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106 ECONOMIC INQUIRIES AND STUDIES
I t is, unfortunately, impossible to state in a simple
manner the progress at different dates in the great
textile industries of the country. Everything as regards
these industries is thrown out by the disturbance con-
sequent on the American War. It does not appear,
however, that what has happened as regards the main
textile industries, cotton and wool, would alter sensibly
the conclusions above stated, drawn from the facts as
to other main industries of the country. If we take
the consumption of raw materials as the test, it ~ould
appear that the growth in the cotton manufacture is
from a consumption of 28 lbs. per head in 1855 to
about 38 lbs. per head in 1875, while in 1885 the con-
sumption is nearly 42 lbs. per head, an increase of
4lbs. per head in the last ten years, against 10 lbs.
per head in the previous twenty. The percentage of
increase in the last twenty years must therefore, on
the whole, have been less than in the previous twenty,
although in these twenty years the great interruption
due to the American Civil War occurred. Of course
the amount of raw material consumed is not here an
absolute test. There may be more spinning and weav-
ing now in proportion to the same quantity of raw
material than was formerly the case. But the indica-
tions are at least not so certain and direct as when
the consumption of raw material could be confidently
appealed to. As regards wool, the comparison. is un-
fortunately very incomplete, owing to the lack of some
data for the earlier years: but what we find is that
the amount of wool consumed per head of the popula-
tion of the United Kingdom has in the last ten years
rather declined than otherwise, from nearly I I lbs. per
. head in the five years 1870-74 to IO lbs. per head only
in the five years 1880-84. Here, again, the explana-
tion suggested as to cotton-viz., that there may be
more spinning and weaving now in proportion to the
same quantity of raw material than was formerly the
tase-applies. But the answer is also the same, that
at any rate the indications of progress are no longer as