Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 6.djvu/540

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COTTON

of the world. But all aspirations of this kind must be doomed to disappointment so long as the protectionist policy of the States is upheld the very means which they adopt to shut out all other manufactures from their markets must have the effect of shutting out their own from the markets of the world they cannot sell freely to other nations from which they refuse to buy. Although, there fore, much is from time to time spoken and written by alarmists of the danger to be apprehended by the cotton- manufacturing interests of England from American competi tion, we believe the fears entertained to be without any real foundation. The addition of 50 per cent., more or less, made by the tariff to the cost of English-made goods would be unnecessary to prevent competition, if the American manufacturer could produce those goods as cheaply as his foreign rival. If America be thought to possess any supe riority over England in the greater facility and cheapness with which the raw material can be provided and even this may be doubtful such advantage is more than counterbalanced in other respects, and especially as regards labour. Wages in the States have been gradually declin ing, and are probably now 20 per cent, lower than in 1869, but they are still about 40 per cent, higher than in 1860. The following is a statement of the weekly wages in cotton

mills:—


carding 821 00 674 8-28 6-84 sph ning 21 00 9-12 , 2-40 Overseer, Picker tender Grinders, Strippers, Overseer, Mule spinners, Mule backside piecers, Frame spinners, Overseer, Second hand, Spoolers, Warpers, Drawers and twisters, Dressers, 4-62 dre ing 2roO 11-88 5 94 , 570 5-52 10-92 Overseer, weaving 21 00 Weavers, ,, 561

The hours of labour are from 60 to 66 per week.


The following is about the present rate of wages paid in English cotton mills:—}}


Carder 32s. to 40s. per week Under-carder 27s. 32s. ,, Grinders 25s. 28s. ,, Card tenters 14s. 16s. ,, Drawing tenters 16s. 18s, ,, Slubbing tenters 16s. 18s. Intermediate tenters 16s. 18s. Roving tenters 16s. 18s. Back tenters 9s. 10s.


Spinning.

Mule overlookers 35s. to 40s. Throstle ,, 30s. 35s. Self-actor minders 32s. 40s. ,, piecers 14s. 17s. Throstle spinners 12s. 14s. ,, doffers 9s. 11s. Half-timers 4s. 6d. Doublers 14s. to 18s.


Weaving.

Beamers 15s.,, 20s. Drawer in 24s. Weavers 15s. ,, 20s. Reelers ... 15s. ,, 20s. Engineer 35s. ,, 40s.


The hours of labour (56 per week) are shorter than those in America. If the artificial barriers which are at present kept up to exclude English manufactures from the United States were thrown down, they would probably even there be able to maintain a successful competition, whilst as regards all neutral markets, where they can meet on equal terms, English manufacturers need never be afraid of the issue. Past progress and success furnish the means and the motive for further exertions, both to extend their manu

factures and to open out new channels of trade.
(r. w.)




COTTON, Charles (1630-1687), an English translator, poet, and wit, was born at Beresford in Staffordshire. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, and after wards spent some time on the Continent. At the age of twenty-eight he succeeded to an estate greatly encumbered through his father s extravagance, and the rest of his life was that of a country gentleman. He gained the friendship of Izaak Walton, whose fishing expeditions to the Dove he was privileged to accompany ; and to the Complete Angler he added Instructions how to angle for a Trout or Grayling in a Clear Stream. His second wife, the countess of Ardgl;iss, had a jointure of 1500 a year, but it was secured from his extravagance, and at his death in 1687 he was insolvent. Cotton is the author of a good deal of verse, much of which is jocular. Though his love songs are frequently quaint and frigid, they are sometimes exceedingly gay and spirited, as are also most of his bacchic verses.


His chief works are—Translations of the Horace of Corneille, the Life of the Duke d Espernon, and the Fair One of Tunis, and above all his famous and often published translation of Montaigne (1683, 1869, &c. ) ; the Scarronides, or Vigil Travcstie, a coarse parody of the first and fourth books of the ^fineid, which ran through fifteen editions; a humorous poem, the Voyayc to Ireland / and a serious poem of small merit, the Wonders of the Peak.

COTTON, George Edward Lynch (1813-1866), head

master of Marlborough School and bishop of Calcutta, metropolitan in India and Ceylon, was born at Chester, October 29, 1813. He was the son of an officer who was killed at the battle of the Nivelle a fortnight after his son s birth, and grandson of Dr Cotton, formerly dean of Chester. He received his education at Westminster School, whence he passed in 1832 to Trinity College, Cambridge. Here he became an adherent of the Low Church party, and at the same time the intimate friend of several disciples of Dr Arnold, among whom were Dr Vaughan of Harrow, W J. Conybeare, and Dr Howson. The "influence of Arnold was powerful enough to determine the character and course of his whole life. He graduated B.A. in 1836, and was forth with appointed by Dr Arnold to an assistant-mastership at Rugby. Here he worked steadily and devotedly for fifteen years, inspired with the spirit and heartily entering into the plans and methods of his beloved master. He became master of the fifth form about 1840. He made himself the sympathizing companion and friend of his pupils ; and by the force of his character and the geniality of his disposi tion gained their unbounded esteem and love. In 1852 he accepted the appointment of head-master of Marlborough College, which was then in a state of serious financial em barrassment and of almost hopeless disorganization ; but, giving himself to the task of reforming it with all his heart, in his six years of rule he rescued it from impending dissolution and raised it to a high position. In 1858 Cotton was ofTered the see of Calcutta, vacant by the death of Dr Daniel Wilson ; and this high post, after much hesitation about quitting Marlborough, he accepted. For its peculiar duties and responsibilities he was remarkably fitted by the simplicity and solidity of his character, by his large toler ance, by his capacity of sympathy with other men, and by the experience which he had gained as teacher and ruler at

Rugby and Marlborough. It was natural that the cause of