E. J. (Ezekiel J.) Donnell

Chronological and Statistical History of Cotton, E. J. (Ezekiel J.) Donnell

This work has been prepared for the purpose of supplying the cotton trade, and all who are brought mto business relations with it, with needed information in a convenient and conipact form. No attempt has been made to present anything strikingly novel or altogether new. The facts, which are spread over the succeeding pages, have existed in crude and detached form, but accessible to only a few. In eo Ueeting them together, reducing them to shape, and presenting them in a manner admitting of easy reference and comparison, much severe labor has been performed, and there has been no lack of patience and research in its prosecution. Every effort has been made to guard against errors, but among such a mass of figures, perfect accuracy could hardly be expected. In the leading statements, however, confidence may be felt that they are substantially correct. Important as cotton is, as a staple of commerce, its importance is not more wonderful than the brieftiess of the period in which it has, with us, reached its preeminence. In the course of my researches into the statistics of cotton movements, I find that in only three ports in the United States have figures approximately full been preserved for any considerable period, namely : N ew York, Charleston, and New Orleans. And yet, in Liverpool, nearly fifty years ago, cotton was regarded by an eminent authority as having then reached the highest pinnacle of its commercial importance. It must now be apparent to the leaet refiecting mind, that a new era of development has been opened to the growth and manufacture of cotton; and, to judge what course this development is likely to take, and what progress it will probably make, there can be no better help than in studying closely the history of the growth and manufacture of cotton during the past half century. Fifty years carry us back to the period when Europe began to reco
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