The Cotton Slump The cotton industry is still in the
Slough of Despond. Meetings this week have disclosed the fact that the depression extends to the Egyptian no less than to the American sections. The figures of export trade show a steady decline year by year, and very little progress has been made yet in the matter of Rationalization. The Lancashire Cotton Corporation is having a hard tussle with vested interests, and though it is getting useful help from some local banks, London banking houses would appear to be still holding back, no doubt because they do not yet see much sign of repentance and faith in drastic reorganization. Lancashire has yet to learn her lessons of mass production and mass distribution from Japan. Meanwhile, there are rumours of more organized short-time and a trial of the two-shift system. The question is, will the operatives be ready to collaborate ? Christmas week is to be an enforced holiday among cotton spinners in many parts of Lancashire.
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