . .
Jute
„
. . .
Linen
„
(b) . .
Wool
„
(c) . .
Silk and rayon manufactures.
1926-1930
1933
Pro- Aver- AverProage duction
duction age
imports exports
Imports
Exports
3.2
225.6
350.0
2.9
3.5
3.5
8.8
2.3
0.2
2.5
100
100
100
100
100
3.7
376.3
313.5
6.9
7.1
6.5
18.5
5.2
0.5
3.3
100
100
100
100
100
(a) Production of cotton goods plus cotton small wares.
(ò) Import data are estimated and probably include small amounts of hemp and
ramie manufactures; exports are for flax, hemp and ramie manufactures, not separately
distinguished.
(c) Woollen and worsted goods.
SOURCE: Statistical Abstract of the United States, 1935, tables 508, 509, 760. Production
data exclude, trade figures include: lace goods, felt goods, carpets and rugs, cordage
and twine, and most wearing apparel; the trade percentages given are thus all too large.
It is not in the home market alone that American manufacturers
of textile goods enjoy tariff advantages. As pointed out above,
1
On the other hand, the United States is for the most part free of import
quotas, discriminatory preferences and exchange restrictions.
— 187 —
in the Philippine Islands, until 1 August 1937, imports of cotton
cloth from Japan will be limited to 45" million square metres
annually; no such quantitative limitations apply to exports from
the United States. In Cuba, one of the countries more or less
within the sphere of economic influence of the United States, the
multiple tariff system in force tends to operate against imports
of cotton piece goods from Japan, in particular, and to favour
those from the United States. 1
India
As brought out earlier, the tariff regime applying to cotton
textiles imported into India combines three distinct features.
First, the basic rates of duty are high, with the avowed purpose
of protecting the home mills. Second, imports from the United
Kingdom enjoy an appreciable margin of preference. Third,
imports from Japan are subject to quota limitations pursuant to
the Raw Cotton-Piece Goods Agreement already described.
This is not the place for a detailed examination of Indian tariff
history in its bearing on the textile industry. 2 The following
brief summary will suffice:
Between 1858 and 1882, Indian millowners were successful in obtaining
moderate protection against imports of cotton goods from the United
Kingdom and foreign countries. Between 1882 and 1894, so far as cotton
goods were concerned, India functioned as a free-trade country. From
then until 1916, although imported cotton goods were subject to moderate
duties, these were offset by equal countervailing excise duties on products manufactured in Indian mills. From 1916 on, however, steps were
taken in the direction of protective tariffs: the import duties were
raised to a higher level than the excise rates ; the latter were abolished in
1925-1926; at length cotton goods were transferred to the protective
schedule in 1930, with a preferential margin granted to United Kingdom
manufacturers. Since then, the principal changes in the tariff have
been concerned with extending the system of Ottawa Agreement
preferences and with holding down the inflow of Japanese cloth.
In short, cotton mills in India, as the result of t h a t country's
commercial autonomy, enjoy a truly protected home market. At
the same time, the quota system which quantitatively restricts
imports from Japan into the Crown Colonies gives Indian textile
mills definite competitive advantages in such markets as British
Malaya, Ceylon and Mauritius.
1
MANCHESTER CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: Monthly Record, 30 September
1936,
p. 369.
2
Such an examination may be found in M. P. GANDHI: The Indian Cotton
Textile Industry, Calcutta, 1930, Chapters IV, VI, IX.
— 188 In point of population, the Indian textile industry enjoys access
to the largest of all domestic markets, with the probable exception
of China. As already pointed out, India is by far the world's
largest importer of cotton piece goods, and possesses one of the
largest cotton manufacturing industries. At the same time, the
quantitative significance of the Indian textile market is restricted
by limitations of national wealth and income, arising out of general
low productivity in industry and agriculture. This appears clearly
from the data on per capita consumption and on unit values of
imports, as shown in Chapter VII.
Nevertheless, the advantages which at present accrue to Indian
millowners in the home market are important. In 1913-1914 Indian
mill production of cotton cloth was about 28 per cent, of the total
quantity of mill-made cloth available for consumption; in 1927-1928
the share of total consumption supplied by Indian mill output had
risen twofold to 57 per cent.; in 1933-1934 it reached almost
80 per cent. 1 Protection has undoubtedly played an important
rôle in enabling Indian mills to obtain an increasing share of the
home market.
France
As indicated elsewhere in this Study, no country's exports of
textile products contracted more markedly during the depression
years than those of France. France had to contend, as did other
countries, with diminished purchasing power the world over, with
new tariff barriers in all principal markets, with import quotas
restricting the volume of trade, and with discriminations and preferences arising out of foreign exchange control and bilateral trade
arrangements. While most countries, however, after 1931 allowed
their currencies to depreciate from 30 to 60 per cent., France
maintained the pre-existing gold parity of the franc until late in
1936, and as a consequence, together with such countries as Switzerland and the Netherlands, had to face the additional difficulty of
selling its textile exports at " dear " prices in terms of the newly
depreciated currencies.
Confronted by these difficulties, France fell back upon high
tariffs and an elaborate system of import quotas. These were
applied, wherever juridically permissible, throughout the French
Empire, which is, including the motherland, colonies, protectorates
and mandates, one of the largest trading areas in the world.
1
Computed from Eastern Industrialisation and its Effect on the West, p. 273.
— 189 —
France maintains very close relations with her colonies. Algeria,
being part of France, is included in the French customs area; Tunis
makes its own customs regulations subject to the approval of the French
Ministry, and grants heavy preferences to French goods.
Under the Colonial Customs Act of 13 April 1928, the " assimilated
areas " (Indo-China, Madagascar, Guadalupe, French Guiana, Martinique and Reunion) enjoy free trade with the mother country and have
virtually the same tariffs; in effect, therefore, they afford 100 per cent.
preferences to France and receive them in return. The non-assimilated
areas comprise the Mandates and Treaty Territories and the remaining
French colonies. Of these latter, only French Somaliland, which is
chiefly of importance for the entrepôt trade, maintains the Open
Door; in the other territories . . . the tariffs strongly favour
the mother country.
The complicated import quotas established by France since 1931 do
not place any restrictions on the import of colonial produce, whilst
some of the colonies have given quota systems of their own correspondingly favourable to France. In consequence the proportion of France's
import and export trade
conducted with the .colonies has risen strikingly
in the past few years. 1
The trade returns of France between 1932 and' 1935 bear eloquent
testimony to the progressive emergence of a sort of self-enclosed
system of trade in textile manufactures between the motherland
and the colonies. 2 This development is illustrated by table 9.
The devaluation of the French franc late in September 1936
was accompanied by a substantial liberalising of the quota system,
largely, it may be suggested, with a view to preventing an undue
rise in commodity prices. It remains to be seen whether the
devaluation, by expanding the volume of exports from France to
foreign countries, will diminish the proportional importance of her
colonies as markets for French textile goods, and whether the
1
ROYAL INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS: Raw Materials and
Colonies, 1936, p. 43. For a detailed discussion of the various tariff regimes
prevailing in the French colonies, mandates, treaty territories and protectorates, see Conférence Economique de la France métropolitaine et d'outre-mer,
December 1934, April 1935, Rapports généraux et conclusions d'ensemble,
Vol.
1, pp. 41-55.
2
The belief that even in the so-called Treaty Territories, such as French
Morocco and French West Africa, the " open door " should be abandoned and
quotas favourable to thè home land introduced, seems to be making considerable headway in France. For example, the French Government recently
terminated Article IX of the Anglo-French Convention of 1898, by which the
two countries undertook not to discriminate against one another in Nigeria,
the Gold Coast, Dahomey, and the Ivory Coast; an immunity which extended
to most other important States by virtue of the most-favoured-nation clauses.
Simultaneously with the termination of Article IX, the French Government
introduced a quota system into its West African colonies. Correspondingly, the
British Government modified the quotas in Nigeria by extending their application from cotton and rayoñ piece goods imported from Japan to cotton and
rayon piece goods imported from all foreign countries; large purchasers of
Nigerian exports are particularly favoured. See The Times, London, 6 January
1937; compare Raw Materials and Colonies, 1936, pp. 40-41.
— 190 —
liberalisation of the quota system, by permitting a freer flow of
non-French goods into the colonies will also reduce the proportional
importance of the motherland in the colonial trade. Even the
complete lifting of quotas, however, would still leave France with
large preferential tariff margins in almost all portions of her colonial
Empire.
TABLE 9 .
FRENCH TEXTILE EXPORTS, BY DESTINATION,
1932-1935
(in t h o u s a n d quintals)
To foreign countries
y
To colonies
1932
1935
1932
1935
Yarns :
Linen, h e m p or ramie . . . .
J u t e , etc
R o p e and twine
Cotton
Wool
Thrown or spun silk, or r a y o n
61.8
7.8
1.9
61.5
128.2
94.6
48.8
6.6
2.2
60.2
98.0
88.1
1.6
21.3
33.3
12.8
3.4
3.1
1.4
26.2
34.0
19.9
6.6
3.3
Tissues :
Linen, h e m p or ramie . . . .
J u t e , etc
Cotton
Wool or worsted . . . . . .
Thrown or spun silk, or rayon
11.2
32.1
96.5
79.7
62.4
5.6
39.8
32.6
34.4
35.9
6.6
74.5.
292.9
9.1
7.1
6.6
119.9
356.8
12.7
12.9
Total, y a r n s and tissues (a)
638.9
453.0
466.3
600.5
(a) Including small amounts of hair manufactures, etc.
SOURCE: Statistique Mensuelle du Commerce Extérieur de la France, Dec. 1935, p. 48.
Germany
The case of Germany sheds light on the problem of access to
and exclusion from markets, as it affects major textile producing
countries which possess small colonial possessions or none at all.
Even before the World War Germany was only a minor colonial
power. As a result of the Treaty of Versailles such colonies as
Germany possessed (German East Africa, German South West
Africa, the Gameroons, Togoland, New Guinea, Samoa and other
South Pacific Islands) were transformed into League of Nations
mandates.
— 191 —
It can be reasonably argued that Germany's textile industries
suffer competitive disadvantages from the fact that a large
proportion of the world's colonial areas constitute preferential
or reserved markets for the benefit of other countries. As against
this, it may be contended that:
First, Germany's textile mills enjoy considerable protection in
their own home market, which, outside of the United Kingdom,
is the largest and richest in Europe. Protective tariff rates and
severe control of foreign exchange combine to reserve the greater
part of the German market for the output of German spindles
and looms.
Second, while colonies or protectorates which do not enjoy
self-government or at least tariff autonomy, such as Ceylon, the
Netherlands Indies, Nigeria, French Indo-China, etc., are among
the major importers at least of cotton and rayon tissues, nevertheless, the overwhelming proportion of the " oversea " markets for
cotton and rayon tissues is constituted by such countries as India,
Argentina, the Union of South Africa, Egypt, Turkey, and others.
Furthermore, as regards trade in wool and worsted tissues, the
colonial markets hardly figure at all, for reasons both of climate
and of purchasing power. As regards pure silk tissues, the
colonial markets are also almost negligible primarily because of
insufficient income.
Third, over a large range of colonial markets most of the
exporting countries enjoy, so far as tariffs are concerned, complete
equality of treatment. Thus, in all " A " and " B " Mandates
under the League Covenant, the " open door " must be observed
as regards "trade and commerce of other Members of the League ",
an advantage extended in practice to non-members as well.1
Moreover, in the Congo Basin, in Morocco, and until recently in
British and French West Africa, the " open door " is (or was)
established on the basis of international treaties supplemented by
most-favoured-nation clauses in the commercial treaties of the
signatory powers.2
1
Covenant, Article 22. " A " Mandates in 1936 were: Palestine, Transjordania, Syria and Lebanon; " B " Mandates were Tanganyika, Ruanda-Urundi,
British Togoland, British Cameroons, French Togoland and French Cameroons.
See Raw Materials and Colonies, p. 37.
2
See ibid., pp. 39-40. Under the Treaties of Peace, however, Germany,
Austria and Hungary surrendered their " open door " rights in Morocco. Japan
(since 1934) and the U.S.S.R., not having most-favoured-nation treaties
with the United Kingdom as concerns the colonies, are not immune from
discrimination in British West Africa.
— 192 —
Fourth, computations made on the basis of official German
statistics indicate that in 1929 all colonial markets, African and
Asiatic together, took only 3.5 per cent, of the volume of
Germany's exports of cotton, wool, silk and rayon tissues
combined. In contrast, the United Kingdom alone absorbed
20.8 per cent, of the volume of such exports, the rest of Western
and Central Europe 24.1 per cent., the Scandinavian countries
12 per cent., the Balkan-Near Eastern Group, 8.1 per cent., Latin
America 7.2 per cent., and the United States alone 6.8 per cent.
Table 10 summarises the composition of Germany's export market
for these textile fabrics in 1929.
TABLE
10. —
EXPORTS
OF
TEXTILE
BY DESTINATION,
FABRICS
FROM
GERMANY,
1929
(in percentages of volume totals)
Total
Cotton
Wool, etc.
Silk and
rayon
All countries (tons). .
70,047
36,767
25,473
7,807
United Kingdom
O t h e r W e s t e r n and Central
E u r o p e (a)
Scandinavia
Balkan E u r o p e and Near
E a s t (b)
N o r t h E a s t e r n Europe (c) . .
Latin America
United States
China, India and J a p a n
. .
Colonial m a r k e t s (d) . . . .
British Dominions
All other countries (e)
. . .
20.8
18.2
22.2
28.2
24.1
12.0
19.4
10.7
30.0
14.4
26.7
10.8
8.1
4.1
7.2
6.8
4.2
3.5
3.8
5.4
9.6
4.7
10.1
7.9
3.6
5.4
3.7
6.5
7.3
4.2
4.6
4.7
5.2
0.8
3.4
3.3
3.4
0.7
2.4
8.4
3.7
3.7
5.6
6.4
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
Country of destination
All countries
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
. . . .
Excluding Hungary.
Hungary, Balkans, Turkey, Egypt.
Including U.S.S.R.
Including Philippine Islands and " Other Asia " Category.
Not separately specified; less than one million RM. each.
SOURCE: Computed from GERMANY: Statistisches Jahrbuch, 1930, pp. 218-219.
In brief, although Germany may be handicapped as an exporter
of textile fabrics to the colonies and preference markets of other
Powers, she also has to-day preferential trading advantages in many
— 193 non-colonial markets. Bilateral trade agreements, developed further
by Germany than by any other major country, tend by their very
nature to foster localised monopolies or quasi-monopolies in international trade. This is to say, bilateral trading has served to
generate for the benefit of German textile exports a new kind of
preference market. Such bilateral trading is ordinarily implemented by " Aski " or compensation marks, which give to German
exports the impulse of a de facto devalued currency. The nature and
force of Germany's recent export drive, in particular toward Near
Eastern and Latin-American markets where bilateral trading has
been especially developed, is indicated in table 11; at the same
time this table illustrates the growing success with which Germany
has been exploiting three colonial African markets.
TABLE 1 1 .
EXPORTS OF GERMAN COTTON PIECE GOODS,
SELECTED MARKETS, 1 9 3 3 - 1 9 3 6
(in per cent, of total to all countries)
1933
1934
1935
Quarterly average
All countries (quintals) .
1936
1st
quarter
2nd
quarter
18,200
17,275
23,925
36,909
35,067
Hungary, Balkans a n d
Turkey
British E a s t a n d West
Africa, Belgian Congo .
Colombia, Cuba and Peru .
China and Siam
AU other countries . . . .
9.6
21.7
28.5
22.5
32.1
5.0
0.9
2.7
81.8
10.0
0.8
3.0
64.5
16.2
3.8
8.5
43.0
25.7
7.0
1.7
43.1
26.8
6.8
1.4
32.9
All countries
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
SOUBCE: Computed from
. . .
JOINT COMMITTEE OP COTTON TRADE ORGANISATIONS: The
Changing Conditions of World Trade in Cotton and Rayon Goods, V, Appendix, table 10.
II. — CURRENCY DEPRECIATION
In all countries where currency devaluation was undertaken
after 1931, it was done with a view to the general problems of
the national economy: to correct "unfavourable" balances of
international payments; to relieve deflationary pressures on
13
— 194 —
prices and incomes; to bring the cost of export commodities into
" balance " with world price-levels, etc. In some cases at least,
considerations relating to the situation of the textile industry
played a part in the decision to devalue and in the extent of
devaluation selected. This was notably true of Japan, where the
devaluation of the yen followed close upon the catastrophic collapse
in the price of raw silk which modified that country's whole international balance of payments. In the United Kingdom the
extreme distress of the textile trades was certainly an appreciable
link in the chain of events which led to the depreciation of the
pound sterling.
The effect of devaluation upon the competitive ability of the
major textile exporters may best be considered country by
country.
Japan
Of all the major textile producing countries, Japan has devalued
by far to the greatest extent. 1 The large devaluation of the yen
thus made available to Japanese textile exporters a very wide
margin within which they could reduce price quotations in terms
of foreign currencies, and yet obtain equal or larger sums of yen.
It cannot be doubted that the very considerable price advantage
which resulted from the yen devaluation was a primary factor in
promoting Japanese textile sales after 1931-1932. On the other
hand, the cost-raising consequences of yen devaluation have been
slow to make their full influence felt. Wage rates in Japan, to
take one of the primary costs of textile production, have lagged far
behind the rise in commodity prices, 2 and the cost of raw cotton,
the most important cost in cotton manufacturing, was pushed up
by the yen devaluation relatively little, owing to the continuous fall
in world prices of raw materials, as well as to the ability of Japanese
cotton mills to buy raw cotton advantageously, as explained
below. 3
The United
Kingdom
The suspension of the Bank of England's obligation to pay gold
against its notes has not had, in the case of textile manufactures,
1
2
For comparative devaluations, see Volume II, Part I.
UYEDA andlNOKUcHi: Cost of Living and Real Wages in Japan, 1914-1936,
pp. 20, 24. See also Chapter. X.
3
See below, pp. 201-203.
-
195 —
effects anywhere as beneficial in pushing exports as it had in the
case of other British commodities. There were two main
reasons for this: first, a large proportion of the British export
market for textiles consists of countries which adhered and adhere
to-day to the sterling bloc. With respect to such countries, the
devaluation of the pound made no difference in the margin of
possible price reduction at the disposal of British textile exporters.
Second, and even more important, the Japanese yen fell much
farther than the British pound. Whatever the size of the margin
available to British exporters, that available to Japanese exports
was still larger. On the other hand, devaluation of the pound
was very effective in curtailing the stream of textile imports into
the United Kingdom itself. As has been shown earlier, this
contributed a powerful impulse to at least wool and silk manufacturing as industries for the home market.
The United States
Devaluation of the American dollar had little or no effect upon
the export trade of the United States textile industry. The most
important markets—the Philippine Islands, Cuba, Mexico, Canada,
etc.—themselves possess currencies which are more or less rigidly
linked to the American dollar. It is true, however, that devaluation
of the dollar, together with the cotton restriction programme
enforced during the life of the Agricultural Adjustment Act,
resulted eventually in an increase in the dollar prices which
American textile mills had to pay for their raw materials. To
the extent that the world price of raw cotton may have been raised
somewhat by the crop restriction scheme, the increased raw
material costs were felt equally by spinning establishments in all
countries. To the extent that the world price of raw cotton may
have been depressed in the short run by dollar devaluation, spinning
establishments in countries other than the United States were in
a position to gain on raw material account.
More generally speaking, devaluation or depreciation by countries
producing textile raw materials operated to offset the cost-raising
tendencies of devaluation by countries exporting finished textile
fabrics. In the case of raw cotton, it would be only reasonable
to suppose that the influence of devaluation—de jure or de facto—
by the United States, India, Egypt, Brazil, China, etc., relieved
some of the consequences of devaluation—de jure or de facto—by
Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, etc. Similarly, in the
— 196 —
case of wool, Australia, Argentina, the Union of South Africa,
and New Zealand all let their currencies decline at an early phase
in the course of monetary developments; the pressure of raw
material costs was thus relieved somewhat for the wool manufacturing countries which allowed their currencies to seek lower
levels. In the case of silk, Japan's own considerable devaluation
was undoubtedly a large factor in furthering the continued decline
of raw silk prices after 1931-1932. As a consequence, the competitive position vis-à-vis other textile materials of silk manufactures in all countries, particularly in the United States, was
considerably strengthened.
The Gold Bloc
The so-called " gold bloc " group of countries suffered from
serious disadvantages throughout the period of monetary disequilibrium right down until October 1936, when the French and
Swiss francs, together with the Dutch florin, were simultaneously
devalued. The disadvantage took the following form: the prices
of French, Swiss and Dutch textiles were extremely high when
reckoned in terms of the devalued currencies of the countries to
which those exports were being transported. Moreover, when
cutting prices to meet the price advantages given to their competitors by the devaluation of other currencies, exporters from
the " gold bloc " countries could do so only at the expense of
their profit margins. It must be recognised, however, that the
textile industries in these countries enjoyed advantages from the
ability to buy raw materials at low prices in terms of their own
national currencies.
Exchange Control Countries
Before these two countries introduced rigid control of foreign
exchange, textile manufacturers in Germany and Italy, like those
in France, the Netherlands, and Switzerland, felt severe pressure
from currency depreciation by competing countries. Thus, German
exports were severely hit in 1932 and 1933 by the competition of
countries with devalued currencies. Later on, however, the development of exchange control and accompanying measures, first
in Germany and later in Italy, served to yield de jacto many of
the advantages that de jure devaluation might have conferred. At
the same time the extreme difficulties encountered in obtaining
— 197 —
foreign exchange for the purchase of raw materials imposed de facto
all the disadvantages of de jure devaluation. If on balance the
textile exporters in Germany and Italy have suffered more in the
way of handicaps than they have gained in the way of advantages,
this is to a large part a consequence of the monetary policy and of
the tendency towards economic self-sufficiency in these countries.
III. — COMMERCIAL ORGANISATION
Within the time-limits of this Report, it did not prove possible
to undertake a comprehensive survey of commercial organisation
as a factor in determining competitive ability in home and export
markets. The present discussion is confined, therefore, to a few
generalisations relating to the United Kingdom, India, China and
Japan, and is limited to cotton textile production.
United Kingdom
As was brought out in Chapter II, the commercial organisation
of the textile trades in the United Kingdom is not only complex,
but also highly decentralised. To some degree, it cannot be
doubted, such individualism is a disadvantage when the necessity
arises for forming a common front in competition abroad. On
the other hand, agencies of central purpose and action, for example
the Joint Committee of Cotton Trade Organisations, do function;
British entrepreneurs have found it possible to act in concert on yarn
prices and on finishing charges; again, a large majority of the
cotton spinners did show themselves to be of one mind in the
important decision to implement the retirement of redundant
capacity by legislative measures, etc.
At the same time, some of the British difficulties may be attributed to commercial organisation. By and large, the spinners,
operating in relatively large units which show some tendency to
amalgamation, now appear to be somewhat better organised than
the weavers, characterised by smaller-size producing units and by
diversity of products. The finishers until 1930 were perhaps the
most effectively organised of all ; following the breakdown of minimum price lists for finishing, the printing and dyeing sections are
now again attempting to set limits to their internal competition.
So far as internal difficulties are concerned, these differences in
organisation have at various times found expression in agreements
— 198 —
on yarn prices, to the possible disadvantage "of weavers, and in
agreements on finishing charges, to the possible disadvantage of
both spinners and weavers. In short, weavers of cotton cloth in
the United Kingdom may well in recent years have been handicapped in competing abroad by rigid costs for yarn, for finishing,
or for both; an increasing tendency toward organisation of the
weaving section has revealed itself as a result of these and other
causes.
Exports of British cotton cloth are handled by the shipping
merchant, who on the one hand keeps in close contact with foreign
clients and on the other buys the cloth in the grey from the appropriate manufacturer and has it finished to his specifications on
commission. It must be stressed that the export marketing of
cotton cloth in the United Kingdom is individualistic in a very
high degree; the importance of this fact will emerge more clearly
when the centralisation of export marketing in Japan is considered.
In contrast, imports of raw cotton into the United Kingdom are
dealt with by a few hundred cotton brokerage and merchanting
firms, of whom a relatively small number handle the bulk of the
trade. 1
India
In India, some of the difficulties of the cotton manufacturing
industry have been frequently attributed to the existence of the
" managing agency " system.
A characteristic feature of organised industry and commerce in all
the chief Indian centres is the presence of the large agency firms, which,
except in the case of Bombay, are mainly European. In addition to
participating in the export and import trades, they finance and manage
industrial ventures all over the country and often have several branches
in the large towns. The importance of these agency houses may be
gauged from the fact that they control the majority of the cotton,
jute and other mills, as well as the tea gardens and the coal mines. This
system originated and has still continued owing to the ability of these
houses to furnish financial help to industries. . . . 2
1
For a concise and clear description of the present commercial organisation
of the British cotton trades, see the TRADES UNION CONGRESS GENERAL
COUNCIL: Cotton, the T.U.C. Plan of Socialisation ; compare P.E.P. Report on
the British Cotton Industry, 1935, particularly Chapter I. For a more detailed
description as of 1927, see BALFOUR COMMITTEE: Survey of Textile Industries,
Chapter II.
2
Report of the Indian Tariff Board, Cotton Textile Industry Enquiry, 1927,
p. 85, quoting from a description of the system by the Indian Industrial
Commission.
— 199 —
It is true that the Indian Tariff Board reached the conclusion
that except for " undue conservatism and lack of initiative ", the
managing agency system could not be charged with responsibility
for the depression which bore down on cotton manufacturing in
India between 1924 and 1927. Independently, however, of the
local problems of Indian cotton manufacturing during that period,
competent observers generally agree that the system of managing
agencies lends itself, in extreme cases, to abuses which inevitably
tend to raise costs of production and to diminish ability to compete
with imported goods. Thus in unscrupulous hands, the managing
agency system permits the agent to profit at the expense of the
undertaking by acting as an intermediary in its purchases of raw
materials and its sales of fabrics, by charging unjustifiably high
fees and commissions for his services, by financing the enterprise
at excessively high rates of interest, etc. In unskilful hands,
moreover, the system tends to stress marketing and finance more
than economies in manufacturing operations. The system is an
outgrowth of a lack of adequate domestic supplies of capital in
India combined with a drive towards rapid and large-scale
industrialisation.1
Combined spinning-weaving mills on a fairly large scale are
characteristic of the commercial organisation of cotton manufacturing in India. At the same time a substantial proportion of all
cotton cloth domestically consumed in that country is produced
by millions of individual hand-loom weavers, dependent for a
large part of their yarn requirements on the spinning mills. This
state of affairs is not without material influence on the ability of
Indian mill-made and hand-made cloth to compete with one
another and to meet competition from Japan and the United
Kingdom both in India and abroad. Cotton yarn, like piece goods,
is subject to a protective tariff, which means, under ordinary
circumstances, that the costs of yarn to hand-loom weavers are
higher than they would otherwise be. As for the mill-weavers,
they manufacture their own yarn, selling almost all of the " surplus "
if any, to hand-weavers, particularly since the former important
export trade to China dwindled to negligible proportions. The
yarn costs with which the combined spinning-weaving enterprises
see fit to charge themselves are thus determined by internal accounting factors rather than by the free play of supply and demand in
1
Compare Report of the Indian Tariff Board, pp. 85-90; HUBBARD: Eastern
Industrialisation and its Effect on the West, pp. 255-257.
— 200 —
the open market. In sum, it might be fair to infer that the commercial organisation of cotton manufacturing in India operates to
strengthen the competitive ability of Indian mills vis-à-vis handmade and imported cloth, and to weaken the competitive position
of Indian hand-weavers vis-à-vis the output of home and foreign
mills. On the other hand, mill-made and hand-made cloth are not
directly competitive over a fairly wide range of the market, as a
result of type and quality differences.
China
The most striking feature of the commercial organisation of
cotton manufacturing in China is its division into three national
groups: the Chinese, the Japanese, and the British. x The Chinese
and Japanese sections are responsible for the great bulk of the
spindles, looms, workers and output of yarn and cloth; the small
remainder is attributable to the British mills. In fact, it would
be impossible to obtain a clear picture of the true magnitude of
Japan as a competitive factor in the world's markets for cotton
cloth without allowing for the circumstance that an important
proportion of all China's mill capacity is in Japanese ownership.
This means, first, that a large group of Japanese millowners enjoy
a privileged position in the Chinese market. It means, second,
that the depressing effects of the loss of China as an export market
for the Japanese cotton textile industry are thus in part offset.
It means, third, that the sharp decline in Japanese exports of
cotton yarn to India since 1924 has been partially compensated for
by an increase in shipments from China. In a sense, part of China's
mill capacity might be counted in with that of Japan; to the extent,
that is, that cotton mills in Japan and in China operate under
common Japanese ownership. The advantages of such ownership,
it must be emphasised, redound to the benefit of Japan only so
far as the net profits of operations in China may be " brought home "
by the Japanese millowners. On the side of employment and
wages, however, it is Chinese workers who benefit by the willingness
of Japanese milllowners to invest capital in Chinese industry ; just as
it is Chinese consumers, in the main, who benefit by the ability to
buy tissues and fabrics manufactured at the low costs accompanying
mass production by power looms.
1
The present discussion is based chiefly on H. D. FONG: Cotton Industry
and Trade in China, Tientsin, 1932, Chapter VII.
— 201 —
Japan
The commercial organisation of the cotton industry in Japan was
touched upon in Chapter II; the emphasis here is not upon the
details of the set-up, which are very complex, but upon the competitive advantages which Japan derives from a level of integration
and centralisation higher than that of the cotton industry in any
other country.1
First, most of the importing of raw cotton and a large part of the
exporting of cotton cloth are in the hands of three big merchant
houses.2 The resulting concentration permits the Japanese cotton
textile industry as a whole to execute its purchases of raw cotton
at advantageous times in the movement of prices, and it is generally thought that, owing to the relations existing between cotton
importing and spinning firms, this fact gives Japanese spinners a
chance to obtain raw cotton at slightly lower prices than their
competitors.3 Similarly, the concentration in the marketing of
cotton cloth—accompanied as it is by a worldwide network of
sales agencies in close touch with old markets and in constant
pursuit of new ones—is of considerable advantage in directing
exports to the most favourable markets at the most opportune
moments.
Second, the systematic export marketing of cotton tissues is
further facilitated by the existence of several so-called export guilds,
established in accordance with the Export Association Act of 1925 as
revjsed in 1931 and 1934.4 Given their powers to regulate volume
1
The present discussion is based on: Japanese Trade and Industry, 1936,
Chapter VIII; Collective Regulation in the World's Cotton Industries, 1936,
pp. 23-26; P.E.P. Report on the Rritish Cotton Industry, 1935, Part IV; Cabinet
Committee Report, 1935, pp. 130-134; and on supplementary information
gathered by the International Labour Office.
2
Toyo Menkwa Kaisha, Nippon Menkwa Kabushi Kaisha, and Gosho
Kabushi Kaisha.
8
In this connection, it should be noted that Japanese spinners generally
buy raw cotton at fixed prices instead of " on call " and do not protect themselves against fluctuations in raw material prices by hedging. The dangers
which might arise from this practice under a strictly individualistic system of
buying may frequently be turned into distinct advantages under a centralised
purchasing regime. It is ordinarily maintained, for example, that Japanese
stocks of raw cotton were brought to high levels before the yen was devalued,
and allowed to run off considerably before dollar devaluation. On the other
hand, as in 1930, Japanese spinners have sometimes had to pay heavily for
their failure to protect themselves against changes in the price of the raw
material. Cotton spinners in other countries neither gain nor lose as a general
rule by short-run fluctuations in raw cotton prices; they ordinarily purchase
" on call "— that is, undertake to buy stated volumes at the prices prevailing
when the call is exercised—and hedge their spot purchases by forward sales
in the futures market.
* The most important of these guilds for the textile trade are those which
handle exports of cotton piece goods in accordance with import quotas laid
— 202 —
of exports, to impose levies thereon and to allocate quotas, these
guilds are an effective instrument of competition from two points
of view. On the one hand, the funds which they obtain from
export levies are used to encourage imports from countries discriminating against Japan because of passive trade balances. On the
other, their control over volume, together with their ability to
influence prices, may be employed to help in keeping the flow and
price of Japanese exports at levels such as to minimise complaints
of " dumping ". The precise extent to which the guilds have
succeeded in either of these objectives is, however, open to question.
Third, the internal organisation of cotton manufacturing in
Japan has been of a character to foster differential prices between
home market and export tissues. Highly organised in the Japanese
Cotton Spinners' Association, the big spinning-weaving enterprises
have been in a position (1) to demand quasi-monopoly high prices for
yarn from the non-integrated weaving sheds which manufacture
tissues chiefly for home consumption and (2) to offer low prices
for the finishing of cloth to the many small bleachers, dyers,
printers, etc. This power, so far as exercised, tends to raise the
costs of manufacturing home-consumed cotton goods.1 At the
same time it tends to lower the yarn and finishing costs of the
integrated enterprises manufacturing export tissues. Thus the
low prices at which Japanese goods have been selling abroad may
perhaps be attributed in part to the success with which highly integrated, highly organised undertakings can practise differential
pricing and benefit from differential costing. In other words, part
of Japan's competitive power in foieign cloth markets in recent
years may well have been the resultant of pressure brought to bear
down in India, the Netherlands Indies, the Philippine Islands, West Africa,
the Near East and various countries in Latin America.
1
Since, however, the Industrial Rationalisation Bureau was set up by the
Japanese Government in 1930, the loosely-organised district guilds of the noncombined weaving firms have been fused under the general control of the
Federation of Cotton Textile Industrial Guilds. This body fixes total quotas
for the different cloths and the sectional guilds (e.g. striped cloth, cotton
crepe, etc.) allocate the quotas among the district guilds, which in turn allocate
individual shares among their members. (Originally, the district guilds were
trade associations on a purely voluntary basis, with no power to control
production or prices.) In all sections of the textile industry where producers'
guilds subject to the Federation are active, central sales organisations have been
set up to which individual manufacturers must surrender 80 per cent, of their
output for disposal. The growth of the Federation has seriously threatened
the quasi-monopoly powers of the big spinner-weavers. Significantly, the
Spinners' Association has come into conflict with the Federation in connection
with the Federation's control over the large number of small finishing establishments which process a considerable part of Japan's export cloth.
— 203 —
against the profit margins, not of the undertakings which export
that cloth, but of the home-market undertakings which buy their
surplus yarn or do their finishing.
Although it is commonly charged by competitors of the Japanese
textile industry that the industry receives Government export
subsidies, no evidence to support the charge has ever been brought
forward. True, the extreme devaluation of the yen has the effect
of an export subsidy, but in this respect the practice of Japan
differs from that of other countries only in degree. True, also,
the subsidies paid by the Japanese Government to its merchant
marine are one of the factors which provide Japanese importers
of raw cotton and exporters of cotton manufactures with freight
rate advantages. It cannot, however, be maintained that shipping
subsidies are a practice confined to Japan only. Finally, the
Japanese Government grants small operating subsidies—payments
to set up offices in foreign cities and to organise expositions—to
some of the export guilds; trade promotion practices like these
are common to many countries.
IV.
— COSTS OF PRODUCTION
The problems discussed in the preceding sections involve costs
and prices as determining factors in international textile competition. In the present section, however, cost and price factors will
be considered from a narrower point of view, with special reference
to plant and equipment account, raw materials, and labour.
1. — Overhead Costs
In textile manufacturing, as in other industries, costs of production represent the summation of the cost of raw and accessory
materials, labour costs, overhead costs in the general sense (including
depreciation and obsolescence of machinery as well as administrative
expenses), and of such other direct costs as fuel, power and
transportation.
The costs of production, other than labour and raw materials,
may first be discussed briefly. In overhead costs, the most import a n t variation on the international plane would appear to be diversity of shift practice, i.e. whether operation is on a single, double or
triple shift basis. In certain countries (e.g. Japan and India) and
in certain districts of particular countries (e.g. the Southern States
of the United States), multiple-shift operation is the general rule
— 204 —
in textile mills. In other countries (e.g. France and the United
Kingdom) and in other districts (e.g. New England before the
N.R.A. codes), single-shift operation largely prevails, owing to
the combined force of trade union strength and local custom.
Undeniably, mills in countries and districts where multiple shifts
are operated enjoy advantages with regard to costs involved in
obsolescence and depreciation, as compared with mills in countries
and districts where single-shift operation is the rule. This advantage does not lend itself readily to quantitative determination, for
it depends much less on physical or technological factors than
on financial elements—the capitalisation of plant and equipment,
rates of amortisation, etc.
TABLE 1 2 .
MATERIALS
PROPORTION OF WAGES AND OF RAW AND ACCESSORY
COSTS
TO GROSS
VALUE
OF TEXTILE
PRODUCTION,
SELECTED COUNTRIES, 1927-1928
(in percentage of gross value)
Country
Wages
Raw and
accessory
materials
Together
Germany
.
54
Australia
22
57
79
Bulgaria
.
62
Canada
18
55
73
Estonia
.
60
United States
22
56
78
Finland
19
55
74
Hungary
15
Latvia
.
60
New Zealand
27
49
76
Norway
19
59
78
Palestine
19
53
72
United Kingdom {a)
(20)
66
(86)
Rumania
.
59
Turkey
.
52
Union of South Africa
26
44
70
U.S.S.R
19
56
75
(a) 1930, Census of Production. Wage percentage covers two-thirds of the trade only.
SOURCE. — H. GRÜNBAUM: Die WelttextUkrise, Institut für Konjunkturforschung, Berlin.
1931, pp. 7, 9.
Such direct costs as fuel, power and freight charges are, as
most students of the textile industry agree, of minor importance
in their effects on total costs. Fuel and power costs, moreover,
are so predominantly determined by strictly local factors that
their detailed international comparison is very complicated. Freight
charges, whether by sea or by land, are also a complex problem, a
detailed analysis of which is impossible here.
— 205 —
2. — Costs of Raw Materials
Raw material and labour costs, however, merit detailed attention.
It would appear, so far as data are available, that in 1927-1928
raw and accessory material costs in textile manufacturing ranged
from 44 to 66 per cent, of gross sales value and that wage costs
ranged similarly from 15 to 27 per cent., as is shown in table 12.
The limitations of the figures in table 12 should be kept in mind.
In the first place, they do not show the differences in material cost
proportions that may prevail in individual branches of the industry.
Second, the figures for 1927-1928 may not be valid for later dates,
particularly in view of the great decline in raw material prices.
Third, with reference to present cost structures, the total figures for
labour and material costs combined are probably more accurate
than the individual percentages of either cost group.
The percentage which raw material costs constitute of total
production costs in different countries does not and cannot depend
on significant differences in the price at which textile mills obtain
such raw materials.1 The textile raw materials are produced for,
and sold in, the world market in the widest and truest sense of the
term. The prices which mills have to pay at any given moment
are determined by world market quotations in such centres as
New York or Milan (raw silk), New Orleans, Bombay, Alexandria
or Liverpool (raw cotton), London (raw wool) or Calcutta (jute) plus
transportation charges, plus tariff duties, if any, in countries which
have to import, and which see fit to " protect " domestic producers
of raw materials. Textile mills in countries which produce within
their own borders or in their colonies all or a large part of their raw
cotton, raw wool, raw silk, raw jute or raw flax possess few advantages, if any, over textile mills in countries which have to import
most or all of the raw materials in question.2
It is an inherent characteristic of the world market for primary
commodities that identical prices should be charged to all purchasers
at the same moment ; and that all purchasers willing and able to pay
1
This statement of course holds true only to the extent that mills in different
countries use raw materials of equal quality. Again, it does not apply to
manufacturers who are forced by national commercial policy to buy raw
materials in compensation or other dear markets.
2
If merchants in countries importing textile raw materials have to pay
transportation charges by land or by sea, so do merchants in the raw material
producing countries where the commodity must be transported from plantation, ranch or farm to industrial centres. Comparative transportation costs
depend not only on distance but also on the comparative rate structures of
railroads and shipping lines.
— 206 —
should, regardless of their nationality, be equally welcome. The
practice of selling domestic or colonial supplies of raw textile
materials to home mills at lower prices than to foreign mills is a
form of discrimination of which economic nationalists have not as
yet thought. Very rare in the marketing of textile raw materials
are also the practices of setting quantitative restrictions on volume
of exports, or of allocating export quotas to particular countries,
with a view to discriminating against foreign purchasers as a group
or among particular sets of foreign purchasers.1
It is significant that most of the world's great exporters of
textile manufactures are countries which have to import all, or a
very large proportion, of their raw materials. This is true, for
example, of the United Kingdom, Japan, France and Germany, as
regards both cotton and wool; of the United Kingdom as regards
flax and jute; of France and Switzerland as regards silk, etc.
With particular reference to the relation of colonies to raw materials,
the truly colonial areas of the world are negligible suppliers of
cotton, wool, silk, jute, hemp and flax. The largest percentages
produced by the colonial areas in 1933-1934 were 6.0 in the case
of hemp and 2.9 in the case of silk. These percentages, however,
represented entirely the production of colonial areas (Formosa and
Korea) belonging to Japan, the country which, together with
Germany and Italy, has been foremost in posing the question of
colonies and raw materials. Moreover, Japan and Italy together
produced well over four-fifths of the world's raw silk and over a
fourth of the world's true hemp. In other words, no rearrangement of the world's present colonial areas could possibly enable the
non-colonial or minor colonial powers even to approach substantial
independence with regard to supplies of textile raw materials.2 As
disclosed by the analysis in Chapter VI, the overwhelmingly
important areas for the production of all textile raw materials are
the completely sovereign or completely tariff-autonomous countries
of the world.3
1
Crop restriction schemes (raw cotton in the United States, raw jute in
India) and organised export marketing (raw wool in Australia, raw silk in
Japan) have always been undertaken with a view to maintaining profitable
prices for domestic producers. The price-raising effects, it any, of such schemes
react with equal force upon domestic and foreign mills.
2
Raw Materials and Colonies, Appendix V. For statistical data, see
Volume II.
3
The Philippine Islands, which enjoy a complete monopoly in manila
hemp, were in 1933-1934 in the colonial category. Today, however, they are
on the road to political independence which is to become complete within
a few years.
— 207 —
In brief, although costs of production undeniably vary in textile
manufacturing from country to country and from district to district
within the same country, they do not and cannot vary greatly on
raw material account.
3. — Labour Costs
It follows from the above analysis that the differences which
prevail between countries and districts in their costs of producing
textile goods have to be imputed primarily to costing variations as
regards labour, power, freight, methods of marketing and financing,
obsolescence and depreciation. For reasons already indicated, only
the variations in labour costs will be considered here in detail.
Labour costs per unit of output are determined by two factors:
(1) wage rates, and (2) labour productivity. Presumably, if the
economic system functioned rationally, wage rates would be determined, at the margins of analysis, by productivity. The economic
system, however, is rife with frictions which inhibit the determination of wage rates by labour productivity alone'.1
In the present state of statistical information relating to the
textile industry, it is not feasible to work out computations which
would permit international comparisons of labour costs per unit
of output in textile manufacturing generally, as jointly determined
by wage rates and labour productivity. For lack of other data on
this important point, and despite its many defects and limitations,
an international survey of the ring-spinning of cotton yarns up
to 40 counts, made by the Fuji Gas Spinning Company in the latter
part of 1932, is here reproduced as highly suggestive. Using data
on weekly wages per worker, number of workers per 1,000 spindles
and weekly mill consumption of raw cotton per 1,000 spindles—all
on a single-shift basis—the survey calculates wage outlays per bale
of raw cotton mill-consumed for Japan and ten other countries.
Before presenting and commenting on the results of this survey,
a number of important reservations must be advanced. First, to
the degree that the findings have any validity, that validity is
confined to the spinning by ring spindles of cotton yarns up to
40 counts, and that with specific reference to the last half of 1932.
Second, the category of cotton yarns up to 40 counts is anything but
homogeneous, so that part, of the international differences in the
figures may arise merely from appreciable differences within that
range in average count of yarn spun. Third, the figures are based on
1
See also Chapter X.
— 208 —
information collected by Japanese engineers during visits to a
sample of mills in each of the countries concerned, a procedure which
leaves the representative character of the national samples an open
question. Fourth, it is not clear whether by the term " bales "
is meant bales of a standard weight or running bales ; in the latter
case not inappreciable errors might be introduced. Fifth, despite
the fact that all the figures are on a single-shift basis, it is not
indicated whether weekly machine-hours are the same in all cases.
Sixth, it is not indicated whether spinners only are included, or
cleaners, oilers, carriers, etc., as well. The results presented in
table 13 must, therefore, be regarded as nothing more than roughly
indicative of general levels.
TABLE 1 3 .
WAGES, OUTPUT, AND PER UNIT COSTS, COTTON MILL
OPERATIVES ENGAGED IN SPINNING YARNS UP TO 4 0 COUNTS,
RING SPINDLES,
LAST HALF
OF 1 9 3 2
(at prevailing exchange r a t e s , December 1932)
Weekly wages
per worker
(in yen)
Country
At par
China (a) . . .
Japan
. . . .
United
Kingdom . .
British India .
Czechoslovakia
Italy
. . . .
Germany . . .
France . . . .
Switzerland . .
Netherlands . .
United States .
Number
of
workers
per
At De- 1,000
cember spindles
1932
rates
(3.7)
(5.8)
3.7
5.8
(18.0)
(5.5)
(10.0)
(11.0)
(13.0)
(12.0)
(14.0)
(14.0)
(35.0)
29.2
9.07
24.1
25.6
30.8
29.6
33.4
32.8
84.0
Weekly
wage
bill per
1,000
spindles
(in yen)
Weekly wage
bill per unit
of output
Weekly
output
(mill consumption
of raw
cotton)
per 1,000
spindles
(in bales)
In yen
per
bale
As percentage
of Japanese
wage bill
8.9
6.1
32.9
35.3
2.8
2.7
11.8
13.2
89
100
- 4.0
15.0
5.5
5.5
4.5
5.5
5.0
5.5
3.4
116.8
136.1
132.6
140.8
138.6
162.8
167.0
180.4
285.6
2.3
2.4
2.3
2.4
2.3
2.4
2.3
2.3
2.4
50.8
56.7
57.7
58.7
60.3
67.8
72.6
78.4
119.0
385
424
437
445
457
514
550
594
902
Note. — See important reservations in text.
(a) Japanese-owned mills only.
SOURCE: Computed from MITSUBISHI ECONOMIC RESEARCH BUREAU: Hompo Zaihai Josei
(Japanese Economic and Financial Information), No. 72, Aug. 1934, p. 33; reproduced
also in part in Japanese Trade and Industry, 1936, p. 103. Except for China, wage
data recomputed at rates prevailing in December 1932; the Chinese figure was left
unchanged. Exchange rates from Statistical Year-Booh oí the League of Nations,
1932/33, pp. 12-17. The original wage figures are given in parentheses for comparison.
At the end of 1932, according to the figures gathered by Japanese
engineers, unit labour costs in cotton ring-spinning ranged, in
— 209 —
the countries which compete in textile manufacturing with Japan,
from four to nine times as high as the Japanese level when calculated
at the rates of exchange then prevailing; even when calculated at
former gold parities, the divergence was from 90 to 400 per cent.
What this margin of difference meant in competitive ability cannot
be determined with any certainty, in the absence of exact data
indicating the proportion of labour unit costs to total unit costs
for each country concerned. All that can be said is that, if the
original data are reliable, then Japan's total unit costs for ringspinning cotton yarns up to 40 counts must, in the latter half
of 1932, have been considerably lower than those of any other
major manufacturing country except China (Japanese-owned mills).
Using the data in table 13, an approximate calculation of
labour productivity in cotton mills in the United States, Japan
and the United Kingdom during the latter half of 1932 has been
made. It must be stressed that the results, as shown in table 14,
are subject to all the limitations of the original data of table 13,
with the additional qualification that the average number of hours
per single-shift operating week has been only approximately
estimated for each of the three countries.
TABLE 1 4 . — ESTIMATED LABOUR EFFICIENCY OF COTTON OPERATIVES
ENGAGED IN SPINNING OF YARNS UP TO 4 0 COUNTS, JAPAN, UNITED
KINGDOM AND UNITED STATES, LATTER PART OF 1 9 3 2
(in bales of raw cotton, mill consumed, per 1,000 man-hours)
Country
Japan
United Kingdom .
United States . .
Raw cotton
mill
Throughput
Estimated Number of Man-hours
of raw
per 1,000 consumed
operating
workers
per
1,000
cotton
spindle
week
per 1,000 operating
spindle
per 1,000
(in hours) spindles
operating
man-hours
week
week
(in bales)
(in bales)
53.9
41.2
42.1
6.1
4.0
3.4
328.8
164.8
143.1
2.7
2.3
2.4
8.2
14.0
16.8
It would be altogether misleading to suppose that the figures
of throughput per man-hour given in table 14 come anywhere near
exactly measuring differences in the level of labour productivity
for the three countries concerned. Nevertheless, the determinations
as they stand are suggestive.
14
— 210 —
Also using the Fuji Gas data as the basis of his calculations, a
British economist has estimated labour productivity and labour
costs (the latter at 1936 rates of exchange) as shown in table 15.
TABLE 15
Productivity
(lbs. per
man-hour)
Japan
United Kingdom
United States
Germany
Switzerland
Italy
France
Netherlands
India
(a)
3.1
4.5
5.6
4.3
3.4
3.3
3.2
3.2
1.0
Labour costs (o)
(pence per
pound)
0.53
2.20
3.33
2.91
3.49
2.89
3.16
3.84
2.43
Labour costs re-expressed at present rates of exchange.
SOURCE. — C. CLABK : " Textile Production Cost in Britain and Japan ", Manchester Guardian
Commercial, 2 Oct. 1936, p. 283.
His analysis, despite differences in specific results obtained, confirms
the general conclusions indicated in table 14. Labour productivity
and labour costs rise in the order: Japan, the United Kingdom,
the United States. Labour costs, however, rise much more
rapidly than labour productivity; which means that wage rate
differences are primarily responsible for the spread in labour costs.
4. — International Cost Comparisons
International comparisons of unit labour and raw material costs
for similar yarn counts and similar cloth constructions are fragmentary; and the most authoritative recent fragments are restricted,
for all practical purposes, to comparisons between cotton manufacturing in Japan and the United Kingdom. Table 16 presents
a widely used and highly regarded comparison of Japanese and
Lancashire costs for four representative constructions of cotton
cloth in 1931.
In all the constructions of cloth concerned, United Kingdom
mills in 1931 had total costs of production from 20.2 to 23.0 per
cent, higher than mills in Japan. These percentages were calculated, however, at the pre-depression official parities of both
currencies. Inasmuch as both currencies were depreciated in 19311932, the yen to a greater extent than the pound sterling, the
— 211 —
margin of production costs in favour of Japan early in 1932 must
have been greater than table 16 suggests.
TABLE 16.
JAPANESE AND LANCASHIRE COSTS, SELECTED COTTON
CLOTHS, 1931
(in percentage of total costs)
Dragon C
Soldier
Two geese
Tiger in
bamboo
Cost item
U.K.
Japan
U.K.
Japan
U.K.
Japan
U.K.
R a w cotton . .
Labour . . . .
Other
. . . .
55
24
21
66
10
24
53
26
21
64
13
23
52
24
24
64
11
25
50
27
23
60
14
26
Total . .
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
116.4
95.9
136.4
113.1
107.0
87.0
85.4
71.1
121.4
100.0
120.6
100.0
123.0
100.0
120.2
100.0
Total :
Pence per piece
Japanese total
= 100 . . .
Japan
Note. — The percentages given above are calculated from costs in pence per piece.
The Japanese costs are converted to sterline at 23d. to the yen; the rate of parity which
prevailed before the two currencies were depreciated.
SOURCE: P.E.P. Report on the British Cotton Industry, 1935, p. 63.
A detailed analysis of textile production costs in the United
Kingdom and Japan as regards cotton spinning, cotton weaving
and silk and rayon manufacturing has been made by a British
economist. 1 There follows below a summary of his findings, which
are based for the most part on official statistics of the two countries
concerned ; these conclusions are presented for their suggestiveness,
despite the reservations with which many particular points might
have to be judged.
Cotton spinning.2 — Although Lancashire and Japanese mills produce
different average grades of yarn and consume different average qualities
of raw cotton, the average spinning margin in 1933 worked out at almost
exactly the same figure in the two countries: 3d. per lb. in Great
Britain and 2.97d. in Japan. At an average spinning margin of 3d.
per lb., British mills must carry on production at a " substantial loss "
while Japanese mills can operate " at a handsome profit ". In 1933 the
1
C. C L A R K : " Textile Production Costs in Britain and J a p a n : A Detailed
Analysis ", P a r t s I and I I , Manchester Guardian Commercial, 2 Oct. a n d 9 Oct.
1936; " B r i t i s h and J a p a n e s e Costs of P r o d u c t i o n : T h e Silk and R a y o n
I n d u s t r y ", ibid., 30 Oct. 1936.
2
Summarised from Manchester Guardian Commercial, 2 Oct. 1936.
— 212 —
analysis of costs of production in the two countries worked out as a
percentage of sales as follows:
Great Britain
(spinners and
doublers)
Materials
Fuel and power
Wages
Salaries
Other costs and profit
70.6
3.3
24.1
2.3
I
0.3 * [
Selling price
100.0
,.„.,.
,.¿f.?n" ,
(spinners)
63.3
3.8
4.8
9B .
z e l
100.0
* Loss; deduct.
In 1933, the net annual values produced by Japanese and British
spinning operatives were substantially equal : £108 per worker for spinners
and doublers in Great Britain ; and £108 and £54 per worker for spinners
and doublers respectively in Japan. Despite the exactly identical net
value added by spinners and doublers in Great Britain and by spinners
alone in Japan, British spinners and doublers received £85 yearly, while
Japanese spinners and doublers received only £14 yearly. In other words,
about 75 per cent, of the net value added went to pay wages in Great
Britain; while in Japan the proportion of net value added which went to
pay wages varied between 13 and 25 per cent. The values were as follows :
£ per worker per
annum.
Great Britain
Œrsa)nd
(S
Materials
. N e t value added
Sales
T
«pinners'
DouMers
260
108
190
108
171
54
368
298
225
85
14
14
Wages
If the yen exchange rate were to return to 2s., the Japanese labour
costs in the spinning of low-count yarns would still be no more than
0.9d. per lb. and still very much lower than in any other country.
In fact, since 1932, Japanese labour costs have been reduced very
rapidly. There has been a 20 per cent, reduction in the number of female
operators required per 1,000 spindles, while the number of male operators
required per 1,000 spindles has been reduced by 60 per cent. Thus the
low labour costs of 1932 and 1933 have already gone down still further
to the " exceptionally low " figure of 0.32d. per lb. or less than half the
1929 cost.
Cotton weaving.1 — In 1933, at present rates of exchange, representive
Japanese factory prices were (in pence per yard): cotton satins 1.97;
duck 5.86; striped tissues 1.48. In Great Britain, in contrast, the average
prices of selected categories of cotton goods were (in pence per yard):
grey goods, 3.69; coloured cottons 6.23; pile fabrics 9.37. Average costs
1
Summarised from Manchester
Guardian
Commercial,
9 Oct. 1936.
— 213 —
of production as percentage of sales value compared in 1933 for cotton
weaving establishments in the two countries were as follows:
Great Britain
54.7
12.1
1.6
19.2
2.6
9.8
Cotton yarn
Other materials
Fuel and power
Wages
Salaries
Other costs and profit
Sales
100.0
Japan
[
f 76.9
2.1
4.8
\
f 16.2
100.0
The earnings and productivity of workers employed in cotton weaving
in the two countries were in 1933 as follows:
Materials
Net value added
£ per worker per annum
Great Britain
253
114
Sales
Wages
367
80
Japan
201
53
254
13
Thus weaving workers in Great Britain produced net values more than
twice as great as weaving workers in Japan. On the other hand, weaving
workers in Great Britain received annual wages more than four times as
great as the annual wages received by weaving workers in Japan. Thus
the relatively low wage cost per yard of Japanese loom-woven cloth
would appear to be attributable to differences in wage level more than to
differences in productivity. As for costs of finishing, these average
about 0.4d. per yard in Japan and in Great Britain about 1.9d. per
yard.
Woollen and Worsted.1 — In the past, Japanese prices for woollen and
worsted goods have been above British. At present the differential
depreciation of the two currencies concerned is bringing Japanese prices
" within competitive range ". The cost of production in the two countries
in 1933 may be analysed as follows:
Percentage
of sale
Great Britain
Materials
Fuel and power . . .
Wages
Salaries
Other costs and profit
Sales
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
59.6
2.3
18.6
3.4
16.1
100.0
Jaipan
Spinning
Weaving
62.6
32.0
2.0
2.4
4.3
6.9
I 31.1
8.7
100.0
100.0
Summarised from Manchester Guardian Commercial, 9 Oct. 1936.
— 214 —
Productivity and wages in 1933 compared as follows:
£ per worker per annum
Great Britain
Materials
Value added
Sales
251
171
422
Wages
Japan
Spinning
Weaving
276
226
151
42
427
268
83
19
19
Silk and Rayon.1 — Even allowing for the considerable advantages
which Japanese silk weavers derive from paying only half the price
which British silk weavers have to pay for yarn, the margin between
selling prices for silk piece goods in both countries is " astonishing ".
In 1933 at current rates of exchange, significant varieties of Japanese
silk piece goods sold at prices ex works (pence per yard) ranging from
5.71 to 18.9. Average British prices for silk piece goods in that same year
(pence per yard) ranged from 36.1 to 62.5. As compared with gross
output per British silk weaving worker of £480 a year, Japanese workers
in the silk weaving industry produced in 1933 gross annual outputs
which, if converted into British prices for similar qualities of product,
would average £320. Costs of production in the two countries as
percentages of sales value compared in 1933 as follows:
Great Britain
(spinning
(silk only)
and weaving)
61.5
5.0
24.0
4.0
5.5
100.0
Materials
Fuel and power
Wages
Salaries
Other costs and profits
Sales
Tan„n
Japan
¡weaving
(weaving)
74.5
1.1
7.1
0.7
16.6
100.0
Finally, costs of producing rayon of 120 denier compare as follows:
Pence per lb.
Pulp
Chemicals
Power
Other working charges .
Total
Great Britain
1.54
5.35
6.90
3.19
3.78
20.76
Japan
1.59
2.60
1.51
1.59
1.09
8.38
The cost and productivity data presented above for entire
textile trades, as national averages, inevitably blot out differences
between the various categories of textile establishments. Similarly,
computations of labour productivity and of annual wages on the
1
Summarised from Manchester Guardian Commercial, 30 Oct. 1936.
— 215 —
basis of national averages do not permit differentiation among
skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled workers. However, the national
averages relating to Japan and the United Kingdom disclose such
wide discrepancies as to indicate strongly the probability that
Japan's great competitive strength is derived from low wage rates
more than from any other single factor.
Taking all the relevant evidence together, two principal conclusions emerge: First, in cotton textiles at least, Japan's unit
costs on labour account would be, on the most conservative basis,
a fourth that of the corresponding costs in any other major manufacturing country except China. Second, the percentage of labour
to total costs in Japan would be, on the most conservative basis again,
less than a half of the corresponding percentages in any of the other
leading manufacturers of cotton textiles except China.
In thus laying stress upon Japan's advantages in labour costs
it is not intended to deny that country's possession of other substantial advantages. First, the commercial organisation of textile
manufacturing in Japan, as pointed out above, is better designed
to develop a maximum of export trade than that in any other
country. Second, it has also been shown in earlier chapters that
Japan's existing plant and equipment for the textile industry is
highly mechanised and modern. Third, textile machinery in
Japan ordinarily runs double shift, fairly long hours, and over
six days a week. To the degree that such elements as obsolescence,
depreciation, and amortisation enter into costs of production,
Japan is here at a distinct advantage over many competitors,
notably the United Kingdom, where single-shift operations
are the rule. Fourth, the machine productivity of cotton textile
equipment in Japan is no less, if not higher, than that of corresponding equipment in other countries. For illustrative purposes,
table 17 compares average spindle productivity per 48-hour week
in Japanese and British mills, 1932.
TABLE 1 7 .
COTTON YARN PRODUCTION PER SPINDLE PER
4 8 HOURS, JAPAN AND UNITED KINGDOM,
1932
(in quantum)
Counts
100
80
60
40
30
20
Japan
28.80
31.68
36.86
42.24
39.1-40.3
49.54
United Kingdom
SOUBCK: P.E.P. Report on the British Cotton Industry, 1935, p. 117.
24.96
30.24
36.10
37.20
43.48
— 216 —
Since 1932, moreover, spindle productivity in Japan has been
rising rapidly.1 Using somewhat conventional weights to determine average count yarn—but using the same weights for each
year—it has been possible to make the computations shown in
table 18. According to this table, in the last half of 1932, for
example, the average spindle-hour yielded exactly the same
volume of yarn as in the first half of 1936. Between the two
periods, however, the average yarn count (as determined somewhat conventionally) had risen from about 28 to about 35. In
short, Japanese spinning mills were coming to spin a much finer
average quality of yarn with no greater expenditure of machine
effort. The importance of this achievement, from the economic
point of view, is self-evident; but the achievement is equally
important technologically, for the higher the count of yarn the
less the weight of yarn that can be spun in a given time by the
same machinery.
TABLE 1 8 .
AVERAGE COUNT SPUN AND SPINDLE PRODUCTIVITY,
JAPANESE RING SPINDLES,
1931-1936
(output in quantum)
1931
1932
1933
1934
1935
1936
J a n . - J u l y - Jan.- July- Jan.- July- Jan.- July- Jan.- J u l y - Jan.J u n e Dec. J u n e Dec. J u n e Dec. J u n e Dec. J u n e Dec. J u n e
JulyDec.
Average
23.4 25.5 27.5 27.8 30.4 30.1 32.0 34.7 35.6 34.0 35.1
count
Output
per
spindlehour
4.50 4.57 4.57 4.57 4.64 4.53 4.40 4.50
Note. — Average count from output data, taking counts up to 19 as averaging 10;
20-22 as 21, 23-44 as 34, and 45 and over as 60.
SOUKUE. — COTTON SPINNEHS' ASSOCIATION OF JAPAN: Menshi Poseki Tijo Sankosho
(Quarterly Report of Cotton Spinning),
1931-1936.
Loom productivity in the cotton textile industry of Japan also
made considerable advance between 1927 and 1932.2 Figures of
yardage of cloth per loom day for nine major cotton textile undertakings show rates of improved yield which in some cases run as
high as 50 per cent. The data are presented in table 19.
1
2
See Chapter X I I , pp. 299-300.
Compare Chapter XII, p. 299.
— 217 —
TABLE
19.
COTTON
CLOTH PRODUCTION
PER
LOOM PER
DAY,
JAPAN, 1 9 2 7 , 1 9 3 2 , NINE MAIN COMPANIES
(yards)
1927
1932
Company
Kinkwa . . . .
Fuji . . .
Nisshin . .
Toyo . . .
Dai Nippon
Kanegafuchi
Toyoda . .
Kurashiki .
Huttori . .
Jan.-June
July-Dec.
40.63
43.12
43.80
51.75
52.61
64.91
86.43
91.19
91.82
42.52
39.48
43.68
• 52.01
55.97
64.96
84.78
51.20
83.37
Jan.-June
July-Dec.
54.92
61.25
74.97
67.53
72.18
68.67
84.26
73.00
122.09
59.49
59.30
71.79
66.99
73.69
68.59
83.40
69.53
116.06
SOUHCE: P.E.P. Report on the British Cotton Industry, 1935, p. 117.
In laying stress upon differential wage rates as a factor in the
competitive ability of Japan, there has been no intention of
singling out this country for any particular criticism. The case
of Japan has been developed at length only because it constitutes
the most striking example of how the terms and conditions of
employment in particular countries bear profoundly upon the
economic well-being of textile workers in all countries which
participate in the world trade in textiles. The differences in
national levels of wages and working hours, and the underlying
causes of such differences, will be discussed in Chapters X and XI.
CHAPTER IX
THE COMPOSITION OF THE LABOUR FORCE
In examining the economic aspects of the world textile industry,
especially in the preceding three chapters, references were made
to the influence and effects of the labour factor in the industry.
The character of the workers, for instance, their skill and working
habits, their mobility, etc., have their part in determining the
structural changes described in Chapter VI. The importance of
labour costs in total costs of textile production makes wages, hours
of labour and working conditions vital factors in shaping the
character and outcome of international competition in the world
trade in textiles. An understanding of the world textile industry
thus calls for a careful consideration of labour conditions in the
industry.
On the other hand, the effects which the economic conditions of
the industry have upon labour raise important questions from the
larger point of view of human relations and social justice. Who
are the workers who carry on the industry and help to make it
what it is~? What place have they in the industry ? What is
their reward for their labour and how does it compare with that of
workers in other industries ? What have the structural changes
in the industry meant to the lives of the men, women and young
people who have entered the industry in order to secure a livelihood ?
How have competitive practices in the industry affected working
conditions, hours of labour, employment and unemployment ?
What general problems—economic and social—have the varying
fortunes of the industry raised for those who call themselves and
want to be textile workers ?
Difficult though it was, the attempt was made in the preceding
chapters to treat the economic aspects of labour in the industry
separately. Thèse economic aspects will be kept in mind also
further on. But the chapters which follow will deal with the labour
— 219 —
aspects of the industry essentially and primarily from the social
point of view—that is, of the effects of the industry upon the
economic and social condition of the workers.
Accordingly, four main questions will be considered iñ this and
following chapters: (1) the composition of the labour force in the
industry; (2) wages; (3) hours of work and their regulation, and
(4) employment and unemployment. This chapter will deal with
the question of the composition of the labour force and its effects.
I. —• NUMBER OF WORKERS
The total number of persons gainfully occupied in the textile
industry throughout the world may be estimated at roughly 14 million. The figures are given in table 1, and cover, it is believed,
practically all countries in which the number of textile workers is
over 50,000, with the exception of China.1 These figures, based
on population censuses, include owners and managers, independent workers, home workers, assisting members of the family, etc.,
in fact all persons who declared their occupations to be connected
with the textile industry. They thus include a certain number
of persons who are not workers in textile factories. The figures
relate to different dates, but the majority refer to the years 19301931.2
It would have been of interest to have had also the total number
of employees in textile factories, which together with the numbers
unemployed would have given an estimate of the total " labour
force ", but the data are not available for making such an estimate.
For most countries the total number of factory workers is not available, and the same is true of the numbers of unemployed textile
workers.3 While in the more advanced industrial countries the great
majority of persons occupied in textile industries are factory workers,
this is less true of certain other countries, particularly India, Japan
and China. For India and Japan statistics are available as to the number of workers in " factories ", which show a very considerable difference from the figures of gainfully occupied given in the population
censuses. The number of non-factory workers (i.e. home workers,
1
This table as well as tables 2, 3, and 4 are summaries of the detailed
data
presented in Volume II, Part II.
2
See note, Part II of Volume II for further details as to the scope of these
data.
3
See, in this connection, Chapter XII.
— 220 —
independent workers, etc.) in India and Japan is apparently so
great that it is preferable to adopt the factory figure rather than
the population figure in trying to arrive at a world total. For
China, no statistics of the gainfully occupied are available as no
population census exists, but estimates are available as to the
number of factory workers in certain provinces, as given in the
statistical tables of Volume II.
TABLE 1.
PERSONS GAINFULLY OCCUPIED IN THE TEXTILE
INDUSTRY
AND PERCENTAGES OF THE TOTAL GAINFULLY OCCUPIED, BY SEX
Country
Germany
Austria
Belgium
Brazil
Canada
Spain
United S t a t e s
France
Great Britain and N o r t h ern I r e l a n d :
Great Britain
. . . .
N o r t h e r n Ireland . .
Hungary
India
Italy
Japan
Mexico
Netherlands
Poland
Portugal
Sweden
Switzerland
Czechoslovakia
U.S.S.R
T o t a l 2 (approx.)
Source
Date
Number
gainfully
occupied in
the textile
industry
Percentage of total
gainfully occupied
Both
sexes
Male
Population census
P o p u l a t i o n census
Census of industry
and commerce
Population census
Population census
Population census
Population census
Population census
1933
1934
1930
1,117,582
83,743
256,705
3.46
2.64
6.84
2.56
1.66
4.79
5.09
4.57
12.55
1920
1931
1920
1930
1931
88,369
54,710
207,152
1,217,411
920,460
0.92
1.39
2.69
2.49
4.26
0.38
0.94
1.25
1.87
2.70
3.93
3.60
12.22
4.71
6.96
Population census
P o p u l a t i o n census
Population census
Population census
P o p u l a t i o n census
Population census
Population census
P o p u l a t i o n census
Census of industrial establishments
P o p u l a t i o n census
Population census
Population census
Population census
Employment
statistics
1931
1926
1930
1931
1931
1930
1930
1930
1934
1,338,152 6.36
104.706 18.35
53,242 1.39
3,844,931 2.53
731,363 4.24
1,488,941 5.03
87,758 1.59
88,295 2.77
146,855*
3.70
8.90
0.85
2.25
1.22
2.86
1.36
2.40
12.63
38.78
2.93
3.13
14.66
8.92
5.33
3.93
1.52
2.17
5.65
5.26
0.94
1.12
3.33
3.26
2.15
4.51
10.69
9.29
1930
1930
1930
1930
1936
56,432
62.752
109.718
367,686
893,400
13,320,000
i2 Gainfully employed, excluding unemployed.
The world total, including factory workers (factories employing 30 persons or more) in 14 provinces
of China (599,139), and an estimate of 200,000 for countries not included in the above list, may be set
at a little over 14 million. If instead of the gainfully occupied in textiles in India and Japan, only factory
workers in these two countries are included (738,151 in India, and 1,080,931 in Japan), the total is about
103/4 million.' The average percentages of the total gainfully occupied in textiles were : 3.71 for both sexes,
2.25 for males, 7.55 for females, for the countries listed on the table (excluding India, Poland, and the
U.S.S.R.) with a total of 8,435,000 gainfully occupied.in the textile industry.
— 221 —
If this is done, and an allowance made for China, the total
number of factory workers in the textile industry would appear
to be in the neighbourhood of 10-11 million, although the numbers
actually employed are, of course, less owing to the fact that many
of these workers were unemployed at the date of the censuses.
The most important countries numerically are the United Kingdom
with 1,443,000; the United States with 1,217,000; Germany with
1,118,000; Japan with 1,081,000 x and France with 920,000 gainfully
occupied, while the U.S.S.R., India, Italy and China follow with
893,000, 738,000/ 731,000 and 599,00o1 respectively; other
countries with over 100,000 persons gainfully occupied include
Belgium, Spain, Poland, Switzerland and Czechoslovakia.
In addition to the total number of workers, a further indication
of the importance of the labour force engaged in the textile industry
is given by the proportion of gainfully-occupied persons in the
textile industry as compared with those gainfully occupied in all
occupations. These figures are shown also in table 1. The
percentages do not show the importance of the labour force in the
textile industry relative to all " industries " (in the sense of manufactures, mining, etc.), but its importance relative to the total
economy of the country, and the importance of agriculture in the
different countries obviously exercises an influence on this proportion.
The figures show, roughly, that Belgium heads the list with
6.8 per cent, of its gainfully-occupied workers in textiles, followed
by the United Kingdom with about 6.7 per cent.2 Other countries
with more than 5 per cent, include Switzerland, Czechoslovakia and
Japan. In all these countries, therefore, more than 1 in every 20 persons gainfully occupied is in the textile industry. France, Italy and
Germany have somewhat similar proportions, viz. 4.3 per cent.,
4.2 per cent., 3.5 per cent, respectively. In six countries, the Netherlands, Austria, India, United States, Spain and Sweden, the percentages range between 2.2 per cent, and 2.8 per cent. ; roughly 1 person
in every 40 gainfully occupied is connected with the textile industry.
Finally, of the countries shown in the table, Mexico, Portugal,
1
2
Factory workers.
The highest percentage shown in the table is in fact Northern Ireland.
18.3 per cent. It is necessary to give the figures for Northern Ireland separately as they are separately published and relate to a different date from
those for Great Britain. As it is not a separate country but a constituent
part of the United Kingdom, it is left out of account in the following paragraphs
and wherever possible the figures are combined with those of Great Britain,
to give a general average for the United Kingdom.
— 222 —
Canada, Hungary and Brazil have the smallest proportions, ranging
from 1.6 per cent, to 0.9 per cent. 1
II.
—
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LABOUR FORCE
The total number of persons occupied, or of workers engaged
in the textile industries, is, however, of little significance without
some knowledge of the composition and characteristics of this body
of people. The principal characteristics to be noticed here are
the high proportion of female workers, the large numbers of young
persons employed, and the relative proportion of unskilled and
semi-skilled workers.
Women
Workers
From its very beginnings, textile manufacturing has relied
heavily upon the employment of women workers. To-day the
textile industry is still one which in almost all countries includes
an especially high percentage of women in its labour force. This
may be seen from table 2, which gives the percentages of females
among the total persons gainfully occupied in the textile industry
in the principal countries. These figures are subject to the same
reservations already indicated for table 1, difference of date, of
scope, etc., but they are sufficient to enable general conclusions to
be drawn. The highest percentages appear to be in Italy with over
three-quarters as females, followed by Portugal, Sweden, the U.S.S. R.,
Japan, Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and Brazil, with
about two-thirds. Next in order come Austria, France, Switzerland, Spain and Czechoslovakia with about 60 per cent. Slightly
lower percentages are found for Germany, Hungary and Poland
(between 50 and 60 per cent.), followed by Belgium with 48.5 per
cent., Canada and the United States with 43.9 per cent, and
41.6 per cent, respectively, India 39.3 per cent., the Netherlands 34.2
per cent., with Mexico as the lowest, at 22.6 per cent. The available
data would seem to indicate t h a t over 50 per cent, of all gainfully
occupied persons in the textile industry are females.
The significance of these proportions is better realised when
comparison- is made with the relative importance of males and
females in the total occupied population of the different countries.
Thus, in Great Britain in 1931, of the total gainfully-occupied
persons about 30 per cent, were females, whereas of the total
1
See also Chapter II, pp. 25-26.
— 223 —
gainfully-occupied persons in the textile industry about 60 per cent.
or double were females. For the United States in 1930, the figures
were 22 per cent, for all gainfully-occupied females as compared
with 41 per cent, for the textile industry,1 and for Italy (1931) the
figures were 22.6 per cent, for all the gainfully-occupied females as
compared with 77.7 per cent, for the textile industry. The proportion of females thus appears to be much higher, generally over
twice as high, in the textile industry than in all industries.
TABLE 2 .
PERCENTAGE OF FEMALES AMONG PERSONS GAINFULLY
OCCUPIED IN THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY, IN PRINCIPAL COUNTRIES
Country
Date
Gainfully
occupied
in the
textile
industry
Germany
Austria
Belgium
Brazil
Canada
Spain
United S t a t e s
France
Great Britain and N o r t h ern I r e l a n d :
Great Britain
. . .
N o r t h e r n Ireland . .
Hungary
India
Italy
Japan
.
Mexico
Netherlands
Poland
Portugal
Sweden
Switzerland
Czechoslovakia
U.S.S.R
Total . . . . . .
1933
1934
1930
1920
1931
1920
1930
1931
,117,582
83,743
256,705
88,369
54,710
207,152
,217,411
920,460
1931
1926
1930
1931
1931
1930
1930
1930
1934
1930
1930
1930
1930
1935
1.338,152
104,706
53,242
3,844,931
731,363
1,488,941
87,758
88,295
136,876 !
56,432
62,752
109,718
367,686
805,600
13,223,000
Females
(number)
Per cent.
584,944
48,875
124,519
57,548
24,005
123,680
506,716
550,041
52.3
58.4
48.5
65.1
43.9
59.7
41.6
59.8
791,130
69,959
29,077
1,509,486
568,224
945,019
19,819
30,194
74,122 !
38,271
40,435
65,320
215,132
518,000
6,935,000
59.1
66.8
54.6
39.3
77.7
63.5
22.6
34.2
54.2
67.8
64.4
59.5
58.5
64.3
52.4
i Wage earners.
Young Persons
The textile-manufacturing industries employ not only more
than the average percentage of women workers but also a larger
1
I t should be noted t h a t t h e textile mills in t h e Southern States employ
an appreciably larger percentage of women workers t h a n the New E n g l a n d
mills.
— 224 —
proportion of young persons than other industries. However, as
regards the proportion of young persons in the textile industry,
it is not possible to make a complete international survey. Such
comparison is complicated by the lack of data, by the differences
in the age limits adopted in the different countries and by differences
in the basis on which the percentages are calculated—for example,
whether calculated on the gainfully occupied, on wage earners and
salaried employees together, or on wage earners alone. Data for
a few important countries are summarised in table 3.
TABLE
3 . •—• PERCENTAGE
OF PERSONS
UNDER
AMONG PERSONS EMPLOYED IN THE TEXTILE
FOR SELECTED
SPECIFIED
AGES
INDUSTRY,
COUNTRIES
(Dates as in table 2, p. 223)
Country
Germany
Belgium
Brazil
Spain
United States
France
Great Britain and Northern
Ireland:
Great Britain
. . . .
N o r t h e r n Ireland . . .
Hungary
Italy
Japan
Switzerland
Under 20 or 21
Under
16
6.1
5.3
5.0
2.1
4.7
Base i
Total
Male
.Female
23.8
26.6
25.1
35.5
20.5
18.8
21.5
20.7
19.1
17.8
20.3
18.1
35.5
21.6
13.3
16.1
15.2
14.0
27.3 (a)
32.3 (b)
31.8 (b)
26.6
24.9
24.6
22.5
24.1
23.8
17.7
20.5
28.3 (6)
25.5 (a)
31.1
47.8
16.5
15.8
23.6
10.4
35.5 (a)
59.1 (a)
35.5 (¿>)
19.8 (b)
(a)
(a)
(a)
(a)
2.4
19.5
20.6 (a\
W
W
WS
GO
GO
GO
W
WS
GO
WS
GO
W
GO
GO
WS
i The abbreviations used are as follows: GO = Gainfully occupied; W = Wage earners;
WS = wage earners and salaried employees, or " operatives ". 2 Based on certain textile occupations only: dyers, loom fixers, operatives not otherwise
specified, and labourers not otherwise specified.
(a) = Under 20.
(6) = Under 21.
For children under 16 years of age, the figures are given for six
countries. The United States and Hungary have the lowest
proportions, 2.1 per cent, and 2-4 per cent. Great Britain, Belgium
and Germany occupy intermediate positions with 4.7 per cent.,
5.3 per cent, and 6.1 per cent, respectively, and Japan, the highest
in this group, with 19.5 per cent. These figures show the propor-
— 225 —
tions of young persons to total wage earners, with the exception
of Great Britain, which gives the proportion of young persons to
total wage earners plus salaried employees.1
For young persons, figures are given for 10 countries, six of
them relating to persons under 20 and four to-persons under 21.
As the figures relate to different dates only tentative conclusions
can be drawn. For the former group, the figures range from
16.5 per cent, in Switzerland to 47.8 per cent, in Japan. The
United States with 18.8 per cent, is followed by France 19.1,
Germany 23.8, and Italy 31.1 per cent. For persons under 21 the
percentage ranges from 20.5 per cent, in Spain to 24.1 per cent, in
Great Britain and 25.1 per cent, in Belgium to 35.5 per cent.
in Brazil. The extremely high proportion in Japan should be
noted: almost half the persons employed being under 20.
In this comparison, again, the relative significance of these
percentages of young persons in the textile industry can be appreciated better by comparing them with the percentage of young
persons in the entire occupied population. In Great Britain the
percentage of persons under 21 in the occupied population was as a
whole 19.5 as compared with 24.1 in the textile industry. In the
United States the proportion under 20 was only 9.6 per cent, for
occupied persons in all industries as contrasted with 18.8 per cent.
for textiles. In Italy the proportion under 20 years was only 19.6 per
cent, for all the occupied, as compared with 31.1 per cent, for the
textile industry. Without presenting figures for all the countries
concerned, it is clear that the proportion of young persons employed
in the textile industry is far higher than for all other industries
combined.
It is not the purpose of the present Report to go into the reasons
for the employment of such large proportions of women and young
persons in textile mills, whether and to what extent due to the
nature of the manufacturing processes requiring agility, deftness
and attention, or to the relatively little training required for the
unskilled and semi-skilled operations, to the relatively new development of certain branches of the industry in certain countries, or
to other reasons. It should be noted, however, that these differences, especially for women workers, are to some extent due to social
factors, tradition, or religious customs.2
1
The figure for the United States is based on principal textile occupations
only and is not entirely comparable with the others.
2
A recent study of the Lancashire cotton spinning industry, e.g., states:
" The ring-spinner is invariably a woman. . . •. There appears to be no
15
— 226 —
Skilled and Unskilled Workers
Comparative data on the proportion of skilled, semi-skilled and
unskilled workers would be of great interest if they could be
secured on an exactly comparable basis. However, the difficulties
in compiling such figures are almost insuperable. In very few
countries do the statistics classify workers as skilled, semi-skilled or
unskilled, and where the workers are classified by occupation the
fundamental difficulty is whether a given occupation should be
classed as skilled, semi-skilled or unskilled. To arrive at a satisfactory result, such decisions must be made in the light of the
exact tasks carried on by operatives in each occupation, with due
regard to the variations in duties in different countries performed
by operatives in an occupation with a given designation. Identity
of name does not always mean identity of tasks. In different
countries the actual tasks performed by operatives in apparently
similar work may, in fact, differ materially, owing perhaps to
differences in the processes of manufacture. " Progress in mechanical inventions has made skill unimportant in many branches,
so that the (cotton) industry has been able to use surplus labour
supply. . Z'1
A classification of occupations in manufacturing industries into
the three main groups of skilled trades, semi-skilled occupations
and unskilled work, was attempted by an expert of the Bureau of
the Census of the United States.2 Following his method, the
results of a classification of workers in the textile industry in'the
United States is given in one of the tables in Volume II. Of the
total number of persons gainfully occupied, owners, operators and
proprietors formed less than 1 per cent.; managers and officials, 1.3
per cent. ; those in professional pursuits, 0.6 per cent. ; and persons
in clerical occupations, 6.3 per cent. For the rest, the skilled
trades, together with foremen and overseers, accounted for 8.0 per
cent., the semi-skilled operatives, including apprentices, comprised
the great bulk of the workers, 71.7 per cent., while the unskilled
economic reason why youths or men should not be employed in ring-spinning. . . . There are, however, certain social reasons which have been
strong enough to prevent the employment of men as ring-spinners " (JBWKES
and GRAY: Wages and Labour in Cotton Spinning, Manchester, 1936, pp. 12
and 13).
1
E. B. DIETRICH: " The Present Status of the Cotton Textile Industry "
(International Labour Review, October 1930, Vol. XXII, No. 4, p. 424).
2
Dr. A. M. EDWARDS, who made this classification, published the details
of his method in an article entitled " A Social-Economic Grouping of the
Gainful Workers of the United States " {Journal of the American StatisticalAssociation, Vol. 28, December 1933, pp. 399-383).
— 227 —
accounted for 11.2 per cent. In this classification most of the
machine operatives, spinners, weavers, dyers and the like were
grouped together and designated as semi-skilled operatives.
The statistics of other countries do not permit of a close approximation to such a plan. In Switzerland a small group of workers are
designated in the statistics of 1930 as " Hilfsarbeiter ", who clearly
belong to the unskilled, but whether all those designated as
" Arbeiter " should be classed as skilled or semi-skilled in the sense
of the United States classification is not clear. In Germany a classification of male " workers " was made in 1933 into groups according
to skill as follows: skilled, 51,000; semi-skilled, 152,000; and
unskilled, 89,000, out of a total of 292,000 male " workers ". In
this classification, owners, directors and managers, family assistants,
home workers, salaried employees, including technical and administrative staffs, and apprentices, amounting to 100,000 persons, are
omitted. No details are available as to the basis upon which
occupations are assigned to the different skill groups.
In a few countries details of the number of persons in different
occupations are published. If these occupations could be assigned
on an acceptable basis to the different skill groups, these might
furnish interesting material for a comparative study. However,
if any such comparative figures were available on the basis of a
comparable definition of skill, they would have to be related first of
all to the obvious differences in the types of textile industries carried
on in the different countries. Differences in the proportions of
skilled or semi-skilled workers might be due merely to the greater
proportion of cotton, or wool, or of linen, mills in the countries
considered. Only after the differences in the relative importance
of the different textile industries in the several countries had been
taken into account—assuming, of course, that the definitions of
the skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled were acceptable and uniformly
applied in the classification of occupations—would it be possible to
approach the issue whether there were real or significant differences
in the proportions of skilled and unskilled workers. These difficulties are, in fact, so great that no further attempt at such an analysis
can be made here.
III. — DISTRIBUTION OF WORKERS AMONG DIFFERENT BRANCHES
OF THE INDUSTRY
In connection with the subjects treated in this chapter, it would
be important to examine the differences in the composition of
— 228 —
the labour force existing in the different branches of the textile
industry. The data for such a comparison, however, are not
available. All that can be done here is to indicate the distribution
of the total number of workers among the main branches of
the industry. Even in this connection difficulties arise owing to
the fact that the classification adopted in different countries is not
identical. However, a rough classification into five groups, viz.
cotton, wool, silk (including rayon), flax, hemp and jute, and others
has been attempted, as given in table 4 for 13 countries. For
the other countries given in table 1 details by branch of industry
were not available or the classification was such (for example by
spinning, weaving, etc., rather than by fibres) that the data could
not be utilised.
As may be seen from table 4, cotton is by far the largest of the
textile industries, in which nearly half, or over 5 million, of
the textile workers are engaged. The great majority of these are
found in India. Apart from this country where special conditions
obtain, the most important cotton textile countries are the United
Kingdom and the U.S.S.R. with over half a million persons, the
United States with about 420,000, Japan with 326,000, Germany
with 215,000, and France 189,000.
The second largest group is the " all other " group, but as the
contents of this group differ somewhat from country to country,
no definite conclusions can be drawn from the totals of this group.
Next in importance come silk and rayon, with nearly one million
and a quarter persons, or more than the numbers employed in the
woollen industry. In this industry Japan and the United States
are predominant with 531,000 and 205,000 workers respectively,
followed by India and France with about 110,000 each. Thus,
nearly 80 per cent, of the persons occupied in silk and rayon are
found in these four countries. For the rayon industry, for which
separate figures are not given in the table, it is interesting to note
that the figures for 7 countries show about 230,000 persons engaged.
About one-half of these are in Japan (112,000), followed by the
United States with 34,000, Italy with 29,000 and Great Britain
with 21,000.
For the woollen and worsted industry, the United Kingdom
takes the lead with nearly 250,000 persons, followed by Germany
and France with 166,000 and 163,000 respectively, the United
States follows with about 145,000, and India with 110,000. These
countries cover about 80 per cent, of the total figure for the
13 countries.
-
TABLE 4 .
229 —
PERSONS ENGAGED IN THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY
CLASSIFIED
ACCORDING TO MAJOR BRANCHES OF THE INDUSTRY, FOR SELECTED COUNTRIES 1
Country
Silk
(including
rayon)
Flax,
hemp,
jute
Cotton
Wool
215,482
21,046
18,444
422,204
189,434
165,885
12,451
8,265
144,513
163,099
60,895
4,454
8,891
205,122
112,308
585.004
137
71,257 5
18
3,744
114,521
531,280 s
8,758'
33,779 8
22,426
26,100
Germany . .
Austria . . .
Canada . . .
United States
France . . .
Great Britain aine1
and
N o r t h 3rri
Ireland:
Great Britain
Northern Irela nc1
Hungary . .
India . . . .
Japan. . . .
Netherlands .
Switzerland .
Czechoslovakia
U.S.S.R. . .
2,883,573
326,380
36,671
35,082
115,119
516,800
243,084
1,146
6,807
109,347
69,579
12,048
8,096
51,840
85,100
Total (appro X. )
5,365,000
1,081,000
*
1.204,000
3
65,669
6,423
4
8,015
40,914
*
55,683
68,042
24,970 9
272,453 10
16,126"
4,517
2,833 12
40,721
141,100 13
747,000
Other
Bases
348,616
39,369
19,110
437,557
307,183
GO11
GO
GO
GO
WS
356,278
35,363
17.721
465,037
137,566
26,301
26,936
110,647
124,300
WS
GO
GO
GO
WS
GO
WSWS
WS
2,452,000
i See table i for the years to which the data relate. Data classified by branch of industry (e.g.
cotton, wool, etc.) are not available for Belgium, Brazil, Spain, Italy, Mexico, Poland, Portugal and
Sweden. In most of these cases, the classiflcation, if any, is into spinning, weaving, etc., but without
distinction of fibre used. In Italy 28,527 persons were engaged in rayon manufacture, 583,091 in the
manufacture of other textile fibres, and 118,935 in ancillary textile industries (including felt hats and
other articles of felt).
2 In most cases the figures represent the gainfully occupied. In interpreting the figures for India
and Japan, see page 219. The explanation of the abbreviations used in the column describing the base
is as follows:
GO, gainfully occupied; and \VS, wage earners and salaried employees, or " operatives ".
3 Including 19,444 engaged in rayon manufacture.
* Includes 33,982 engaged in rayon manufacturing.
s Includes 21,062 engaged in rayon spinning; data in rayon weaving, etc., not available.
o7 Includes 112,475 engaged in rayon manufacturing.
Engaged in rayon manufacture.
8
Includes 5,645 engaged in rayon manufacture.
o Includes cotton, also manufacture of cotton wool.
io Jute.
ii Hemp.
i2 Flax.
13 Includes 106,500 in linen.
i* Excluding unemployment, leased on census of industrial establishments.
For flax, hemp and jute, the least important of the groups,
with about 750,000 people covered in the 13 countries, the dominating countries are India, the U.S.S.R. and the United Kingdom with
about 272,000, 141,000 and 125,000 respectively, though Germany,
France and Czechoslovakia have each an appreciable number of
persons in this group.
It would also appear that there are important variations among
the different branches of the textile industry with respect to the
— 230 —
percentage which women, young persons and unskilled workers
constitute of the total labour force. Wool manufacturing, for
example, would appear to require a larger percentage of skilled
workers than the cotton textile industry. As a result, there might
be differences in the percentage of women and young persons
employed in these two branches of the industry. But, as already
pointed out, comparisons are impossible owing to lack of data.
IV. — TRENDS
The various changes in the textile industry described in preceding
chapters have caused important shifts in the number and composition of the textile workers in different countries. Data showing
such trends—say over the past 30 years—are especially difficult
to obtain on a comparable basis, since changes in the grouping of
industries, in the basis of classification (whether occupational or
industrial), in territory, etc., render exact comparisons impossible.
Table 5 summarises the data for a few countries for which sufficiently comparable census figures can be derived from published
official sources.
According to this table, Switzerland shows a sharp decrease
from 178,000 workers in 1910 to 110,000 in 1930. This is in spite
of some 5,645 persons engaged in rayon manufacture in 1930, an
industry which did not figure in the returns for the earlier year.
The importance of the change is limited, however, by the fact that
1930 was a year of depression. In France the figures show an
apparent increase, but when allowance is made for the 72,000 textile
workers of Alsace-Lorraine, the trend is shown to be a declining one.
The decrease in Belgium is due in large part to the war, since the
decrease occurred from 1910 to 1920: during the period following
the war the industry increased rapidly from 197,000 workers in 1920
to 257,000 in 1930, or nearly as many as in 1910. Germany showed a
slight decrease in the number ol textile workers between 1925 and
1933; likewise Austria between 1923 and 1934 showed a small
reduction of workers in textiles. Japan also appears to have had
a slightly smaller number of workers employed in 1930 than in
1920, but the number has increased since. Finally, Great Britain
showed a slight decrease between 1911 and 1931 in the whole group
of textiles. Cotton showed a marked decline, silk more than
doubled, while the ancillary textile industries, hosiery and knitted
goods, showed a great increase in the number of persons employed.
— 231 —
TABLE 5 .
PERSONS GAINFULLY OCCUPIED IN THE TEXTILE
INDUSTRY
1
1910-1911, 1920-1921, 1930-1931
IN
Country
1910-1911
Germanv
Austria
Belgium
Canada
United States .
France2
France3
Great Britain .
Hungary
India
Italy
Japan4
Netherlands
.
Sweden
Switzerland . .
Czechoslovakia
*
*
263,446
20,642
898,992
. .
. .
i (1906)
. .
. .
. .
*
914,591
1,359,000
*
*
455,745
*
60,529
*
177,875
*
1920-1921
1930-1931
(1925)1,206,731
(1923)
87,540
196,877
33,681
(1933)1,117,582
(1934)
83,743
256,705
54,710
1,217,411
920,460
843,828
1,317,000
53,242
3,844,931
731,363
1,361,153
88,295
62,752
109,718
367,686
*
(1926)
(1926)
932,858
853,064
1.293,000
18,115
3,795,674
*
1,381,006
66,487
44,672
142,640
264,593
' Including rayon in 1930.
s Present area.
34 Pre-war area.
Occupational classification.
TABLE 6.
CHANGES IN PERCENTAGES OF FEMALES GAINFULLY
OCCUPIED IN THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY, IN 1910-1911 TO 1930-1931
Country
Germany
Belgium
Canada
United States .
France
Great Britain .
Hungary
India
Japan
Netherlands
.
Sweden
Switzerland . .
Czechoslovakia
1910-1911
*
. .
. .
. .
60.2
45.2
45.6
(1906) 55.9
57.0
*
*
*
33.6
. .
. .
*
*
62.1
1920-1921
1930-1931
(1925) 55.8
54.6
51.9
*
(1926) 59.5
58.0
(1920) 45.2
39.2
(68.9)
*
57.9
62.3
57.8
x
(1933) 52.3
48.5
43.9
41.6
59.8
59.0
54.6
39.3
63.5 (68.1) 1
34.2
64.4
59.5
58.5
i
Based on occupation classification.
Of the countries shown in table 5, for which comparable
figures could be obtained, those showing increases in the number of
workers in the textile industry between 1910 and 1930 are Italy,
the Netherlands, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Canada, the
— 232 —
United States and India. Italy, especially, shows a marked increase
of 61 per cent, between 1911 and 1931. In the Netherlands the
increase was 46 per cent, in twenty years, in the United States
35 per cent., and in Canada 165 per cent.; in a ten-year post-war
period, the textile industry increased 71 per cent, in Sweden,
39 per cent, in Czechoslovakia, and 194 per cent, in Hungary.
So far as trends in the proportion of women employed are
concerned, as shown in table 6 in the thirteen countries for which
figures have been calculated for the same dates, six show decreases
in the proportion of women employed and seven show increases. It
is perhaps noteworthy, however, that of the seven countries in which
the proportion of women workers increased, five are countries in
which the textile industry itself showed an expansion of the labour
force. In two countries, France and Great Britain, in which the
proportion of women increased, the industry decreased slightly in
number of workers; in two countries, Canada and the United
States, in which the proportion of women decreased, the number of
workers in the industry increased substantially. With the exception
of Belgium, where the percentage of women workers decreased from
60.2 to 48.5, the changes in percentages were not great. All these
figures, however, are seriously influenced by the fact that the year
1930, for which comparable data are available, was a year of
depressed activity in the textile industry in most countries.
Trends in the proportion of young persons are more difficult to
ascertain, because of the changes in the details of ages at the
different censuses. In the United States there appears to have
been a sharp decrease in the proportion of children under 16 employed in the industry, from 8.8 per cent, in 1910to 2.1 percent, in
1930. The 1930 figure, however, is not exactly comparable with the
1910 figure, the former being based upon children employed in the
principal textile occupations (see footnote to table 3) and the latter
upon all persons gainfully occupied in the industry.
France shows a decrease in the proportion of persons under
20 years of age, from 24.1 per cent, in 1910 to 21.5 in 1930, but here
again the basis on which the comparison is made is not exactly
the same in the two years, the former being based upon the employers, workers and unemployed (excluding salaried employees)
in textile occupations, and the latter upon the persons gainfully
occupied in the textile industry. In Japan, the only other country
for which figures have been obtained, the proportion of young
persons under 15 years of age among workers decreased from 19.1
per cent, in 1920 to 14.0 per cent, in 1930.
-
V. —
233 —
SUMMARY
There are other aspects of the labour force in the textile industry
which deserve attention; such are the methods of recruiting, their
training, ways of living, etc. Neither the limits of this Report nor
the available data make it possible, however, to do more than
mention these aspects here. Some further reference will he made
to them in subsequent chapters.
The points emphasised here—the high proportion of women and
young persons in the industry—have importance from several
points of view. First, women are frequently paid lower wages
than men and the level of wages in any country is naturally
affected by this fact. Any analysis of wage-data must bear
this point in mind. Second, there is some relationship between
multiple-shift operation and the employment of women and
young persons, because, in order to make multiple-shift operations
economically practicable and profitable, textile manufacturers want
access to a.large supply of labour. Third, the regulation of working
conditions is much more generally "applied to women and young persons than to men. Such questions as hours of labour, overtime,
minimum wages, night work, etc., are often regulated specially for
women and young persons: in fact, International Labour Conventions have already been adopted on some of these questions, applying
to women and young persons, by the International Labour Organisation. Social legislation of this kind is therefore of special importance
to the textile industry, and, as the degree of labour protection for
these classes which is enforced in different countries varies considerably, its incidence may play a part in the economic factors affecting
the industry. In other words the varying composition of the labour
force in the textile industry in different countries exercises an
important influence through its effects on wages and hours of labour,
considered in the two chapters which follow.
CHAPTER X
WAGE RATES AND EARNINGS
Wages as a factor in determining international differences in
labour costs in the textile industry were considered in Chapter VIII.
In the present chapter the problem is to establish what the workers
in the textile industry actually earn, how wage rates and earnings
have changed in recent years, how the textile industry compares
with other industries, in order to see whether the textile industry
is a relatively low-wage industry, and to explain some of the
reasons for this condition if it is shown to exist.
However, the attempt to present the situation in the textile
industry with regard to wage rates and earnings and to answer the
questions raised above is circumscribed by the extent of available
statistical data and by their limitations. In Volume II of this
Report, a detailed analysis is given of the available information
on these subjects in different countries. It is there pointed out
that while statistics of wages and hours of work are relatively
abundant, they are limited in many ways and do not easily lend
themselves to international comparisons. Such data, however, as
can be used for comparative purposes have been extracted and
summarised from the tables in Volume II, so as to provide a basis
for discussing the questions with which this Report is concerned.
All the figures quoted in the tables in this chapter are taken from
official sources or (in a few cases) from private bodies of wellestablished authority. The data on wages relate almost entirely
to money wages. Other factors beside money wages enter into
the remuneration of labour as well as into labour costs, either directly
or indirectly, e.g. paid holidays, social insurance payments, free or
cheap housing, food for the operatives, etc., and in some countries
these are of considerable importance. It is not possible to measure
phese precisely, but they must be borne in mind in any international
tomparisons. The available data are discussed here first from the
coint of view of wages per unit of time, viz. wages per hour, then
— 235 —
from the point of view of earnings per week, a period of varying
number of hours. The movement of money and real wages in the
different countries for certain dates since 19291 is then considered,
followed by a comparison internationally of wages reduced to a
common gold basis. Finally, the factors making for differences in
national levels of wages are examined.
I. — HOURLY WAGES
The importance of hourly wages is twofold. Taken in connection
with man-hour output, hourly wages serve to determine labour
costs per pound, per linear or square yard, etc. Taken in connection
with the number of hours worked per week or per year, hourly
wages determine weekly and annual earnings. Hourly wage rates
are also significant both for showing wage changes in the same
country over a series of years, and for comparing such changes in
different countries. The figures given in table 1 (subject to the
reservations and cautions indicated) show for the chief countries
average hourly wages for 1929, 1933, 1935 and 1936 in the textile
industry, distinguishing where possible the different branches of
the industry, males and females, and in some cases, also skilled,
semi-skilled and unskilled workers. Hourly wages in the textile
industry are compared with the average hourly wage of all industries in nearly every case. Though the scope of the figures for
all industries differs from country to country (such groups as
mining, commerce and transport being included in some cases and
not in others) 2 the data are nevertheless sufficient to indicate
general tendencies.
The first fact of importance which emerges from tables 1 A and
1 B is that average hourly wages in the textile industry have been,
in the years indicated, lower than average hourly rates for all
industries together. This is so for Germany, the United States,
Hungary, Italy, Japan, Sweden, Czechoslovakia and China, and
is especially noticeable in Japan and Czechoslovakia. Second, the
table shows that differences in this respect exist generally with
regard to different branches of the industry and for male and
1
This year is taken as that in which in most countries the textile industry
was relatively prosperous, and the dates selected, viz. 1933, 1935, 1936, as
typical years in this period.
2
For further information, see INTERNATIONAL LABOUR OFFICE: Year-Book
of Labour Statistics 1935-36.
— 236 -
TABLE
1.
HOURLY
INDUSTRY
AND
IN
WAGES
ALL
IN
NATIONAL
INDUSTRIES,
CURRENCIES
SELECTED
IN
THE
COUNTRIES,
TEXTILE
1929-1936
A. — All Workers (Males and Females)
Country
and
branch of industry
Males and Females
Currency
unit
Sept. 1929 Sept. 1933 Sept. 1935
Hourly
Germany :
Cotton :
Skilled and semi-skilled
Unskilled workers
Worsted :
Skilled and semi-skilled
Unskilled workers
Woollen (cloth):
Skilled and semi-skilled
Unskilled workers
Flax:
• Skilled and semi-skilled
Unskilled workers
Silk:
Skilled and semi-skilled
Unskilled workers
All textile b r a n c h e s : i
Skilled and semi-skilled
Unskilled workers
(57.6)2
4
(a)
53.5
workers
(56.7)2
4
49.9
workers
(68.7)2
4
62.2
workers
(49.7)2
4
46.1
workers
(65.2)2
4
61.9
workers
(61.5)2
4
54.8
workers
Rpf.
Austria :
Cotton
Wool
Silk
H e m p and j u t e
United
Kingdom:
Cotton
Woollen and worsted
0.73
0.74
Sell.
*
United States (B.L.S.) :
Cotton goods
Woollen and worsted goods
Silk and rayon goods
Dyeing and finishing
All textile branches i
All industries
United States
(N.I.C.B.):
Cotton (North):
Skilled and semi-skilled
Unskilled workers
Wool :
Skilled and 3 emi-skilled
Unskilled workers
Silk:
Skilled and semi-skilled
Unskilled workers
All industries:
Skilled and semi-skilled
Unskilled workers
Earnings
36.4
48.7
42.7
49.5
Cents
. . .
*
51.4
0.73
0.67
0.76
0.71
37.4
49.4
44.4
53.0
44.7
56.3
workers
} Cents
41.7
42.8
workers
} "
47.8
48.0
52.1
}
••
48.4
47.3
50.8
} "
59.0
53.6
60.1
workers
workers
Pence
(9)
8>/2
9'/ 4
Sept. 1936
— 237 —
TABLE
1.
HOURLY
WAGES
IN
NATIONAL
CURRENCIES
IN
THE
I N D U S T R Y AND i N ALL I N D U S T R I E S , S E L E C T E D C O U N T R I E S , 1 9 2 9 - 1 9 3 6
TEXTILE
(continued)
A. — All- Workers (Males and Females)
Country
and
branch of industry
Males and Females
Currency
unit
Sept. 1929 Sept. 1933
Hourly
Hungary :
All textile branches
All industries
Italy :
Cotton
Wool
Silk: spinning and reeling
weaving
Flax, hemp and j u t e
Artificial textile fibres
All textile branches
AH industries
Japan ( Imperial Cabinet) :
All textile branches
All industries
Poland :
Spinning and weaving
All textile branches
All industries
All industry and mining
Sweden :
Cotton
Wool
Flax, hemp and j u t e
Bleaching and dyeing
All textile branches i
All mining, industry, transport, t r a d e
Pengös
(/)
Zl.
0.38
0.48
1.63 3
2.10
1.33
1.67
0.75
1.42
1.17
1.69
1.37 3
1.86
(c)
1.39
1.57
0.77
1.47
1.23
1.63
1.34 3(d)
1.87 (c)
0.109
0.217
0.082
0.199
0.079
0.198
(c)
(c)
0.66
0.66
0.66
0.78
(c)
0.66
0.66
0.63
0.72
*
(0.87X/)
*
Kr.
1.03
(/)
0.75*
0.76*
0.72*
0.82*
0.76*
1.12
Hourly
China (Shanghai) :
C o t t o n : spinning
weaving and finishing
Wool
Silk: reeling
weaving
All industries
Czechoslovakia :
Cotton spinning
All industries
Sh. S
KC.
Earnings
(/)
0.42
0.57
Lire
Yen
Sept. 1935 Sept. 19
2.35*
4.37*
(/)
(/)
0.78*
0.75*
0.78*
0.81 *
0.77*
1.12
0.77*
0.75*
0.76*
0.84*
0.76*
1.10
Rates
of
Wages
0.040
0.045
0.051
0.038 f
0.104
0.058
<e>
0.041
0.054
0.058
0.029 6
0.087
0.056
2.18*
4.47*
2.18*
4.34*
(a) July. (6) March, (c) August, (d) J u n e , (e) September 1934. (/) Annual average,
i Including other branches of t h e textile industry not shown in t h e table.
s Figures not exactly comparable with t h e d a t a for t h e other years.
3 Including clothing.
* Adults only.
s Female only.
(g) October
— 238 —
TABLE
1.
AND
H O U R L Y W A G E S IN NATIONAL
IN
ALL
INDUSTRIES,
SELECTED
CURRENCIES
COUNTRIES,
IN T H E
TEXTILE
1929-1936
INDUSTRI
(continued)
B. — By sex
Males
Country and
branch of industry
Currency
unit
Sept.
1929
Sept.
1933
Females
Sept.
i«35
Sept.
1936
Hourly
Germany :
Cotton :
Skilled and semi-skilled
Unskilled workers
Worsted :
Skilled and semi-skilled
Unskilled workers
Woollen (cloth):
Skilled and semi-skilled
Unskilled workers
Flax:
Skilled and semi-skilled
Unskilled workers
Silk:
Skilled and semi-skilled
Unskilled workers
All textile branches: i
Skilled and semi-skilled
Unskilled workers
workers
workers
workers
workers
workers
workers
Austria :
Cotton
Wool
Silk
H e m p and j u t e
United States
(N.I.C.B.):
Cotton (North) :
Skilled and semi-skilled
Unskilled workers
Wool :
Skilled and semi-skilled
Unskilled workers
Silk:
Skilled and semi-skilled
Unskilled workers
All industries:
Skilled and semi-skilled
Unskilled workers
Rpf.
Sch.
*
*
*
*
Earnings
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
(a)
64.1
53.1
(6)
65.1
52.7
66.5
56.6
67.3
57.5
72.3
56.2
72.5
56.6
57.5
47.2
58.9
48.1
71.0
60.5
72.1
57.7
(73.3)2 3
(56.8)23
68.7
53.8
69.2
53.6
0.87
0.85
0.89
0.77
0.92
0.80
—
*
*
*
*
*
*
Sept.
1933
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
(a)
49.1
36.9
45.8
37.7
53.4
40.4
*
*
*
*
57.3
42.2
(53.8)2 3
(41.3)23
48.8
37.4
0.66
0.67
0.65
0.61
0.65
0.61
44.2
35.7
49.5
36.1
48.2
39.9
50.4
42.4
49.9
42.7
36.0
37.2
39.8
workers
53.5
44.6
54.5
43.5
61.5
45.6
63.2
46.3
42.8
42.2
45.6
workers
58.0
49.0
53.9
50.5
56.7
62.1
56.2
61.5
40.6
40.3
39.0
workers
66.8
48.9
59.3
43.9
66.5
49.1
68.7
49.6
39.7
40.1
43.4
workers
Japan (Imperial Cabinet) :
All textile branches
Cents
Yen
All industries
Japan (Bank of Japan):
Cotton spinning
Silk reeling
Twisting (in general)
Weaving (in general)
Dyeing and finishing i
All textile branches
All industries
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Sept.
1929
Yen
0.164
0.1664
0.279
0.283 4
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
0.135
0.148
0.151* 0.139*
0.268 0.256
0.271*
*
0.158
0.092
0.117
0.147
0.144
0.142
0.216
0.149
0.091
0.110
0.141
0.131
0.134
0.214
(d)
0.138
0.141*
0.257
0.261*
0.147
0.092
0.116
0.137
0.131
0.132
0.212
0.093
0.102 4
0.104
0.1134
*
*
*
*
*
0.066 0.065
0.072* 0.071*
0.078 0.077
0.085*
*
0.076
0.063
0.061
0.071
0.066
0.068
0.072
0.074
0.063
0.062
0.070
0.065
0.068
0.070
— 239 —
PABLE
1. —
AND
IN
H O U R L Y W A G E S IN N A T I O N A L C U R R E N C I E S IN T H E T E X T I L E
ALL
INDUSTRIES,
SELECTED
COUNTRIES,
1929-1936
By sex
B.
Males
Currency
unit
Country and
branch of industry
Sept.
1929
Sept.
1933
Females
Sept.
1935
Sept.
1936
Hourly
Poland :
Spinning and weaving
All textile branches
All industries
All industry and mining
(c)
0.77 3
0.78 3
0.74 3
Zl.
. . . .
Sweden :
Cotton
Wool
Flax, hemp and j u t e
Bleaching and dyeing
All textile branches i
All mining, industry, transport,
trade
Switzerland :
All textile branches:
Skilled and semi-skilled workers
Unskilled workers
All industries, some transport,
trade :
Skilled and semi-skilled workers
Unskilled workers
Kr.
Fr.
(/)
0.90
0.94
0.88
0.90
0.92
*
(/)
0.923
0.92 3
0.923
0.923
0.93 3
1.25 3
1.22 3
1.24 3
1.483
1.143
(/)
China (Shanghai) :
Cotton: spinning
weaving and finishing
Wool
Silk: reeling
weaving
All industries
.
Rpf.
(c)
O.573
0.56 3
0.52 3
*
*
(/)
0.92 3
0.923
0.91 3
0.93 3
0.93 3
(/)
Sept.
1933
(c)
3
3
3
3
3
1.193
1.09 3
Sept.
1929
Earnings
0.77 3
0.77 3
0.70 3
(/)
(/)
0.63
0.62
0.62
0.64
0.64
0.65
0.62
0.65
0.63
•0.64
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
—
0.74 3
O.733
(/)
(/)
1.11 3
1.03 3
1.08 3
0.97 3
—
| 0.77 3
0.72 !
1.43 3
1.09 3
1.363
1.05 3
—
• O.77:
0.72 3
Hourly
Germany :
All textile branches:
Skilled and semi-skilled workers
Unskilled workers
All mining, industry, t r a n s p o r t :
Skilled workers
Semi-skilled workers
Unskilled workers
INDUSTRY
(concluded)
Rates
of
Wages
74.6 3
62.1 3
63.9 3
53.4 3
63.6 3 63.6 3
53.13 53.1 3
57.53
46.5 3
50.2 3
39.8 3
50.0 3
39.5 3
102.1 3
82.6 3
80.2 3
79.2 3
68.3 3
62.8 3
78.3 3 78.3 3
68.3 3 68.3 3 •64.0 3
62.2 3 62.23
53.1 3
52.2 3
43.5 3
51.63
43.43
«
0.042
0.051
0.056
(e)
0.046
0.055
0.063
*
0.144
0.087
0.039
0.044
0.045
0.038
0.087
0.048
(e)
0.040
0.054
0.054
0.029
0.078
0.046
S h . S (0.047)2 3
(0.065)2 3
(0.061)23
(0.120)23
*
*
0.106
0.083
—
—
—
*
—
—
(0.038)2 3
(0.047)23
*
(0.049)2 3
(0.086)2 3
(a) July.
(b) March.
(c) August.
(d) J u n e .
(e) September 1934.
1 Including other branches of t h e textile industry, not shown in t h e table.
2 Figures not exactly comparable with t h e d a t a for t h e other years.
3 Adults only.
* Earnings relating to adults of over 16 years.
(/) Annual average.
— 240 —
female workers, and skilled and unskilled. While it is difficult to
make generalisations on the basis of the scanty and disparate data
available, it would appear t h a t average hourly wages are lower,
both for males and females, than the corresponding averages for
all industries. In Poland, however, males in textiles appear to
have higher wages than the average and the same is true for the
silk industry in China and the United States (unskilled workers):
for females, wages are higher than or equivalent to wages in general
in Switzerland, China and the United States (silk), Japan (cotton
spinning and weaving) and Poland. Again, the disparity between
the two averages (textile and general) appears often to be greater
in the case of males than in the case of females, though some
exceptions to this are to be found. A third fact to be brought
out is that hourly wages vary considerably in the several branches
of the textile industry.
Moreover, the dispersion of wage rates of workers in the textile
industry is great. That is, although the average wage in textiles is
very often lower than t h a t in industry as a whole, yet some groups
of textile workers receive wages which are as high as or higher than
those in other industries.
II.
—
WEEKLY
EARNINGS
Weekly earnings are important as they show the amounts of
income which the worker receives for his personal, household and
other expenses. They thus furnish some indication of the workers'
standard of living. Unfortunately, the available data on this
subject for the years chosen are very meagre; for only seven
countries has it been possible to collect data. The figures are given
in table 2, distinguishing where possible males from females and
enumerating also the different branches of the industry.
In view of the paucity and lack of homogeneity of the data,
definite conclusions are impossible, but it may be pointed out
t h a t similar features are present for certain countries as in table 1.
In the three countries for which average weekly earnings for
industry as a whole are given, it will be seen that average weekly
earnings in textiles are lower in the United States and in Sweden
than the general level, while in Poland they are higher (both for
males and females). As in the case of hourly wages, weekly
— 241 —
ABLE 2 .
HE
A V E R A G E W E E K L Y OR M O N T H L Y E A R N I N G S IN N A T I O N A L C U R R E N C I E S
TEXTILE
INDUSTRY
AND IN ALL I N D U S T R I E S , S E L E C T E D
Males and females
Country
and
branch of industry
Currency
unit
Sept.
1933
Sept.
1935
Sept.
1936
Males
Sept.
1933
Weekly
Germany :
Cotton:
Skilled and semi-skilled
Unskilled workers
Worsted :
Skilled and semi-skilled
Unskilled workers
Woollen (cloth):
Skilled and semi-skilled
Unskilled workers
Flax:
Skilled and semi-skilled
Unskilled workers
Silk:
Skilled and semi-skilled
Unskilled workers
All textile branches: >
Skilled and semi-skilled
Unskilled workers
workers
(a)
•22.28
RM.
(b)
22.42'
workers
20.22.
19.46
workers
24.94
25.06
workers
20.06
17.74
workers
24.24
27.44
workers
•22.40
22.68-
Austria :
Cotton
Wool
Silk
H e m p and j u t e
Sch.
United States (B.L.S.) :
Cotton goods
Woollen and worsted goods.
Silk and rayon goods . . .
Dyeing and finishing . . .
All textile branches i . . .
All industries
35.68
35.92
35.10
30.70
35.66
31.86
13.11
17.54
14.40'
17.30
13.17
18.12
15.77
19.38
16.10
21.14
•
43.68
42.12
Sept.
1935
workers
workers
workers
workers
United
Kingdom:
Cotton
Woollen and worsted
s.d.
Females
Sept.
1936
Sept.
1933
Sept.
1935
(a)
26.25
23.57
(b)
27.44
21.56
(a)
20.38
19.59
27.28
25.07
24.42
23.89
18.34
15.10
28.54
25.01
28.44
25.33
21.44
17.25
24.64
22.53
21.97
19.97
19.12
15.54
28.10
24.70
32:18
27.79
22.24
16.39
27.46
23.84
28.23
22.35
19.89
15.67
43.78
36.56
44.77
36.87
—
31.84
32.25
*
*
30.91
26.98
29.47
27.20
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
13.51
16.38
15.39
20.16
15.69
22.20
J-15.76 16.46 17.68{ 18.33
14.14
18.90
16.42
20.44 }l3.39
17.63
13.94
j-17.48
20.72
19.55 19.33{ 16.80
23.87
17.81
23.84 }l4.75
18.29
15.77
j-16,33
19.29
16.55 18.23{ 15.12
20.88
14.11
21.59 }l3.76
20.15
12.92
}l9.41
22.05
22.58 25.12Í 16.04
25.06
18.65
28.17
20.26
15.56
(318)3
(e)
33.8
38.2
(e)
49.9 2
51.7 2
*
*
(33 1)3
(37 6)3
}l4.31
*
*
(e)
28.8 2
31.3 2
(36 11)'
Poland :
Spinning and weaving
All textile branches
All industry and mining
(C)
. . . .
Sweden :
Cotton
Wool
F l a x , h e m p and j u t e
Bleaching and dyeing
All textile branches »
All mining, industry, transport,
trade
27.68
27.85
28.01
«Ö
36.19
34.69
33.13
37.83
34.43
49.16
(c)
26.86
26.99
26.96
(c)
(c)
33.442 32.762
33.752 33.062
32.062 30.722
(<¡>
33.98
33.33
33.96
38.62
33.71
id)
44.762
43.932
41.322
43.562
43.732
id)
42.672
42.912
42.152
46.292
43.362
—
id)
31.762
29.60»
28.842
27.462
30.282
51.54
54.732 57.632
—
32.69» 33.652
For notes, see following
page.
—
IN
1933-1936
Earnings
18.67
UnitedStates
(N.I.C.BJ:
Cotton (North):
Skilled and semi-skilled
Unskilled workers
Wool:
Skilled and semi-skilled
Unskilled workers
Silk:
Skilled and semi-skilled
Unskilled workers
All industries:
Skilled and semi-skilled
Unskilled workers
COUNTRIES,
(c)
(c)
23.242 22.252
23.14» 22.122
21.192 20.422
id)
29.462
28.392
30.412
27.972
29.582
16
— 242 —
TABLE 2 .
AVERAGE WEEKLY OR MONTHLY EARNINGS IN NATIONAL CURRENCIES I
THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY AND IN ALL INDUSTRIES, SELECTED COUNTRIES, 1 9 3 3 - 1 9 5
(concluded)
Males and females
Country
and
branch of industry
Currency
unit
Sept.
1933
Sept.
1935
Sept.
1936
Males
Sept.
1933
Sept.
1935
Monthly
U.S.S.R. :
Cotton
Wool
Flax
All textile branches
All industries . .
Rouble
"
(d)
104
102
89
102
126
(d)
160
150
129
153
185
—
—
—
—
—
Females
Sept.
1936
Sept.
1933
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Sept.
1935
Sept
1936
Wages
*+
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
(a) July. (6) March, (c) August, (d) Annual average, (e) October.
» Including other branches of the textile industry not shown in the table.
2
Adults only.
3
Approximate figures, not exactly comparable to those of the general enquiry of October 1935; s
Vol. II, Part IV.
Corresponding Data for 1929 (September)
United States (N.I.C.B.):
Cotton (North) :
Skilled workers
Unskilled workers
Wool:
Skilled workers
Unskilled workers
Silk:
Skilled workers
Unskilled workers
Great Britain : i
Cotton
Wool and worsted
i Approximate data; see Vol. II, Part IV.
Men and women
$
Men
Women
$
)
J
o¿ un nuea
-
/
I
$
24.44
18.88
15.77
I
/
¿¿
oo RI
-°l
/
\
26.10
22.05
19.30
J 28.22
X 27.35
17.74
I íó„ aí, ,
1 '
s. d.
34 8
39 3
s.
d.
s.
d.
*
*
earnings vary considerably in the different branches of the textile
industry. In the U.S.S.R., where monthly earnings are given,
textile wages also appear definitely lower than in other industries.
It would be of great interest to know the annual earnings of
textile workers. Such figures would form a more useful indicator
of the standard of living than weekly wages, as they would show
what hourly and weekly wages do not—how much the worker loses
through periods of total or partial unemployment, sickness, accident,
— 243 —
unpaid holidays etc. Unfortunately, no data are available on this
subject. Owing to the labour turnover in different establishments
and other reasons, total annual pay-rolls are insufficient for
measuring the annual earnings of workers. Family earnings would
also be of interest for, as mentioned elsewhere, members of the
same family frequently work in the textile mills, but again, data
are unavailable. 1
III.
—
WAGE T R E N D S SINCE
1929
Hitherto attention has been directed to the levels of hourly and
weekly wages in the textile industry and its branches, to the wages
of men and women, and to the wage level of textiles as compared
with industry as a whole. This section deals with the movement of
wages since 1929. The questions are: Have money wages in textile
manufacturing increased or decreased, and how do wage changes
in textiles compare with those in industry in general ?
The figures are given in table 3, the date September 1929 or
the nearest date thereto being taken as 100 in each case and the
figures for other years being expressed as percentages of this
figure. With the exception of the United States and Sweden,
the figures show a general fall in textile wages, a decline which is
especially marked in Japan and Poland. If the changes are
compared, however, with the changes in the general level of wages,
it will be seen t h a t of the countries included in the table, hourly
wages in textiles have been better maintained during the period
than in industry generally in Germany, United States, Hungary,
Poland and Sweden. On the other hand, in Italy, Japan, Czechoslovakia and Switzerland, the relative decline in hourly wages in
textiles was greater than t h a t of industry as a whole; this is
especially true of Japan. 2
For changes in weekly earnings, few data of a comparable
nature are available since 1929. In the United States, however,
contrary to the movement of hourly wages, average weekly earnings
suffered a drastic reduction from 1929 to 1933, followed by a slight
increase in 1935 and 1936, insufficient, however, to compensate for
1
On both these questions, family budgets of textile workers, if available,
would
be the best source of information.
2
The fall in textile wages generally can be explained by the impact of
the depression upon the textile industry between 1929 and 1935. The case
of Japan, however, is exceptional, since the Japanese textile industry experienced a large expansion after 1931. See Chapter XIII.
— 244 —
TABLE
WAGES
3.
IN
INDEX
THE
NUMBERS
TEXTILE
SELECTED
OF
HOURLY
INDUSTRY
COUNTRIES,
(1929 =
Country
and
branch of industry
AND
OR
IN
WEEKLY
ALL
1929-1936
100)
R a t e s (R)
Males and females
or
earnings Sept. Sept. Sept. Sept.
(E)
1929
1933
1935
1936
Germany: i
All textile branches
All industries . . .
Hourly
1003
1003
United Slates (N.I.C.B.) :
Cotton (North) . . .
Wool
Silk
All industries . . . .
100
100
100
100
103
100
98
91
108
109
105
102
United Kingdom :
Cotton
Woollen and worsted
Silk
Jute
F l a x , etc
Bleaching, dyeing and finishing
All agriculture, mining, industry, t r a n s p o r t
(d)
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
(d)
92
83
93
91
93
84
95
(d)
90
83
93
91
98
88
97
Hungary :
All textile branches
All industries . . .
(c)
100
100
(c)
90
84
Italy :
Textile and clothing
All Industries . . .
100
100
84
89
(a)
82
89
Japan (Imperial Cabinet) :
All textile branches . .
All industries
100
100
75
92
72
91
Poland :
All textile branches
All industries . . .
100
100
78
76
76
70
Sweden :
Cotton
Wool
F l a x , hemp and j u t e .
Bleaching and dyeing
All textile branches 2
All industries . . . .
(c)
1003
1003
1003
1003
1003
100
(c)
IO33
993
1063
1023
1003
98
(c)
1043
993
1083
993
1013
100
Switzerland: 1
All textile branches
All industries . . .
(c)
1003
1003
(0
943
953
(c)
903
923
Cîec/iostouaiita :
Cotton spinning
All industries .
1003
1003
933
1023
933
993
United States (N.I.C.B.)
:
Cotton (North) . . . .
Wool
Silk
All industries . . . .
United
Kingdom:
Cotton
Woollen and worsted
MONEY
INDUSTRIES,
Weekly
100
100
100
100
100*
100
Wages
863
863
803
803
Earnings
79
82
77
70
71
79
91*
94
93*
94
(a) August, (b) June, (c) Annual average, (d) December.
1 Average index numbers calculated by t h e I n t e r n a t i o n a l Labour Office
s e p a r a t e indexes for men and women.
2 Including other branches of the textile industry, not shown in t h e table.
3 Adults only.
* Approximate figures, see Vol. I I , P a r t I V .
from t h e
— 245 —
the previous losses. This was, of course, due to the great fall in
employment in the industry which took the form, in part, of
operating mills on shorter weekly schedules and of sharing available man-hours among the workers. In the United Kingdom
average weekly earnings declined, though to a much less extent
than in the United States, between 1929 and 1933 and show a
small rise in the years 1935 and 1936.
A quite different aspect of the subject is t h a t furnished by the
aggregate wage-bill of the textile industry. These data show the
total amounts paid in wages to all workers in textile establishments
during a year and are of a quite different nature from those hitherto
discussed. Wages per hour take no account of hours actually
worked, average weekly earnings per worker take no account of
changes in the number of workers. Aggregate wages or pay-rolls
show the amounts paid to all workers in the industry and thus
take account of changes in the numbers employed. Though the
scope of the figures differs from country to country, 1 it is possible
to draw a few general conclusions from the data available. Statistics for eight countries are given in table 4, in which total
wages (including in some cases salaries) are expressed as a percentage
of their amount in 1929.
With few exceptions (wool and silk in Canada, wool in Japan)
the figures for 1933 show a drastic fall in the annual wage bill of the
textile industry as compared with the figure for 1929. The fall
was greater in textiles than in all industries in Switzerland, Czechoslovakia and Japan (cotton and silk). In 1936, though few data
are available, such as exist show an improvement in Hungary,
Japan and Canada.
These data, as shown in table 4, it should be repeated, express the
combined effect of changes in wage-rates, changes in hours worked
and changes in numbers employed. It is not possible to state with
precision, owing to the lack of full and comparable data, how much
the changes are due to each of these factors. 2
IV.
— MOVEMENT IN R E A L W A G E S
So far changes in money wages alone have been discussed. These
data, however, are significant for an evaluation of the income of the
1
For information on the scope of the statistics of this nature, see International
Labour Review, Sept. 1936.
2
See Chapter XII.
— 246 —
TABLE 4.
WAGES IN
INDEX NUMBERS OF THE NOMINAL VALUE OF TOTAL
THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY AND IN ALL INDUSTRIES,
SELECTED COUNTRIES, 1929-1934
(1929 = 100) 1
Country and branch of industry
1929
1933
100
100
100
100
65
74
65
59
100
58
A ustria :
All textile branches
All mining, industries, transport, trade,
etc
100
64
100
59
Canada :
Cotton
Wool
Silk
All industries
100
100
100
100
72
109
153
50
United States :
Cotton
Woollen and worsted .
Silk
Other textile branches.
Finishing
All industries . . . .
100
100
100
100
100
100
67
62
54
64
62
45
Hungary :
All textile branches
All industries . . .
100
100
91
58
Japan :
Cotton
Wool
Silk
All industries
100
100
100
100
75
105
74
99
Switzerland :
Raw textiles, spinning, etc
Yarn, reeling, weaving, etc
Finishing
All industries, some transport, trade, etc.
100
100
100
100
66
56
70
85
Czechoslovakia :
Cotton ; wool mixture
Wool and other animal fibre
Silk
Flax, hemp, jute, etc
Bleaching, finishing, etc
All mining, industries, some transport,
trade, etc
100
100
100
100
100
51
61
49
56
61
100
68
Germany :
Cotton (spinning and twisting)
. . . .
Wool (spinning)
Wool (weaving)
Silk and rayon (weaving)
All mining, industries, transport, trade,
etc
i Except tor figures in italics: Germany (1928 = 100); Japan and Czechoslovakia
(1930 = 100).
— 247 —
workers only in so far as account is taken of the changes in the purchasing power of the currencies in which these wages are paid. When
index numbers of wages in a country are divided by index numbers
epresenting changes at the same dates in cost of living, it is
possible to estimate changes in so-called " real wages ".
It should be kept in mind, however, that cost-of-living index
numbers are computed in different countries by different methods,
that they vary greatly in precision and sensitiveness as instruments
of measurement, and that in some cases their applicability to the
wages of textile workers is questionable.1 Index numbers of real
wages, computed by the methods in use, indicate changes in the
purchasing power of workers' wages within a country and thus
partially show changes in the workers' standard of living. They
do not, however, indicate variations in purchasing power or cost
of living, as between different countries. For such comparisons, it would be necessary to have international cost-of-living
indexes expressing the purchasing power of different national
currencies and taking account of the different habits and standards
of consumption in the various countries. The computation of
such index numbers raises a number of theoretical and practical
difficulties, and demands the use of data which are not usually
available, so that it is not possible to make comparisons of the
purchasing power of wages as between different countries at the
same date. The following discussion therefore relates to changes
in real wages within certain countries during the last few
years. The data are given in table 5; they have been computed
by dividing the index numbers given in table 3 by the national
cost-of-living index numbers.2
From table 5, it will be seen that real wages increased in all
countries during the period under review, except in Japan. In the
United States, the increase was about 30 per cent, from 1929 to
1933-1936 for hourly wages; for weekly wages, the increase was
considerably less (owing to reductions in the number of hours
worked). In most countries real wages were highest in 1933 and
fell slightly in 1935-1936. As regards Japan, real wages in 1936
show a fall of about 10 per cent, from 1933.3
1
2
For further discussion of this, see International Labour Review, Jan. 1937.
For the cost-of-living index numbers used, see INTERNATIONAL LABOUR
OFFICE: Y ear-Book of Labour Statistics 1935-36.
3
The official statistics of cost of living do not enable calculations to be made
of changes in real wages since 1929. A special study, however, by the Japanese
Council of the Institute of Pacific Relations contains calculations of changes
— 248 —
It would appear, therefore, that except in Japan, textile workers
in employment received in 1933-1936 a larger amount of purchasing
power per hour of work than in 1929, despite the fall in money
wages during these years. This means, of course, that the cost of
living fell more rapidly than money wages, and is explained by
the tendency of wage rates to lag behind commodity prices in the
cyclical movement of prices.1 Were comprehensive data available for weekly earnings, however, it would probably be found that
real earnings had increased much less or even decreased in the
period, for as already pointed out, weekly earnings were affected
by the reduction in actual hours worked. In the United States
real weekly earnings slightly increased owing to the fact that the
increase in wage rates after the N.R.A. codes outweighed the
decrease in hours. In Great Britain the approximate data available
seem to indicate that the increase in real hourly rates was not
very different from that in real weekly earnings of workers actually
employed. In other countries for which data on weekly earnings
do not exist, it would appear, by examining the data on changes
in real hourly wages in conjunction with those on changes in
hours, that real weekly earnings were slightly lower in 1936 than
in 1929 in Germany, Italy and Poland ; in Sweden and Switzerland
probably higher than in 1929, though at a lower level than real
hourly wages. In Japan, where data on hours are available only
per day and not per week, real daily earnings would appear to
have fallen as much as hourly wages.
More striking, however, is the picture of the changes in the
purchasing power of the aggregate wages paid to all workers
occupied in textile factories. These data are given in table 6 and
are computed from the data in table 4 in the same way as the index
numbers of real wages of table 5. For the reasons given, they can
in real wages in J a p a n , in which a special cost-of-living index computed by
t h e authors is used. The results are given in t h e following t a b l e :
Industry
1926
1929
1930
1931
1932
1933
Spinning (a)
100
103.6
103.2
99.4
87.4
80.6
Silk reeling (a)
100
101.3
98.4
90.5
81.6
79.5
Weaving (a)
100
102.6
99.7
99.2
90.8
85.7
Knitting (a)
100
100.4
99.3
101.8
97.2
90.5
All industries (Japan)
100
111.7
117.4
121.0
117.5
115.0
All industries (Tokyo and Yokohama)
100
115.7
122.3
129.6
127.7
127.4
(o) Women's wages.
SOURCE: AYEDA and INOKUCHI: Cost of Living and Real Wages in Japan, 1914-1936 (Japanese Council, Institute of Pacific Relations, Tokyo, 1936). These figures indicate
that real wages fell by between 10 to 20 per cent, from 1929 to 1933. Since 1933
there has been a further fall of about 10 per cent, as shown in table 5.
1
For index numbers of real wages in i n d u s t r y in general, see t h e I N T E R NATIONAL LABOUR O F F I C E , Year-Book of Labour Statistics 1935-36 and t h e
International Labour Review (Jan. 1937).
— 249 —
TABLE 5 .
INDEX NUMBERS OF HOURLY AND WEEKLY REAL WAGES
IN THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY, SELECTED COUNTRIES, 1 9 2 9 - 1 9 3 6
(1929 = 100)
Country and branch of industry
Germany :
All textile b r a n c h e s . . . .
United States (N.I.C.B.)
:
Cotton (North)
Wool
Silk
United
Kingdom:
Cotton
Woollen and worsted . . .
Silk
Jute
F l a x , etc
Bleaching, dyeing and finishing
Hungary :
All textile branches . . .
Italy :
Textile and clothing . . .
Japan (Imperial Cabinet) : l
All textile branches . . .
Poland :
All textile branches . . .
Sweden :
Cotton
Wool
F l a x , h e m p and j u t e . . .
Bleaching and dyeing . . .
All textile branches 2 . . .
Switzerland.
All textile branches . . .
Czechoslovakia :
Cotton spinning
Rates
(R) or
earnings
(E)
Sept.
1929
R
100
E
100
100
100
(a)
100
100
100
100
100
. 137
134
131
(a)
108
97
109
107
108
131
132
127
(a)
103
95
107
105
113
129
132
123
(a)
105
101
105
103
113
100
99
101
101
E
(b)
100
(b)
117
E
100
106
il
il
R
»i
i»
il
il
i»
Males and females
3
Sept.
1933
Sept.
1935
Hourly
112 3
Wages
107 3
Sept.
1936
106 3
(e)
108
*
E
*
100
90
(d)
91
E
100
112
120
—
(*)
100 3
100 3
100 3
100 3
100 3
(b)
1133
109 3
117 3
1133
HO3
113 a
1083
118 3
108 3
HO3
E
(6)
100 3
(b)
1153
(b)
1133
R
100 3
102 3
102 3
E
il
ï»
li
1»
100
3
Weekly ¡ earnings
United States (N.I.C.B.)
:
Cotton (North)
Wool
Silk
United
Kingdom:
Cotton
Woollen and worsted . . .
E
il
il
E
Ï»
100
100
100
105
103
94
100*
100
107
110
100
105
86
4
107
109
105
102
93
4
108*
108
Note. — The cost-of-living index numbers used are the following: 1929, 1933 and 1935,
annual average: 1936, average for March and June.
(a) End of December. (6) Annual average, (c) August, (d) June.
i 1933 = 100.
a Including other branches of the textile industry, not shown in the table.
3 Adults only.
* Approximate figures; see Vol. II, Part IV.
— 250 —
be considered as only approximate. With the exception of Canada
(wool and silk though not cotton), the total purchasing power
of textile workers in all countries declined drastically from 1929 to
1933 or 1934. The reasons for the greater fall in total money
wages than in hourly wages or weekly earnings have already
been mentioned; the same reasons apply to the greater fall in
" real " aggregate wages, viz. a reduction in hours combined with
an increase in unemployment. Since 1933, employment has
generally increased and later data, when available, will probably
show an increase on the figures for 1933.
TABLE 6 .
IN
THE
INDEX NUMBERS OF THE REAL VALUE OF TOTAL WAGES
TEXTILE
INDUSTRY, SELECTED
(1929 = 100) 1
Country and branch of industry
COUNTRIES,
1929-1934
1929
1933
1934
Germany :
Cotton (spinning v and twisting)
Wool (spinning)
Wool (weaving)
Silk and rayon (weaving) . .
100
100
100
100
84
95
84
75
—
—
—
Auslria :
All textile branches . . . . .
100
(68)2
—
Canada :
Cotton
Wool
Silk
100
100
100
92
139
196
108
144
240
100
100
100
100
100
87
81
71
84
81
*
*
*
*
*
100
(118)2
(135)2
.
.
100
100
100
80
69
86
91
66
81
.
.
100
100
100
100
100
(55)
(65)
(53)
(60)
(66)
United States :
Cotton
Woollen and worsted
Silk
O t h e r textile branches
Finishing
. . . .
. . .
Hungary :
All textile branches
Switzerland :
R a w textiles, spinning, etc.
Yarn, reeling, weaving, etc.
Finishing
Czechoslovakia :
C o t t o n ; wool m i x t u r e . .
Wool and other animal fibre
Silk
Flax, h e m p , j u t e , etc . . .
Bleaching, finishing, e t c . . .
2
.
..
—
—
—
i Except for figures in italics: Germany (1928 = 100) and Czechoslovakia (1930 = 100).
Figures in brackets are based on index numbers of cost of living relating to capital
cities only.
2
— 251 —
V. —
W A G E S IN GOLD
The preceding sections have been confined to a consideration of
the workers' wages in the currency of their country and to comparisons of the changes which have occurred in individual countries
during recent years. This section will deal with wages and their
movement, as expressed in a uniform currency. Data on this
subject are of interest primarily in so far as they bear upon labour
costs as an element in international trade and competition. They
are also important, however, from the point of view of the workers'
standard of living to the extent t h a t prices of food, clothing, etc.,
in some countries are affected by the foreign exchange value of the
currencies concerned. The question of labour costs was discussed
in Chapter VIII and will be considered again in Chapter X I I I . It
seems most expedient, however, to present the wage data on which
that discussion is based in this chapter in which the wage situation
of the industry is treated.
In converting wages in different countries, it is of no importance
which currency is chosen; the relations between wages remain the
same. It is more convenient, however, to choose a currency
which has remained constant in gold content until the autumn of
1936, and for this reason the Swiss franc at its old parity is used. 1
A survey of hourly wages converted into gold francs, for all
textile workers and for men and women separately, is given in table 7. 2
On the basis of this table—which covers, however, only ten
countries—it is difficult to draw definite conclusions, but certain
general facts emerge which suggest that the chief textile countries
may be arranged in four groups. In the first group are the countries
of Asia—China, Japan 3 and India 4 — where hourly wages in
gold in 1935-1936 were less than 20 Swiss gold centimes. In a
second group are five countries of Central and Eastern Europe
—Austria, Hungary, Italy, Poland and Czechoslovakia—where
hourly rates were approximately between 30 and 45 gold centimes.
1
The Swiss franc was devalued in September 1936, when the " gold bloc "
was
dissolved. This lowered relative wages in the former gold bloc countries.
8
For the degree to which national currencies were devalued in relation to
their
gold parity between 1931 and 1936, see Vol. II, Part I.
3
Reference should again be made to the special conditions in Japan concerning
"indirect wages" (see pp. 258-259 and Vol. II).
4
No data on hourly wages in textiles in India are given in this Report, but
according to the figures of daily wages (see Vol. II) and the estimated number
of hours of work per day (see Chapter XI) it may be assumed that wages in
India fall within this limit.
— 252 —
TABLE 7 .
HOURLY WAGES IN
GOLD FRANCS t IN THE
INDUSTRY, SELECTED COUNTRIES,
Males and females
Country and branch of industry
Sept. 1929
Sept.
1933
Hourly
Males
Sept.
1935
*
(a)
0.64
Worsted
*
0.60
*
0.75
Flax
*
0.55
Silk
*
0.74
*
0.66
0.42
0.42
*
*
0.42
0.39
0.44
0.41
. . . .
- All textile branches * .
Austria :
Cotton
Wool
Silk
H e m p and j u t e
. . . .
United States (N.I.C.B.)
:
Cotton (North) . . . .
2.17
1.80
1.39
Wool
2.49
2.02
1.62
Silk
2.52
1.99
1.57
*
*
(e)
0.54
0.59
United
Kingdom:
Cotton
Woollen and worsted .
Hungary :
All textile
Italy :
Cotton
Wool
Silk: spinning and reeling
weaving
Linen, h e m p and j u t e .
Artificial textile fibres .
All textile branches (including clothing) . .
Japan (Imperial
Cabinet).
All textile branches . .
(b)
0.38
Sept.
1935
Earnings
Germany :
Cotton
Woollen cloth
TEXTILE
1929-1935
(»)
0.34
,(«) 2
I 0.77
1 0.64
I 0.80
| 0.68
J 0.88
1 0.67
1 0.69
1 0.57
I 0.85
1 0.73
1 0.82
Ì 0.65
0.52
0.45
0.53
0.46
J
|
I
1
J
|
(a) 2
1.56
1.31
1.91
1.41
1.76
1.93
*
*
*
0.36
0.45
(c)
0.35
0.39
0.20
0.38
0.32
0.46
0.19
0.37
0.31
0.41
*
*
*
*
*
*
0.49
0.37
0.34
*
0.26
0.09
0.07
J 0.12 3
] 0.13
*
— 253 —
TABLE
T. —
HOURLY WAGES IN
INDUSTRY, SELECTED
GOLD FRANCS IN THE TEXTILE
COUNTRIES, 1 9 2 9 - 1 9 3 5
Males and females
Country and branch of industry
(concluded)
Males
Females
Sept. 1929
Sept.
1933
Sept.
1935
Sept.
1935
Sept.
1935
Poland :
Spinning and weaving
All textile branches . .
0.52
0.38
0.38
0.38
0.38
(c)
0.45*
0.45*
0.33*
0.32*
Sweden :
Cotton
Wool
Linen, h e m p , j u t e . .
Bleaching and dyeing .
All textile branches 1 .
(b)
1.05*
1.06*
1.01*
1.15*
1.06*
(b)
0.69*
0.68*
0.68*
0.76*
0.68*
(b)
0.62*
0.60*
0.62*
0.65*
0.62*
(b)
0.74*
0.74*
0.74*
0.74*
0.74*
(b)
0.53*
0.50*
0.54*
0.50*
0.52*
2
Switzerland :
All textile branches . .
*
Hourly
China :
C o t t o n : spinning . .
weaving and
finishing .
Wool
Silk: reeling . . . .
weaving . . .
Czechoslovakia :
C o t t o n : spinning .
M.
*
1.08
0.97
•0.69
Rates
F.
0.10* 0.08*
0.04
0.14* 0.10*
*
*
0.13* 0.11*
0.26* 0.19*
0.05
0.05
0.04
0.11
0. 35*
0.33*
*
•
*
*
*
0.28*
*
*
*
*
*
*
t Because hourly wages in this table have been calculated at official exchange rates as
regards controlled currencies—e.g. the lira, the pengö, the Reichsmark—the labour costs
shown are not strictly comparable.
(a) July 1935 wages. (f>) Annual average, (c) August 1935 wages, (d) June 1936 wages
(e) October.
i Including other branches of the textile industry, not shown in the table.
s Higher figure: skilled workers; lower figure: unskilled workers.
s Earnings relating to adults of over 16 years.
* Adults only.
In a third group are countries such as Sweden, Germany and
Great Britain in which hourly rates were between 55 and 75
gold centimes. 1 The fourth group is formed by the United
1
It should be noted that for several countries— Germany, Hungary, Italy—
the calculations of gold wage rates have been made on the basis of official rates
of exchange which, in view of the prevailing systems of foreign exchange
control in these countries, overstate considerably the level of labour costs
as a factor in the international competition for textile markets.
— 254 —
States and Canada * where wages were above 1 gold franc per
hour.
TABLE 8 . — HOURLY WAGES IN GOLD FRANCS IN CERTAIN TEXTILE
OCCUPATIONS, SELECTED COUNTRIES, 1 9 3 3
Cotton
Country
and wages
Wool and worsted
Males
Males
Females
Females
Weavers
Spinners
Weavers
Spinners
Weavers
Spinners
Weavers
Germany (a) :
Gross earnings 1,
piece work . . 0.86
0.81
0.61
0.69
0.79 2
0.91 2
0.56 2
0.78 2
Austria3
(b) :
Average earnings
*
0.39
*
0.41
*
0.55
0.41
0.46
Canada (c) :
R a n g e of predom i n a n t wage in
selected establishments * . .
*
*
0.63-1.67
China (a) :
Piece rates . . .
Time rates . . .
*
*
Spinners
1.07-1.52 0.79-1.14 1.06-1.41 0.80-1.66 0.80-1.67
*
*
0.04
0.05
0.05
*
0.06
0.10
0.05
0.04
0.04
0.05
*
United States (d) :
Average earnings :
North
. . . . 1.78
South
. . . . 1 44
1.84
1.66
1.57
1.35
1.79
1.61
*
*
*
*
il.75
2.07
France (e) :
Wage rates.
*
0.59 6
. .
*
0.59 6
*
*
Hungary (c) :
Average earnings
*
*
*
*
Japan
(Tokyo) (a):
Average earnings
*
*
0.10
0.08
*
0.44
*
*
*
0.40
*
*
*
(a) September.
(b) November.
(c) Year.
(d) August.
(e) October.
i Excluding deductions for taxes and workers' social insurance contributions, but including overtime
pay, special pay for shift work, and family allowances.
2 Woollen cloth only.
s Vienna and Lower Austria.
* Wages in the establishment where the predominant wage is lowest and in that where it is highest,
respectively, among the establishments covered by the statistics.
s Weavers in general. Wages relating to all towns with a population of over 10,000, except Paris.
1
Data for Canada are not available in the form of average hourly rates and
weekly earnings for textile workers at different dates, but from consideration
of the data available for certain occupations (see table 8), it would appear that
wages in gold fall into the group specified.
— 255 —
The movement in gold wages since 1929 did not materially
affect the relative position of the different countries, with one
exception, viz. Japan. In 1929, gold wages in Japan were relatively
higher and approached more closely those of the second group
than they did in 1935.
Average wages, however, as already pointed out, are averages of
wages of men, women, boys and girls, and of skilled and unskilled,
and are influenced by the proportions of these groups in the total
labour force. Thus, the extremely high proportion of persons
under 20 in the textile industry of Japan, as pointed out in
Chapter IX, tends to lower average textile wages as compared
with countries with a smaller proportion of young persons to total
labour force. Similarly, the comparative proportions of males and
females affect the comparative averages. In table 7, figures have
been included giving for 1935 gold wages separately for males
and females. The relative position of the countries is unchanged,
but for wages of male workers the position of the countries in the
first group of countries is somewhat improved relative to that
of the other groups.
In this connection, a special table is given, table 8, for those
countries where separate data are available for male, spinners
and weavers and female spinners and weavers, in both cotton
and wool. These categories of workers—though called by the
same name—are not identical in the different countries owing to
the varying structure and organisation of the industry. The
figures are approximate and subject to numerous reservations,
yet the broad facts are interesting. The hourly wages in gold in
1933 of these various occupations group themselves in about the
same order as in table 7. China is the lowest, followed by Japan
and India, then come Austria and Hungary as well as probably
France with gold wages several times as high, then Germany
followed by Canada and the United States with gold wages at
their highest level.
VI. — NATIONAL LEVELS OF WAGE RATES
Despite the scantiness of existing data, it is clear that levels of
wage rates vary widely among the countries which compete in
world textile markets. The differences in national levels of wage
rates may be attributed to five main causes working independently
or in combination. First, the level of labour productivity in the
— 256 —
textile industry differs from country to country. Second, the level
of labour productivity in general differs between countries. Third,
the conditions of supply and demand in the labour market for
textile workers vary from country to country. Fourth, the bargaining power of textile workers as well as the extent and degree
of State intervention on their behalf are different. Fifth, the
composition of the labour force by sex, by age, or both differs in
all textile producing countries.
Though the data presented in Chapter VIII are scanty, it may
reasonably be supposed, nevertheless, that the spread in wage
rates among countries with widely differing labour costs in
textile manufacturing exceeds the spread in labour productivity by volume. In this connection, it should be recalled that in
such countries as China and Japan, as well as in such districts as
the South of the United States, textile mills are largely equipped
with newer and more highly mechanised machinery. This in itself
must operate as a factor in maintaining man-hour output not too
far below the levels reached by the more experienced and more
skilful labour of older textile, regions operating upon older and less
highly mechanised equipment.
A more substantial' weight should be attached to international
variations in labour productivity by value (independently of labour
costs as a value element). To a measurable degree, the countries
and districts where wage rates reach their lowest levels are also
the countries and districts where textile production is biased most
toward inferior grades of raw materials, lower yarn counts, heavier
and coarser fabrics. In so far as this is so, comparisons of average
wage rates between higher and lower wage-paying countries lose
much of the significance they might otherwise possess; for the
comparisons are then being made between wages paid for the
production of different average grades of output. In other words,
part of the existing international spread in textile wage rates may
be taken to express spreads in average net value produced per
man-hour which arise out of differences in quality and grade of
product.
The specific productivity of textile workers in individual countries
affects wage rates in different countries by re-enforcing or modifying a more primary influence, namely the level of general economic
productivity reached in particular countries (or districts) between
which labour is more or less immobile. The influence of the general
level of productivity makes itself felt through supply and demand
forces for textile labour. In India, Japan and in the South of the
— 257 —
United States, the wages of textile workers are continually subject
to pressure of unskilled labourers from impoverished rural districts.
Very often, employment in textile mills is the only opportunity
of gainful employment to which these young men and women from
farm households have real access. In other countries and districts,
on the other hand, textile mills must satisfy their staffing requirements by competing in the labour market with the general run
of industrial undertakings. It is the wage rate standards established
in such labour markets—to the extent, of course, that labour is
effectively mobile as between textile and other industrial occupations—which fix the minimum limits below which textile wages
cannot fall without danger of materially curtailing the requisite
supply of workers. In general, these limits are substantially
above the level which suffices to attract the necessary number of
textile workers away from farms into mills so located as to be able
to catch up the rural exodus in gainful employment.
Wages of textile workers, like those of all other workers, are
determined also to a considerable degree by relative bargaining
power, as- embodied in trade union organisation and otherwise, by
State regulation of working conditions, and by the development of
social services. Collective bargaining, labour legislation and social
services (unemployment insurance, workmen's compensation laws,
etc.) are important because they affect in varying ways the operation of the forces of supply and demand in the labour market.
Generally, trade unions, social services and protective labour laws
tend to be more highly developed in " high wage " countries and
operate to maintain international differences in wages.
Finally, the varying proportion of women and young persons in
the labour force also accounts for part of the existing margins in
wage rates between countries and districts. To some extent, these
varying proportions involve differences in average skill and craftsmanship, and thus operate through their effects on labour productivity. In part, these varying proportions involve differences
in comparative bargaining power and operate through their effects
on the supply of labour.
VII.
— SUMMARY
The general conclusions which have been reached in the preceding
sections may be briefly summarised. During the period after 1929
during which the general depression in industry continued, hourly
17
— 258 —
wages in the textile industry were reduced in nearly all countries,
weekly earnings also were reduced, or declined even more than
hourly earnings owing to the prevalence of short time in many
countries. Owing to the decline in prices and consequently in
the cost of living, the purchasing power of hourly wages has been
generally maintained, even increased in some countries. The same
phenomenon is true of weekly earnings, though to a much less
marked extent, for those countries for which information is available. These conclusions relate to workers in employment. On the
other hand, owing to contraction in the numbers employed and in
total hours worked, total wages paid, expressed both in money and
in purchasing power, show a reduction nearly everywhere. As
regards wages expressed in a uniform standard, viz. the gold franc,
there are enormous differences between the countries of Asia,
Europe, and North America.
These conclusions do not hold equally for the different branches
of the textile industry, for some have fared better than others.
Data are not available to enable definite conclusions to be drawn,
but it would seem that cotton has fared worse than wool.
When the wage situation in the textile industry is compared with
that of other industries, textile workers appear on the whole to
be in a worse position than most workers in other industries in
most countries. Hourly and weekly wages in the textile industry
in most countries fall below the average for industry as a whole:
this is due to some extent to the larger proportion of women and
young persons employed in textiles, but not entirely, as wages for
men and for women textile workers separately show a similar
tendency toward lower wages.
It is necessary, however, to take into account other factors which
are of considerable importance in considering the wage situation
in the textile industry. In some cases a substantial part of the
workers' income consists of items which might be called indirect
wages. It is customary in such cases for employers to provide free
or cheap housing accommodation and also, especially in Japan,
for employers to furnish meals at special prices and other facilities.
It is difficult to estimate the value of these advantages and, though
it would appear that the statistics of wages in Japan and China
take some account of them, it is not possible to ascertain if they
are completely considered.1
1
In Japan, according to the Labour Census of 1927, these " indirect wages "
amounted to about 20 per cent, of money wages in textiles. See INTERNATIONAL
LABOUR OFFICE: Industrial Labour in Japan, Geneva, 1933.
— 259 —
Second, family rather than individual employment is a general
practice in textile manufacturing in a number of countries. Although this practice exists in other industries as well, it is more
pronounced in textile manufacturing. The family income of
textile workers is thus often composed of earnings received by
various members of the family all engaged in textile employment.
Due allowance must be made for these facts in comparing the
textile industry with other industries in the same country and in
making international comparisons. For instance, the spread between Japanese and European wages would be somewhat narrowed
if the extra income of Japanese workers in terms of cheap food
and housing could be given appropriate weight. Similarly, an
adjustment for the cheap housing which Southern textile workers in
the United States receive—at least in so-called " company towns "
— would reduce part of the difference between wage rates in New
England and the South. Too much emphasis must not be laid,
however, upon the adjustments here referred to.
With all the above qualifications, the fact remains that the textile
industry in most countries is characterised by lower wages than
industry in general. From a practical point of view, the textile
industry thus has to consider two questions: First, what are the
most effective ways and means for reducing the disparity between
textile wages and industrial wages in general? Second, what are
the most appropriate methods for narrowing the spread in textile
wage standards on the international plane?
CHAPTER XI
HOURS OF WORK
Hours of work are closely related to wages both from the point
of view of production costs and of the worker's standard of living.
Output per man-hour is influenced by the number of hours actually
worked, and the speed at which it is most economical to carry on
manufacturing processes is itself determined in part by the prevailing working day or working week. Similarly, hours of work and wage
rates per hour are interdependent. Employers often follow the
practice of trying to adjust rates (both time rates and piece rates)
so as to yield approximately a wage prevailing in comparable
employment. Furthermore, the length of the working day or of the
working week, through its effects on industrial fatigue, influences
materially the hourly earnings of piece workers. Finally, hours
of work are related to the question of multiple shifts. Limits
to the number of hours per shift, and to the number of shifts which
the establishment works per day, affect the total labour supply
available, and the latter in turn influences the relative economic
advantages of single, double, or multiple shift operation. At the
same time, the length of the working day has certain technical
bearings upon the most economic distribution of shifts during the
course of the working day or working week.
From the point of view of working conditions, hours of work
are important in so far as they affect total earnings, regularity
of employment, earning power, and leisure. Given wage rates
per hour or per piece, total weekly and annual earnings of the worker
depend on the number of hours worked. In order to maintain
total earnings, workers have generally demanded that a reduction
of working hours should be accompanied by an appropriate adjustment of wage rates, whether on time or on a piece basis. In fact,
shorter hours have often gone hand in hand with greater production,
higher hourly wages and industrial expansion. In so far as regularity
of employment is concerned, it has been contended that hours of
work can be so adjusted as to minimise the adverse effects of
seasonal and cyclical unemployment.
— 261 —
As regards the worker's earning power, particular emphasis must
be placed upon the problem known in the United Kingdom as
" staffing of machines " and in the United States as " work load, machine assignment or stretch out ". From the point of view of costs and
labour productivity, the question is of howtextile employers, in order
to offset shorter hours of work and the capital expenses of installing
new plant and equipment, may increase man-hour output by speeding up the manufacturing processes ; by increasing the number of
spindles or looms assigned to an individual worker; by reducing the
size of the labour force attached to particular groups of machines,
etc. There is evidence that employers in many countries have been
seeking, particularly during the depression period, to increase the
work load, to speed up the manufacturing process, and tc introduce
other practices which lead to higher output.
In brief, the problem of hours, on the economic side, raises
questions of costs and of adjustment to competitive conditions.
On the social side, it involves the possible alleviation of the workers'
toil as a result of industrial progress and the possibility of providing
employment for the largest number of workers and consequently
of reabsorbing into production those who are unemployed.
There are few countries now in which hours of work constitute a
serious factor in competitive conditions on the home market, for
national regulations have generally more or less standardised
hours. But this is far from being the case internationally. The
statutory hours of work differ from country to country, and
it is for that reason that the question of hours as a factor in international competition is important.
A distinction should be made between the normal statutory or
contractual hours of work of wage earners—that is, the number of
hours t h a t each wage earner can normally be required by his
employer to work per day or per week — and the hours actually
worked, which may be shorter or longer than the normal ones.
The normal working hours are dealt with here first.
I. — LIMITATIONS ON W E E K L Y
HOURS OF WORK
In comparing the normal hours of work in different countries
it is desirable to determine as accurately as may be the total
number of hours for which a worker may normally be employed
during the year. The factors t h a t influence this total are: the
prescribed weekly hours, the length of the weekly rest, the number
— 262 —
of public holidays, the length of the annual holiday with pay and
of maternity leave and the limits set to night work. These
factors will be examined here in the order indicated.1
On the basis of existing regulations,2 the main textile producing
countries may be divided into three groups, according to whether
the regulation normal hours of work are above, equal to or lower
than 48 in the week. The first group of countries in which the
regulation normal hours exceed 48 in the week includes China,
India and Japan. 3 The second group of countries in which the
regulation normal hours are 48 in the week includes Austria, Belgium,
Brazil, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Estonia, Germany, Great Britain,
1
The information contained in the various national regulations is not
sufficiently detailed to permit of the above-mentioned factors being calculated
here. All that will be possible will be to outline the salient features of these
regulations; in doing so, the Office may sometimes make them appear unduly
rigid, for it will often be obliged to leave out of account certain details concerning exceptions that make for greater elasticity in the application of the principles
laid down in the regulations. The countries selected for study comprise, first
of all, those which, according to recent statistics, employ more than 50,000
workers in their textile industries: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China,
Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, Great Britain, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico,
the Netherlands, Poland, Rumania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United
States of America, and the U.S.S.R. To these have been added the following
countries for which information proved available: Australia, Estonia, New
Zealand and Yugoslavia.
2
For a description of the laws, collective agreements, arbitration awards
and other methods by which hours of work in the textile industry are regulated,
see Report VII, pp."l3-23.
3
In China, the Factory Act promulgated by the National Government on
30 December 1929 and amended on 30 December 1932 provides that the
normal hours of work for adults are 8 in the day, but that they may be extended
to 10 to take account of special local conditions or the nature of certain operations. In a communication to the International Labour Office, dated
13 January 1934, the Chinese Government stated that owing to the prevailing
economic conditions and the position of the labour market in China it was
impossible to apply the 48-hour week strictly, but that everything possible
was being done to establish the principle of the 48-hour week as defined by
the Factory Act, and that attempts to limit the working of overtime would
be continued.
In Indi , the working week was fixed at 60 hours in undertakings employing
50 or more persons (20 after 1922) by the Factory Act of 24 March 1911, but
the figure was reduced to 54 hours a week by the Act of 20 August 1934,
which came into force on 1 January 1935.
The Factory Act of 29 March 1923 in Japan does not limit the hours of
work of adult males. It prescribes, however, that the hours of work of women
and of young persons under the age of 16 years employed in factories normally
employing 10 or more persons or engaged in dangerous or unhealthy work
may not exceed 11 in the day, including a break of one hour, making 10 hours
of actual work. This restriction is of great importance in the textile industry
because of the large proportion of women workers employed. The same hours
of work have also been applicable since 1 September 1929 to all weaving and
doubling factories using motive power, irrespective of the number of workers
employed. In practice, the working hours in the cotton spinning industry
and in the large-scale cotton weaving factories are 8% per day, excluding rest
periods, as the two-shift system is generally applied and night work is
prohibited.
— 263 —
Mexico, the Netherlands, Poland, Rumania, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.1 The third group includes countries in which the regulation normal hours are less than 48 in the week, such as Australia
(44 hours), France (40 hours), Italy (40 hours), New Zealand (40
hours), the United States (40 hours), and the U.S.S.R. (7 hours a day).2
1
In Great Britain hours of work in the different branches of the textile
industry are regulated by collective agreements and, in consequence, only
this method of regulation, which has in practice superseded the provisions
of the Factory Acts, is considered here.
In Brazil, the Decree of 4 May 1932 regulating hours of work lays down
the principle of an 8-hour day and a 48-hour week, but allows the normal
extension of hours up to 60 in the week by agreement between employers and
workers and subject to the payment of overtime rates for all hours beyond
the forty-eighth.
In the Netherlands, the general law dated 17 September 1930 fixing hours
of work at 8 in the day and 48 in the week permits hours to be extended on
a certain number of days annually by agreement between the organisations
of employers and workers in any given industry. In pursuance of this provision,
the Minister for Social Affairs issued an Order permitting firms in the Tilburg
wool industry to employ their workers for not more than 53 hours a week
and 9% hours a day on 65 days in the year, spread over 16 weeks, the hours
worked throughout the year not to exceed 2,500.
In Switzerland, the Federal Act of 27 June 1919, which introduced a 48-hour
week for factories, empowers the Federal Council to extend weekly hours to 52
if this is justified by urgent necessity and, in particular, if through the application of the 48-hour week an industry runs the risk of being unable to withstand competition on account of the hours worked in other countries. This
provision has been applied in undertakings engaged in the bleaching, dyeing
and finishing of cotton and rayon fabrics in the piece and the twisting of cotton.
Quite a different system of regulation was introduced in Germany by the
Act concerning spinning materials, according to which hours of work may be
less than 48 in the week in undertakings using materials subject to quota
restrictions, that is, cotton, wool, hemp, hard fibres (including coconut fibre),
jute (including jute waste), but not artificial cotton or wool. The Act does
not apply to cord and twine, braid, the manufacture of lace and curtains,
ribbons, rubber and net or to the hat industry. The Act provides that the
undertakings in question may not dismiss workers in the event of a shortage
of raw materials unless not more than 36 hours weekly were worked during
the four weeks preceding the dismissals and none of the workers employed on
productive machinery worked for more than 36 hours in the week.
2
In Italy, the agreement of 12 October 1934 between the employers' and
workers' Confederations left it to separate agreements to decide for what
classes of workers in each branch of industry it was technically and economically possible to reduce hours of work to 40 in the week. The interconfederal
agreements for the branches mentioned above specify that the 40-hour week
does not apply to certain classes of workers, whose hours therefore remain at
48 in the week in accordance with the general legislation and collective agreements. These classes are defined with reference to the nature of the machines
on which they are employed—one being Jacquard weavers in the cotton, silk,
flax and hemp branches.
The New Zealand Factories Amendment Act of 1936 fixed the maximum
hours of work at 40 in the week and 8 in the day, but the Arbitration Court
may fix longer hours for a given undertaking or group of trades if it considers
it impracticable for the undertaking to work properly under a 40-hour week.
The Court may in no case extend hours beyond 44 in the week.
In the U.S.S.R., where the statutory working day for the textile industry
is 7 hours under the decree of 2 January 1929, the week has 6 days, of which
5 are workiug days.
— 264 —
There are some variations in the regulations of different countries
with regard to the interpretation of normal hours. There are two
distinct sets of operations involved in work with textile machines—
the actual working and supervision of the machines and their
maintenance, cleaning and oiling. Spindles and looms need
frequent cleaning to keep them in proper working order. Under
certain regulations, the actual working and supervision of the
machines and also the cleaning operations are considered as
making up the normal working hours. Other regulations, again,
consider cleaning as part of the preparatory or supplementary tasks
that have to be performed outside the normal hours of work.
In Australia, Germany, Great Britain and Spain, cleaning time
is usually included in the normal hours of work. In Belgium and
France, on the other hand, the time spent in cleaning constitutes
an addition to the normal hours. In Austria and Czechoslovakia
the situation differs under various collective agreements, or even
from undertaking to undertaking.
Moreover, the time required for cleaning may vary according
to the type of spindle or loom and the nature of the machinery or
the transmission. In the British cotton industry, for instance, a
special cleaning agreement of February 1918 distinguishes between
the Oldham and Bolton types of mule and lays down different rules
for three distinct areas: in the Ashton area the time allowed for
cleaning mules of the Oldham or Bolton type is 2 hours a week,
whereas in the Oldham area the time allowed is 23/4 hours a week
for mules of the former type and 3 ^ to 3 x / 2 hours for those of the
latter type, according to the kind of thread produced. In France,
the Decree applying the 40-hour week to the textile industry
permits an extension of hours by not more than 2 hours beyond
the weekly limit for the undertaking as a whole for oiling main
shafting or automatic spinning frames in the jute industry; the
extension is limited to 1 % hours for cleaning frames used for the
spinning of flax, hemp, jute, ramie and substitutes for these or for
cleaning self-acting mules in cotton spinning; it is fixed at from
1 hour to 1% hours for cleaning machinery, frames and all other
productive plant in any branch of the textile industry (except those
specified elsewhere); a maximum of 15 minutes a day is allowed
for oiling mules in wool spinning.
Distribution of Hours over Several Weeks
In some countries the weekly hours of work may be calculated
as an average over several weeks. This enables the industry to get
— 265 —
over the difficulties caused by the fact that hours of work are
considerably reduced in textile works at certain periods of the year,
more especially in the slack season. The method of averaging
hours over a period can also be used to counterbalance the rush
of work that comes at some seasons of the year, more particularly
in the dyeing, bleaching and fabric-printing branches.
The regulations permit hours to be calculated as an average over
several weeks in Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Germany,
Great Britain (bleaching and dyeing), Italy, the Netherlands,
Sweden and the United States (under the N.R.A. Codes).
Substantially the same result is sometimes achieved by making
provision in the regulations for making up lost time; the textile
industry can thus counterbalance, to some extent, the fluctuations
in hours due to seasonal influences, to exceptional collective
stoppages of work for a few hours or, at most, a few days, such as
national or local holidays, or to accidental causes beyond the
employer's control. Provisions of this kind exist in Austria,
Estonia, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain,
Sweden, Switzerland and the United States (under the N. R. A. Codes).
Exceptions
In most countries exceptions are generally provided so as to
enable the textile establishments to meet special requirements
or exceptional circumstances. The special requirements usually
consist in certain preparatory or supplementary operations or in
work that involves, in the main, mere attendance; for these,
permanent exceptions are generally made. The exceptional circumstances include accidents and exceptional pressure of work,
for which temporary exceptions are sufficient. The elasticity
provided for dealing with cases of actual or threatened accidents is,
it is true, of only secondary importance, and the same applies
to the list of preparatory or supplementary operations, which
cannot be unduly long since such work is unproductive. On the
other hand, it is far from unimportant from the economic point of
view if more or less extensive exceptions are permitted in the case
of work which for technical reasons cannot be stopped at will or for
employment of an intermittent character, or, more especially, for
exceptional pressure of work.
Most of the exceptions permitted for the textile industry are
contained in the detailed regulations which apply to the majority
of industries. The operations in the textile industry which cannot
be stopped at will and which sometimes require an extension of
— 266 —
hours of work are generally taken t& be certain operations in the
bleaching, dyeing and finishing branches. Work of an intermittent
nature, for which hours of work are sometimes extended to as many
as 12 in the day, includes the duties of watchmen, supervisors,
time-keepers, office messengers, motor drivers, delivery men, warehousemen and stock-keepers. In practically all the regulations,
hours of work may be extended to meet an exceptional pressure of
work, and these extensions are by far the most important. 1
The regulations of some countries contain exceptions for other
reasons, but these can doubtless be used to cover an exceptional
rush of work.2
1
A few typical examples of the various methods by which this matter is
regulated may be given here. In Belgium, the general legislation provides
that the daily hours of work may be extended by 2 hours for 3 months in
the year, subject to an agreement between the parties to meet an exceptional
rush of orders due to some unforeseen event. In France, the Decree applying
the 40-hour week to the textile industry provides an allowance of 75 hours
a year which may be used at the rate of 1 hour daily to meet exceptional
pressure of work. In India, the general legislation permits hours of work to
be extended for 2 months a year but does not lay down limits for the extension.
The general legislation of the Netherlands also makes provision for meeting
an exceptional rush of work by extending hours to 11 in the day and 62 in
the week; there is no indication as to the number of days or weeks in the year
to which this extension may apply, and the collective agreements in the industry
merely refer to extensions of hours without specifying reasons or limits. In
Switzerland, apart from the system of the extended normal week, the general
egislation provides for an extension to meet exceptional pressure of work;
hours may be extended by 2 in the day on not more than 80 days a year.
In the United States, exceptional pressure of work is doubtless covered, in
part at least, by the exceptions permitted for " emergency work ". For work
of this type the Code for the cotton industry permitted the 40-hour week to
be extended to a 48-hour week for persons employed in dyeing, bleaching,
drying and mercerising.
2
In Germany, the Hours of Work Order permits hours to be extended
by 2 in the day on 30 days a year for reasons which are not specified but which
in practice include exceptional pressure of work. This legislative provision
is confirmed by various collective regulations for the textile industry. In
Great Britain, the special overtime agreement for the wool textile trade does
not state the reasons for which overtime may be worked but sets limits to the
total daily hours of work as follows: adult men, 10 hours daily; adult women
and young persons, not more than 6 hours overtime per week. The collective
agreements for the bleaching and dyeing industries permit hours of work to
be increased to 60 in the week on account of the special requirements of the
industry. The Factory Act in Japan, which restricts the hours of work of
women and young persons, authorises these hours to be extended on 4 consecutive days or on not more than 7 days monthly in cases of exceptional necessity
due to unforeseen circumstances. The extension of hours may continue for a
certain specified period if previous permission is obtained. In cases of temporary
necessity, the daily hours of women and young persons may be extended by
2 hours on not more than 7 days a month (no permission required). In Mexico,
the National Collective Agreement for the textile industry has a clause reproducing the provisions of the general legislation -whereby overtime may be
worked up to 3 hours daily on not more than 3 days in the week in the case
of exceptional circumstances connected with the manufacturing processes or
in cases of force majeure. In Poland, the general legislation permits hours of
— 267 —
Opertime Payment
Generally speaking, the regulations provide for an increased rate
of pay for work performed outside the normal working week or
outside the hours fixed for the beginning and end of the daily work.
This increased rate applies more particularly to overtime for
exceptional pressure of work, and it is only in rare cases that it
applies to extensions permitted as permanent exceptions.
The overtime rates laid down by legislation, by collective agreements or by arbitration awards usually differ according to whether
the overtime is by day, by night or on Sundays or public holidays.
The minimum rate for overtime during the day is never less than
time-and-a-quarter. It is sometimes higher: in the United States,
for instance, the increase under the Code was not less than S&ls
per cent., and in the hosiery industry time-and-a-half is paid. In
the cotton industry in Italy, the increase is 30 per cent., and the
same figure is fixed in Sweden by the collective agreement for the
whole textile industry. The minimum rate is time-and-a-half in
the province of Vorarlberg in Austria, and the same rate is fixed
in Spain by the contracts of employment for the bleaching industry
in Barcelona and by the legislation concerning the employment
of women throughout the country as a whole.
The special rates of pay for night work—that is, between 8 or
10 p.m. and 5 or 6 a.m.—generally vary between time-and-a-half
and double rates. For work on Sundays or public holidays, double
rates are very often paid, but there are cases in which lower rates
are prescribed, although never less than time-and-a-half.
Shifts
Work in shifts may be of considerable importance in the> textile
industry as a means of increasing output capacity and reducing
production costs. Although such measures necessarily tended to
raise production costs, employers' organisations in several countries,
work to be extended by 4 hours a day and 120 hours a year to meet special
proved requirements. In Spain, the general legislation provides for the following extensions: (a) not more than 50 hours a month and 120 hours a year in
cases of urgent necessity (only by agreement between the parties) ; {b) 50 hours
a month and 240 hours a year in cases of special undoubted necessity; (c) 50
hours a month and 240 hours a year when there is a shortage of labour. In
Sweden, the national collective agreement for the textile industry contains
no stipulations concerning exceptional pressure of work, but the general
legislation authorises an extension of hours up to 48 monthly and 200 annually
for special conditions and up to 150 hours annually in cases of necessity.
— 268 —
as soon as they were overtaken by the depression, tried to adjust
output to effective demand by restricting the possibility of working
in several shifts. Employers have often stressed the regulation of
shift work internationally in connection with the problem of
reducing hours of work in the textile industry.
In a number of countries, work in several shifts is subject to
regulations restricting it in such a way as to involve, in some cases,
a reduction in hours of work. In India, for instance, where the
normal hours of work are 54, the three-shift system is practised,
the hours of shift workers being 54, 48 and 36 in the week. In
Italy, in some cases where the three-shift system is applied within
the framework of the 40-hour week, hours of work have been fixed
at 36 in the week. In Mexico, when three shuts work in succession
the hours of work of the third shut are reduced from 48 to 40.
When two shifts are worked in Spain, the hours of each shift are
cut down from 48 to 45 or 42. In the United States, the hosiery
Code provided that when two shifts were worked the hours of each
should be reduced to 36 in the week. The French Decree for the
textile industry, on the other hand, permits the average weekly
working hours to be increased to 42, but only in the case of work
which must be carried on continuously for technical reasons day
and night on week-days and Sundays.1
II. — REST PERIODS
Under rest periods the different breaks in the working week or
working year introduced for whatever reason will be considered.
These include the weekly rest, public holidays, paid annual holidays,
maternity leave, and limitations on night work.
i. — The Weekly Rest
The weekly rest must be taken into consideration in an international comparison of hours of work, especially as certain countries
have introduced special systems of organising work days and days
of rest. The provisions of the general legislation concerning the
weekly rest in industrial undertakings usually apply to the textile
industry in the countries covered by the present Study. The
1
For a survey of regulations with regard to the employment of women
in shifts, see report prepared by the International Labour Office and published
as an appendix to the Report of the British Home Office on Employment of
Women and Young Persons on a Two-Shift System: Report by Departmental
Committee, 1935. (Cmd. 4914.)
— 269 —
minimum duration of the weekly rest is 24 hours, and it is as long
as 42 hours in the U.S.S.R.
Special systems, referred to above, are in force in Japan and the
U.S.S.R. In Japan, the Factory Act provides that 48 hours of rest
(2 days and 2 nights) must be guaranteed to women and young persons
every month. In cotton-spinning mills, 4 days of rest monthly
are strictly observed. In the U.S.S.R., the system of the 6-day
week involves 60 days of rest annually instead of 52, which is the
figure where a 7-day week is worked.
The regulations in the various countries generally provide that certain operations may be performed on the day of the weekly rest.
These exceptions again may be permanent or temporary in character.
Temporary exceptions are generally permitted for work which
must be undertaken immediately in cases of force majeure (actual
or threatened accidents); for repair work that is indispensable for
the normal working of the undertaking and necessary for the
complete resumption of work, together with the supervision of such
operations; for loading and unloading of trucks, boats, aeroplanes
or lorries in order to ensure that such work is carried out within
the necessary time-limits ; for exceptional work necessitated by the
public interest (in the event of mobilisation, war, or events affecting
the national interest) ; for work required for stocktaking prescribed
by law. Special remuneration at a higher rate is prescribed for
these temporary exceptions.
Permanent exceptions are usually permitted for keeping watch
on premises; for cleaning and maintenance work indispensable for
the normal working of the undertaking or of some other undertaking and work necessary for the complete resumption of work
in the undertaking, in so far as these operations cannot be performed
on working days; for work connected with necessarily continuous
processes.
2. — Public Holidays
The legislation of most countries recognises certain public holidays, but these legal holidays are not necessarily days on which
work must be stopped. In order to obtain information on this
point, it is necessary to study collective agreements, which generally
indicate in most countries what are the public holidays that are
observed in the textile industry.
The public holidays prescribed by the regulations play a more
or less important part in the calculation of the annual number of
hours available for work in the textile industry in each country.
— 270 —
It must be remembered that certain public holidays necessarily
fall on Sunday or on the normal weekly rest day, as, for instance,
Easter and Whitsun, whereas others necessarily occur during the
week, as, for instance, Ascension Day and Good Friday. Other
holidays may fall either on a week day or on Sunday, as in the
case of the 1st of May or Christmas Day. The number of public
holidays varies considerably not only from country to country but
even within any one country. Some regulations reckon as public
holidays those that coincide with the Sunday (e.g. in Estonia and
Germany), whereas others do not refer to holidays that coincide
with the weekly rest day. The number of holidays depends partly
on religious and partly on secular custom. Religious custom varies
considerably from country to country even when they are of the
same religious persuasion. In many Catholic countries Good
Friday is not a public holiday, whereas in Spain, for example, it is.
Similarly it will be found that certain secular or religious holidays
fail on fixed days in certain countries and are movable feasts in
others: in Australia and the United States some holidays are
celebrated on Monday if their fixed day would make them coincide
with a Sunday. In some countries, more especially in the East,
where there may be several religions with large numbers of adherents, the situation is very obscure, because different public holidays
are recognised for members of the different religions.
The necessity for closing an enterprise on public holidays is not
equally strictly observed in every country. In Germany, for
example, it is absolutely compulsory; in France or in Belgium, on
the other hand, the obligation is much less strict; sometimes the
legislation permits time lost on account of public holidays to be
made up subsequently. It is thus very difficult to make comparisons of any value. The table on page 271 gives a general picture of
the public holidays recognised by law or by custom, in so far as
any attempt of this kind can claim to be more than a mere
approximation.
Both the general regulations and the special regulations for the
textile industry usually make provision for exceptions whereby
in cases of necessity work can continue on public holidays. These
exceptions are generally the same as those mentioned in connection
with the weekly rest.
3. — Annual Holidays with Pay
Any regulations that exist concerning holidays with pay reduce
the number of hours of work available for industry unless the time
— 271 —
Number of public holidays
Coinciding with
Country
In all
Sunday
Australia
Austria
Belgium
Brazil
Canada
China
Czechoslovakia
Estonia
France
Germany
Great Britain and
Ireland (b)
Hungary
Italy
Japan
Mexico
Netherlands
New Zealand
Poland
Rumania
Spain (c)
Sweden
Switzerland
United States (d)
U.S.S.R
Yugoslavia (g)
Week-day
Week-day
or Sunday
7
9
6
10
4
7
6
10
7
4
9
13
9 (a)
10
7
7
9
18
10 (a)
11
Northern
2
9
5
10
3
4
10
12
6
6
14
11
6
10%
6
°y 2
4
8 (e)
2
6 (/)
(a) Country the 1st of May as a public holiday.
(b) In Great Britain and Northern Ireland the number of public holidays observed
is different in respect of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Further, the number
of public holidays recognised in the textile industry sometimes differs from one district
or even from one town to another.
(c) In addition, the standards of employment sometimes prescribe certain other
holidays.
(d) The number of public holidays varies in the different States and Territories which
fix their own public holidays. In 1930, 1 State recognised 14 public holidays; 3 States, 13;
19 States, 12; 17 States and Porto Rico, 11; 7 States and Hawaii, 10; 2 States, 9; 1 State
and the District of Columbia, 8.
(e) The 1922 Labour Code, as amended in 1928, further provides for 6 special rest days
to be granted in accordance with local conditions.
(/) These days coincide with the ordinary rest day.
(ff) In addition to these two legal holidays, there are others which apply to the crafts.
There are also customary holidays, but these vary very considerably in different parts
of the country.
lost through holidays can be made good. As far as the Office is
aware this is not permitted in the textile industry. At present
the granting of annual holidays with pay is spreading rapidly.
Such holidays are granted either under the general regulations or
under special regulations (as an obligation deriving from legislation
or from collective agreements) in the textile industry of Austria,
Belgium, Brazil, China, Czechoslovakia, Estonia, France, Germany,
272
Hungary, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, Poland, Rumania,
Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the U.S.S.R.
This list calls
for certain reservations: on the one hand it is not certain that it
is absolutely complete, and on the other hand the same reservation
must be made in the case of China as was made with regard to
hours of work and the weekly rest.
The duration of the annual holiday with pay, which varies
within quite wide limits, is shown in the following summary table :
rmintrv
Nature of the
regulations
General legislation
General legislation
General legislation
General legislation
Country
Austria
Belgium
Brazil
China
Czechoslovakia
. .
General legislation
Estonia
France
Germany
General legislation
General legislation
Collective regulations
Hungary
Collective agreements :
(a) Foremen
(b) Assistant foremen
Italy
Netherlands . . . .
General legislation and
collective agreements
General legislation
National collective
agreement
Collective agreement
Poland
General legislation
Rumania
General legislation
Spain
General legislation and
standards of employment
General legislation
Basle Town: General
legislation
Berne: Legislation appli' cable to women workers
Valais : General legislation
General legislation
Mexico
Sweden
Switzerland . . . .
U.S.S.R
Duration of the
annual holiday
(working days)
1 to 5 weeks
At least 6 days
7 to 15 days
7 to 30 days, according to
length of service
6 to 8 days, according to
length of service
At least 7 days
At least 12 days
6 to 12 days, according
to district and length
of service
6 days after 2 years (with
reduced wage)
6 days after 5 years (with
reduced wage)
At least 6 days
4 to 6 days
6 days
3 to 6 days according to
the individual contract
6 to 12 days according to
length of service
7 to 30 days according to
length of service
At least 7 days (10 days
in the province of Corunna
At least 4 days
6 to 12 days according to
length of service
6 to 12 days
6 days
At least 12 days
Note. — The holidays with pay granted to apprentices are usually longer than those
for adult workers.
4. — Maternity Leave
Among the industries employing a large proportion of women,
the textile industry is undoubtedly the one that employs the
— 273 —
largest proportion of married women. This explains the social
importance of the leave granted to women workers before childbirth
and of the other measures taken to protect the health and wellbeing
of these women and their children. These measures are also a far
from unimportant factor in the economic condition of the textile
industry, for their application obviously involves a certain reduction in the actual hours worked by the women workers of these
undertakings. Consequently, the differences that exist from country to country in the legal obligations of employers with regard to
maternity protection must be taken into account.
The measures taken to protect women workers in the case of
maternity are of various kinds. One is the granting of leave for a
certain period before and after childbirth. From the social point of
view, the great value of such leave before as well as after childbirth
will be obvious in an industry where practically all the operations
require the worker to remain standing and to execute various
stretching and bending movements that are extremely painful for a
woman in an advanced stage of pregnancy. The necessity for
medical supervision of women workers in the textile industry
during pregnancy and for a considerable period of leave before and
after childbirth was clearly brought out in the enquiry into the
employment of pregnant women in German industry carried out
by the Factory Inspectorate in 1926 x and by the enquiries undertaken by the trade union of German textile workers at approximately the same date.2
The period of absence permitted on account of pregnancy and
childbirth varies considerably from country to country, but there
is a growing tendency to adopt the standards laid down by the
International Convention adopted in Washington in 1919, which
applies, inter alia, to textile workers. According to this Convention,
a woman worker is entitled to be absent from her work for six weeks
before and six weeks after childbirth, with a prolongation for a
period to be fixed by the authorities of each country if she is
incapable of work for a longer period as a result of her pregnancy
or childbirth.
With certain variations as to its compulsory or optional character
and as to whether it is normally or only exceptionally granted
1
REICHSARBEITSMINISTERIUM : Sonderfragen
des Arbeitsschutzes
und Beobachtungen aus Unfallverhütung
und Gewerbehygiene im Jahre 1926, p p . 11-26.
2
D E U T S C H E R T E X T I L A R B E I T E R - V E R B A N D : Erwerbsarbeit,
Schwangerschaft,
Frauenleiden.
Die Aktion des Deutschen Textilarbeiterverbandes
betr. Besserung
des Loses erwerbstätiger schwangerer Frauen.
Berlin (Textil-Praxis), 1925,
118 p p . ; a n d Berlin (Textil-Praxis), 1926, 46 p p . (Neue Folge, Heft I I ) .
18
— 274 —
(in two or three countries a certificate stating that absence is
necessary is required for a part of the period of six weeks), maternity leave in accordance with the standards laid down by the International Convention is granted to women workers in the textile
industry by the legislation of the following countries (among those
covered by the present Study) : Brazil, France, Germany, Hungary,
Italy, Poland, Rumania, Spain and Sweden. The laws of the
U.S.S.R. and Yugoslavia prescribe longer periods of absence
—56 days before and 56 days after, and two months before and two
months after respectively. In three of the provinces of India
(Bombay, Central Provinces and Madras) and in China, Mexico and
Switzerland, the period of absence permitted by the legislation is
shorter than that fixed in the Convention.
In all these countries this period of absence constitutes a suspension of the contract of employment but not its termination; the
dismissal of the woman worker is prohibited during the whole
period of her legal absence, and her post must be kept open for her
provided she returns within the time-limits prescribed in the
legislation. This legal obligation naturally creates certain difficulties for the employer, who has to do without the services of an
experienced woman worker, but in the great majority of cases it
does not involve any pecuniary charge, because the Washington
Convention stipulates that the benefits shall be provided either
out of public funds or by means of a system of insurance. In general,
it is compulsory social insurance funds, or in some countries special
relief funds, that have to pay the maternity benefits. In four of
the countries mentioned, however—Brazil, China, India and
Mexico—the employer is responsible for paying a woman worker
her wage or part of her wage during her absence.
The other countries covered by the present Study have legislation
which merely prohibits the employment of women workers during
a given period before and after childbirth (or usually after childbirth only). When such is the case the woman in question may be
permanently replaced by another worker. No expense is thus
caused to the employers, but these regulations do not grant positive
protection to the woman worker but merely free her from a certain
amount of risk.
The legislative provisions for the protection of women workers
during the period when they are nursing a child are of undoubted
if less fundamental social interest, but they are perhaps more
important from the point of view of the output of women workers.
The provision that is most frequently included in national legislation
— 275 —
on this subject is taken from the International Convention of
Washington, which states that a woman worker who nurses her
child is entitled to two special breaks in the course of her day's
work for this purpose. In accordance with the Convention these
breaks, which count as part of the normal working hours, are
generally two in number and half an hour each in duration. This
is the case in Austria, Brazil, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Mexico,
Poland, Rumania, Spain, the U.S.S.R. and Yugoslavia. In some
laws it is expressly stated that no deduction may be made from
wages on account of those interruptions in work, and this seems
to be implicitly understood in the other countries. In the countries
mentioned, all the women workers who enjoy the right work an
hour less per day than their normal hours. In France, the two
breaks, which are normally half an hour each, are reduced to
twenty minutes if a special room is provided in the undertaking.
In Italy, the two breaks are of half an hour each if the woman has
to leave the undertaking in order to nurse her child.
5. — Night Work
There may be two purposes in restricting night work in textile
establishments: either to reduce the hours during which the undertaking is working and therefore prevent a third shift, or to minimise
fatigue and enable the worker to enjoy normal family life. In the
first case, the restriction will apply indiscriminately to workers of all
ages and both sexes, whereas in the second case it will apply mainly
to women and young persons. There are very few regulations prohibiting the employment of adult male workers at night; they exist
only in the Netherlands and Poland. In Czechoslovakia and in
Switzerland, however, considerable restrictions are imposed (in
Switzerland, for example, night work is possible only with the
consent of the worker and in strictly specified cases). In India
and in Mexico, various formalities must be complied with.before
night work is permissible.
On the other hand, the prohibition of the employment of women
and young persons during the night is usual in practically all the
countries under consideration. In China, the principle is laid down
in the legislation but has not yet been applied with regard to the
employment of women. In the United States, the employment of
women during the night in industrial undertakings is prohibited
in only fourteen States and in Porto Rico; in particular, it is not
legally prohibited in several of the Southern States in which the
textile industry is very important. In recent years, however, the
— 276 —
employment of women during the night in the textile industry
has been considerably reduced by agreements between employers.
The restriction of work to two 8-hour shifts, which was introduced
by the Industrial Codes and has been retained voluntarily by most
undertakings in the industry has naturally led to the abolition
of work during the night period in States where this was not
legally prohibited.
The prohibition of the employment of women and young persons
at night is extremely important in the textile industry because of
the large proportion of women employed. In practice this partial
prohibition of night, work really means the complete prohibition
of night work for all workers employed in the undertakings in
question. In Japan, for example, the application of the Factory
Act, which prohibited the employment of women and young
persons at night, immediately led to a reduction in the number
of hours worked by textile factories. The influence of such a measure
may be appreciated when it is remembered that in 1928, immediately before the Factory Act came into force, 167,000 women
and young persons were working at night in the Japanese textile
industry out of a total of 785,000 men and women workers employed
in those factories. The proportion was even higher for the cotton
branch of the industry, which employed 230,000 men and women in
all, including 132,000 women and young persons working at night.
The period defined as night includes in every case the hours
from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m.,1 or, in the case of women, from 11 p.m.
to 6 a.m., in accordance with the revised International Convention
of 1934. The period of night is sometimes much longer. In Great
Britain, for instance, where the factories and workshops legislation
even lays down special limits for the textile industries, the period
during which employment is prohibited extends from 6 p.m. to
6 a.m. or from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., whereas in establishments other than
textile factories the night period may be from 9 p.m. to 8 a.m.
A distinction must be made between cases in which work is
organised in a single shift and those in which two shifts are worked.
In Great Britain, as in several other countries in which the employment of women and young persons is considerably restricted by
law in the case of work in a single shift (Germany, the Netherlands, some States of the United States, etc.), the period during
which their employment is permitted or can be permitted by the
1
The period laid down in the International Conventions concerning the
employment of women and young persons during the night.
— 277 —
proper authorities is extended considerably when the work is
organised in two shifts. The period is then generally from 5 a.m.
to 10 p.m. (6 a.m. to 10 p.m. in Great Britain) and in some cases
even longer (from 6 a.m. to midnight in one of the States of the
United States).
As to exceptions other than those connected with work in two
shifts, a certain number are prescribed in practically every system
of legislation for the actual night period. These may be permanent
exceptions, such as those granted for work which by its nature
must be carried on continuously day and night. In the textile
industry those exceptions apply to a very small number of women
workers, since such exceptions are restricted by most of the national
laws, in accordance with the International Conventions of 1906,
1919 and 1934, to cases in which the work has to do with raw
materials or materials in course of treatment which are subject
to rapid deterioration, when such night work is necessary to
preserve these materials from certain loss. In the case of young
persons, permanent exceptions for continuous operations are even
less common, for the International Convention of 1919 concerning
the employment of young persons during the night does not permit
such exceptions for the textile industry. •
The exceptions in question may also be temporary, such as those
permitted for seasonal work, in the event of accidents, or in certain
other exceptional and temporary circumstances. These exceptions,
whether permanent or temporary, are always subject to certain
conditions such as the permission of the competent authorities,
the granting of a compensatory rest period, the introduction of
breaks, etc. If the prohibition of night work applies to young
persons under the age of 18 years, exceptions cannot as a rule be
granted except for young persons between the ages of 16 and 18.
When the upper limit is fixed at 16 years, exceptions are usually
permitted for young persons between the ages of 14 and 16 years.
In some cases no exception to the prohibition of night work is
permitted for women who have reached a certain stage of pregnancy.
III.
—
NATIONAL
DIFFERENCES
IN
REGULATIONS
ON
HOURS
The diversity in the form of the regulations on hours examined
above (legislation, arbitration awards, collective agreements or
sometimes even works regulations) is due largely to national
considerations which need not be examined here. It may, however
— 278 —
be pointed out that legislation is very widely used as a method of
regulating conditions in the textile industry. Also, even when the
textile industry as a whole is governed by a single system of legislation, it does not mean that identical conditions of employment
are laid down for every branch; for some of them, such as the
bleaching, dyeing and printing branches of the industry, special
provisions are generally laid down to make the regulations more
elastic.
With the exception of some Asiatic countries, the regulations
generally apply to all workers in the industry. It should further
be remembered that the Japanese regulations concerning women
and young persons have a decisive influence on the actual hours
worked by other workers in textile factories.
In so far as the limit set to the weekly hours of work by the various
regulations is concerned, the preceding survey shows a certain
apparent uniformity in the case of those States that have adopted
the 48-hour week as the normal. In reality one finds that among
the important textile producing countries the regulations prescribe
a wide range of different hours of work, from the 40-hour week in
France, Italy, New Zealand and the United States—in the U.S.S.R
a 7-hour day—to a week of 54 hours or more in certain countries.
When one remembers the economic importance of the countries
situated at those extremes, it is difficult to speak of uniformity in
the normal hours of work. Moreover, many countries that have
accepted the principle of the 48-hour week still permit prolonged if
not permanent exceptions from this principle so that the 48-hour
week can only partially be considered as the general rule in those
countries.
Another cause of divergence is the possibility which exists for
some countries to organise work in a number of shifts. As a rule
the legislation prohibiting the employment of women and young
persons during the night is sufficiently restrictive to make work
in more than two shifts impossible except in the case of adult
male workers. But there are some countries which enjoy the
dual economic advantage of long hours of work and the systematic
organisation of work in two or three shifts.
The diversity of the different systems in force is shown equally
clearly by an examination of the possibility under these regulations
of distributing hours of work or of obtaining permits for permanent
or temporary extensions of hours. One finds differences in terminology, differences in the conditions for obtaining permits to use
special systems of hours and differences in the nature and extent
— 279 —
of these systems. Also, the other factors indicated above—
weekly rest, public holidays, annual holidays with pay, maternity
leave and night work—vary considerably from country to country.
The divergences are perhaps less marked in the case of the weekly
rest and night work than in the case of public holidays and annual
holidays with pay; nevertheless, they exist.
The general conclusion can therefore be drawn from this survey
that there is a great diversity in the schemes established by the
regulations analysed above which seriously affect the maximum
limits of working hours in the textile industry in different countries.
IV. — ACTUAL HOURS WORKED
The number of hours actually worked is the result of several
factors, of which some result from changes in normal hours as
fixed by law or collective agreement, others are the result of
short time or irregularity of employment, and still others are due
to general economic and social conditions. ' No attempt is made
here to separate the effects of these factors and the existing statistics
show the actual position as regards hours worked in the different
countries. The data are presented in table 1, which shows either
actual hours worked or, where this is not available, the proportion
of workers working certain ranges of hours (e.g. under 48, 48 and
above 48 hours per week).
In the first place, this table shows that the tendency from 1929
to 1934 was uniformly towards a decrease in the number of hours
worked in the textile industry as a whole. During 1935-1936, in
several countries, namely in Germany (especially in silk), in the
United States, in France, and in Japan (cotton spinning), the
tendency was reversed and the number of hours worked increased
slightly. This tendency is not peculiar to the textile industry
and is in fact noticed in other industries.
The countries for which data are available as shown in table 1 on
pages 280-284, may be arranged in three groups according to hours
worked in 1935-1936. In the first group are the countries of the
Far East—China and Japan—and India, with the longest working
day (8y2 to 11 %hours) -,1 the second group includes Austria, Sweden,
1
No figures are given in the table for India, but the hours worked may be
estimated as varying between &y2 and 10 per day. See Wages and Unemployment in the Bombay Cotton Textile Industries, Bombay, 1934, pp. 39-53.
— 280 —
TABLE 1.
ACTUAL HOURS OF WORK IN THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY
AND IN INDUSTRY IN GENERAL
Country and branch of industry
Sept.
1929
Sept.
1933
Hours
China (Shanghai):
Cotton : spinning, men . .
women .
Weaving, men . ,
women .
Silk: reeling, men
women . . .
Weaving, men . . .
women . .
W o o l : weaving, men . . .
women .
Bleaching and dyeing, men
I n d u s t r y in general, men .
women
KjCfnlü-Hy
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
,
11.75
11.90
11.10
11.60
12.00
11.00
10.50
10.40
7.80
*
Sept.
1935
worked per
11.50
11.50
11.34
11.36
*
10.87
10.60
10.55
11.23
11.24
*
day
(a)
11.50
11.50
11.30
11.34
*
10.91
10.61
10.39
11.11
11.05
*
10.11
10.61
10.00
10.63
7.16
7.18
6.71
7.44
8.78
10.02
9.97
9.90
10.65
9.83
9.77
8.87
10.05
9.97
9.92
10.65
9.85
9.85
.'
Textiles
I n d u s t r y in general
. . . .
Japan (Bank of J a p a n series)
C o t t o n : spinning
Silk: spinning
Doubling (in general). . .
W e a v i n g (in general) . . .
Dyeing and finishing . . .
Textiles 2
I n d u s t r y in general . . .
7.61
7.76
:
.
.
.
.
Japan (Imperial Cabinet series)
Textiles
I n d u s t r y in general . . . .
9.83
9.28
9.58
9.25
9.65
9.28
U.S.S.R. : 3
Cotton
Wool
Silk
Flax
H e m p and j u t e
Big industry in general . . .
7.8
7.9
8.0
8.0
8.0
7.8
*
*
*
*
*
*
(d)
7.0
7.0
7.0
7.0
7.0
6.98
Hours worked per week
Austria (Vienna and Lower Austria) :
Cotton
Wool
Silk
H e m p and j u t e
*
*
*
*
(g)
48.80
(48.63) 4
*
*
(A)
48.30
45.38
46.70
45.27
— 281 —
TABLE 1.
ACTUAL HOURS OF WORK IN THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY
AND IN INDUSTRY IN GENERAL
Country and branch of industry
Sept.
1929
(continued)
Sept.
1933
Sept.
1935
Hours worked per week
1
Germany :
Cotton
Worsted
Wool (fabrics)
Linen
Silk
Textiles 5
Poland :
Textiles
Industry in general
*
45.1
Sweden :
Textiles
Mines, industry, transport and commerce
United States (Bureau of Labor Statistics series):
Cotton goods
Woollen and worsted goods. . . .
Silk and rayon goods
Dyeing and finishing
Textiles 6
Industry in general
United States (National Industrial Conference Board series) :
Cotton (North)
Wool
Silk
Industry in general
41.6
40.5
40.1
43.5
39.2
40.9
42.2
42.2
41.5
42.9
(g)
United Kingdom:
Cotton
Woollen and worsted
Textiles
47.7
47.1
45.2
47.0
*
*
*
47.3
49.2
47.7
36.0
37.3
34.1
35.2
36.1
35.1
36.7
35.5
36.3
35.9
37.4
36.8
36.4
34.5
36.3
36.7
37.5
32.5
37.7
*
48.2
47.6
49.4
48.8
(e)
(44.95)
(45.35)
(40.50)
(41.66)
(43.68)
(43.16)
(o)
Hours worked per month
Italy :
Cotton
Wool
Silk spinning and twisting
. . . .
Silk weaving
Flax, hemp and jute
Artificial textile fibres
Textiles and clothing '
Mines and industry in general . . .
178
184
179
190
172
168
187
180
181
183
(/)
130
156
131
128
135
166
138
156
— 282 —
TABLE 1 . —
ACTUAL HOURS OF WORK IN THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY
AND IN INDUSTRY IN GENERAL
Sept.
1929
Country and branch of industry
(continued)
Sept.
1933
Sept.
1935
Percentage of workers working
weekly
A = less than 48 hours.
B = 48 hours.
C = more than 48 hours.
Austria:
Textiles a n d clothing ,
A
B
C
(*)
9.0
84.3
6.7
35.3
63.2
1.5
(I)
12.1
81.3
6.6
A
B
C
3.1
89.9
7.0
25.4
70.8
3.8
11.2
80.9
7.9
A
B + C
(m)
2.6
97.4
34.0
66.0
58.9
41.1
Mines, i n d u s t r y , t r a n s p o r t commerce
A
B + C
3.4
96.6
37.1
62.9
41.9
58.1
A
B
C
9.1
83.6
7.3
23.4 |
74.6 j
2.0
99.1
0.9
A
B
C
13.9
71.6
14.5
19.5 1
66.2 |
14.3
A
B
C
1.0
78.0
21.0
9.2 |
89.9 |
0.9
A
B
C
8.4
86.8
4.8
26.8 |
69.9 j
3.3
A
B
C
6.5
84.8
8.7
32.3 1
64.9 |
2.8
A
B
C
36.7
50.6
12.7
44.7 |
50.4 j
4.9
A
B
C
3.3
71.1
25.6
19.3 1
63.4 |
17.3
A
B
C
9.0
75.2
15.8
19.1 I
72.2 |
8.7
Mines and i n d u s t r y in general
France :
Textiles
Italy :
Cotton
Wool
Silk spinning
Silk weaving
Artificial silk
F l a x and h e m p
Jute
I n d u s t r y in general
(*)
(/)
96.1
3.9
99.8
0.2
98.3
1.7
97.2
2.8
97.4
2.6
97.7
2.3
89.3
10.7
— 283 —
TABLE 1.
ACTUAL HOURS OF WORK IN THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY
AND IN INDUSTRY IN GENERAL
Sept.
1929
Country and branch of industry
(concluded)
Sept.
1933
Sept.
1935
Sept.
1936
Percentage of workers
working weekly
A = less than 48 hours.
B = 48 hours.
C = more than 48 hours.
Switzerland :
Cotton . .
M
A
B
C
(i)
22.5
48.9
28.6
27.4
59.8
12.8
Silk and artificial silk
A
B
C
22.1
73.1
4.8
29.8
65.7
4.5
Wool
A
B
C
4.4
76.1
19.5
11.7
67.2
21.1
Linen
A
B
C
23.7
76.3
0
10.8
89.2
0
Embroidery
A
B
C
4.9
19.2
75.9
18.9
27.2
53.9
O t h e r textile branches
A
B
C
27.7
72.3
0
20.9
77.5
1.6
I n d u s t r y in general
A
B
C
25.5
62.4
12.1
27.0
64.1
8.9
(a) September 1934. — (6) June. — (c) Year 1928. — (d) Year 1934. — (e) July. —
(/) March. — (g) November. — (h) Average for the year. — (i) Third quarter. — (j) August.
— (ft) Januarv. — (1) First half-year. — (m) December. — (n) Third quarter 1934. —
(o) 12 October.
i Figures not strictly comparable.
a Including also " knitting and braiding " and " miscellaneous textiles ".
3 Normal hours per day.
+ Figures not strictly comparable: Vienna, Lower and Upper Austria.
* Including " velvet ", " ribbons ", " lace " and " hosiery and knitting ".
s Including " carpets and rugs ", " cotton small wares ", " hats, fur-felt " and " knit
goods ".
' Including other branches, but excluding artificial textile fibres. For 1935, weighted
average calculated by the I.L.O.
Switzerland, the United Kingdom with a working week of between
46 and 48 hours; the third group includes Germany, the United
States, Italy, U.S.S.R. and Poland, where the working week was
about 40 hours.
— 284 —
For France, the latest available figures (1936) show an average
duration of about 45 hours per week, but since the coming into
force in the beginning of January 1937 of the 40 hours decree,
this country too enters into this last group.
As indicated above, these shorter hours may be due to
legislative and voluntary agreements to reduce normal working
hours, or they may be due to the depression of the industry leading
to short time while normal or legal hours remain unchanged. In
1929 the available data indicate that longer hours were worked in
Japan and in certain branches in Italy, and somewhat shorter
hours in Germany. The greatest reduction appears in the United
States, where average hours worked were estimated at about 48
in 1929 and varied from 36 to 39 in September 1936.
If comparison is made with other industries, hours in the textile
industry in recent years are higher in China, Japan, and Austria;
shorter in Germany and Poland; and approximately the same in
the United States and in France.
V. — SUMMARY
The differences in the regulation of normal hours of work and of
hours actually worked in the textile industry surveyed in the preceding sections raise a number of important questions. From a social
point of view, it may be asked whether and to what extent the
prevailing work-day and work-week in the different countries
approach what may be regarded as the optimum from the point
of view of the health and wellbeing of the worker, and to what
extent the different regulations concerning holidays with pay,
maternity • leave, etc., provide adequate protection to the health
of the workers in the textile industry, allowing for differences in
local conditions.
From a practical point of view, the important question is what
effect a reduction in hours of work would have upon labour productivity, output'and costs of production, and therefore on competitive
ability, on the one hand, and upon wage rates, employment and
earnings of the workers on the other. An answer to the various
points of this question would involve an analysis of the possible
ways in which either the working day or the working week might
be reduced ; the extent to which such reduction may be made ; the
ways in which machine-hours and man-hours might be varied by the
arrangement of different working shifts; the degree to which hourly
— 285 —
and piece wage rates would be adjusted, in accordance with the
reduction in hours; the various methods by which management
would be enabled to effect improvements in the use of plant,
equipment and working staff ; the degree to which the psychological
effects of a further reduction in hours would stimulate higher labour
productivity; the extent to which the effects of a reduction in hours
upon total unit costs of production would be offset by influences
independent of the duration of the working period, such as savings
in overhead costs, the movement of prices of raw materials, etc.;
and how variations in labour productivity due to changes in
working hours would operate under conditions of improving
or stationary business. Some light on the relation of a reduction
in hours of work to labour costs and prices is thrown by the studies
made in the United States and summarised in Chapter XIII.
CHAPTER XII
EMPLOYMENT AND UNEMPLOYMENT
In discussing the wages and working hours of textile workers,
reference was made in the preceding chapters to the irregularity
of employment and to the extent of unemployment in the industry.
Obviously, given rates of pay, the number of hours of work during
the year which the industry can give to its workers determines
their annual earnings. But irregularity of employment and unemployment affect the standard of living of the worker and of his
family in many other ways which have become familiar by now
as a result of experience and special studies. It is thus important,
for a pictui e of labour conditions in the textile industry, to survey
briefly the extent to which the industry has been subject to fluctuations in employment and unemployment, and to compaie it
with other industries in this respect.
The available statistics, imperfect as they are, clearly show that
there has been considerable unemployment in the textile industry
in recent years. In Germany, there were nearly 228,000 workers
out of employment in the textile industry in 1932. In Austria,
the number was 19,550 in the same year. In Italy, it was 145,700
and in Czechoslovakia 87,000. In Poland, the figure reached its
maximum of 27,900 in 1932. In 1931, in Great Britain, 38.4 per
cent, of the workers in the cotton industry were unemployed,
whereas the percentage of unemployed persons in industry as a
whole at the same date was 21.3. In Belgium, unemployment in
the textile industry reached its maximum in 1932, with a percentage
of 19.1 for total unemployment and 28.9 for partial unemployment. In the Netherlands, in the same year, unemployment was
33.8 per cent., and it rose to 39.1 per cent, in August 1936. In
Canada, the cotton yarn and cloth industries showed 30 per cent.
unemployment in 1932. No unemployment statistics are available
for other oversea countries, but between 1929 and 1932 employment is known to have fallen by almost 27 per cent, in the United
— 287 —
States textile industry and by between 20 and 30 per cent, in the
different branches of the textile industry in Japan.
In considering the causes of this situation, which seems to have
affected to some extent most of the textile manufacturing countries,
it may be most expedient to examine the data on unemployment
from the points of view of three factors : cyclical, technological and
structural. It is obviously impossible to determine the exact
importance of each of these factors. Nor is it possible to separate
cyclical influences from the influence of policies of economic selfsufficiency, monetary factors, geographical displacements, technical
developments and changes in habits of consumption which occurred
at the same time. Apart from these difficulties, there is the further
fact that the influence of the business cycle was so overwhelming
in recent years t h a t it more or less obscured t h e consequences of
all the others. All t h a t can therefore be attempted in this chapter
is to indicate the main characteristics of the situation during recent
years and to show the cyclical, structural and technological factors
as they appear to have operated during the period.
I. — T H E CYCLICAL FACTOR
Table 1 gives, in the form of index numbers based as far as
possible on the year 1927, the information available concerning
unemployment in the textile industry and in industry as a whole,
for all the countries which publish such figures. 1
No figures are available for some of the more important textile
producing countries, such as the United States, Japan and France.
Such as they are, however, the figures given show t h a t the trend
of unemployment in the textile industry and the trend in industry
in general follow a parallel course. In practically every case, the
index numbers rise and fall at the same time, and the maximum
was generally reached in the same year. It is difficult to avoid
the conclusion t h a t this phenomenon must be due to the action
of one single cause, the economic depression, acting at the same
time on the two sets of figures. It may, therefore, be concluded
that in most countries the most important cause of unemployment in the textile industry, as in industry in general, during
the last ten years has been the cyclical factor.
1
For the figures used as a basis for these index numbers, see Volume II
and the INTERNATIONAL LABOUR OFFICE : Year-Book of Labour Statistics,
1935-36.
— 288 —
TABLE 1.
COMPARISON OF FLUCTUATIONS IN UNEMPLOYMENT IN THE TEXTILE
INDUSTRY AND IN INDUSTRY IN GENERAL IN CERTAIN COUNTRIES, 1 9 2 7 TO 1 9 3 5
Countries and industries
Austria:
Textile
All industries . . .
Belgium :
Textile (wholly
unemployed) . . .
All industries
(wholly
unemployed) . .
Canada :
Fibres, textile and
textile products. .
Textile and carpet
workers
All industries . . .
Czechoslovakia :
Textile
All industries . . .
Denmark :
Textile
All industries . . .
Germany :
Textile
All industries . . .
Great Britain and
Northern Ireland :
Cotton
Wool
Silk and artificial silk
Weaving
Spinning
All industries . . .
Italy :
Textile and clothing.
All industries . . .
Netherlands :
Textile
All industries . . .
Poland :
Textile
All industries . . .
Sweden :
Textile
All industries . . .
Switzerland:
Textile (wholly
unemployed) . . .
All industries . . .
1927
1928
1929
1930
100
100
105
91
158
96
246
121
277
150
100
88
100
338
1,150
100
50
72
200
605 1,056
944 1,056
994
100
84
141
185
259
323
188
169
173
100
100
84
92
64
116
924
227
684
343
968
449
824
455
932
371
712
314
100
100
126
73
129
79
367
199
100
100
86
82
51
69
56
61
51
80
50
141
35
128
39
98
44
88
—
—
—
—
—
—
100
100
133
147
135
182
114
156
56
88
46
70
100
100
133
132
147
156
412
270
427
318
319
234
269
160
252
180
232
146
|ioo
105
147
353 |
100
111
107
165
422
397
220
276
319
228
230
193
205
188
143
173
150
100
160
100
100
94
117
96
108
160
153
237
264
345
361
263
348
217
346
*
*
100
100
89
75
114
78
410
107
811 1,207 1,182 1,254 1,382
199
324
341
352
410
100
100
68
77
98
79
144
138
151
183
121
156
89
152
100
209
114
233
100
100
81
89
106
89
113
102
116
143
203
190
244
198
153
158
194
134
100
100
92
78
76
67
98
126
130
219
228
344
273
400
220
348
270
444
1931
1932
326
189
1933
345
203
2,388 1,989
1934
276
185
1935
268
174
2,213 1,750
1,001 1,804 2,060 1,790 1,704
551 1,048 1,396 1,281 1,298
— 289 —
It should be noted that the figures given do not permit of any
international comparisons. The mere fact that the index numbers
used are based sometimes on percentages and sometimes on absolute
figures in itself restricts the possibilities of comparison. But that
is not the only difficulty. It must be remembered that, as these
figures are index numbers, the extent to which they fluctuate by
no means represents the absolute level of unemployment in each
of the countries considered. In Canada, for example, in 1927
there was a considerable volume of unemployment in the cotton
yarn and cloth industry (9.3 per cent.), whereas the percentage
was comparatively slight among textile and carpet workers (2.5);
although the increase in unemployment was greater in the second
of these industries than in the first, as is shown by the index
numbers in the table, the maximum level of unemployment was
higher in the former than in the latter (30 per cent, as against 24.2).
In Denmark, where the index fell more or less steadily throughout
the whole period, unemployment in the textile industry was
particularly high in 1927 (21.4 per cent.). In Germany, again,
the fact that the index moved gradually can be attributed to the
fact that the series of figures used began in 1930, when the depression
was already widespread; at that date, there were more than
3,000,000 unemployed workers in Germany, of whom 137,700
belonged to the textile industry. In Italy and in Poland also,
there was quite a large volume of unemployment in the textile
industry in 1927 (42,294 in Italy and 17,885 in Poland), so that
the movement of the index figures is not particularly marked.
In Belgium, Czechoslovakia and the Netherlands, on the other hand,
the very extensive fluctuations in the index figures can be largely
explained by the fact that unemployment was relatively slight in
the basic year. In 1927, the percentage of wholly unemployed
workers in the textile industry in Belgium was 0.8, which means
that there was practically no unemployment at all.
It should further be noted that the index numbers in table 1
do not give a complete picture of the effects of the depression, as
reflected in unemployment, in the textile industry. In every case
it would be desirable to study the development of short time as
well as that of total unemployment. There are, unfortunately,
very few data available on this subject. Those published regularly
by Belgium and Switzerland, which are reproduced in table 2,
suggest that, during the early years of the depression in particular,
the textile industry was especially liable to this -form of unemployment and that, at any time, partial unemployment is more wide19
— 290 —
spread in the textile industry than in industry as a whole. During
the recent depression, short time was considered a method of
avoiding complete unemployment, and Governments encouraged
employers to keep the largest possible number of workers in
employment in this way. That is an additional reason for taking
account of short time when studying the extent of the irregularity
of employment to which textile workers are exposed.
TABLE
2.
PERCENTAGE
UNEMPLOYED
WORKERS
IN
THE
PARTIALLY
OF WORKERS WHOLLY OR PARTIALLY
TEXTILE
INDUSTRY
UNEMPLOYED
IN
AND
PERCENTAGE
INDUSTRY
IN
IN BELGIUM AND SWITZERLAND FROM 1 9 2 7 TO
Belgium
Textile industry
Year
Wholly
unemployed
1927 .
1928 .
1929.
1930 .
1931 .
1932 .
1933 .
1934 .
1935 .
1936 .
(a)
(6)
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.0.8
0.7
0.8
2.7
9.2
19.1
15.9
17.7
14.0
9.4(a)
Partially
unemployed
5.4
7.3
5.8
16.0
26.1
28.9
24.7
26.6
18.3
17.4(a)
OF
GENERAL
1936
Switzerland
All
industries
Partially
unemployed
3.9
3.5
3.0
7.9
16.9
20.7
17.2
17.2
12.8
9.8
Textile industry
Wholly
unemployed
4.0
3.7
3.1
3.9
5.2
9.1
10.9
8.8
10.8
8.6(6)
AH
industries
Partially
unemployed
Partially
unemployed
5.2
2.5
5.0
12.2
16.4
16.6
11.6
10.4
12.9
10.7
2.0
1.1
1.7
7.2
12.1
12.2
8.5
6.1
5.9
August.
September.
In order to determine exactly the seriousness of partial unemployment, it would be necessary to know not only the percentage
of workers working short time but also the extent of the reduction
in their hours of work. The enquiries made into this question in
Great Britain show that, in the cotton industry, 3.5 per cent, of
the workers covered were unemployed for part of the week ending
26 November 1936 and that the average number of hours lost by
each of these workers was 11. In addition, 3.3 per cent, of the workers
were temporarily stopped, that is to say had expectations of returning to their employment within 6 weeks. In the wool industry, the
percentage of workers on short time was 9.5 and the number of
— 291 —
hours lost was 7 per head; the percentage temporarily stopped
in the woollen and worsted industry as a whole was 3.I. 1
In France, a special enquiry into this subject 2 showed that fulltime unemployment was less marked in the textile industry than
in industry as a whole. The number of persons employed in the
textile industry was 17 per cent, of the total industrial population,
but the number of those unemployed in the textile industry in
December 1935 was only 8 per cent, of the total number of applicants for employment. On the other hand, partial unemployment
was very extensive. The percentage of workers working less than
48 hours a week rose from 7.3 at the end of 1930 to 68.4 at the end
of 1931. After falling to 40.9 at the end of 1932 and 33.4 at the
end of 1933, it rose as high as 71.1 and fell again to 53.6 per cent.
at the end of 1935. The maximum percentage was 78.4 in February
1932, the figure for industry as a whole in the same month being
only 56.3 per cent.
Calculated in terms of full-time unemployment, on the basis of
the hours actually worked, partial unemployment in the textile
industry in France moved from 1.1 per cent, in December 1930
to 14.9 per cent, in December 1931, 7.4 in December 1932, 5.4 in
1933,
16.2 in December 1934 and 11.2 in 1935. The maximum
was 20.1 per cent, in 1932.
It would, therefore, seem that the lower proportion of wholly
unemployed persons in the French textile industry, as compared
with industry in general, can be attributed in large measure to
short-time work, which was recommended both by the authorities
and by the workers' organisations as a means of avoiding the
actual dismissal of workers.
The index numbers given in table 1 call for one other remark.
Unemployment in the textile industry in practically every country
is shown by means of a single index. The only important country
in which it is possible to follow the development of unemployment
separately for the various branches of the textile industry is
Great Britain, for which there are separate index figures for cotton,
wool, silk, artificial silk, etc. The index, numbers in table 1 show
that in each of those branches in the United Kingdom the increase
in unemployment during the depression was considerably more
extensive than in industry in general. In 1931 the unemployment
1
2
Ministry of Labour Gazette, December
1936, dans
p. 454.les industries textiles.
Le
chômage
Annexe au Journal Officiel de la République Française, 5 June 1936.
CONSEIL NATIONAL ÉCONOMIQUE:
— 292 - index was 40 per cent, higher for the textile industry and nearly 100
per cent, higher for the cotton, silk and artificial silk branches than
it was for British industry in general. From 1932 onwards unemployment in the wool and silk industries decreased rapidly, so
that the index for 1935 was approximately the same as the general
index, whereas in the case of cotton the decrease was slower and
the index in 1935 was still 50 per cent, higher than the index for
industry in general.
From this it may be deduced that the rapid increase in unemployment from 1929 to 1931 in the wool and silk branches was due
mainly to the cyclical factor, to which these branches proved
particularly sensitive. In the cotton industry unemployment was
no doubt also influenced by the depression, but the fact that it
did not decrease after 1932 as rapidly as in industry in general
clearly indicates the action of other factors, to which reference
will be made later.
A comparison of the index numbers of unemployment in the
textile industry and in industry as a whole shows that that industry
was particularly sensitive to the influence of the depression, but
it does not show whether the proportion of unemployment was
higher or lower than in other industries. The fact that the index
rose more rapidly for textiles than for industry in general may
have been due to the fact that the initial unemployment was less
just as well as to the fact that unemployment finally reached a
higher level. In order to throw some light on this question the
ratio between the proportion of unemployment in the textile
industry and the proportion of unemployment in industry as a
whole has been worked out for each of the countries in which
statistics show the number of unemployed workers as a percentage
of the total number of workers concerned. If the resulting figure
is higher than, equal to or less than 100 this means that the
percentage of unemployed workers in the textile industry is
respectively higher than, equal to or less than the percentage in
industry as a whole.
A study of table 3 shows that, with the exception of Canada
(yarn and cloth) and Switzerland, the extent of total unemployment in 1927 was less—sometimes much Jess—in the textile
industry than in industry as a whole. Except in Denmark and
in Sweden, however, this unemployment increased much more
rapidly as a result of the depression, so that it reached and sometimes considerably exceeded the level of unemployment in general.
The ratio rose from 44.4 to 100.5 in Belgium, from 92.7 to 231.9
— 293 —
for the cotton industry and from 91.7 to 150 for the wool industry
in Great Britain, and from 31.1 to 125.4 in the Netherlands. In
the case of the two countries that provide regular statistics of
partial or intermittent unemployment it will be seen that the
percentage of partially unemployed workers in 1927 was already
higher in the textile industry than in industry as a whole, and
that this divergence increased as a result of the depression.
TABLE 3 .
FLUCTUATIONS
IN
THE
RATIO BETWEEN
THE
PERCENTAGES
OF UNEMPLOYED WORKERS IN THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY AND IN INDUSTRY
AS A WHOLE IN CERTAIN
Countries and industries
1927
1928
I
COUNTRIES FROM 1 9 2 7 TO 1 9 3 5
1929
1930
1931
1932
1933
1934
1935
Belgium:
Wholly unemployed
44.4
Partially unemployed 138.5
77.8
208.6
61.5
113.3
75.0
202.5
84.4
154.4
100.5
139.6
93.5
143.6
93.1
154.6
78.2
143.0
Canada:
Fibres, textile and
textile products .
Textile and carpet
workers
189.8
173.3
229.8
154.9
143.4
136.4
78.4
86.3
104.5
51.0
46.7
28.1
208.1
101.8
110.0
93.3
84.1
115.6
Denmark
95.1
100.0
71.6
87.6
62.0
33.4
25.7
37.5
21.4
Great Britain and
Northern
Ireland:
Cotton
Wool
92.7
91.7
111.1
108.3
126.9
133.6
231.9
150.0
180.1
132.9
129.9
94.1
121.6
71.3
135.1
95.2
134.8
83.9
Netherlands
31.1
36.8
45.1
118.5
125.4
114.1
106.8
109.3
106.6
26.7
24.5
31.8
29.5
21.5
28.5
32.9
25.9
38.5
Switzerland :
Wholly unemployed 148.9
Partially unemployed 260.0
176.2
227.3
172.2
294.1
114.7
169.4
81.1
135.5
97.8
138.3
100.0
143.2
93.6
176.3
90.0
211.5
Sweden
. . . .
Imperfect as the available unemployment statistics may be, the
analysis given would seem to permit of certain broad conclusions :
(1) the textile industry in many countries proved especially sensitive
to the influence of the business depression, so that fluctuations in
unemployment were more acute than in industry in general; (2) partial unemployment or short time would appear to have been more
widespread in the textile industry than in other industries and
tended to increase at a particularly rapid rate at the beginning
of the depression ; (3) the different branches of the textile industry
— 294 —
were not all affected in the same way by the depression; some of
them, and more especially the cotton industry, suffered much
more from unemployment than others. On this last point, however,
little information can be obtained from unemployment statistics,
since Great Britain is the only country to provide separate unemployment figures for various branches of the textile industry.
It is in this connection especially that it is desirable to supplement
the study of unemployment statistics by data on employment.
Employment and unemployment are to a great extent complementary phenomena. Unemployment normally increases when
employment decreases and declines when employment improves.
If the total number of workers in employment or seeking employment in an industry remained constant unemployment and employment would vary inversely to exactly the same extent. But in
reality the number of workers belonging to an industry is constantly changing. There are, on the one hand, workers who on
account of age or infirmity, or, in the case of women workers, on
account of marriage, abandon wage-paid employment altogether;
others seek employment in a different industry, while yet others
—foreign workers—are often obliged to return to their country of
origin in times of depression if they drop out of employment. There
are, on the other hand, young workers or workers from other
industries or other countries who come to seek employment in the
industry in question. If the number of departures exceeds the
number of new persons entering the industry the volume of employment in that industry may decline to a greater extent than unemployment increases; 1 it may even decrease without any increase
in unemployment or accompany a decrease in unemployment.
If, on the other hand, the number of persons absorbed into or
attracted by the industry is greater than the number of those
who leave it, the increase in the volume of employment may
exceed the decrease in unemployment or may,be accompanied by
no decrease in unemployment or even by an increase in unemployment. In order to have some idea of the influence of the depression
on the employment market of any industry, therefore, one must
1
In France, where it was noted that complete unemployment in the textile
industry remained steadily lower than it did in industry as a whole, the volume
of employment really declined by about 30 per cent, between 1930 and 1935.
This decrease is not reflected in unemployment statistics because many of the
workers who were dismissed returned to their former occupations in agriculture
or, being foreigners, were obliged to leave France and return to their own
countries.
— 295 TABLE 4 .
COMPARATIVE FLUCTUATIONS IN EMPLOYMENT IN THE
TEXTILE INDUSTRIES AND IN INDUSTRY AS A WHOLE IN CERTAIN
COUNTRIES FROM 1927 TO 1935
Countries and industries
Canada :
Cotton (varn and
cloth) .
Wool (varn and
cloth) ."
Silk and silk goods .
Thread yarn and
cloth
Textile products . .
All industries . .
Finland :
Textile
All industries
. .
France :
Textile
All industries
. .
1927
1928
1929
1930
1931
1932
1933
1934
1935
100
98
91
80
75
74
72
84
85
100
—
104
—
101
100
90
125
100
143
108
172
115
184
123
223
134
248
100
100
100
101
101
107
97
102
114
90
97
107
91
93
97
97
93
82
98
93
80
113
103
92
118
108
95
100
100
97
103
92
96
88
85
86
77
88
78
97
85
116
96
129
101
100
100
93
93
79
79
81 . 79 •
77
77
71
74
~
Great Britain and
Northern Ireland :
Cotton
Wool
Silk and artificial silk
All industries . .
100
100
100
100
92
99
133
99
92
95
134
102
63
84
121
98
63
74
102
94
67
79
113
93
72
91
117
97
69
83
125
101
66
87
140
103
Italy :
Cotton
Wool
Silk
Artificial silk . . .
All industries . .
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
100
100
100
100
100
87
96
101
91
93
73
87
83
73
81
66
87
42
53
70
67
95
44
50
71.
65
96
36
53
72
*
*
*
*
Japan :
Silk reeling . . . .
Spinning
Weaving
Braiding, knitting
All industries . .
100
100
100
100
100
100
90
92
84
96
107
90
89
83
96
100
76
77
78
86
80
68
72
77
78
75
70
73
75
79
69
70
80
84
«7
68
76
84
92
97
68
81
88
97
106
Poland :
Textile
All industries
100
100
108
111
101
112
81
97
75
83
68
71
72
70
79
76
83
80
100
100
90
*
91
102
76
*
70
86
64
72
83
81
89
86
85
90
100
100
100
100
100
96
100
95
98
100
95
102
98
101
106
78
94
85
89
93
77
86
79
84
78
69
68
71
74
65
90
74
86
85
70
84
74
88
88
80
110
73
92
92
83
. .
United States :
Cotton goods . . .
Cotton smallwares
Wool and worsted
goods
Silk and rayon goods
Textile fabrics . .
Total textiles . . .
All industries . .
*
— 296 —
study employment statistics as well as unemployment statistics.
In table 4 will be found available index numbers of the amount
of employment for the textile industries and for industry as a
whole, 1927 being taken as the basis wherever possible. These
figures have a double advantage over those available for unemployment. In the first place, they provide indirect information
as to the trend of unemployment in the textile industries of certain
important countries for which no unemployment statistics are
available, such as Japan and the United States. In the second
place, they reflect the development of the various branches of the
textile industry in several countries during the depression, whereas
unemployment statistics provide detailed information of this kind
in the case of Great Britain only.
Generally speaking, a study of table 4 confirms the conclusions
suggested by table 1. In practically every case the influence of
the depression can be seen in the manner in which the volume of
employment contracted in the textile industries as well as in
industry in general. It was usually in the same year that the
general index of employment and the index of employment in
the textile industries reached their lowest points.
Apart from this general similarity, the figures in question show
more extensive divergences than had been revealed by the unemployment data. In some countries the volume of employment in
the textile industries was more affected than the general volume
of employment. This was the case in Poland, in all the textile
branches in Japan and in all the textile branches except the wool
industry in Italy. In Finland, Germany and practically every
branch of the textile industry in Canada and the United States,
on the other hand, the shrinkage of employment was less marked
than in industry as a whole. In Great Britain, the position of the
silk industry was particularly favoured, for employment was, on
the whole, considerably higher than it had been in 1927. In
Canada, employment in the silk and silk goods industry improved
steadily from 1929 to 1935.
Over against these favoured industries there were the cotton
industry in Canada and Great Britain, the cotton and silk branches
in Italy and the silk-reeling and cotton-spinning branches in
Japan, where employment fell in a particularly marked degree as
compared with the general volume of employment in industry.
In those industries, moreover, employment did not improve from
1932 or 1933 onwards to the same extent as it did in industry in
— 297 —
general. In some cases (cotton in Great Britain and Italy, silk in Italy
and silk-reeling in Japan) employment even continued to decline in
spite of the general business improvement. These phenomena
reveal the action of factors other than the economic depression.
In the following pages these other factors and their influence will
be considered.
II.
—
TECHNOLOGICAL UNEMPLOYMENT
There can be no doubt that, in recent years, the textile industry
has experienced a considerable amount of technological unemployment in many countries. 1 There are other industries in which
technical progress has caused a much greater upheaval than in the
textile industry, but mechanical improvements in textiles have, as
elsewhere, been making rapid headway. Automatic looms have been
replacing non-automatic looms, high-speed spindles have supplanted
low-speed spindles, etc. Moreover, work-loads have shown a
tendency to increase and the pace of manufacturing operations a
tendency to accelerate, with the result that textile workers have
been complaining of the " speed-up " and the " stretch-out ".
Increase in Labour
Productivity
Though the problem is complex and it is impossible to measure
technological unemployment directly, there are indirect ways of
indicating its existence and probable extent. The calculations
made in some countries with a view to determining the increase
in labour productivity between two specific dates represent a first
attempt, but only a first attempt, to grapple with the problem.
These calculations show whether rationalisation has actually taken place during a given period, and where labour productivity
has risen at a comparatively rapid rate it may reasonably be
inferred that employment has been more or less strongly affected
by technological factors.
So far, coefficients of labour productivity have been computed
for a few countries only and for only a few branches of the textile
industry. These calculations are beset by numerous difficulties.
In order to establish a reasonably reliable coefficient, exact statistics
1
The relation of technical progress to unemployment in its general aspects
is treated in a study by Dr. E. LEDERER, entitled Technological Unemployment, shortly to be published by the International Labour Office.
— 298 —
of the hours worked and equally exact returns of production must
be available; moreover, these two series of figures must cover
exactly the same undertakings. These conditions are very rarely
found together. And even though they may be regarded as
sufficient for certain industries, such as coal mining or the cement
industry, in which the product is a homogeneous mass and there
is little if any variation in the intensity of work, such data hardly
form an altogether acceptable basis for calculating labour productivity in the textile industry. Even the most precise returns
of hours worked do not show that form of under-employment,
very common in the weaving branch, which consists in reducing
the number of looms in charge of each worker when orders are
low and leads to a decline in output per head due neither to inferior
technique nor to a falling-off in the standard of skill. As regards
the physical volume of production, whether expressed in terms of
weight or of yardage, this does not reflect changes—sometimes
important ones—in the quality of the goods produced, which may
raise their value while reducing their weight per square yard. Labour
productivity may have remained stationary or may even have
increased, in spite of a decline in the physical volume of production
which causes the coefficient to fall. Again, the physical volume
of production may be reduced, in the textile industry, by the
employment of inferior raw materials, such as shorter fibres which,
owing to the greater frequency of breakages, demand more work
for an equal output both in spinning and in weaving. Here again
the coefficient would fall, without any real decline in the objective
or subjective productivity of labour, to use the customary terms.
The coefficient of productivity is also affected by changes in the
skill and ability of the workers resulting from changes in the
composition of the labour force.
With these reservations, it is possible, nevertheless, to bring
together some data on changes in labour and machine productivity
in the textile industries of some important producing countries:
Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States and Italy.
Japan
It is in Japan that labour productivity has increased most
rapidly since the World War, at least in those branches of the
textile industry—cotton spinning, cotton weaving, and silk spinning—for which statistics are available permitting the computation
of output per worker. The figures show a remarkable rise in
— 299 —
average output. Those relating to cotton spinning for the years
1923 to J933 are given below: 1
TABLE. 5
PRODUCTION
OF COTTON YARN PER WORKER IN JAPAN,
1923-1933
Number
of workers
Spindles'in
operation
Year
Daily iverage
(thousands)
1923
1929
1930
1931
1932
1933
(a)
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
163
159
139
122
127
129
4,080
5,784
5,898
5,904
6,308
6,778
Number
of spindles
per worker
25
36
42
49
50
52
Production
of yarn
Production
per worker
of kwans) (a) (kwans) (a)
107
137
124
126
138
152
656
862
892
1,033
1,087
1,178
One kwan = 3,750 grammes.
This table shows that output per worker almost doubled between
1923 and 1933 and that, total production having expanded by
only about 50 per cent., the labour force fell from 163,000 to
129,000, or by 34,000 persons.
In the cotton weaving branch, the figures show a still more
marked increase in production per worker, amounting to nearly
150 per cent., as may be seen from the following table:
TABLE 6 .
PRODUCTION OF COTTON CLOTH PER WORKER IN JAPAN,
1923-1933
Number
of workers
Year
Looms in
operation
(thousands)
1923
1929
1930
1931
1932
1933
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
51(a)
43
35
29
30
34
53
69
65
64
68
74
Number
of looms
per worker
Production
or cloth
(millions
of yards)
Production
per worker
(thousands
of yards)
1.04
1.60
1.85
2.20
2.26
2.17
1,001
1,538
1,388
1,405
1,533
1,674
19.6
35.7
39.6
48.4
51.1
49.2
(a) 1924.
1
These figures and those which follow are taken from statistics published
by the Factory Inspection Service of the Bureau of Social Affairs of the
Japanese Ministry of the Interior. They are quoted here from Mr. MAURETTE'S
study on Social Aspects of Industrial Development in Japan, International
Labour Office, Studies and Reports, Series B, No. 21.
— 300 —
Here again, in spite of the expansion of total output, which
rose from 1,001 million yards in 1923 to 1,674 million in 1933,
17,000 fewer workers were employed in the latter year than in
the former.
In the silk-spinning industry, output per head rose steadily
from 19 kwans in 1923 to 31 in 1932, or by 63 per cent.
The rise in labour productivity, as computed from these series
of figures is undoubtedly an understatement of the true position.
No account is taken of the reduction in hours of work, which fell
from 11 in the day in 1923 to 10 in 1927 and 8% in 1931 in cotton
spinning and weaving, and from 12 hours in 1923 to 11 in 1927
and 10 in 1931 in silk spinning.
It has also been pointed out by a Japanese writer,1 that the
number of workers shown in the table also covers those who are
not directly engaged in production, such as mechanics, packers, etc.,
so that, in reality, the spindles are spread over a much smaller
number of textile workers than the statistics indicate.
Several factors have contributed to this vast rise in labour
productivity in Japan. They include the better organisation of
labour and improved methods of production within the undertaking; rationalisation throughout the industry, resulting in
particular in the closing down of some of the less efficient undertakings; to some extent, the higher standard of skill among
Japanese workers; but, above all, the rapid modernisation of
plant. It is estimated that, of the 9,530,000 spindles which Japan
possessed at the beginning of 1935, about 4,000,000 were less than
ten years old and were mostly high-speed spindles. Nearly all the
big mills are equipped with automatic looms of the high-speed
type manufactured by the Toyoda works.2
United Kingdom
In the \ United Kingdom, reports indicate that since the war
relatively little modernisation of plant has taken place in the cotton
industry and that until 1931 the Lancashire cotton trade did
little to improve organisation and structure.3 A survey made in
1931, at the request of the Board of Trade, showed that at that
1
MORI: " L e régime du travail dans l'industrie cotonnière du Japon ",
Fils et tissus, May 1935.
2
UNITED STATES TARIFF COMMISSION: Report to the President.
Cloth Report, No. 12, second series.
3
See especially the P.E.P. Report on the British Cotton Industry.
Chapter VIII.
Cotton
Also
— 301 —
date no technical improvements had been introduced on a scale large
enough to increase output per head in the industry as a whole.1
The investigators compared the indices of production with the
indices of employment in the cotton industry, in order to obtain
a coefficient of labour productivity. This coefficient shows a
fairly steep fall.
TABLE 7 .
INDICES OF PRODUCTION, EMPLOYMENT AND PER CAPITA
OUTPUT IN THE COTTON INDUSTRY OF GREAT BRITAIN FROM
1924
TO 1930
Year
1924
1925
1926
1927
1928
1929
1930
Production
Employment
Per capita output
100
113
96
106
96
94
68
100
109.6
98.5
107.2
102.1
101.0
72.7
100
102.7
97.5
98.9
94.0
93.1
93.5
The authors of the survey nevertheless themselves admit that
the coefficient so obtained is practically worthless. The index of
production on which it is based relates to the yarn produced, so
that any change in the ratio between the output of yarn and cloth
would suffice to destroy any significance it might possess. Moreover,
the employment index does not show the variations in the number
of hours of work or in the intensity of work, especially in the
weaving branch. But the chief defect of the coefficient is that it does
not show changes in the quality of the goods produced, which may
raise the value of production while reducing its volume. The
authors conclude that, in view of the unreliability of the statistics,
it is preferable to confine oneself to current observation, which
indicates that labour productivity has not fallen to the extent
shown by the coefficient. The necessity of reducing costs in the
cotton industry and eliminating waste, and the selection operated
when dismissals had fco ba maie, hava undoubtedly enabled
output per head to be maintained at the former level.
The following table which is based on changes in production shows,
moreover, that, while a comparisonof the index numbers of production and employment reveals, at any rate in weaving, a decrease in
1
An Industrial Survey of the Lancashire Area, made for the Board
by the University of Manchester, London, 1932, p p . 128-130.
of
Trade
— 302 —
productivity between 1924 and 1930, it indicates, on the contrary,
that there was increased productivity between 1930 and 1934.
TABLE 8 .
INDICES OF PRODUCTION AND EMPLOYMENT IN THE
COTTON INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED KINGDOM IN 1 9 2 4 , 1 9 3 0 AND 1 9 3 4
Index of average
number of operatives
employed
Index of volume
of production
1924
1930
1934
Spinning
Weaving
Spinning
Weaving
127
100
113
165
100
110
133
100
97
139
100
86
SOURCES: Census of Production. 1924 and 1930; Import Duties Act inquiry, 1934.
United States
The coefficients computed for the United States * show that in
most branches of the textile industry labour productivity has risen,
although far less than in Japan. It is probable that the fairly steady
rise in labour productivity in the cotton industry is due to the
establishment of new factories with up-to-date equipment in the
cotton-growing States of the South. The variations in the coefficient
of labour productivity in ten branches of the textile industry from
1929 to 1933 are shown in the following table:
TABLE
9.
VARIATIONS
IN
LABOUR
PRODUCTIVITY
IN
THE
TEXTILE INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES, 1 9 2 3 - 1 9 2 9
Silk manufactures
Carpets and rugs
Wool shoddy
Cordage and twine
. . . .
Cotton goods . . . . . . .
J u t e and linen goods . . . .
Worsted goods
Woollen goods
Cotton lace goods
K n i t goods
1
Economic
Tendencies
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
in the United
B U R E A U OF ECONOMIC R E S E A R C H ,
1932.
1925
1927
1929
112.6
97.8
108.8
107.0
103.9
97.2
105.5
105.8
90.5
98.4
123.2
92.5
92.7
107.9
110.7
106.8
107.5
104.4
99.7
97.4
135.4
108.0
124.1
118.2
115.2
113.5
106.5
106.6
99.0
96.9
States,
Average
annual
rate of
change
1923-1929
(per
cent.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
—
5.1
0.9
2.7
2.6
2.5
2.4
1.0
0.9
0.3
0.5
published by t h e NATIONAL
— 303 —
The above series do not seem to have been continued after 1929.
For the period 1932-1935 calculations have been made of the
variations in labour productivity per man-hour, but only for the
two most important branches of the textile industry. 1
1932
1933
1934
1935
Variations in labour productivity
per man-hour, 1932-1935
Woollen goods,
Cotton goods
including
worsted goods
100
100
102
100
100
97
105
128
The author himself states that these coefficients cannot be
regarded as absolutely correct. The statistics of hours worked are
incomplete because only a fraction of the firms concerned furnish
returns. The indexes of production calculated by the Federal
Reserve Board are usually based on the raw materials consumed
during the preliminary stages of production, which are also supposed to apply to the subsequent stages. Moreover, the two
series of indices are not entirely comparable.
In spite of these reservations, the increase in productivity shown
by the above computations probably approximates fairly closely
to the facts for the period as a whole. For the cotton textile
industry, for instance, a comparison between the number of
workers employed and the cloth produced gives the following
figures:
1923
1927
1933
Number
of workers
(thousands)
472
468
379
Square yards
of cotton cloth
(millions)
8,264
8,980
8,089
The number of workers employed having fallen between 1923
and 1933 from 472,000 to 379,000 (20 per cent.) and production from
8,264 million yards to 8,089 million (2 per cent.), the average
increase in productivity was about 18 per cent.
Italy
Finally, in Italy, it has been calculated that in the textile industry
as a whole the volume of production per working hour more
than doubled between 1933 and 1935, this representing an average
annual increase of nearly 3 per cent. It is further estimated that
1
W . B O W D E N , in the Monthly
Labor Review, April 1936.
— 304 —
labour productivity has increased at a particularly rapid rate during
the past few years. The writer quoted states that apart from an
increase in productivity due to technical improvements (7.15 per
cent, for cotton and 18.2 per cent, for rayon from 1929 to 1934,
and 12.63 per cent, in silk for 1930 to 1934) output has also risen
as a result of an increase in the individual productivity of the
workers (24.17 per cent, for cotton and 152.98 per cent, for rayon
from 1929 to 1934, and 19.77 per cent, for silk from 1930 to 1934).1
Extent of Displacement
Although the computations of the movement of labour productivity do not make it possible to ascertain directly the extent of
unemployment due to rationalisation, they give some idea of the
extensive displacements which rationalisation may involve, and it
is desirable that national statistics should be compiled making it
possible to render such studies more precise and more complete. The
direct but always partial investigations into rationalisation measures
adopted in one or several undertakings throw little light on the
progress of rationalisation in an industry as a whole or in any one
of its separate branches. Except in the countries in which the
textile industry is of quite recent development, with the result
that.equipment may be more or less uniform in type, the technical
standard of plant usually differs considerably from one undertaking to another. The plant used in the textile industry is comparatively expensive, and the average lifetime at least of the more
delicate parts of the machinery is fairly long, owing to the softness
or pliability of the materials handled, so that it would place an
unduly heavy burden of fixed costs on the undertaking to replace
the old plant whenever a new technical improvement became
available. Hence, in countries with an old-established textile
industry there is usually great diversity in the technical equipment
of the undertakings, the newest naturally being equipped with
the most modern plant. It is extremely difficult, if not quite
impossible, to ascertain the real pace at which rationalisation has
proceeded and its effects on employment by means of enquiries
on the spot, and it is therefore hardly profitable to cite here the
particular cases of rationalisation which have been observed in
specific undertakings.2
1
2
TREMELLONI: L'industria tessile italiana, 1936, p. 236.
An especially full report on this subject, covering a large number of
industries, was published in Czechoslovakia in 1932 by the Ministry of Social
Welfare, summarising the reports of the factory inspectors. The title of this
publication is Die Rationalisierung und ihre sozialen Wirkungen.
— 305 —
Mention may be made in conclusion, however, of the especially
detailed estimates made by the investigators of the University of
Manchester as regards the number of workers likely to be displaced
by the introduction of certain machines or methods of production.
High-draft spinning on ring frames is not yet common in the
British cotton industry, where this type of spindle formed only
27 per cent, of all spindles in 1936, as compared with virtually
100 per cent, in Japan and 99 per cent, in the United States.
The change over from low-draft to high-draft spinning in a mill
employing 300 workers would reduce the staff required to 240, and
would also involve extensive changes in its sex and age distribution
as follows:
Men
Women
Youths
Boys
Girls
Old system
76
90
50
54
30
New system
34
169
—
—
37
300
240
High-speed winding and warping, which have been very widely
adopted in the United States but are still uncommon in Lancashire,
would reduce the number of workers necessary to produce a given
output from 56 to 52, 41, 32 or even 14, according to the thoroughness of the system adopted. The " more looms per weaver "
movement, which has not yet been widely introduced, would have
the effect of reducing the number of workers necessary for the
same output as follows:
4 looms
8 looms
Men
Ill
Ill
Women
207
108
Total
318
219
A few extra workers would have to be engaged under the new
system for sweeping, oiling, and clearing away waste, but the
percentage of dismissals would still be very high.
Finally, a change-over from the four-loom system to automatic
looms would enable an output which at present requires 318 workers
in all departments to be produced by only 114 workers. It is
obvious that if these changes in methods of production, which
would have far-reaching effects on employment, have so far been
slow in establishing themselves in Lancashire, this is due to particular causes which are unlikely to disappear within a short space
of time. According to the investigators, it is only the " more
looms per weaver " system which has some chance of establishing
itself fairly rapidly.
20
— 306 —
As already pointed out above, in interpreting the above findings,
allowance must be made for the fact that the data are influenced
by cyclical factors. The selective contraction and expansion of
the labour force and of plant and equipment which employers
practise during the ups and downs of business affect the various
indices of machine and labour productivity. Perhaps the best
comparison is afforded by considering only years of relatively full
production, such as 1929 and 1936, or years of stagnation such as
1921 and 1931-1932.
III.
— T H E STRUCTURAL FACTOR
While technical progress is in itself a cause of changes in the
structure of industry, the concept of structural unemployment,
as used here, is related primarily to changes in consumers' demand
for textiles and to changes in the localisation of supply due to the
movement of capital and labour from older textile to newer textile
producing centres.
The survey given in the preceding chapters shows the importance
of the changes that occurred in the post-war period in the geographical distribution of the textile industry. It is unnecessary to
add that these structural changes have had serious consequences with
regard to the volume of employment in the old and the new textile
centres. The new centres have had to recruit large numbers of
workers and train specialists in the various manufactm ing processes,
whereas in the older centres textile workers have been exposed to
unemployment or short time, with a consequent steady decline
in their standard of living.
As was pointed out above, it is extremely difficult to distinguish
between the decline in employment due to these structural changes
and that due to other causes. All that can be attempted here is to
review certain facts indicating the existence of what may be called
structural unemployment in certain countries.
Great Britain
Great Britain is undoubtedly one of the countries most seriously
affected by the world-wide structural changes in the textile industry
and the difficulties thereby imposed on an industry that had always
worked mainly for export. There can no longer be any doubt that
the most important branch of the British textile industry, the cotton
— 307 —
industry, is declining.1 The fact that the decline was not purely
cyclical in character is brought out by the index of textile employment as compared with the general index of employment for all
British industries, as shown in table 4. Whereas the fall in the two
sets of index numbers was more or less parallel from 1927 to 1932, the
general index began to rise again from 1933 onwards, reaching a
higher level in 1935 than it had in 1929. But employment in the
cotton industry continued to fall steadily and rapidly, being 20 per
cent, lower in 1935 than it was before the depression. The number
of persons insured in the industry, which was 562,130 in 1927
and 564,080 in 1930, was only 442,400 in 1935 and 420,850 in
July 1936.
TABLE
10.
PERSONS
ENTERING
AND
LEAVING
THE
INDUSTRY, GREAT BRITAIN, FROM 1929 TO 1936
Year
1929
1930
1931
1932
1933
1934
1935
1936
New Entrants
Per cent.
Net effect of
Normal Wastage
and Transfers in
and out. Per cent.
4.6
4.2
3.5
2.9
2.7
2.5
2.6
3.4
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
4.5
2.5
6.0
8.7
6.2
9.0
8.0
8.0
COTTON
X
Number
insured as
Percentage of
preceding year
100.1
101.7
97.5
94.2
96.5
93.5
94.6
95.4
i Ministry of Labour Gazette, November 1929-1936.
In the course of a few years, therefore, nearly 150,000 persons
had lost their employment in the cotton industry and remained
unemployed unless they were able to find jobs elsewhere. Unemployment statistics reflect the consequences of this state of affairs.
During the whole of the cyclical depression the percentage of
unemployed persons in the cotton industry increased much more
rapidly than the percentage of unemployed in industry as a whole
1
In a recent study Sir William Beveridge classified the various branches of
British industrial activity in five groups according to the development of
employment during the period 1923 to 1936. Twelve industries in which
employment fell by more than 20 per cent, during those years were classified as
" declining industries ". Of those, the cotton industry showed a decline in
employment of about 22 per cent, from 1923 to 1935 (W. BEVERIDGE: " An
Analysis of Unemployment ", Economica, November 1936).
— 308 —
(cf. table 4). In 1931 it was 38.4 per cent., as against 21.3 per cent.
for industry in general. After that date it fell gradually but still
remained definitely higher than the general unemployment figure.
The progressive fall in the percentage of unemployment in the
textile industry since 1931 in spite of the constant decrease in
employment clearly indicates that workers were leaving an industry
which had for years been suffering severely from the depression.
Table 10 strikingly illustrates this movement.
It will be seen that from 1931 onwards the departures are much
more numerous than the arrivals: whereas the latter decreased
steadily, the former increased, remaining stable at a comparatively
high level in 1935 and 1936. It is in this way that the annual
reduction of unemployment in this industry has been counterbalanced since 1931. A considerable reduction in the percentage
of unemployment has actually been achieved, but it is still high.
In September 1936 it was still 15, as against 13.6 per cent, for
industry as a whole. If we accept the view that the irreducible
minimum of unemployment should now be estimated at about
7 or 8 per cent, instead of 2 per cent., as before the war,1 it will be
seen that unemployment in the textile industry is still double this
minimum.
Writers who have studied the situation have pointed out the
serious obstacles in the way of a sufficiently rapid restriction of the
volume of employment in the cotton industry and the transfer of
workers to other industries. The enquiry carried out by the
University of Manchester in 1932 into the industrial situation in
Lancashire, brought out three main reasons for the relative immobility of workers in the cotton industry in that year.2 The first
is to be found in the nature of the work and its geographical distribution. A large number of cotton operatives are specialists who
cannot pass to other skilled employment without previous occupational rehabilitation. Moreover, the British cotton industry is
restricted to certain parts of the country and the majority of the
workers therefore live in towns where there are very few opportunities of finding other employment.
The second reason is that the Lancashire cotton industry employs
a very large proportion of married women3 whose earnings help
1
2
Sir William BEVERIDGE: Loe. cit.
An Industrial Survey of the Lancashire Area, made for the Board of Trade
by the University of Manchester, London 1932.
3
In 1921, 28 per cent, of the women employed in the textile industry in
Lancashire were married, whereas the proportion for all other British industries
was only 14 per cent.
— 309 —
to make up " family incomes ". In this case the problem of
transferring the unemployed is rendered difficult by the necessity
for moving whole families, only some of the members of which are
out of employment whereas others can still find employment in
the district. The same difficulty exists also in the case of unmarried young persons, who are often unwilling to leave the
depressed areas, in which they can always rely on their families to
help to maintain them if necessary.
In a later study 1 attention is drawn to another factor, namely,
the high proportion of unemployed men in the upper age groups, in
which the period of unemployment has been prolonged.
Finally, there is the fact t h a t the system of short time and underemployment has been very widely applied in the Lancashire cotton
industry. Undertakings in that industry have thus maintained
many more workers on their staffs than are really required. In
spinning mills the normal method is to close down the factory
entirely for a certain number of days weekly. In weaving a
different system is employed : it is the looms and not the workers
t h a t are thrown out of employment, the number of looms per
worker being reduced. This last form of under-employment
completely escapes the unemployment statistics, and even the
short time worked in spinning mills may not be shown in the
statistics of " workers temporarily stopped ".
In view of this situation the authors of the enquiry set themselves
to consider what was the " normal " level of employment in the
British cotton industry pt the present time—that is, the volume
of employment corresponding to the real producing capacity of
the industry and providing full-time occupation for the workers.
In other words, they tried to determine what was the " surplus "
of labour that should be transferred to other occupations.
For the purposes of its enquiry the University of Manchester
decided that the conditions in 1929 might be considered as " normal ", although it did so with reference to the years preceding that
date rather than with reference to subsequent years. 2 The enquiry
revealed that in 1929 there were some 63,000 unemployed workers
in the cotton industry and t h a t this figure should be increased by
from 10,000 to 15,000 to allow for unemployment concealed in the
form of short time or under-employment. The number of workers
1
Readjustment in Lancashire, by members of the Economics Research
Section of the University of Manchester; Manchester, 1936.
Op. cit., p. 100.
— 310 —
in excess of the normal requirements of the cotton industry in the
Lancashire area was therefore assessed at about 75,000. The
subsequent development of that industry, however,, shows that
from 1929 to 1936 about 134,000 workers were eliminated from
those employed and that in October 1936 there were still about
60,000 registered unemployed workers in the cotton industry.
As the general economic situation in autumn 1936 in Great Britain
was at least as favourable as in 1929, and as the number of registered
unemployed in the cotton industry was practically the same in 1936
as in 1929, it may be concluded that the elimination of some
134,000 persons was not sufficient to rectify the situation on the
employment market in that industry. The 60,000 workers who are
still unemployed represent 15 per cent, of the insured workers.
It is true thai a fraction of these may be taken as the irreducible
minimum referred to above. But even if that minimum were
placed at 7% per cent., the number of " surplus " workers would
still be about 30,000, without taking account of all those who are
working short time or under other forms of under-employment.
But the cotton industry is not the only branch of the British
textile industry affected by that factor. The jute industry would
seem to have suffered even more severely. Employment in that
industry fell in 1932 to 56.3 per cent, of the 1923 level, and had
only risen to barely 64.8 per cent, in 1935. The percentage of
workers unemployed in 1936 stood at the very high level of
27.9 (average for April and Septembei).
In the wool industry, however, the situation is different.
The index of employment fell in 1931 to 73.8, as compared with 100
in 1927. But statistics show (cf. table 4) that the increase since
1931 has been fairly considerable. The number of workers
employed was 160,065 in 1931, and 198,599 in 1936. Consequently
unemployment, which was 28.3 per cent, in 1931, was largely
reabsorbed during the succeeding years. In September 1936 it
was only 9.2 per cent., which is' much lower than the figures for
the cotton and jute industries and even lower than the percentages of unemployment in industry as a whole.
United States
As pointed out on several occasions in this Report, a part of
the cotton industry in the United States was affected by the
systematic displacement of the centre of textile production from
the North to the South of the country. This transfer began
about 1890 and, after a lull during the war period, recommenced
— 311 —
with renewed force in 1920. The ostensible aim of the movement
was to bring the spinning mills near the cotton fields, but the
main reason would appear to have been the differences that
existed between wage rates and other conditions of employment
in the Southern and the Northern States.
The following table shows the changes that took place from 1921
to 1933 in the volume of employment in the cotton industry in
the United States and in the distribution of the workers employed
by that industry in different parts of the country. 1
TABLE 1 1 .
NUMBER OF WAGE EARNERS IN THE COTTON INDUSTRY
IN THE UNITED STATES FROM 1 9 2 1 TO 1 9 3 3
Year
1921
1923
1925
1927
1929
1931
1933
United
States
New England
Southern
districts
. Other
districts
412,058
471,503
445,184
467,596
424,916
329,962
379,445
185,941
194,891
164,074
154,634
127,041
90,127
90,596
178,732
219,207
228,771
260,713
254,839
208,664
256,838
47,385
57,405
52,339
52,249
43,036
31,171
32,011
The total number of persons employed reached its maximum of
almost 472,000 in 1923. In 1931, when the depression was
acute, the figure fell to about 330,000, but rose again to 379,000
in 1933. The trend of the movement, however, was by no means
the same in the Southern States as in New England. During these
thirteen years, the proportion of the total number of workers
employed in the South rose from 46 per cent, in 1923 to 60 per
cent, in 1929 and 68 per cent, in 1933. The volume of employment in the South in 1933 stood at the same level as in 1929.
In New England, on the other hand, employment fell from 186,000
in 1921 to 127,000 in 1929 and continued to decline after that date
until it reached 90,000 in 1931 ; since then it has remained more or
less stationary. Thus, more than half of the workers who depended
on the cotton industry for their livelihood in New England lost
their employment over a period of ten years. The fraction of the
total number of workers in the cotton industry of the United
States employed in that district, which had been 50 per cent.
between 1904 and 1914 and which was still 47 per cent, immediately
after the World War, had fallen to 24 per cent, in 1933.
1
Cabinet
Committee
Report,
p. 52.
— 312 —
Other Countries
Two examples have been given of the unemployment caused
by the tremendous changes on the textile market in the postwar period. These examples obviously do not exhaust the
subject. The workers of the great majority of the European
countries with a textile industry of long standing have probably
suffered more or less severely from the appearance of new competitors on the world market. The whole of the European textile
industry is at present suffering from the disharmony between the
volume of its means of production and of its labour supply and
the markets available for its products. The unemployment among
workers is merely a consequence of the idleness of the machines
on which they should normally work. The figures given below
make it perfectly clear that a large fraction of these machines are
at present lying totally or partially idle. In 1931, the textile
industry of Europe had 99,505,000 spindles and consumed
12,082,000 bales of cotton. On 31 July 1936, the number of
spindles was 91,268,000, whereas the consumption of cotton was
only 8,375,000 bales for the year ending 31 July 1936.1 Thus,
while the number of spindles fell by about 8 per cent., the decrease
in the consumption of cotton was about 31 per cent. That explains
the widespread unemployment and under-employment in the
European cotton industry.
Another indication of the irregularity of employment from which
this industry suffers is provided by the statistics of the number
of hours during which spindles were stopped during any given
period. This may be called the short time worked by spindles,
which obviously means under-employment for the workers in the
spinning mills. The following are the data, expressed in terms of
a 48-hour working week, for a few of the important textile countries
of Europe.2
PERIOD
DURING WHICH
SPINDLES WERE
STOPPED, EXPRESSED
TERMS OF A 48-HOUR WORKING WEEK, DURING THE
IN
YEAR
ENDING 31 JULY 1935
Czechoslovakia
France
Great Britain
Italy
Number of weeks
22.58
18.53
14.18
25.11
1
International Cotton Bulletin, September 1936, and Dr. O. BANKWITZ:
" The Causes of the Depression in the World's Cotton Industry, and Means to
overcome them ", in International Cotton Bulletin, July-August 1933.
2
International Cotton Bulletin, September 1935.
— 313 —
In those four countries, therefore, from 14 to 25 weeks of 48 hours
each were lost in a single year because of the temporary stoppage
of spindles. It is easy to imagine the volume of complete or
partial unemployment that must have resulted.
When considering the extent of the structural unemployment
that affected many of the " older " textile countries, the question
arises as to the extent to which this has been offset by an extension
of employment in the " new " countries. Of greatest importance
in this connection are the three largest Asiatic textile countries:
Japan, China and India. For the last two of these there are,
unfortunately, no statistics to throw light on the question. The
number of spindles in China increased from 3,433,000 in 1927 to
4,952,000 in 1936, while in India it increased from 8,714,000 to
9,686,000 in the same period. Normally a development of this
kind should mean an increase in employment, but the example of
Japan proves that there is no inevitable connection between the
two phenomena. The employment index numbers for the three
main branches of the textile industry in Japan have already been
cited.1 They show that, notwithstanding the very considerable
extension of plant 2 and of production in the Japanese textile
industry in the last decade, employment has decreased steadily.
From 1929 to 1936 it fell by 11 per cent, in spinning mills and by
27 per cent, in silk reeling, whereas in weaving it remained at the
1929 level. As was indicated above, this is one of the consequences
of the tremendous progress made in industrial rationalisation in
that country. In India, also, it seems that the output per worker
has increased, though to a less extent than in Japan.
The serious consequences of the changes in the structure of the
world textile industry, from the point of view of employment, have
been further complicated by certain events of a technical, rather
than of an economic, nature—the development of new branches of
the textile industry and more particularly of the artificial silk
industry. The influence of this development on the employment
of workers must certainly have been considerable, for the production of synthetic fibres increased from 12 million tons in 1916 to
516 million tons in 1935. It is difficult, however, to obtain an exact
idea of the nature and extent of this influence.
1
2
See Chapter XIII.
The number of spindles has been almost doubled in ten years, rising from
5,680,000 in February 1927 to 10,595,000 in February 1936.
— 314 —
Much has been said of the competition between artificial silk,
on the one hand, and the natural silk and cotton industries on the
other, and it is alleged that the decline of the two latter industries is
due to the competition of the former. In support of this, the Italian
natural silk industry has been taken as an example, for it was formerly very prosperous and is now in a state of decline. It is true
t h a t the index of employment in the Italian silk spinning mills fell
from about 100 in 1928 to 36 in 1934 (cf. table 4), but employment
also declined to a very marked degree in the artificial silk industry in
t h a t country (from 100 in 1928 to 53 in 1934), so that it was
certainly not that industry that benefited from the change in
Italy.
In Great Britain, the development of artificial silk would seem,
on the whole, to have helped to relieve the situation on the employment market for the textile industries. The employment index
for silk and artificial silk rose by more than 45 per cent, from 1927
to 1930 and, although it declined after that date as a result of the
depression, the fall was never more than 11 per cent, at the maximum. From 1934 onwards the upward trend was resumed and the
volume of employment in September 1936 was 8.5 per cent, higher
than in 1929. It is probable indeed that this extension of the
possibilities of employment in the silk and artificial silk branches
provided fresh occupation for some of the unemployed workers
eliminated from the depressed sections of the textile industry.
It must be emphasised again t h a t it is, generally speaking,
extremely difficult to express in figures the influence that changes in
the share of the total textile output produced by the different
branches have had on the employment of workers in those branches.
The change from the production of cotton to that of artificial
silk can often be made without any change in industrial equipment.
The American report already referred to l points out that, at the
beginning of 1934, about one-third of the looms formerly used for
the weaving of fine cotton goods were being used almost exclusively
for the manufacture of rayon fabrics. In such a case, even a very
marked decline in the production of cotton, accompanied by a
parallel increase in the output of artificial silk, may not involve
any change in the actual level of employment. Moreover, in spite
of the fears expressed when artificial silk first appeared on the textile
market, this new product has not proved to be merely a competitor
but is, in many cases, an auxiliary for the older textile fibres. The
1
Cabinet Committee Report, page 82.
— 315 —
growing use of mixed fabrics (artificial silk mixed with cotton, silk
or wool) often means an increase in the consumption of cotton,
silk or wool yarn, and not a decrease.1
The influence of this factor is further complicated by the effects
of changes in fashion and in the habits of the public. These very
sudden and very marked changes are one of the characteristic
features and one of the chief risks of textile production. Their
influence on the employment of workers is undoubted, but there
is no practical means of isolating it from the influence of other
factors and expressing it in figures.
IV. — SUMMARY
A more complete study of the problems of employment and
unemployment in the textile industry would have to consider such
aspects as seasonal fluctuations, the influence of fashion, labour
turnover, etc. These questions, however, were omitted in order to
concentrate attention upon the three major factors whose influence
has been especially important during the past years. Though
the analysis made upon the basis of available material does not
supply an exact picture of the situation, it nevertheless warrants
some general conclusions.
There is no doubt that the employment situation in the textile
industry was seriously affected by the business cycle during the
years following 1929. The effects showed themselves not only in
a large amount of unemployment but also in various forms of
under-employment ; the latter, however, seems at all times to be
more widespread in the textile industry than in other industries.
Though the different branches of the textile industry were
affected by the economic depression, the trend of employment in
each one of these branches has been quite different since recovery
began. While some of the branches of the industry have participated
in the general upward movement, other branches, especially the
cotton and silk textile industries, have shown a continued decline in
employment. Unemployment in these two branches has remained
considerable, indicating the action of other than cyclical factors.
Among the latter factors, undoubtedly one of the very important
has been the increase in labour productivity due to technical
1
R. DELMOTTE: " L e développement de l'industrie de la soie artificielle
dans le monde ", Fils et Tissus, December 1933.
— 316 —
progress. The influence of this factor is especially evident in Japan
and Italy. It is clearly discernible also in the United States.
On the other hand, it is much less important in the United Kingdom.
The continued unemployment from which some branches of the
textile industry in Great Britain suffer, especially the cotton textile
industry, must be attributed above all to the changes which have
taken place since the war in the structure of markets. These
changes have affected adversely old centres of textile production
and have raised for such centres and regions important problems
as regards the reorganisation of industry and the readaptation of
their labour force.
CHAPTER XIII
ECONOMIC FACTORS AND LABOUR STANDARDS
In the preceding chapters, the economic and social conditions
of the world textile industry have been described in some detail.
and the major problems which the industry has faced in recent
years have been outlined. It may be helpful to recapitulate the
main findings. Briefly, owing to the spread of modern machine
technology, the textile industry had begun, some time before 1929,
to experience difficulties in countries where it had reached earlier
a high stage of development. The dispersion of the textile industry
to new countries and regions was greatly stimulated by the depression and by the economic policies to which the depression gave rise.
Largely as a result of this process, pre-existing channels of the world
trade in textiles were clogged up for some producers and reshaped as
between particular exporting and importing countries. In the
face of general curtailment of industrial activity after 1929, the
rapid expansion of textile output and exports in and from a fewcountries which were able to exploit special home or export markets,
accentuated the difficulties of all other textile manufacturing
countries and aggravated the condition of their workers.
The complicated developments in the production of and trade
in textiles, brought into existence, in a number of regions,
" stranded populations " and " distressed areas " characterised by
unemployment, irregular earnings, and declining standards of
living. On the other hand, some countries in which the textile industry was expanding showed many of the features of a first rapid
industrialisation such as low wages, long hours, and unusually high
employment of women and children, despite increasing production
and exports. The pre-existing national variations in wage rates and
hours of work widened, resulting in an accentuation of international competition which hampered the efforts made in some
countries to regulate national wages and working hours on a
better plane. The general dislocations of the period due to falling
— 318 —
prices, monetary and commercial policies, and general economic
measures necessarily worsened labour conditions also in the textile
industry.
At the present time some of the factors which made for confusion
and disorder in the textile industry between 1930 and 1934 have
been considerably changed. First and foremost, economic recovery
has become worldwide, and its tempo has been accelerated. Second,
the textile industry has been experiencing for some time a pronounced revival in most countries, and the trend is still upward.
The turn in the condition of the industry in a number of countries
may be seen from table 1.
TABLE
1.
I N D I C E S OF I N D U S T R I A L P R O D U C T I O N IN THE
INDUSTRY FOR SELECTED COUNTRIES,
(1929 =
1933
Germany . . .
Austria
. . . .
Belgium . . . .
Canada
. . . .
Chile
Denmark . . .
United States .
Finland . . . .
France
. . . .
Greece
. . . .
Hungary . . .
Italy
Japan
. . . .
Poland
. . . .
United Kingdom
Sweden
. . . .
Czechoslovakia .
(a)
(6)
(c)
(d)
98.1
89.3
64.8
99.5
253.3
132.2
84.3
103.5
80.4
134.5
115.6
75.0
114.4
65.7
91.2
*
63.3
1934
1935
106.8
98.3
111.2 128.5
48.8
60.3
114.1
98.8
264.9 296.6
142.6 139.9
73.9
90.4
127.2 141.2
68.5
70.7
152.6 159.3
129.4 123.1
72.4
75.3
126.2 135.9
73.8
77.9
93.4
98.0
(99) (100)
75.9
73.9
TEXTILE
1933-1936
100)
June
1935
Jan.
1936
June
1936
Sept. or
Oct. 1936
89.1
104.8
68.3
101.9
350.4
135.3
87.0
137.7(a)
69.6
148.0
115.8 (o)
71.3
134.3
78.1
96.2(a)
(98)
68.6
100.8
148.6
86.2
134.2
228.6
148.8
91.3
124.6(6)
77.2
157.5
127.5.(6)
99.7
124.9
58.0
109.4
296.1
164.3
93.0
134.2(a)
65.2
165.9
149.5(a)
109.1
143.1
87.0
152.8
152.7
158.1
99.1
144.7 (c)
76.1
*
*
*
*
*
113.0
129.4
143.5(a)
80.3
81.2
81.9
103.0(6) 101.0(d) 99.3 (c)
(104)
(108)
(109)
89.0
85.8
90.7
Second quarter.
First quarter.
Tliird quarter.
September.
SOURCE. — L E A G U E OF N A T I O N S : Monthly Bulletin o¡ Statistics,
Dec. 1936, p . 557.
The increase of activity shown in table 1 is not uniform for all
countries, the variations depending in part on the stage of the general
recovery in which the national economy as a whole happens to
be. But the general upward trend is unmistakable. All indications seem to point to the conclusion that this upward trend in the
textile industry is likely to be of some duration. Even assuming
— 319 —
t h a t the rate of advance in the textile industry in the near future
will only equal that of 1925-1929, it would mean a considerable
range of expansion in textile production and trade.
Third, some of the principal obstacles to international action
in the textile industry are to-day shrinking in magnitude, although
their importance is still great. Recent monetary developments
promise to eliminate further currency devaluations as an instrument of international competition in the course of the next few
years. And concurrently with the trend towards the narrowing of
disparities in exchange rates and towards greater monetary stability, some of the barriers to the flow of textile commodities in
world trade are being slowly broken down. Thus the devaluation
of the gold bloc currencies coincided with a good deal of liberalising
in the system of import quotas and licences. Again, rising commodity prices in the open world markets are operating to redirect some
countries which have been relying upon barter arrangements
into the more economic channels of world market trading. Finally,
the lagging of wage rates behind commodity prices, usual during
a period of recovery, means that the general importance of labour
cost differentials as an element in international competition is
likely to diminish.
The general question may now be asked : How do the econmico
factors in the textile industry affect the problem of labour standards on the international plane ? In the light of the changes in
textile production and trade described above, what problems must
be faced in the attempt to improve social conditions in the industry
in a manner consistent with economic exigencies ?
An answer to the general problem raised implies an answer to a
series of more detailed and specific questions. How, for instance,
does the present recovery in the textile industry facilitate the
problem of taking international action to raise labour standards ?
Is the present revival of the textile industry taking place under
financial conditions—structure of capitalisation, burden of indebtedness, etc.—more favourable to continued profitability than those
of the post-war prosperity ? As unemployment decreases and
wages and earnings rise generally, how far is effective demand for
textile goods both in industrial and agricultural countries likely to
increase ? How would shorter working hours affect the retail prices
of and the effective demand for textile goods in different markets ?
To what extent may it be expected t h a t increased direct costs on
account of labour, raw materials, etc., will be offset by increased
volume of production and sales ?
— 320 —
There are other important questions which arise out of the data
presented in this Report. How are total costs and cost structures
in particular countries affected by simultaneous changes in commodity prices and wage rates ? To what extent are capacity and
output being expanded by the increasing modernisation of plant
and equipment in many countries and with what repercussions
upon the question of " over-production " and " under-consumption " ? To what extent likewise are technological improvements
in the textile industry operating to raise machine and labour
productivity and how does this affect the ability of the industry
to sustain measurably higher labour standards ? How would
man-hour output respond to a shortened work-week in particular
countries and regions, and with what reaction upon labour costs ?
How far could the effects of shortened work-weeks be offset by
varying the present systems of work assignments and work
shifts ?
Last, but not least, there is the question of the most efficacious
measures under particular local circumstances for dealing with
" stranded populations " or " distressed areas ". Should the attitude
be that of waiting for the play of " natural forces " to liquidate
redundant plant and surplus labour force ? Should a programme
of cutting down potential capacity be pursued, as in the United
Kingdom ? Or should legislation to level up labour standards in
competing districts be enacted as under the N.R.A. codes in the
United States ?
An answer to these questions would necessitate more specific
studies on costs of production, wages, the relation of working
periods to productivity, etc., than have so far been made available.
All that can be done in this chapter is to summarise certain enquiries
on wages, hours of work, costs and profits made in the United
States and Japan and to indicate other available facts which may
throw some light on the problems indicated.
I. — W A G E S , HOURS OF W O R K , PRICES AND P R O F I T S :
T H E UNITED STATES
The only country in which special studies on the interrelation
of wages, hours of work, prices and profits in the textile industry
have been made is the United States by the Federal Trade Commission. These studies are summarised here because of their
interest and suggestiveness.
— 321 —
Under the N.R.A. Codes for textile manufacturing, the maximum
permissible hours of work were reduced to the general level of
40 a week, with compensating increases in hourly wage rates
sufficient to maintain pre-code weekly earnings. In the sequel,
however, the trade unions concerned began to press demands for
still shorter hours and still higher rates of pay. These demands
were founded on the circumstances, first, of rising costs of living
which in part offset the increased wage rates; and second, of
N.R.A. orders authorising curtailment of maximum machinehours to be operated (for cotton textiles at least) with no compensating increase in minimum wages, which were §13 a week in
the North and $12 a week in the South. As a result of labour
discontent to which this gave rise, the President of the United
States instructed the Federal Trade Commission to undertake a
series of enquiries into labour costs, profits and investments in
the textile manufacturing industries.1
The Federal Trade Commission puts emphasis on two questions
which are of interest here: (1) Comparing specified periods before
and after the N.R.A. Codes, what changes occurred in labour and
raw material costs as percentages of total production costs ? and
(2) What increases in prices of textiles might be necessitated by
reductions in hours of work accompanied by offsetting wage
increases if profit margins were to be retained at their former
levels ? The Federal Trade Commission treats these questions
separately for cotton, woollen and worsted, silk and rayon; for
spinning and throwing, weaving, dyeing and finishing, etc. ; for
non-integrated as compared with integrated undertakings; and for
enterprises operating on the basis of stocks purchased as compared
with enterprises working on commission. All that can be done
here is to summarise the results of these enquiries as briefly as
possible.
Labour, Raw Material and Total Costs
Between June 1933 and June 1935, hourly wage rates in the
textile industry rose considerably, to compensate for shortened
hours of work as shown in table 2.
As a result of these changes in wage rates and working hours,
the percentage of labour costs to total costs of production tended
1
L. L.
1935, pp.
instructed
particular
LORWIN and A. WUBNIG : Labor Relations Boards, Washington,
415-421. At the same time, the Bureau of Labor Statistics was
to undertake inquiries regarding wages, hours and earnings with
emphasis on regional differentials.
21
— 322 —
TABLE
AND
2.
INDICES
OF AVERAGE
OF AVERAGE
HOURLY
HOURS WORKED
EARNINGS,
UNITED
PER WEEK
STATES
TEXTILE
INDUSTRY, 1932-1935
(January 1932 = 100)
A. — Average Hours Worked per Week
December 1932
March 1933
J u n e 1933
September 1933
December 1933
March 1934
J u n e 1934
September 1934
December 1934
March 1935
J u n e 1935
Cotton
goods
Woollen
and
worsted
goods
Silk
and
rayon
goods
Dyeing
and
finishing
Knit
goods
106.1
102.5
114.3
83.0
77.7
83.2
67.5
78.1
83.7
82.9
75.6
112.1
93.3
123.2
96.0
88.4
89.7
83.9
80.1
96.0
95.3
98.1
108.0
95.3
108.7
86.5
81.3
88.1
83.8
75.3
91.9
91.7
87.2
98.2
95.8
112.4
77.3
78.6
81.1
65.6
77.4
80.4
80.2
69.9
107.7
94.0
110.5
86.2
81.4
88.0
83.0
81.0
87.3
88.5
77.1
B. — Average Hourly
December 1932
March 1933 . .
June 1933 . .
September 1933
December 1933
March 1934 . .
June 1934 . .
September 1934
December 1934
March 1935 . .
June 1935 . .
Earnings
Cotton
goods
Woollen
and
worsted
goods
Silk
and
rayon
goods
Dyeing
and
finishing
82.6
79.0
83.0
133.7
137.1
137.1
140.5
137.1
139.8
140.5
140.3
76.1
73.1
72.3
99.4
102.8
104.9
107.2
107.2
102.7
104.2
103.1
73.9
72.6
74.4
104.3
105.8
106.9
110.5
112.9
110.5
111.7
112.1
82.6
81.0
78.8
105.4
111.0
111.4
112.7
115.4
117.0
116.0
114.4
SOURCE: United States, 74 Congress, Second Session, Hearings on U.R. 9072, "To
Rehabilitate and Stabilize Labor Conditions in the Textile Industry of the United States ",
Statement of A. F. Hinrichs, Chief Economist, Bureau of Labor Statistics, pp. 304-305.
to rise in most branches and sections of textile manufacturing.
No clear and definite conclusions can be drawn from the behaviour
of the labour percentage; for raw material prices as well as the
— 323 —
prices of semi-manufactures and of accessory supplies were changing
profoundly during the period under review ; while a processing tax,
in accordance with the Agricultural Adjustment Act, began to be
levied on the " first processing " of cotton after June 1933. The
changes in the prices of at least raw materials during the period
considered may be seen from table 3.
TABLE 3 . -— WHOLESALE PRICES OF REPRESENTATIVE GRADES OF
TEXTILE FIBRES IN THE UNITED STATES, 1 9 3 2 - 1 9 3 5
(annual and monthly averages (in cents per lb.))
IRaw cotton (a) R a w wool (b)
R a w silk (c) Rayon yarn (<J)
1
(18.7)
(164)
6.2
9.5
11.1
18.0
32.0
42.0
144
200
147
(1933)
(8.5)
(31.2)
(163)
(61)
Jan. 1934 . . .
June 1934 . . . '
Jan. 1935 . . .
11.1
12.2
12.7
42.0
31.0
26.0
147
122
149
65
55
60
(1934)
(12.3)
(33.3)
(132)
(58)
12.7
12.0
26.0
30.0
149
139
60
55
(1932)
(6.3)
Jan. 1933 . . .
June 1933 . . .
Jan. 1934 . . .
Jan. 1935 . . .
.June 1935 . . .
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
At
At
At
At
(64)
.
60
60
65
New Orleans.
Boston.
New - York.
New York.
SOURCE : GERMANY: Statistisches Jahrbuch, Internationale Vebersichten, 1934, 1935. 1936.
The actual changes which took place in the composition of
textile costs in the United States during the period under consideration may be seen from tables 4, 5 and 6 which give the data
for cotton, wool, silk and rayon separately.
In a complete analysis, much more than the price increments
of the textile fibres would have to be taken into account. Chemicals
and dyes are important raw materials in dyeing and finishing
plants; yarn is a raw material for non-integrated weaving mills;
grey cloth, similarly, a raw material for finishing establishments
operating on stock. The internal accounting price of yarn need
not exactly correspond, moreover, to the open market price.
— 324 —
TABLE 4 .
PERCENTAGES OF MILL COST (a) REPRESENTED BY
RAW MATERIAL AND BY LABOUR, UNITED STATES COTTON
' MANUFACTURING COMPANIES, SPECIFIED
Type of company
Jan. to .Tulv to Dec.
June 1933
1933
Spinning :
R a w material
Processing t a x
53.0
.
Labour
Total
Weaving :
R a w material
Processing t a x
Labour
Total
Combined spinning
R a w material
Processing t a x
and
Total
Stock dyeing and finishing :
R a w material
Processing t a x
Dyes and chemicals
Labour
Total
Total
(a)
43.0
12.6
47.7
11.6
53.0
55.6
59.3
23.8
26.1
24.4
76.8
81.7
83.7
63.5
.
61.0
1.2
62.2
63.5
62.2
62.2
21.5
22.4
23.3
85.0
84.6
85.5
47.0
.
39.3
11.4
43.2
9.5
47.0
50.7
52.7
27.1
28.8
27.3
74.1
79.5
80.0
75.9
.
.
77.7
1.9
.
65.9
79.6
74.3
12.1
10.1
13.1
88.0
89.7
87.4
34.2
.
.
31.9
0.4
.
1.5
31.7
34.2
32.3
33.2
36.2
39.1
35.9
70.4
71.4
69.1
•75.9
Labour
Jan. to
June 1935
weaving:
Labour
Commission dyeing and
R a w material
Processing t a x
Dyes and chemicals
PERIODS
8.4
finishing:
Mill cost includes mill overhead but excludes general and administrative expenses.
SOURCE. — UNITED STATES FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION: Textile Industries in the First
Half o/ 1935, Part 1, p. 4.
— 325 —
It is apparent from table 4 that the percentage of labour to
total costs rose sharply in all but one branch of cotton manufacturing between the first and second half of 1933, the critical period
when the N.R.A. Codes were introduced. The necessary inference,
in view of the abrupt upward movement of raw and accessory
material costs during the same interval, is that the shorter workweek and higher hourly wages under the Codes tended to increase
the weight of labour in the total cost structure. Between the
second half of 1933 and the first half of 1935, as table 4 also shows,
the labour percentage fell in some branches and rose in others.
This was mainly the result of the interaction of the complicated
movements of wage rates and commodity prices at varying rates.
Table 5 below presents similar data for woollen and worsted
undertakings.
TABLE 5 .
PERCENTAGES OF MILL COST (il) REPRESENTED BY
RAW MATERIAL AND LABOUR, UNITED STATES WOOLLEN AND
WORSTED COMPANIES, FOR SPECIFIED
Type of company
Jan. to
June 1933
Spinning :
R a w material
Labour
Total
Weaving :
R a w material
Labour
Total
Combined spinning
R a w material
Labour
and
Jan. to
June 1935
60.6
22.1
63.2
21.9
63.2
23.8
82.7
85.1
87.0
71.0
19.3
72.5
19.1
74.0
18.6
" 90.3
91.6
92.6
48.3
32.1
52.5
31.4
51.5
31.7
80.4
83.9
83.2
39.5
36.0
35.3
39.8
21.4(6)
47.0
75.5
75.1
68.4
companies :
Total
(a)
(6)
Julv to
Dec. 1933
weaving:
Total
Dyeing and finishing
R a w material .
Labour
PERIODS
Mill cost includes mill overhead but excludes general and administrative expenses.
Dyes and chemicals.
SOUBCE. — UNITED STATES FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION: Textile Industries in the First
Half oí 19-35, Part 2, p. 4.
— 326 —
In contrast to the case of cotton manufacturing, the percentage
of labour to total costs for woollen and worsted manufacturing
enterprises declined between the first and second half of 1933 and
then rose somewhat between the last half of 1933 and the first
half of 1935. This behaviour of the labour percentage parallels
more or less closely a steep rise in raw wool prices between 1933
and 1934 and a still steeper decline between 1934 and June 1935.
Table 6 below presents similar data for silk and rayon establishments.
Inasmuch as the prices of raw silk and of raw rayon were
declining but moderately during the period under review, while
chemical and dye prices were comparatively rigid, the pronounced
increases in the labour percentage of total costs for almost all
types of silk and rayon establishments represent very largely the
impact of the N.R.A. Codes in forcing up wage rates to offset
reduced hours of work.
In brief, the studies of the Federal Trade Commission of the
changing internal cost structure of textile manufacturing between
1933 and 1935 serve to illustrate the difficulties of trying to trace
the exact results to be attributed to a shorter working week with
unchanged weekly earnings. Such analysis is complicated by the
fact that, under ordinary circumstances, wage rate changes are
accompanied by changes in commodity prices, rates of activity,
man-hour and machine-hour output, etc. Changes in commodity
prices alone would be sufficient to obscure and disguise the independent influence of variations in working hours and wage rates
upon the structure of costs. As already pointed out in another
connection raw material costs ordinarily weigh from two to three
times more than labour costs in the total composition of textile
manufacturing costs. Accordingly, therefore, variations in the
internal structure of manufacturing costs will reflect the incidence oi altered commodity prices much more than that of altered
wage rates. Thus, as commodity prices rise or fall, the importance
of wage differentials tends to diminish or increase inversely.
Labour Costs and Profit Margins
The second question considered by the Federal Trade Commission
is as follows: If, at specified periods before and after the N.R.A.
Codes came into effect, weekly working hours had been reduced
by given percentages with compensating increases in hourly wage
rates, by how much would it have been necessary to raise selling
— 327 —
TABLE
6.
PERCENTAGES OF MILL COST (à) REPRESENTED BY
RAW MATERIAL AND BY LABOUR, UNITED STATES SILK AND RAYON
COMPANIES, FOR SPECIFIED
A. — Companies
Operating
PERIODS
on Stock
Jan. to
June 1933
Throwing :
R a w material
Labour
Total
Weaving :
R a w material
Labour
Total
Combined throwing
R a w material
Labour
and
B . — Companies
Total
Weaving :
R a w material
Labour
^
Total
72.6
17.5
78.6
14.0
90.9
90.1
92.6
59.8
21.3
55.3
25.1
49.4
29.7
81.1
80.4
79.1
51.8
27.0
53.7
30.4
45.0
31.1
78.8
84.1
76.1
on
Commission
0.9
62.8
0.9
67.1
2.7
66.0
63.7
68.0
68.7
6.0
68.8
3.7
70.5
1.2
74.4
74.8
74.2
75.6
4.7
62.4
3.1
66.1
1.2
67.6
67.1
69.2
68.8
weaving:
Total
Dyeing and finishing:
R a w material
Dyes a n d chemicals
Labour
Total
(a)
76.5
14.4
Operating
Throwing :
R a w material
Labour
and
Jan. to
June 1935
weaving:
Total
Combined throwing
R a w material
Labour
July to
Dec. 1933
36.8
.
33.2
.
32.9
36.8
33.2
32.9
33.6
35.2
38.9
70.4
68.4 -
71.8
Siili cost includes mill overhead but not general and administrative expenses.
SOURCE. — UNITED STATES FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION: Textile Industries in the First
Half of 1935, Part 3, pp. 5-6.
— 328 —
prices in order to preserve profit margins ? In analysing this
question—which may be called the question of " necessary price
increments "—the Federal Trade Commission enquiries go a long
way toward determining the pressure of increased labour costs on
profit margins. It should be kept in mind, in the analysis which
follows, that the calculations reproduced do not represent the
" necessary price increments " resulting from mere compliance
with code provisions on maximum hours and minimum wages
(comparing the first half of 1933 with later periods) or from falling
below maximum code hours and rising above minimum code
wages (comparing the second half of 1933 with later periods).
Instead, the calculations represent the necessary price increments
during each period considered, for specified reductions in average
hours actually worked accompanied by unchanged average weekly
earnings, on the assumption of unchanged productivity. In other
words, the procedure of the enquiry is first to determine the increase
in wage rates required to maintain weekly earnings despite a
specified reduction in the work-week; then to add the amount
of that increase to the total wage bill; and finally to compute the
effects on profits or losses.
Table 7 below presents the relevant data for cotton manufacturing :
TABLE 7.
PERCENTAGE INCREASE IN PRICE TO COVER INCREASED
LABOUR COSTS IF HOURS ACTUALLY WORKED HAD BEEN DECREASED
BY SPECIFIED PERCENTAGES IN SPECIFIED PERIODS WITHOUT
DECREASING WEEKLY WAGES
Cotton
Percentage of necessary increase in selling price
Specified
percentage
of
reduction
in hours
of work
Spinning
companies
io
CO
. CO
crt e3
CO
=2
sM c3
. CO
u h
Weaving
companies
CO
CO
=>2
m
CO
CO
CO
<=2
. CO
C S
ct 3
. CO
3 c
•rtS
Companies
combining
spinning and
weaving
. CO
CO
°2
. CO
C S
rt 3
Dyeing and finishing
companies
Stock
companies
CO
CO
in
. CO
CO
CO
=>2
C =
c3 3
Commission
companies
m
CO
=2
ac
a e
. CO
ca
rt 3
. CO
art a3
H h
CS 3
2.5
5.0
10.0
20.0
25.0
0.5
1.1
2.3
5.3
7.0
0.6
1.2
2.6
5.9
7.8
0.5
0.9
2.0
4.5
5.9
0.5
1.1
2.3
5.1
6.8
0.6
1.3
2.7
6.0
8.0
0.7
1.4
3.0
6.7
8.9
0.3
0.6
1.2
2.6
3.5
0.3
0.7
1.4
3.1
4.2
0.8
1.7
3.5
7.9
10.6
0.8
1.7
3.6
8.2
10.9
Textile Industries in the First
Half o/ 1935, Part I, p. 10; The Textile Industries in 1933 and 1934 (mimeograp
Part I, pp. 7, 14, 20 and 29.
SOURCES: UNITED STATES FEDERAI TRADE COMMISSION:
— 329 —
As may be seen from table 7, for all groups of cotton manufacturing, the necessary price increments were set at a somewhat
higher level in the first half of 1935 than in the first half of 1933.
This upward tilting is to be attributed, in large part, to the cumulative effects of the increased labour costs supervening between 1933
and 1935 in consequence of code provisions.
Table 8 below presents similar data for woollen and worsted
manufacturing:
TABLE 8 .
P E R C E N T A G E I N C R E A S E I N P R I C E TO C O V E R
INCREASED
L A B O U R COSTS I F H O U R S A C T U A L L Y W O R K E D H A D B E E N
BY
SPECIFIED
PERCENTAGES
IN SPECIFIED
DECREASING WEEKLY
Woollen
and
DECREASED
PERIODS
WITHOUT
WAGES
Worsted
Percentage of necessary increase in selling price
Specified
percentage of
reduction in
hours of
work
2.5
5.0
10.0
20.0
25.0
Spinning
companies
Jan. to
June
1933
J a n . to
June
1935
0.5
1.0
2.2
4.9
6.5
0.6
1.2
2.4
5.5
7.3
SOURCES: UNITED
Weaving
companies
J a n . to
June
1933
0.4
0.9
1.9
4.3
5.7 •
STATES F E D E R A L
Companies
combining
spinning and
weaving
Dyeing
and
finishing
companies
Jan', to
June
1935
J a n . to
June
1933
J a n . to
June
1935
Jan. to
June
1933
J a n . to
June
1935
0.4
0.9
1.9
4.3
5.7
0.7
1.5
3.1
7.1
9.4
0.7
1.5
3.1
7.1
9.4
0.8
1.5
3.2
8.5
9.7
1.2
2.4
5.1
11.4
15.2
Textile
Industries
T R A D E COMMISSION:
Half of 1935, P a r t I I , p . 1 2 ; The Textile Industries
P a r t I I , pp. 8, l i , 20, 25.
in
the
First
in 1933 and 1934 (mimeographed),
The behaviour of the necessary price increments strongly suggests
the operation of cost-price factors essentially similar to those of
cotton manufacturing.
In considering the findings summarised above, it is necessary to
keep in mind that the enquiries of the Federal Trade Commission
presuppose that labour productivity would be unchanged by the
shortening of the work-week—in other w7ords, that the volume of
man-hour output would remain constant. This assumption leaves
out of account the fact that man-hour output is a variable which
is partially dependent on the length of the working period.
— 330 —
Table 9 below presents equivalent data for silk and rayon
manufacturing.
TABLE 9 .
COSTS
PERCENTAGE
IF HOURS
PERCENTAGES
INCREASE
ACTUALLY
IN S P E C I F I E D
IN PRICE
WORKED
TO COVER
HAD BEEN
INCREASED
DECREASED
PERIODS WITHOUT DECREASING WEEKLY
Silk
and
Commission establishments
Specified
Percentage of necessary increase in selling price
percentage
Companies
Companies
of re- Throwing Weaving
combining
Throwing
Weaving
combining
duc- companies companies weaving and companies
companies weaving and
tion
throwing
throwing
in
CO
in
Iiours
co
in
co
CO
CO
CO
CO
CO
CO
CO
CO
CO
CO
co
CO
of
o
2
o
2
o
2
o
2
O
^
°2
work o 2
. CJ
. CD
. CJ
. CD
. ü
. a;
. o
. CD
. CD
3 C
a
s
t= S3
G
C
cc
es 3
eö 3
ee a 3 c«
aa
C3.3
• ^
0.3
0.7
1.4
3.2
4.3
2.5
5.0
10.0
20.0
25.0
SOURCES:
r-S !—
0.3
0.7
1.4
3.2
4.3
UNITED
HsHS
0.5
1.0
2.1
4.8
6.4
.
c3 3
0.7
1.4
3.0
6.7
8.9
0.6
1.3
2.7
6.1
8.2
0.7
1.5
3.2
7.2
9.6
cS 3
1.4
2.8
5.9
13.2
17.6
1.5
3.1
6.6
14.9
19.8
STATES F E D E R A L T R A D E COMMISSION:
P a r t I I I , p . 14; The Textile Industries
27, 32, 36.
WAGES
Rayon
Stock establishments
eö 3
LABOUR
B Y SPECIFIED
1.6
3.3
7.0
15.6
20.9
Textile
1.8
3.6
7.7
17.3
23.0
Industries
Dyeing and
finishing
companies
CO
CO
io
°2
£^
. CJ
. CD
CO
3 =
rt 3
t-ïf-S
i-si-s
s a
cä 3
(—1-5
1.4
2.9
6.1
13.6
18.1
1.7
3.5
7.5
16.8
22.4
0.8
1.7
3.5
8.0
10.6
1.0
2.0
4.3
9.6
12.8
in
the First
Half
of
1935,
in 1933 and 1934 (mimeographed), P a r t III, p p . 6, 11, 16, 2 1 .
Although the Federal Trade Commission enquiries also present
calculations of the actual rate of return on investment for specified
pre-code and post-code periods, these rates are not directly relevant
to the present analysis. Generally speaking, earnings improved between the first and second half of 1933, and thereafter deteriorated up
to, in any event, the first half of 1935. But it would be entirely erroneous to try to correlate movements in the rate of" profit with movements in wage rates and with the latter movements alone. Textile raw
material prices were fluctuating throughout the period, followed
by sympathetic but lagging variations in the prices of semi-finished
and fully manufactured textile products. Equally important, there
were wide variations in volume of output with the usual inverse
repercussions upon unit costs on overhead account.
II. — BUSINESS EXPANSION, EMPLOYMENT AND WAGES:
JAPAN
Another country which has made available a considerable amount
of information on the relation of business activity, profits and wages,
— 331 —
is Japan. As is well known, since 1931 the national economy of
Japan has been experiencing a rapid expansion; the textile industry
in particular grew in volume of output and exports. Profits and
dividends of important categories of Japanese textile companies
between 1928 and 1935 may be seen from table 10.
TABLE
10.
PROFITS
AND
DIVIDENDS
IN
JAPANESE
TEXTILE
MANUFACTURING, 1928-1935
Year
(second half)
1928
1929
1930
1931
1932
1933
1934
1935
Profits
(per cent.
on capital)
All textile
manufacturing
20.0
9.3
0.7
12.3
8.4
17.7
16.8
17.9 (a)
Dividends paid (a)
(per cent, on capital)
Cotton
spinning
companies
Woollen
textile
mills
19.5
19.2
14.1
12.6
13.3
13.9
16.2
15.5
8.0
5.6
4.7
5.6
6.2
6.9
8.3
8.6
(a) First half-year.
SOURCE: Japanese Trade and Industry, 1936, pp. 143-144.
Thus, to judge by the profit and dividend rates, Japanese textile
manufacturing has been a prosperous industry ever since 1928;
and became even more prosperous with the increase in exports
after 1931. At the same time, as shown elsewhere,1 the
efficiency of Japanese textile workers increased considerably
during these years. Nevertheless, despite these conditions generally favourable to an improvement in labour standards, employment in the textile industry of Japan increased much less rapidly
than volume of production while both money and real wages
declined, as may be seen from table 11.
As already pointed out in Chapter X, when considering wage
movements in Japan it is necessary to take into account the
increased relative employment of young girls and the custom of
paying a part of wages in food and lodging furnished at
more or less nominal prices. It is also necessary to allow for
increased total earnings due to opportunities for overtime work
1
See Chapter VIII and Chapter XII.
— 332 —
at overtime rates, and to multiple employment within family
groups.
TABLE 1 1 .
P R O D U C T I O N , E M P L O Y M E N T , E X P O R T S A N D W A G E S IN
THE
JAPANESE
COTTON
INDUSTRY
(1930 = 1 0 0 )
Production (a)
Year
1926. .
1927. .
1928. .
1929. .
1930. .
1931 . .
1932. .
1933. .
1934. .
1935. .
1936 (d)
Yarn
Piece
goods
100
'97
111
100
102
111
123
138
141
142
93
100
111
100
101
110
121
125
133
130
Employment
(6)
144
131
118
118
100
90
91
93
100
106
105
Exports (c)
Yarn
Wages (b)
Piece Goods
Volume
Value
345
197
120
113
100
53
150
81
109
162
185
470
258
172
178
100
57
143
104
156
239
253
Volume
Value
90
114
100
89
129
133
164
175
172
153
141
130
152
100
95
106
141
182
182
177
Money
wages
Real
wages
106
104
107
105
100
89
80
74
72
71
71
83
86
90
90
100
102
91
79
75
73
Note. — T h e employment and wage figures are for spinning only. Comparative indices
of money wages in spinning and in weaving, published by t h e Statistical Bureau of t h e
Imperial Cabinet in its monthly report on prices and wages (Chingin buhka tokei geppo),
are as follows:
1930
1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936(d)
Spinning
100
87
77
71
70
70
70
Weaving
100
90
88
83
83
81
81
(a)
M I T S U B I S H I ECONOMIC R E S E A R C H B U R E A U :
Monthly
Circular,
J a n u a r y 1937.
(b) BANK OF J A P A N : Labour Statistics.
F o r employment : number of employed
workers; for wages: average daily earnings. Also INTERNATIONAL LABOUR O F F I C E :
Year-Booh of Labour Statistics, 1935-36.
(c) MINISTRY OF F I N A N C E : Annual Report on Foreign Trade, 1930-36.
(d) 10 months only.
Nevertheless, the fact remains that the remarkable advance in
Japanese textile exports had only a slight effect on the volume
of employment, owing to continuous technical improvements and
rising efficiency of labour; and it was accompanied by a heavy
decline in both money and real wages.1
1
Compare Chapter X; see also real wage indices in T. UYEDA and T. INOKUCHI: Cost of Living and Real Wages in Japan, 1914-1936, Japanese Council,
Institute of Pacific Relations, Tokyo, 1936, table 5. " It is remarkable that
the spinning and weaving industries which have made such an advance since
the second gold embargo should have such low wage levels. This (the downward) tendency is still continuing. . . "
(Ibid., p. 20).
See also UYEDA
and T. MINOGUCHI: Small Scale Industries of Japan, the Cotton Industry,
Japanese Council, Institute of Pacific Relations, Tokyo, 1936, pp. 33-39.
— 333 —
III.
— CONCLUSION
No matter what action may be attempted on a national scale
to improve the position of the textile industry and to better its
labour conditions, national policy must necessarily be affected by
considerations of what other countries are doing or attempting
to do. The main purpose of this Report has been to bring out
clearly the world character of the textile industry and to show the
extent to which the textile producing countries are interdependent
in their economic and social policies affecting the industry.
The obvious conclusion suggests itself that the improvement of
labour standards in the textile industry must be sought through
international action. No attempt will be made here to formulate
a programme. It is to be hoped that the Technical Tripartite
Conference will bring to light more of the knowledge available
in the industry on the relation of economic factors to labour
standards and thus facilitate a solution of the many problems
the supreme significance of which to the textile industry and to
world economy in general is fully admitted by employers, workers
and Governments.
CHAPTER XIV
SUMMARY
The concern about the future of the textile industry explains
the present efforts to find new ways and means for its orderly
reconstruction on the national scale in different countries. It
is also clearly realised that in view of the worldwide ramifications
of the textile industry, its rehabilitation and continued growth
require measures of an international character as well. The further
problem is thus raised of reconciling national and international
policies if both are to work towards the same ends and if acceptable
and practical programmes of reform are to be evolved and carried
out.
This Report has aimed to supply the main facts upon which an
international programme for the textile industry might be based.
The facts elucidating both its economic and social problems have
been presented in the twelve preceding chapters in considerable
detail. Although such detailed treatment was necessary, it has
undoubtedly resulted in complicating the picture somewhat. That
could not be helped; the world textile industry is complex. In
order, however, to promote a clearer discussion of policies, it may
now be helpful to summarise the essential facts brought out heretofore. Such is the purpose of this concluding chapter.
I
It is important, to begin with, to think of the textile industry as
in process of continuous change and evolution. The textile
industry—as a modern factory industry—is the product of influences at work for more than a century and a half; and these
influences are still at work. In general terms, the process may be
described as the spread of modern industrial techniques in the making
— 335 —
of textiles from their original source in England, first to Western
Europe and North America, then to Eastern and Southern Europe
and finally to Asia and Latin America. During recent years this
process may have been accelerated and complicated by post-war
developments. But its underlying character persists and remains
essentially unchanged. It is the advance of the Industrial Revolution as it reaches out to new corners of the earth. In this advance
of the Industrial Revolution, each new country has tended to
begin with the textile industry because of the relatively simple
manufacturing processes involved, the availability of an adequate
labour supply, and the relatively assured character of a domestic
market for a staple product.
As a result of the steady advance of the Industrial Revolution,
not only cotton but wool, silk and other textile fibres have been
drawn into the factory system, and synthetic fibres, such as rayon,
have been added to the list of textiles. While hand-weaving and
domestic systems of production continue on a considerable scale
in some countries, especially in Asia, the modern factory system of
textile production has grown tremendously. Even within the
limits defined in this Report, the textile industry is to-day one of
the greatest industries in the world. Over 10 million men and
women are engaged in its operations, and the value of textile
exports is over one-sixth of the total value of all world exports.
Owing to its spread and development, the textile industry has
become international in character, more so perhaps than any other
industry. Its raw materials are drawn from many countries all
over the world. The manufacture of its semi-finished and finished
products is extremely widespread. Its products enter into all
market outlets from backward colonial areas to the most advanced
industrial countries-. The prices, both of its raw materials and of
its finished products, are formed in world markets by a competitive
process which has steadily grown in extent and intensity. Textiles,
in fact, are the staples of world trade par excellence. From the
mills of Japan, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy
and other countries there pours forth a stream of textile products
converging on the markets of the whole world. The competition
among the principal textile exporting countries thus acts as a
medium which transmits to the world textile industry as a whole the
effects of changes in wage rates, of currency depreciation, of the
erection or the breaking down of tariff barriers, etc. In a word,
so many countries have become so largely dependent for their
economic well-being upon the success or failure with which they
— 336 —
carry on one or more branches of textile production and commerce,
that the industry may be said to be a true nerve centre of the
present system of international economic relations.
II
In trying to form a picture of the textile industry it is necessary
to think of it as a unified system of diverse but interrelated subindustries. It is necessary to keep in mind the differences among
its several branches based on the use of specific fibres such as
cotton, wool, silk, rayon, linen and jute. The branches of the
textile industry must also be differentiated according to the
principal manufacturing processes—combing and carding, or their
equivalent ; spinning or throwing ; weaving ; and finishing, including
dyeing, bleaching and printing—which are often connected with
differences in industrial and commercial organisation. It is also
necessary to keep in mind the specific ways in which the several
branches of the textile industry react to general economic and
social developments and to structural changes, thus giving rise to
special social-economic problems in different countries and regions.
However, while keeping these differences in mind, it is essential
to regard the textile industry as a unified entity, especially for the
purpose of international action. First, the different textile fibres
minister substantially to the same groups of economic wants of
individuals for clothing, of households for furnishing, and of business
enterprises for industrial fabrics. These fibres are thus to a large
extent interchangeable. Second, the manufacturing processes
employed in producing the different textile fabrics are substantially similar, with the exception of the chemical preparation of
rayon yarn. It is significant in this connection that the textile
machinery used to manufacture the several fibres is largely interchangeable; while a large part of textile output consists of fibre
mixtures. Third, with the exception of a few skilled and specialised
occupations, the different branches of the textile industry employ
substantially a similar labour force. Fourth, the different textile
fibres are, subject to limitations of price and fashion, directly
competitive with one another. The most striking example of
such competition is perhaps furnished by silk and rayon, but wool
and cotton also compete as clothing fabrics; wool, cotton and silk
as hosiery fabrics; jute and cotton as industrial fabrics, etc. At
the same time, the several textile fibres are also complementary.
— 337 —
Thus there has been a great tendency in recent years to produce
composite fabrics, mixtures of wool/cotton, of wool/silk, silk/
rayon, etc. In so far as the several textile fibres are both competitive and complementary, all branches of textile manufacturing
become sensitive to the same influences, and common industrial
problems are created.
Ill
The textile industry, as was said above, is in a process of
continuous change. But before considering the changes it has
undergone in recent years and is still undergoing, it may be helpful
to form a picture of what the industry is to-day.
The most extensive system of world trade relations is presented
by the cotton textile industry. But the countries which enter
into this extensive system differ widely in the degree of their
importance—as producers and consumers, as exporters and importers. Five countries (the United States, India, China, Egypt
and Brazil) produce over 80 per cent, of the total world supply
of ginned cotton, and supply the bulk of the raw cotton which
enters into world trade. All cotton textile manufacturing countries—except the United States, China, Brazil, India, Mexico, the
U.S.S.R. and a few others of minor importance—import practically
all of their raw cotton. Here is the first link in the intricate chain
of trading relationships: almost the entire world is dependent on
five countries for raw cotton while these five countries are dependent
on world manufacturing activity for the sale of their raw material.
Although cotton yarn is spun almost everywhere, only fourteen
countries produce appreciable export surpluses. Of these countries,
the most important exporters are the United Kingdom, Italy,
Japan, China and Czechoslovakia, which together accounted for
about 75 per cent, of the world total in 1935. Countries such as the
United States, Germany, India, the U.S.S.R., etc., which produce
cotton yarn in very large quantities, use it chiefly in their own
domestic weaving establishments. The finest counts of cotton yarn
are spun in Western and Central Europe, mainly in the United
Kingdom which has a large percentage of mule spindles, while capacity to spin lower counts by mass production methods (ring spindles)
is concentrated largely in the Far East, India and the United
States.
Weaving of cotton cloth is carried on in most countries; at the
same time, productive capacity is highly concentrated. In 1935
— 338 —
the eight largest manufacturing countries were the United States,
Japan, the United Kingdom, India, the U.S.S.R., Germany,
France and Italy; these eight countries accounted for over 90 per
cent, of total world output. On the other hand, the export trade
is centred in seventeen countries of which the largest exporters,
in the order of volume in 1935, were Japan, the United Kingdom,
France, Italy, the United States, India, Belgium, the U.S.S.R.,
Czechoslovakia, the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland.
These twelve countries accounted for 98 per cent, of the total
world exports in that year. At the same time, the importing
countries are worldwide. In the markets of final consumption,
India, the Far East, Colonial Africa, Latin America, the Balkan
and Near Eastern countries bulk very large. In the markets of intermediate consumption and of the improvement trade, the countries
of Western and Central Europe are of greatest importance.
In general, all countries exporting cotton textiles are actual or
potential competitors in all markets. This generalisation may,
however, be qualified in two ways. First, there is a wide range
within which the cotton cloth exports of different countries are
not seriously competitive because of differences in kind (grey,
bleached, printed) and quality (value per square yard or pound).
Second, as a result of geographic and economic conditions, commercial policy, and tradition, particular groups of cotton cloth
exporters compete with special severity in particular markets.
Thus, Japan and the United Kingdom are close competitors in
India, some of the British Dominions and Africa; Japan, the
United States, Italy and the United Kingdom in Latin America;
Japan and the United States in the Philippines; Germany, Czechoslovakia and Italy in the Balkans and the Near East; Switzerland,
Austria and Czechoslovakia in specialised quality markets, and
so on.
The international pattern of the wool textile industry, like that
of cotton textiles, has its own special characteristics. The range of
raw wool culture is even wider than that of raw cotton; sheep are
raised for the wool clip on a large scale in about sixty countries.
The world output of raw wool is largely concentrated, however, in
the southern hemisphere and in the British Empire, although the
United States and the U.S.S.R. are also major producers. Only
five countries—Australia, Argentina, the Union of South Africa,
New Zealand and Uruguay—supply the great bulk of the raw wool
which enters world trade (over 85 per cent, of the total in 1935).
— 339 —
The finer qualities of merino wool, moreover, are supplied in largest
measure by Australia and the Union of South Africa.
About 90 per cent, of the raw wool which enters into world trade
is taken by seven of the main wool manufacturing countries: the
United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan, Belgium, the United
States and Italy. Of all the major manufacturers, only the United
States, the U.S.S.R. and Spain are practically self-sufficient as
regards raw wool.
The semi-manufactures of wool are tops and yarn. Production
of wool tops is confined, for all practical purposes, to fifteen
countries—the United Kingdom, France, Germany, the United
States, Japan, Italy, Belgium, Australia, the U.S.S.R., Czechoslovakia, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, Yugoslavia. Only
seven countries, however, export wool tops in appreciable quantities :
France, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Germany, Australia,
Switzerland and Austria ; the bulk of world exports being supplied
by the first two.
Some twenty countries produce wool yarn (on a mill basis) in
appreciable quantities; of these countries, eleven export it in
substantial amounts—the United Kingdom, France, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Belgium, Japan, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, the
Netherlands and Sweden. Exports of wool yarn go largely to
countries of Western and Central Europe (especially Germany,
Belgium and the Netherlands^ and in smaller volume to Asia
(notably China and India), to Latin America (especially Argentina
and Brazil), and to the Balkans and Near East (e.g. Rumania,
Yugoslavia, Turkey).
The weaving of woollen and worsted tissues is carried on in
almost all countries, but capacity to produce—measured by power
looms as distinct from hand looms—is concentrated in Western and
Central Europe and in the United States; in addition, Japan, Poland
the U.S.S.R., Argentina and Australia are important producers.
About half of all woollen and worsted exports is supplied by the
United Kingdom; the bulk of the remainder by other countries of
Western and Central Europe, and to a much smaller extent by Japan.
As in the case of cotton, so in that of wool, many of the channels
of trade between importing and exporting countries are well
defined. A large two-way trade in woollen and worsted tissues is
carried on among all countries of Western and Central Europe both
on the import and export side. Important in volume are also the
exports from Western and Central Europe to the British Dominions,
Latin America, India, the Far East, and the United States. In
22*
— 340 —
general, world trade in woollens and worsteds serves consumers
at higher levels of income and is influenced in its geographic
distribution by climatic factors. The closest competition, on a world
scale, is among the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Italy.
Much simpler than either cotton or wool textiles is the international
pattern of the silk industry. Over 75 per cent, of all cocoons are
produced in Japan; the remainder chiefly in Korea, China, Italy
the U.S.S.R. and India. Capacity to reel raw silk is likewise highly
concentrated in Japan, above all, and in China, Manchuria and
India; together these countries account for over 90 per cent, of
total world output. Secondary producers of raw silk are the
U.S.S.R., Italy and France, and some of the Balkans and Near
Eastern countries. Japan, China, Manchuria and Italy supply
practically the entire export of raw silk; Japan alone supplies
from two-thirds to three-fourths of total exports.
From 70 to 75 per cent, of all raw silk imports are taken by the
United States; the bulk of the remainder by France, Japan, the
United Kingdom, India, Canada and Germany. By far the largest
manufacturer of finished silk textiles is the United States; other
important manufacturers are Japan, China, India, France, Italy,
Switzerland, Germany and the United Kingdom. Export trade in
silk tissues is confined mainly to Japan, France, Italy, and Switzerland. The import markets of Japan are largely in Asia; those of
France, Italy and Switzerland are the United Kingdom, the United
States, the British Dominions, Latin America, and Western and
Central Europe.
Although rayon yarn is produced in some twenty countries, over
70 per cent, of the total is manufactured in four countries—the
United States, Japan, Italy and Germany—and another 20 per cent.
in the United Kingdom and France. The only other producers
of consequence are Belgium and the Netherlands. Rayon yarn is
largely manufactured for domestic use; less than one-fifth of the
output enters world trade. Some thirteen countries export rayon
yarn in quantity ; of these Italy exports from one-fourth to one-third
of the world total. Also important as exporters are Japan, the
Netherlands, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium and
Switzerland. The largest market is composed of countries—-China
and India above all—which lack the chemical equipment to produce
yarn although equipped with looms or knitting machines. On the
other hand, some of the major producers of rayon yarn, notably
Germany, are also large importers on balance.
— 341 —
Weaving of rayon and staple fibre goods is carried on in nearly
forty countries; manufacturing capacity is nevertheless highly
concentrated in Japan, the United States, Germany, the United
Kingdom, Italy and France. In 1935 these six countries held over
80 per cent, of the world's available supplies of rayon yarn and
staple fibre. Japan is by far the most important exporter of rayon
and mixed rayon tissues. Other exporters of consequence are
France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States,
Czechoslovakia, Switzerland and the Netherlands.
Generally
speaking, rayon piece goods are exported to much the same markets
as cotton piece goods.
Flax, the raw material of the linen textile industry, is produced
chiefly in the U.S.S.R., the Baltic countries and Germany. Most
of the flax entering world trade comes from the U.S.S.R.; other
important suppliers are Poland, Lithuania and Latvia; and for the
finest grades, Belgium. More than half of all flax exports are taken
by the United Kingdom; most of the remainder by France,
Germany, Czechoslovakia and Japan. The largest producers of
linen goods are the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, France,
Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Belgium. By far the leading
exporter of linen goods to world markets is the United Kingdom;
a secondary group of exporters includes Belgium, Czechoslovakia
and the U.S.S.R.; less important exporters are Germany, France
and Italy. The United States is the leading import market.
The production and export of raw jute are practically a
monopoly of India. Over half of the exports go to the United
Kingdom, Germany and France; another fourth to the United
States, Italy and Belgium; the remainder chiefly to Spain, Japan,
Brazil, the Netherlands, China and Argentina. By far the largest
spinners of jute yarn are India and the United Kingdom. Their
exports of yarn go mainly to agricultural countries which use jute
yarn to manufacture bags and sacks.
The chief producers of jute goods—bags, sacks, etc.—are India,
the United Kingdom, a number of countries in Western and
Central Europe and the United States; of importance also are some
of the countries of Latin America (Argentina and Brazil). Exports,
originating mainly in the United Kingdom and India, flow in largest
measure toward North and South America and to the British
Dominions.
— 342 —
IV
Although the production of and trade in textile raw materials,
semi-manufactures and finished goods affect the economic fortunes
of the whole world, such production and trade are of major importance to the economic life of some twenty countries.
Of these twenty countries, the United States is by far the largest
producer of raw cotton, second only to Australia as a producer of raw
wool, and shares leadership with Japan as a producer of rayon yarn.
At the same time, it supplies close to half of the raw cotton and is
furnished with well over two-thirds of the raw silk entering into
world trade. In the field of textile manufactures, the United
States is by far the largest producer of cotton textiles, one of the
two largest producers of wool and rayon textiles, predominates as a
producer of silk textiles, and is one of the leading producers of jute
textiles. Although the United States is a minor exporter of
textile manufactures, it is the largest importing market in the world
for cotton, wool, silk, rayon, linen, jute and hemp goods taken
together. Finally, it is the largest consumer of all textile products
taken together, both in absolute quantities and per capita.
Competing for second place on the list are the United Kingdom
and Japan. Because of its deficiency in domestic supplies of textile
raw materials, the United Kingdom is much the largest of all the import markets toward which the primary materials for textile manufacturing flow. As an exporter of textile manufactures, the United
Kingdom leads by far in the finished products of wool and linen,
shares leadership in the finished products of cotton and jute, and
takes unchallenged first rank in the semi-manufactures of at least
cotton and wool.
Japan, however, is almost an equally important focus of world
trade. Like the United Kingdom, Japan possesses enormous manufacturing capacities in cotton, wool, silk and rayon. Japan must
import all the textile raw materials, except silk ; of the latter primary
commodity Japan is the principal supplier to the rest of the world.
Like the United Kingdom, Japan sends forth a tremendous
stream of textile manufactures to the markets of the whole
world: cotton and rayon tissues above all, silk and wool tissues
as well. Unlike the United Kingdom—which is a major importing
market for at least silk and woollen tissues—-Japan is a negligible
importer of finished textile manufactures.
— 343 —
Limitations of space make it impossible to summarise the world
status of the textile industries of the other major textile countries:
Germany, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China,
Spain, France, India, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands (with the East
Indies), Poland, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia and the U.S.S.R.
Each of these countries contributes an important share to the world
output of one or more textile raw materials, or manufactures, or
both ; each has a considerable stake in the world trade in one or more
textile raw materials, or manufactures, or both.
A few words concerning the economic network which binds
together all these twenty countries will nevertheless help to render
the present picture of the world textile industry more complete.
First, all of the important textile manufacturing countries lack one,
several, or all of the raw materials. The great textile industries of
the world have thus been built up largely on the basis of imports
of raw materials produced, to a measurable extent, in agricultural
countries which are not themselves significant textile manufacturers.
Second, there is a specific concentration of productive capacity
for each textile fibre: capacity to manufacture cotton textiles is
concentrated in the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom,
India, China, Germany, the U.S.S.R., France, Italy, Czechoslovakia
and Poland ; to manufacture wool textiles in the United States, the
United Kingdom, France, Germany, the U.S.S.R., Italy, Japan,
Spain and Belgium; to manufacture silk textiles in the United
States, France, Italy, Japan and China, etc.
Third, all textile exporting countries compete with one another,
to a smaller or greater degree, in one or more market areas. The
greatest competition is for the markets of the United States,
the British Dominions,. India, the Far East, Colonial Africa,
Latin America and the Near East. The most important groups
of competitors are Japan and the United Kingdom for cotton piece
goods in practically all markets; Germany, France, Italy and the
United Kingdom likewise in all markets for woollen and worsted
tissues ; France, Italy and Switzerland in the richer national markets
for silk fabrics; Germany, Czechoslovakia, Austria and Italy for
all textile products in the Balkans and the Near East; Germany, the
United States, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom for cotton
piece goods markets throughout Latin America, etc. Although
Central and Western Europe are markets of close competition
for all textile manufactures, much of the trading in this area is
complementary: it involves the movement of goods destined for or
having undergone improvement.
— 344 —
V
The structure of the world textile industry to-day is markedly
different from that of two decades ago. Great changes have
taken place since the World War in the relative position of the
countries which count most as textile producers and exporters or
both, and in the relative importance of different markets. These
changes are the result of basic influences which have been reshaping
the industry for many years past ; they have been accelerated and
complicated, however, by the economic consequences of the
World War and by the policies resulting from the industrial
depression of 1929-1933.
In general, the changes in the textile industry as a whole, as
well as in such special branches as cotton and wool, consist in the
shifting of productive capacity from older to newer centres of
production, and in the rise of new countries to dominant positions
in world markets, largely at the expense of the older exporting
countries. At the same time, the equilibrium of all exporting
countries has been disturbed by the growth of textile manufacturing
for the home market in a number of countries which formerly
imported most or all of their textile requirements.
In the cotton textile industry, one of the most important
developments is the progressive emergence in India of a
factory textile industry which has come to be one of the most
important in the world. The Indian cotton textile industry is
concerned with the domestic market; exports, although not
negligible, are far from important. India still has to import large
quantities of cotton piece goods from the United Kingdom and
Japan in order to satisfy domestic requirements.
Another important development is the spectacular rise of the
cotton textile industry in Japan. This rise, beginning before the
World War, was considerably accelerated by post-war readjustments, but took on renewed speed after 1931-1932. In the course of
its rise, Japan has penetrated into and won for itself markets in
countries such as British India, the Netherlands Indies, Colonial Africa and Egypt, formerly held entirely or largely b y the
United Kingdom, and has made great inroads into the markets of
the Philippines, Latin America and many colonies, protectorates
and mandated territories.
A third series of significant changes is related to the break-up
of the Austro-Hungarian and Russian Empires, as a consequence
— 345 —
of the World War. The major result of this break-up, sharpened
by post-war economic nationalism, has been to leave " stranded "
textile industries in Czechoslovakia, Poland and Austria; stranded
in the sense that the productive capacity of these industries is
separated from the large markets which this productive capacity
was originally designed to serve.
A fourth major development is the rapid growth of the U.S.S.R.
to the position of one of the largest textile manufacturers in the
world. As yet the Soviet Union is a minor exporter of cotton
textiles, although considerable quantities are sent to Turkey, Iran
and some markets of Colonial Africa.
A fifth development is the continuing rapid growth of cotton
manufacturing in a number of Latin-American countries (notably
Brazil), and at a very rapid rate in recent years in Greece, Bulgaria,
Rumania, Yugoslavia and a few other small countries.
A sixth important change is the continuing shift of cotton mills,
in the United States, from New England to the Southern States,
and, in India, from Bombay to up-country districts.
In the wool textile industry, significant structural changes may
also be noted. Although the United Kingdom still retains its
predominance as a manufacturer and exporter of wool textiles,
France, Italy, Germany, Czechoslovakia and some other countries
have lost much ground as exporters of woollens, largely as a result
of their loss of the markets of the United Kingdom due to the
effects of devaluation and new protective policies. Another important change has been the recent rapid rise, in Japan, of a wool textile
ndustry directed largely toward the export market. Another change
now making considerable headway is the growth of wool textile
industries in such raw wool producing countries as Australia and
Argentina. Significant also are the changes taking place in Italy
and Germany, where wool and cotton textile activity is encountering
a scarcity of raw materials connected with problems of foreign
exchange control.
With regard to the other branches of the textile industry, a few
remarks must suffice. In silk textiles, the recent growth of manufacturing in Japan and the United Kingdom is particularly noteworthy.
This fact has already created export difficulties for France, Italy and
Switzerland. Production and consumption of rayon continued to
move upward at a rapid rate throughout the depression years. How
far the continued growth in the use of rayon has been achieved at the
expense of the natural textile fibres is a moot and complicated
— 346 —
question. Although it cannot be doubted that much of the rayon
market has been conquered, at least for the time being, at the
expense of other fibres, the growing use of rayon mixtures has been
an important compensation, particularly for cotton mills. Finally,
jute manufacturing and the production of linen both manifest
tendencies to spread towards new centres.
Among the important factors influencing the recent shifts in the
world textile industry have been national programmes of industrialisation, currency devaluation, policies of economic nationalism,
differential labour costs, and technological changes.
As for
labour costs, almost all new centres of the textile industry have
profited from an abundant supply of low-wage labour due to t h e
overflow of population from agricultural areas suffering n o m the
pressure of human beings against the soil. The general progress
of technology is exemplified b y the increasing use of ring
spindles, higher mechanisation and modernisation of plant, in all
of which the newer countries have definite advantages. As for t h e
successful exploitation of new textile fabrics, the growth of the
rayon industry is a case in point. In brief, the speed and extent
of the structural changes in the world textile industry have been
due to (1) the financial ease with which mechanical equipment
necessary for weaving at least can be set u p ; (2) the relative
simplicity of industrial technology in textile manufacturing;
(3) the abundance of necessary labour; and (4) the commercial
policies in vogue since the World War and accentuated as a result
of the depression.
VI
The shifts and changes described above have been accompanied
b y a struggle for markets, both national and foreign, which is
still going on. Every textile manufacturing country is trying t o
retain or acquire as large a share as possible of the world's textile
sales. Each country is trying to make use of whatever competitive
advantages it has and to strengthen its position as producer and
seller by all special means at its command.
One of the most important methods used in the competition for
textile markets is that of regulating access to home or outside
markets in favour of particular countries to the exclusion of others.
In many, if not all countries, domestic textile industries are sheltered as regards the home market by protective tariffs. Aside
from tariffs, quota systems more or less rigidly limiting the volume
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of permissible imports are in force in a number of countries.
Where quotas are not in force de jure, the same effects are aimed
at by means of exchange control. In some cases, quota systems
and exchange control are superimposed on bilateral trading agreements, so as to discriminate between different countries. For a
clear picture of present-day conditions in the world textile industry,
it is necessary to visualise the application of these policies in the
major textile countries.
The national or empire market enjoyed by Japanese textile mills is
limited compared with that enjoyed by mills in the United Kingdom
or the United States. Japanese textile mills, moreover, suffer from
exclusion from foreign markets. Thus quota systems for the benefit
of British undertakings are in force in most of the Crown Colonies;
India maintains preferential tariffs together with a restriction, by
voluntary agreement, of the amount of textile imports from Japan;
the Netherlands has recently begun to apply quota restrictions
directed primarily against Japanese textile imports into the Netherlands Indies; Japan has agreed with the United States to
restrict the volume of her exports to the Philippines; while the
commercial policy of France has converted the French colonies into
a domain largely reserved for textile mills in the motherland.
The case of the United Kingdom is in many ways different.
With the scrapping of traditional free trade principles and the
signing of the Ottawa agreements in 1932, the preferential markets
of the British textile industry became more extensive than ever
before. In 1934, moreover, the Crown Colonies were more or
less reserved in favour of the mother country by virtue of import
quotas; these restrictions were intended primarily to benefit
Lancashire cotton mills against Japanese competition. On the
other hand, the British cotton textile industry must meet high
tariff hurdles, quotas and exchange restrictions, in attempting to
penetrate some of its principal markets. Thus,. although the
United Kingdom enjoys tariff preferences in India and in the
Dominions, the preferences are contingent upon tariff rates designed to furnish a substantial amount of protection to home mills
as against their Lancashire or Yorkshire competitors. This is
particularly true of India as regards cotton textiles, and of Australia
and Canada with respect to woollen goods. In the United States,
an important outlet for the most expensive grades of British textiles,
protective tariffs for the benefit of domestic cotton and wool
mills are an established policy of long standing. As for the markets
of Latin America, the French colonies, Western and Central
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Europe, the Balkan and Near Eastern countries, they all abound
in high protective duties, quota limitations, rigid foreign exchange
controls and bilateral agreements. On balance it is arguable
whether the British textile industries do not suffer as much by
exclusion from the protected markets of other countries as they
gain by the advantages which they enjoy in their preferential or
sheltered markets.
Of all textile manufacturing countries, the United States possesses
by far the largest domestic market. This market is sheltered, not
by import quotas, exchange control or bilateral agreements, but
by high tariff duties. As a rule none but the very highest
grades of British, French and Swiss fabrics find it possible
to pass over these tariff barriers; although in recent years imports
of cheap Japanese cotton goods have grown rapidly. The United
States textile producers also enjoy certain preferential advantages
in the Philippine Islands and in Cuba. The remainder of the
market for American textile exports is to be found in Latin America.
Most of the latter countries maintain foreign exchange control,
import quota restrictions and bilateral agreements which favour
competitors of the United States, such as Germany, Italy and the
United Kingdom. Furthermore, many of these countries, notably
Brazil and Mexico, have been engaged on their own account in
tariff protection with a view to establishing domestic textile
industries. •
India is also a country where textile mill capacity has been built
up with a view almost entirely to the internal market. In recent
years, at least, Indian textile mills, particularly cotton mills, have
enjoyed tariff protection, not only against Japanese imports, but
also against imports from the United Kingdom. Although the
United Kingdom enjoys a preferential tariff, textile imports from
Lancashire still have to pay fairly substantial duties before they can
enter the Indian market. As for Japanese imports, they not only
pay heavier duties, but their total volume is regulated in accordance
with a trade agreement, whereby Japanese piece goods are traded,
so to speak, in exchange for Indian raw cotton. In terms of population, the Indian market is larger than any other except China. In
terms of purchasing power, however, it suffers from serious
limitations which cannot be overcome except by an increase in
national wealth and income. Nevertheless, India is still to-day,
as in the past, the world's largest single market for the cheaper
varieties of cotton piece goods. Exports do not bulk large in the
total marketing of Indian fabrics, although the absolute volume of
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trade with Ceylon, Afghanistan and British colonies in Africa is
substantial.
The U.S.S.R. is another country where a large plant and
equipment for manufacturing textiles have been built up almost
entirely on the basis of the home market which has very large
potentialities.
China also possesses a large and growing textile industry,
orientated towards the domestic market. Even more than in the
case of India, the present possibilities of the Chinese market are
limited by the extreme poverty of most of the population. For
what the present market is worth, it is a tariff-sheltered market
for Chinese mills (many of the most important mills, it must be
remembered, are operated by Japanese companies; others by
English). Export trade is of little significance, except in cotton
yarn. In China, as in India, the expansion of domestic manufacturing capacity has precipitated a drastic curtailment of imports,
to the detriment of the United Kingdom, Japan and other former
suppliers of yarn and cloth.
The textile mills of France enjoy access to a sheltered market
of the first order of importance. To begin with, there is the
home market of France, where high tariff duties and a restrictive
quota system both apply. Then there are the French colonies
where the commercial policies in force make it very difficult
for any but French textiles to be marketed. On the other hand,
the French textile industries are very definitely export industries,
and have been very hard hit in recent years, particularly as regards
wool and silk goods, as a result of the economic crisis and of commercial and monetary policies the world over. France has been
able to save her export trade, particularly in cotton cloth, mainly
by developing her colonial markets.
The domestic markets of Germany and Italy are sheltered for the
benefit of home textile mills by means of an elaborate control of
foreign exchange, combined with bilateral trade agreements.
In many foreign markets, moreover, exports from Germany and
Italy enjoy substantial advantages, thanks to the policies mentioned
above. On the other hand, in some of the countries where Germany
and Italy enjoy advantages—Latin America, the Balkans, the
Near East—programmes aiming at the establishment of national
textile industries are being vigorously pursued. At the same
time, the textile industries of Germany and Italy have been
seriously hampered by the difficulty, attributable mainly to
foreign exchange restrictions, of obtaining adequate supplies of
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raw materials at reasonable cost. In both countries, imports of
raw materials have been restricted and efforts made to develop
synthetic textile fibres; while the very bilateral agreements which
open up export markets for finished textiles often necessitate the
purchase of raw materials, usually of inferior grades, at prices
substantially above world market quotations.
VII
Protective tariffs, quotas, and preferential arrangements have
undeniably given individual countries special advantages in the
international trade in textiles. On the other hand, the competitive
advantages thus bestowed have been offset, in whole or in part, by
other factors in international competition, such as comparative
currency devaluation, commercial organisation, capital charges,
machine efficiency, and labour costs.
Currency depreciation, which was an extremely important
influence between 1931 and 1933, has become less and less important
since. Undoubtedly some countries, especially Japan, have benefited from efficient organisation, lower shipping charges, more
strategically timed purchases of raw materials, more intensive use
of available plant and equipment, more sensitive responses to shifts
and changes in demand. But the most important factors in the
international competition for textile markets have been currency
devaluation and differential labour costs. Japan in particular owes
its expansion in textile exports to these factors; they have enabled
her not only to win and hold older markets, but also to tap and
exploit what might have otherwise remained a latent demand
among low-income groups.
VIII
While labour costs are important from the economic point
of view as elements in total production costs, and thus as determining factors in the competitive position of individual countries,
the labour aspects of the textile industry are even more important
from the human and social point of view. From its very beginnings,
the textile industry has presented special problems for the men,
women and children whom it employs. The structural changes
and competitive struggles described above have greatly aggravated
the labour problems of the industry in all countries.
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Owing to various technical and social-economic factors, the labour
force attached to the textile industry is everywhere characterised by
unusually high percentages of women, young persons and semiskilled workers. For example, nearly one-fourth of the textile
workers in the United Kingdom are under 21 years of age, while
in Japan almost half are less than 20 years old.
This special composition of the labour force in the textile
industry has an important bearing on wage rates and earnings.
In general, despite some exceptions, average hourly wage rates are
lower for the textile industry than the corresponding national
averages for all industries. Both women and men generally receive
less per hour as textile workers than as workers in manufacturing
taken as a.whole. The same is more or less true of weekly earnings,
though they vary in the several branches of the industry.
As compared with other industries in the same country, textile
manufacturing is generally a low-wage industry, whether low
wages be taken to signify relatively low wage rates, relatively low
weekly earnings, or both. As between different textile countries,
differences in wage rates are very large. When the wages paid in
different countries are measured on a common gold basis, the
textile countries fall into three main groups: (1) a " low wage "
group including China, Japan and India; (2) a " medium " wage
group including Central and Western Europe, and (3) a " high
wage " group composed of the United States and Canada. Within
each group there are important differences as between individual
countries.
The international variations in wage rates are the result in part
of differences in the specific productivity of textile workers and
of the general level of productivity in different countries. In part,
they are attributable to differences in the composition of the labour
force, in collective bargaining strength, in the degree of State
protection, etc.
Hours of work are closely related to wages, from the point of
view of production costs as well as of total earnings and standards
of living. The normal statutory hours of work in different countries
vary considerably.
In general, the textile producing countries may be divided into
three groups, according to whether the regulation normal hours of
work are above, equal to, or lower than 48 in the week. The first
group of countries in which the normal hours exceed 48 in the week
includes China, India and Japan. The second group of countries
in which normal hours are 48 in the week includes Austria, Belgium.
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Brazil, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Estonia, Germany, Great Britain,
Mexico, the Netherlands, Poland, Rumania, Spain, Sweden and
Switzerland. The third group includes countries in which the
normal hours are less than 48 in the week, such as Australia with
44 hours, France with 40 hours, Italy 40 hours, New Zealand
40 hours, the United States 40 hours, and the U.S.S.R. 7 hours a day.
There are also large differences between countries as to the interpretation of what normal hours are, as to the time allowed for
cleaning spindles and looms, as to the right to compute hours over
a period of several weeks or months in the year, as to the kind and
extent of exceptions allowed for overtime purposes, as to the
payment for overtime, etc. Of special importance are the differences
in different countries with regard to work in shifts. Of considerable
importance also as affecting the total number of working hours in
the course of the year are the provisions in different countries with
regard to the weekly rest, to the number of public holidays and
to the annual holidays with pay which are legally provided for.
In view of the fact that the textile industry employs a large number
of women, of some importance also are the regulations in different
countries with regard to maternity leave and other measures taken
to protect the health and well-being of women, such as the regulations concerning night work.
In general, in recent years, partly as a result of the depression,
partly for other reasons, the tendency has been for the number
of hours actually worked in the industry to decrease. Again,
the countries for which data are available may be arranged in three
groups according to hours actually worked. In the first group
are China, Japan, and India, where the working day ranges
between 8% and 11% hours. The second group includes Austria,
Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, with a working
week of between 45 and 48 hours. The third group includes
Germany, the United States, France, Italy, the U.S.S.R. and
Poland where the working week is 40 houis or under.
Conditions of labour in the textile industry are characterised not
only by relatively low wages but also by irregular employment,
considerable short-time work, and extensive total unemployment.
The available statistics, imperfect as they are, clearly show that
there has been considerable unemployment in the textile industry
in recent years. A large part of this unemployment has undoubtedly been due to the economic depression. In fact, the figures
available do not give a complete picture of the effects of the
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depression as reflected in unemployment in the textile industry,
for they do not show except in a few countries the existence of
short-time work or partial unemployment which seems to have
been more widespread in the textile industry than in industry
as a whole. Cotton textiles, it would appear, suffered much
more from unemployment than other branches of the industry.
Aside from cyclical unemployment, the textile industry has
experienced a certain amount of technological unemployment in
many countries. Mechanical improvements in the textile industry
in recent years have been making rapid headway as in other
industries. Automatic looms have been replacing non-automatic
looms, high-speed spindles have supplanted low-speed spindles, etc.
Moreover, work loads have shown a tendency to increase and the
pace of manufacturing operations a tendency to accelerate, with
the result that textile workers everywhere have been complaining
of the " speed-up " and the " stretch-out ". Some of the unemployment in the cotton textile industry has been partially offset
in particular countries by the expansion of newer branches of the
industry, such as rayon. The employment of textile workers has
also been affected by the structural changes described previously.
IX
As a result of the structural changes referred to, there have come
into being in a number of countries and regions—notably in Lancashire
in the United Kingdom, and in New England in the United States
—" distressed areas " or " stranded communities " characterised
by unemployment, irregular earnings, and declining standards of
living. On the other hand, some of the countries and regions in
which the spread of the textile industry is largely responsible for the
above dislocations, show many of the features of a first rapid industrialisation; low wages, long hours, very high employment of
women and young persons. In short, the struggle for textile
markets has become accentuated to such an extent as to threaten
labour standards the world over, and world economic relations
in general.
One proposed solution for the ills of the world textile industry
consists in schemes for curtailing productive capacity. Aside,
however, from " distressed areas " which may be regarded as
regions of excess capacity, the major problem of the textile industry
is hardly one of " over-production ". The consumption of textile
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goods in many countries in all parts of the world is still much below
what may be regarded as a reasonable minimum, and below what
fairly well paid workers in a few countries already are in the habit
of consuming. All the available evidence shows that as incomes of
the workers increase, their purchases of textile goods for personal
and household use also increase. In short, the potential demand
for textile goods is to-day, as in the past, considerable.
X
National action with regard to labour standards in the textile
industry calls in large measure also for international action.
From the economic as well as from the social point of view the
problem is the same: international co-operation is required in a
common programme which will promote the orderly development
of the textile industry in different countries and secure decent
living standards for the workers in the industry.