COTTON AND THE WAR.

Taranaki Daily News, 18 September 1915, Page 12

COTTON AND THE WAR.

GERMANY WELL SUPPLIED. BRITAIN'S PUZZLING POLICY. London, July 30. What Mr. Thos. Gibson-Bowles, M.P., palls the "cotton-wool" policy of the British Government has been'' a very fruitful source of mental worry to the average Englishman. It has been dinned into his ears by "eminent scientific authorities" that if we had declared cotton contraband at the outset, and had prevented cargoes thereof reaching Germany, the war would have been over by this time. Some people really believe this, and call down the wrath of the gods upon the people responsible for permitting the enemy to obtain material essential to the making of ammunition with which to kill our own and our Allies' soldiers. Other people declare that though cotton plays a very important part in the composition of explosives in use to-day, it is by no means absolutely essential, and that if we completely stopped Germany's cotton supply we should only cause her a very temporary inconvenience so far as the making of ammunition is concerned. They point out that Germany need not necessarily rely upon cotton to make propulsives. There are, these people allege, many substitutes, notably flax, of which Germany has a large quantity, owing to her possession of the Belgian and East.Prussian crop, and it is stated by "experts" that it would only take a few weeks to convert the existing machinery for this purpose. As a matter of fact, this contention is supported by the fact that Germany has not declared cotton contraband, and thus Russia has been able to obtain supplies from the same source as Germany. If cotton had been' so absolutely indispensable to the manufastare of propellant explosives, surely the enemy would have made every effort to stop its import into Russia 'via the Baltic? Whatever the real facts are regarding the absolute 'indispensability of cottOD in the manufacture of munitions, there (remains the fact that our Government's policy relating to the import of it into Germany has puzzled us a great deal, and the statistics of the export of cotton from America for the years 191314 ami 1914-15, only help to fog us more than ever. Hitherto we have had it impressed upon us that owing to the action of Great Britain the interests of the cotton planters of America had suffered severe injury during the war. The information was difficult to reconcile with the fact that the British Government had for a long period allowed cotton to be imported in neutral ships directly to Germany. The public were, therefore, led to believe that the British Govern* ment had stopped a certain amount of cotton, either before or after the Order in Council issued in March last, which was preceded by the Prime Minister's announcement that Germany was no longer to be allowed to import supplies, It now appears, however, that the total exports of cotton from America has decreased only to a very slight extent owing to the war, and that although direct export to Germany was greatly diiminished, the exports to neutral countries were so enormously increased that, after making allowance for the natural increase of neutral direct imports rendered necessary by the fact that the usual German re-exports to those countries had ceased,- the balance was sufficient to make up the supply of cotton to Germany to practically its normal figure. The cotton policy of the Government was, of course, influenced by the desire to inflict the least possible injury on neutral nations, and the public readily recognised that our authorities would find it a very difficult business to stop Germany getting cotton without "putting up the backs" of certain neutrals by undue interference with their shipping, hy Mr. Asquith's statement and the Order in Council issued on March 11th, led people to believe that a solution of the difficulty had been arrived at, and that our Navy was to be allowed to perform its proper duty, namely, .stopping the seaborne supplies of the enemy, cotton in particular, that being, we were assured, "the" thing it was most essential to keep out of Germany. There is, however, no evidence forth coming to show that imports of cotton into Germany have ceased, while there has been a good deal of evidence pointing to the conclusion that Germany is stiii receiving goodly supplies of cotton, which, whatever the whole truth regarding its indispensability in the manufacture of explosives ia undoubtedly the material upon which all nations are at present relying. If the stoppage of imports only interfered for a few weeks with German shell production, something surely would be gained for the Allies. It is bow hinted that, alhough Ministers have stated that there is no object in declaring cotton contraband, a,3 l-hey have urged to do fc'r months, the .Government will shortly do so \ : \ order to facilitate the execution of the declared policy of stopping all cottoji intaring into Germany, and that arrangements arc now being made for the purchase by the British Government of the whole amount of cotton usually exported to Germany and Austria, and possibly the whole of America's next cotton crop available for export. When cotton is declared contraband by Great Britain, Germany will doubtless follow suit, and the Russian supply will he more or'less hampered owing to submarine interference. That, however, is a minor matter, as Russia can obtain her supplies by the Trans-Siberian railway, even if by that time the Dardanelles route is not open to shipping. The Government, be it said, have made no sort of statement concerning any such arrangements as those hinted at; indeed, the latest Ministerial pronouncement on the subject amounted to a definite refusal to declare cotton contraband, but it is believed in usually wellinformed quarters that a" change of policy in this respect is imminent. As Mr. Gibson Bowles pertinently observes, if, as Ministers assert, there is no object in declaring cotton ennt.a'oand, it follows that there was no reason for placing wool, in, and hides on the list of contraband.