$98,546,625, reserves of $23,513,015, and total assets of $154,264,064. Of these, fixed assets total $80,258,883, consisting chiefly of shares in and permanent loans to subsidiaries.. The company controls and largely finances by means of advances to them for stock and working expenses not only the companies mentioned above but also a number of subsidiary concerns and branch factories abroad. According to the 1926 balance sheet these companies owed J. & P. Coats (Ltd.), a sum of over $27,662,519, for advances and dividends receivable. In 1896, at the time of the amalgamation of the four concerns, the property of Coats comprised 16 factories, including mills in the United States, Canada, and Russia, and 60 branch houses. The company also maintained more than 150 depots in all parts of the world.22* Information is not available concerning the subsidiaries, branch houses, and depots of the concern at the present time, but in the 30 subsequent years there has been without doubt a considerable expansion. The foreign branches of J. & P. Coats (Ltd.), at present established abroad, are located in the following countries: The United States, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Russia, Poland, Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Mexico, Brazil, and Japan. The branch factory sells its product for the most part in the country in which it is located. The English Sewing Cotton Co. (Ltd.), of Manchester, England, is the second British thread concern in importance. Primarily a holding corporation, it has a controlling interest in 17 enterprises,23 the most important of which is, as already mentioned, the American Thread Co., of New York. In the original amalgamation were included 11 cotton sewing-thread manufacturers, a linen thread manufacturer, a silk throwster, and a silk thread producer. There were also obtained through this amalgamation a subsidiary in France and in Canada. The English Sewing Cotton Co. later acquired two other British concerns, including a subsidiary mill in Barcelona, Spain. The last-named was placed some years after under a management controlled by Coats; the French factory at Armentieres was subsequently destroyed during the war. In 1926 the capital of the English Sewing Cotton Co. amounted to $19,260,118 and its assets totaled $28,131,285. In addition to these two outstanding producers, there are over 60 other manufacturers of sewing cotton in the United Kingdom. The production of the Coats company constitutes the greater part of the output of the entire country. In the investigation of the sewingcotton subcommittee of the Standing Committee on Trusts in Great Britain in 1920 it was found that 80 per cent of the "domestic sewing cotton "sold by the Drapers' Chamber of Commerce in Great Britain was the Coats' product. Although the precise extent of the hold which Coats have of the British home trade can only be a matter of individual opinion, the findings of the committee show that the Coats concern for a number of years has been sufficiently strong to maintain an effective monopoly on sewing cotton for household use. No figures for thread production in Great Britain are available.24 In the absence of production figures the volume of export trade serves 22 Macrosty, H. W., The Trust Movement in British Industry. 23 Statist, July 21, 1923. 24 Even during the investigation by the sewing-thread subcommittee of the Standing Committee on Trusts, the accountants of the British Government were denied access to the data on the operations and sales of the J. & P. Coats firm as a whole, on the ground that any such examination would disclose the company's foreign business and be detrimental to its interests. to indicate in a general way the position of Great Britain as a producer of sewing thread. As indicated by Table 8, which shows the exports of cotton sewing thread of Great Britain for 38 years, the quantity of shipments abroad attained the record average of 32,640,000 pounds annually during the 5-year period, 1899–1903. A decline in trade in the following decade brought exports down to 20,730,400 pounds in 1913. In 1916 exports rose to 24,701,800 pounds, the highest volume since 1909. The quantity of exports since the war has been considerably below the pre-war amount. During the five years, 1922-1926, the amount of exports was maintained at practically a stationary level, averaging about 18,000,000 pounds annually. Exports in 1925 represented a value of $36,754,000; in 1926, $34,986,983. As previously mentioned, the J. & P. Coats concern and the English Sewing Cotton Co. export over four-fifths of the goods 25 which they make in their British factories, the major part of their profits being derived from the trade in foreign and colonial markets. TABLE 8.-Cotton sewing thread-Exports of the United Kingdom, 1889-1926 [Source: Great Britain Customs Establishment Statistical Office-Annual Statement of Trade] The principal markets for British exports of cotton thread are British India, Argentina, Mexico, Australia, Brazil, and Sweden. France.-France occupies a position of prominence in the manufacture of fine mending, embroidery, and crochet cottons for handwork. The products of Dollfus-Mieg et Cie., of Mulhouse, the pioneer in the handwork-cotton industry, have already been alluded to in the section on "domestic exports," page 27. In addition to Dollfus-Mieg et Cie, there are two other internationally known French companies, (1) Cartier-Bresson, Société Anonyme, a century old concern, with factories at Pantin (Seine) Celles-sur-Plaine (Vosges), and Azerailles (Meurthe & Moselle), and (2) Maurice Frings et Cie, Manufacture Parisienne des Cotons L. V. & M. F. A., with establishments at Hellemmes, Lille, and Vitry-surSeine. 25 The directors of the J. & P. Coats (Ltd.) stated to the sewing-cotton investigation committee that during the year ended June 30, 1919, 80.69 per cent of the profit arising from products manufactured in the United Kingdom was derived from sales in the foreign market; in 1914 the percentage was 83.86. The production of sewing thread and handwork cottons in France is not officially recorded nor are export figures available, since French statistics do not separately enumerate either of these commodities. Germany. There are in Germany a number of independent thread concerns not connected with the German Sewing Thread Syndicate. Several of the independent companies are combined for the distribution of their products. The sales organization known as the Deutsche Nachfaden-Aktiengesellschaft, of Hamburg, which supplied exporters of textile goods engaged in trade with eastern and South American markets was involved in bankruptcy proceedings in October, 1925.26 Germany normally maintains a favorable export balance in cotton sewing thread. In 1913, German exports of cotton thread of all kinds, put up on wooden spools for the retail trade, amounted to approximately 3,066,000 pounds, valued at $1,268,000. Since the resumption of foreign commerce in 1920, German exports of sewing thread of cotton have been steadily advancing, and in 1923 fell just short of 1,000,000 pounds, the largest amount in the postwar period. In 1924, 1925, and 1926 they declined slightly in quantity from this record, but were, on the other hand, twice as large in value. Even more important than the trade in sewing thread are the German exports of cotton thread in hanks, skeins, etc., which probably includes the handwork cottons. The 1913 pre-war exports of articles in this category amounted to nearly 5,895,000 pounds, valued at $5,831,000. The heaviest exports since the war occurred in 1923 when shipments totaled 1,590,178 pounds; in 1925, they amounted to 805,600 pounds, valued at about $1,067,000; and in 1926 to 854,000 pounds, valued at $1,161,600. Other countries.-Austria, Belgium, and Italy are the only other countries of importance in the export trade in cotton thread and yarns for handwork. Shipments from Austria since the war have exceeded by a considerable margin the quantity exported by Austria and Hungary combined immediately prior thereto. In 1913, exports of the dual kingdom amounted to 1,625,011 pounds as compared with the postwar exports of Austria alone which aggregated 2,652,354 pounds in 1923, 2,572,547 pounds in 1924, 2,251,117 pounds in 1925, and 1,794,324 pounds in 1926. Belgian statistics under the caption "cotton yarn prepared for the retail trade" show in 1913 exports of 3,440,000 pounds, valued at $1,593,000. Postwar shipments have been smaller, aggregating 2,918,000 pounds in 1922, 2,664,000 pounds in 1924, and 2,245,000 pounds in 1925. In 1926, they fell off to 1,970,900 pounds, valued at $1,004,499. The Italian export trade in sewing cotton put up in balls, skeins, or spools for retail trade was comparatively small prior to the war, approximating only 297,000 pounds in 1913. Postwar figures show a considerable expansion, the exports in 1921 exceeding 2,300,000 pounds, valued at $1,967,000. In recent years there has been a slight decline, although exports are still well above the pre-war level. The reverse is true of the trend of imports which have not regained their 1913 volume. Moreover, imports prior to the war were three times as great as exports; in the seven years, 1920–1926, average shipments abroad were more than double in quantity the imports into the country. 26 Daily News Record, Oct. 28, 1925. Japan, which exported only about 316,000 pounds of cotton thread in 1913, entered foreign markets on a large scale when European deliveries were at a low ebb during the war. In 1920 Japanese shipments amounted to over 4,276,000 pounds. Although a drastic decline has occurred since that year as a result of the revived trade activities of the former leading exporting countries in cotton thread, the exports of Japan in 1925 totaled 637,400 pounds, or more than twice the volume for 1913. Exports declined still further in quantity in 1926, amounting to 592,866 pounds, valued at $346,800. From Table 9, which arrays the chief thread-exporting countries according to rank, it may be seen that shipments from the United Kingdom greatly exceed the aggregate exports of all other countries combined. Belgium, Germany, Austria, Italy, and the United States follow in the order named, each exporting over a million pounds of thread and handwork cottons annually. Table 10 shows the relative standing of the principal thread-purchasing countries, listed in serial order descending according to quantity of imports. The United States is not included in the table, as its statistics of such imports, recorded in yards, are not. comparable with the poundage figures of other countries. Omitting the United States, the Far East is the most important market for sewing thread and cottons for handwork, British India taking first. rank and China second. Canada and Sweden are the next largest importers. From the standpoint of value, the United States in most years ranks first and British India second as purchasers of thread and handwork cottons. In 1925 imports into the United States amounted to $3,463,960, as compared with imports into British India valued at $2,844,822; China, $1,763,400; Italy, $1,438,324; Canada, $1,319,930; Czechoslovakia, $1,264,650; and Sweden, $1,108,698, TABLE 9.-Cotton sewing thread and cotton yarns for retail trade-Exports of principal countries-Calendar years 1913, 1920–1926 TABLE 9.-Cotton sewing thread and cotton yarns for retail trade-Exports of principal countries—Calendar years 1913, 1920–1926—Continued TABLE 10.-Cotton sewing thread and cotton yarns for retail trade-Imports of principal foreign countries—Calendar years 1913, 1920–1926 1 Quantity in gross of 12 dozens; poundage not given. 2 Total here indicated is incomplete as cotton sewing thread on spools is omitted, such imports being recorded in value only. Imports of cotton sewing thread on spools were valued as follows: 1913, $374,647; 1920, $670,290; 1921, $318,945; 1922, $207,094; 1923, $187,953; 1924, $138,160; 1925, $79,882; 1926, $101,848. 3 Not available. • Included with Austria. |