Cotton as a World Power : A Study in the Economic Interpretation of History

Cotton is here considered peculiar in that it is the only crop of importance, all of which is sold by those who produce it. It, therefore, gives rise to an enormous commerce and provides a medium of exchange that almost entirely takes the place of gold in the settlement of interstate and international balances. By it countries are bound together “in its globe engirdling web; so that when a modern economist concerns himself with the interdependence of nations he naturally looks to cotton for his most effective illustration.’’ Showing its starting growth in the orient and the occident even from the time of Alexander the great, cotton is traced as a factor in the development of ancient nations and in the rise of the modern. It strikes one as being a little strange to read in this economic treatise such captions as “The vegetable Lamb’’ and “cotton Mythology.’’ The author then gives in more detail the earliest history of the industry, referring to Hindi skill, Alexander’s trade routes, Egyptian mummies, the microscope, the transit from Rome to Spain, cotton and the Renaissance, Edward and III as the weaver king, the entrance of cotton into England and the transformation of the country.