A DISASTROUS YEAR.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 927, 21 September 1910, Page 7

A DISASTROUS YEAR.

CUBTAIEMKNT OF PRODUCTION. -The dispute in the cotton- trade in Lancashire,' precipitated by the Cardroom Amalgamation; arose through an em-' ployee. at Fern Mill, ■ Oldham, named Howe, a grinder, refusing to pick off a' few cotton seeds which were adhering to ■the ■ machinery. • The union, instructed him ■ to-. disobSy, because -it was' not a grinder??.work. The ultimatum, of, tho employers was arbitration or a. lock-out. Many employers i'avour a stoppage of work-in .view, of the dearncss of-material and the 'unremunerative prices of yarn. The bad times upon: which the cotton industry has fallen -are 'graphically depicted in the annual report of the Federation of Master - Cotton Spinners' Associations. _'Tho executive/ committee of the federation, which controls almost entirely;. the cotton spinning industry of Lancashire, says: "Xoup committee hove to regret that the year 1 has a disastrous one for the cotton industry. The exceptionally high price of the raw material, 'coupled- with serious failures in the American and Egyptian crops, has resulted in a condition of things without parallel, during recent.years;; The consideration; of remedial measures has engaged the attention of your committee,, and-it. was felt that the position was,so serious that 'unless- concerted action was taken the' trade;would suffer to a'hitherto unprecedented extent. A -curtailment of production was felt to be absolutely necessary,; and,_ as stated in tho last report, the opinion of • the members was asked; on the;question of organised shorttime working'. , ;The opinion of the members was expressed in no uncertain manner, - and- from July 10, 1909/ to April- 25,; 1910, ■ the 1 American spinning ,section ofthe federation members, together with, -many outside, firms, ! have stopped 'each Saturday and Monday, or an'equivalent stoppage of 651. hours.The ; . depression in the cotton trade has been universal, and through the agency of the International Federation; short-time working has also been;: adopted' by, practically all the European Continental countries and the : United States of America. At the time of issuing this -report short-time working, on an organised basis has'been disrontinued in this country,' althongh individual curtailment is still being, carried out on a very large scalo'. At the recent International Congress, held in' Brussels from June 6 to 9, the opinion was, unanimously- expressed that curtail'ment of..production should ljo continued, and it is quite clear'that,- whether or hot further steps arc taken to Curtail production on ah . organised basis, i;many mills will be forced to shut down : for a prolonged period, or to,systematically-re-duce' their consumption of cotton.. The evil of. excessive . mill-building has also engaged the: serious '• attention of your committee,, and it -is hoped that' action ;may be: ta-ken that will, prevent a recurrenoo in the future. To a legitimate extension of tho industry no. one oan have any objection, but somo of .'the Methods adopted in. cbnnoction'-with the extensions of .recent years constitute: a very grave menace to the financial' stability of the!industry. While your, committee cannot at present give a detailed report of their endeavours in this direction, the members may rest assured that every legitimate effort will be made to efficiently safeguard the industry from this evil in the future."