ENGLISH COTTON TRADE

Taranaki Daily News, 18 May 1928, Page 9

ENGLISH COTTON TRADE

TRIBUTE PAID LANCASHIRE OPTIMISM OF PRIME MINISTER. RECOVERY FROM THE 1919 BOOM. By Telegraph—Press Assn. —Copyright. United Service. London, May 16. “For every shilling I possessed when I became Prime Minister I have something under a penny to-day, owing to the vicissitudes of the steel industry,” said Mr. Baldwin at the British CottonGrowing Association luncheon in Manchester. “I say that only to make you feel I am one of yourselves, concerned in an industry in deep waters. There is onlyone way out in the steel industry; it is that capital must come down until it represents live assets. Before better times are possible all must make sacrifices, perhaps even the bankers, who will do better if they have living customers instead of corpses. Lancashire always has had a thundering good opinion of itself; now is the chance to justify the claim and to take the lead. Englishmen must get together, cut out dead wood and clean up the mess due to the boom of 1919. Always have immense fkith that, when it comes to mixing brains and business, this old country can beat the world.”

He paid tribute to the success with which the cotton trade was overcoming the problem of the supply of Empire cotton and to the cotton operatives, the grandsons of the men who tightened their belts and helped to carry Lancashire through the American Civil War. Masters and men had stood together repeatedly and the masters should think twice or three times before they sacrificed such a great record of partnership. England had always been proud of Lancashire, and would, be infinitely prouder if it took off its coat, rolled up its sleeves and set to, grimly determined to pull through at a time that would daunt v.U but the most courageous.