Recollections. By Sir Charles W. Macara. (Cassell. 7s. (id. net.)—Sir
Charles Macara's autobiography contains much interesting matter relative to the cotton trade, including the famous " Brooklands agreement " of 1893, and the steady growth of the Cotton Federation. The author says that at the outset of the war, when the American cotton-growers were faced with disaster through the loss of their trade in Germany and the price of cotton fell to 4d. a pound, he urged the Govern- ment to buy the surplus of the American crop and hold it as a reserve. The Government declined and the price of cotton afterwards rose to fantastic heights, round about 45d. a pound. A little foresight on the part of the Treasury would have saved us many millions, for a rise of a halfpenny in the pound on the world's cotton crop represents £20,000,000. The purchase might conceivably have abated the controversy about the right of neutrals to trade with Germany, which occasioned so much difficulty in the first winter of the war and which enabled Germany to obtain vast supplies of cotton for use in the manufacture of munitions.
Previous page
