The stock on hand January 1, 1919, as reported by the Minister of Munitions, was 2,096 tons.

The United Kingdom produces only from 10 to 15 thousand tons of bauxite per year and from 6 to 10 thousand tons of aluminum (mostly from ore received from France). The British, through the ownership of mines and smelters in Norway and elsewhere, however, exercise an appreciable commercial control over the aluminum industry. No trade figures for bauxite or aluminum are available, as these items are not separately listed in the official reports. The report on the "Mineral Resources in the United Kingdom" mentioned above states that the consumption of aluminum in the United Kingdom in 1912 was only about 4,000 tons, but that its use has increased, until in 1916 domestic consumption amounted to 25,000 tons. In addition to being the ore for aluminum, bauxite has an important use in the manufacture of artificial abrasives and is also the basis for the manufacture of several important chemicals.

Although the domestic production of tungsten ore (or wolfram) in the United Kingdom is small (averaging 340 tons per year in 1915-1917), the United Kingdom has commercial control of over 50 per cent of the world's mines and smelters through the ownership of her nationals.

The United Kingdom imports about 60,000 tons of chrome ore annually from Rhodesia, New Caledonia, and Baluchistan.

In conclusion it should be noted that although it appears from the foregoing discussion that the United Kingdom is deficient in many mineral and metal raw materials and must depend upon its colonies and foreign countries for supplies, there are important mineral resources in Great Britain outside the metal group. Limestone, china clay, chalk, granite, salt, slates, etc., are abundant and form the basis of important industries. Arsenic is produced in the tin mines. Adequate supplies of silica sands for molding, furnace work, and glass making are available. The annual production of limestone is from 10 to 12 million tons; of china and potter's clay, 10 to 15 millions; of chalk, 3 to 4 millions; and of salt, about 2 million tons, of which 550,000 tons were exported in 1913. An important mineral is gypsum, of which over 200,000 tons are produced annually. The Portland cement industry is being developed, but as yet production is relatively insignificant.

INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY.

The importance of the textile industries in the economic life of the United Kingdom can hardly be overestimated. According to the census of 1907, over a million operatives were employed in the cotton, wool, silk, linen, and jute trades. The exports of textile manufactures in 1912 amounted to 35 per cent (in value) of the total of "articles wholly or mainly manufactured"; and in the same year the imports of textile raw material amounted to about half of the value of all imports grouped under "raw materials and articles mainly unmanufactured." The importance of these trades is further seen when it is noted that the manufacture of textile machinery is one of the most important branches of machine manufacturing in the United Kingdom.

The following table exhibits in summary form the imports of textile raw materials for the years 1912–1918:

1 Annual (and Monthly) Statements of Trade of the United Kingdom.

These imports have evidently been more than maintained in value during the war, but there have been some considerable declines in quantities received, particularly in the last two years. (See following sections.) However, the United Kingdom has been able to keep open the channels of trade with the countries supplying these materials and declines in the importations are for the most part due to tonnage scarcity, crop shortages, and other factors rather than to an entire interruption of trade. Raw cotton is imported from the United States, Egypt, and India. Australia, New Zealand, and Argentina supply the British mills with wool. Jute comes entirely from India. About 60 per cent of the raw silk imports in normal times comes from China, the balance from Italy, France, and Japan. Russia is the principal source of the United Kingdom's flax importations.

There is a considerable reexport trade in textile raw materials, as is shown by the following table:

REEXPORTS OF RAW TEXTILE MATERIALS.1

(Pounds sterling, 000 omitted.)

1 Annual (and Monthly) Statements of Trade of the United Kingdom. 119025-19

-4

49

This traffic, in common with almost all lines of British reexport trade, has evidently suffered severely during the war. Because of the United Kingdom's strategic position with reference to the supplies of these raw materials, however, it is likely that this trade will revive with the return to peace conditions. It should be emphasized that the world's entire supply of jute, and 68 per cent of the export wool clip, is produced within the British Empire. Further, the British control of the Egyptian cotton output is likely to mean the continuance of a considerable reexport trade in this staple.

The principal textile materials produced within the United Kingdom itself, however, are wool (about 130,000,000 pounds per year) and flax (10,000 tons), and these figures are small compared with the domestic industrial consumption of these materials in normal times— wool about 550,000,000 pounds and flax about 100,000 tons. Further, political control of territory does not necessarily carry with it complete commercial control of production; and on this account British textile circles are seriously alarmed over the raw-material situation. A report of 130 pages prepared by a British committee "to consider the position of the textile trades after the war" covers this situation and other aspects of the textile industry quite fully. In this report is noted the present world shortage of raw textile materials and the insufficient production, and measures (such as Government purchase or export duties) are advocated to insure to the mills of the United Kingdom adequate supplies of Australasian wool, Indian jute, and Egyptian cotton. The increased consumption of choice merino wools by the United States and Japan is causing particular concern. In 1915 the United States imported about 570,000 bales of Australian wool as compared with an average import just before the war of around 80,000 bales. Japanese takings of these wools have increased in the same period from 20,000 bales to 113,600 bales.

No recent figures for the production of the important textile yarns and fabrics are available. The pre-war production of cottonyarns was about 2,000,000,000 pounds per year, with a value of £100,000,000. From 12 to 15 per cent of this yarn was exported. The normal output of cotton piece goods is about 8,000,000,000 yards, of which 80 per cent is exported. According to the census of 1907, the value of the output of the woolen and worsted trade was £70,000,000, of which about 50 per cent represented goods for export. The same census reports the output of silks as £5,236,000, and linens, £15,000,000. Jute manufactures in 1913 amounted to about £13,500,000, of which 60 per cent was retained for home consumption and 40 per cent exported. In 1913 linen manufactures to the amount of £9,463,500 were exported.

In summary the exports of domestic textile manufactures for the period 1912-1918 are as follows:

EXPORTS OF DOMESTIC TEXTILE MANUFACTURES.1

The above data show that the value of the exports of textiles has increased during the war, especially in the past two years. Quantities exported have not increased in most cases. (See following sections.)

The direction of the textile trade has not been radically altered during the war in most instances. In the case of cottons and woolens the trade is world-wide; the Indian markets and those of the Far East are most important, and European markets the least important. Before the war Germany was the largest importer of wool tops from the United Kingdom, and also took large quantities of English woolens. This trade has, of course, disappeared.

The imports of textile manufactures are important, as shown by the following table:

1 Annual (and Monthly) Statements of Trade of the United Kingdom.

These imports consist largely of kinds of yarn and fabrics in which the British mills do not specialize. Large quantities of cottons and woolens came from Germany and Belgium before the war, and this accounts in large measure for the unusually sharp declines in this trade. Reexports of textile manufactures are relatively small, totaling about £3,500,000 per year in normal times.

In the following sections the principal branches of the textile industry are discussed in some detail.

COTTON.

The United Kingdom before the war led the world in the manufacture of cotton yarn and cotton goods, and this industry was and is by far the most important of the industrial activities of the British Isles. The number of cotton operatives in the United Kingdom, according to the census of 1907, was 624,330. A comparison of the number of spindles in operation in various countries suggests the dominant position of the United Kingdom in the cotton industry. In 1914 the total number of spindles in all countries was 146,397,000. About 85 per cent of these spindles were located in six countries, as

follows:1

United Kingdom.
United States.

Germany.

According to the above data, the spinning capacity of the cotton mills of the United Kingdom before the war amounted to nearly 40 per cent of the world capacity.

Taken from a report issued in 1918 by a committee appointed by the British Board of Trade to consider the position of the textile trades.

In recent years, however, cotton manufacturing has been developing rapidly in the United States, and the consumption of raw cotton by American mills has been greater than that of the British mills during the war. In the season 1915-16, for example, American mills absorbed about 30 per cent of the world's commercial cotton crop, while British mills in the same year took little over 20 per cent. Still there is no reason to suppose that cotton manufacturing in the United Kingdom will suffer any serious absolute decline as a result of war conditions. British yarns and piece goods have a world-wide reputation for quality, the manufacturing and selling organizations of the United Kingdom are highly developed and efficient; and the greatest market for cottons in the world-British India-is dominated by British interests. Accordingly, the maintenance of at least the pre-war level of output may be expected. The weakness of the United Kingdom's position lies in the fact that British mills depend entirely upon outside countries for their supply of raw cotton, while n the case of the United States domestic production of cotton (about 16,000,000 bales annually) is over 50 per cent of the total production of the world. In normal times, however, freight rates from southern ports in the United States to the United Kingdom are about as low as rates by railroad to the New England mills. It is particularly the further development of mills in the Southern States, then, which may affect the relative position of the British industry with respect to the availability of American supplies of raw material.

The conditions incident to the war have undoubtedly seriously hampered the cotton industry in the United Kingdom. One of the most serious factors has been the shortage of dyestuffs. The dyes so essential to the British textile trades were largely imported from Germany before the war, and the loss of these materials was almost calamitous for a time. Strenuous efforts have been made during the war to increase the domestic production of dyeing materials, and these efforts have met with fair success. It is planned to increase this production and permanently free the textile industries from their dependence upon imported dyestuffs. Materials such as farina, chloride of magnesium and various other chemicals of importance in bleaching and for other purposes, were also largely imported from Germany before the war. Other conditions combining to harass the effective operation of the cotton mills have been curtailed output of textile machinery, the shortage of ship space, and the labor disturbances.

The supply of raw cotton has not been maintained, particularly in the last two years of the war. The following table shows the United Kingdom's trade in and consumption of raw cotton for the years 1912-1918:

THE UNITED KINGDOM'S IMPORTS, EXPORTS, AND CONSUMPTION OF RAW COTTON.1 (Pounds, 000 omitted.)

Available for consumption. 2, 482, 016 1,914, 654 1,647,869 2, 303, 978 1,933, 529 1,511,767 1,488,871

1 Annual (and Monthly) Statements of Trade of the United Kingdom.