More striking has been the increase, particularly since 1900, in the number of spindles working on jute products. In the period 1880– 1900 they advanced fourfold, from 70,840 in 1880 to 295,302 in 1900. The ratio of increase was slightly less during the interval 1900–1920, when their number advanced steadily, with the exception of 1912, to a total of 855,307 in 1920.

Keeping pace with increases in spindleage and loomage the number of hands engaged by the jute mills in 1880-1900 also advanced about fourfold, from about 27,000 to 102,000. In 1911 the operatives numbered 216,390, and in 1920, 280,408.

The dividends returned by the mills indicate that the industry is profitable. Of 35 mills publishing financial statements for their fiscal year 1912, 6 reported no dividends and 29 an average of 12.5 per cent; and of 37 in 1914, 9 announcd no profits, and 28 an average of 14.6 per cent each. Two companies returning extra large dividends for 1914, one of 110 per cent and the second of 55 per cent, account for the 1914 average being in excess of 1912.. The war period was one of unprecedented prosperity for the Indian industry; 42 companies returned dividends for 1918 averaging 145 per cent. The close of the war was not followed by any marked decline in profits. For their fiscal year 1919, 42 companies announced dividends averaging 131 per cent per mill, and for 1920, 134 per cent.18 At the close of the war, Calcutta prepared for the greatest expansion in its career. In January, 1920, 14 new mills were in course of construction.19 It is estimated that the total loomage of these mills, combined with the extensions planned by the mills then in operation, amounted to a 20 per cent increase in weaving capacity.

By January, 1921, only 1 of the 14 mills had been completed. The projects for two others had been abandoned. A number of factors retarded the anticipated expansion, the foremost of which was the depression in late 1920 in trade the world over, which cut down materially the demand for gunnies, and caused production to run far ahead of consumption. Accompanying the decline in demand was a sharp break in prices. The 40-inch, 104-ounce burlap was selling in Calcutta for 4.98 cents a yard in December, 1920, and for 4.21 cents. per yard in June, 1921, as compared with 5.51 cents in January, 1914, and 9.08 cents in January, 1920.20

The latest official figures available regarding Indian weaving capacity are those showing the looms in existence in early 1920. At that time there were 41,045 looms turning out gunny cloth, as compared with 36,050 in 1914 and 31,418 in 1910. Private sources give the total on January 1, 1921, as 40,898, and on January 1, 1920, as 40,447.21

18 The profits returned by individual jute mills for each of the years 1912-1920 is shown on pp. 78, 79. 19 "Indian Jute Mills and Their Looms," on Jan. 1, 1920, published by Moran & Co., brokers, Calcutta, India.

20 Rupee-32.44 cents.

21 Statistics other than those of the Indian Government are taken from "Indian Jute Mills and Their Looms," published annually on Jan. 1 by Moran & Co.

The number of jute looms in India since 1890, as given by official and private sources, follow:

1 There is no information showing the date when the yearly census was taken, or whether the figures here given relate to looms in existence or those in operation.

2 "Indian Jute Mills and Their Looms," published by Moran & Co.

* An article in "Capital," Calcutta, of Jan. 13, 1921, states: "On the 1st of January, 1915, there were 38,354 looms working. On the 1st of January, 1919, this number had increased to 39,151, which had further increased by the 1st of January, 1920, to 40,367, and during 1920 about 2,000 additional looms have been working."

Number of sacking and hessian looms.-The number of looms for turning out twilled cloth installed between January 1, 1919, and January 1, 1921, was 370, and those for weaving burlap, 1,077.22 A greater number of new looms would have been added but for labor troubles during 1920 in Scotland, which supplies practically all the machinery.23

That the number of new hessian looms added since early 1919 is in excess of the new sacking looms is in keeping with the trend of the industry during the past 10 years. In 1890 sacking looms totaled 6,006, and burlap looms 1,958. By 1910, the hessian looms had taken the lead with a total of 18,334 as against 13,421 for sacking. At the beginning of 1921 the totals were 16,445 sacking and 24,453 hessian looms.

Comparatively few of the hessian looms are wide enough to turn out burlap for use in the manufacture of linoleum. About threequarters of the hessian looms in January, 1921, had reeds-narrow strips of steel wire to guide the warp threads and to keep them parallel and evenly divided-ranging between 46 and 52 inches. On the same date there were 587 looms that had reeds between 78 and 84 inches. Looms with reeds in excess of 84 inches, if any, were included in the classification of "other widths," which totaled 483.24

Exports of raw jute and yarn. The growth of the Indian industry is in response to the world's increasing consumption of jute cloth and bags. So great and steady has been the demand that Calcutta has been forced to divert an increasing percentage of her raw material to home consumption, while exports have tended to decline. The raw jute exported in the fiscal years 1920 and 1921 totaled 3,314,158 and 2,645,518 bales, respectively, as against an average of 4,223,000 bales for the period 1905-1909 and 4,280,000 bales for 1910-1914.

* Oil statistics do not distinguish between hessian and sacking looms.

23 Imports of jute textile machinery amounted in the fiscal year 1918, to $14,349,000; in 1919, to $16,231,000; in 1929, to $23,255,000, and in 1921, to $9,007,716.

34"Jute Mills in India, 1921." Moran & Co., Calcutta, published in "Dundee Prices Current,” Apr. 6, 1921.

The demand for jute manufactures has been confined to bags and -cloth, for India's exports of yarn and twist (rove), up to 1917 were small and declining. Only in four years during the period, 1900-1916, did the shipments of yarn and twist exceed a million pounds. Previous to the war the largest exports were in 1902, when they totaled 5,221,000 pounds. Beginning with 1907 the quantities of yarn exported declined year by year to 50,741 pounds in 1915. Since that time there has been a marked relative increase. From 817,000 pounds in 1916, the quantity advanced to 5,114,000 pounds in 1919, and then fell back to 3,606,000 pounds for the following year. Exports reached a new level in the 12 months ended March, 1921, when their total was 10,178,785 pounds, or 4,544 tons.25 Shipments in the same time of cloth and bags amounted to 357,424 tons, and 467,580 tons, respectively. Up to the close of the war shipments of jute yarn were in large part consigned to Japan and Australia.

Exports of gunny cloth.-Exports of gunny cloth, which classification includes all cloths produced from jute, have contributed equally with shipments of bags to the present dominating position of the Indian industry.26 The basis of the present export trade in gunny cloth was laid in the years 1880-1900, when the shipments from India increased from 4,000,000 to 300,000,000 yards. By 1910 exports had jumped to 940,000,000 yards, and they kept advancing by yearly additions of about 40,000,000 yards to 1,230,950,000 yards in 1917. The last part of the war saw a slight falling off from the peak reached in 1917. A twofold increase in the number of gunny bags shipped-principally hessian bags for intrenchment purposeswhich rose from 397,565,000 in 1915 to an average of about 780,000,000 bags during the next three years and then declined at the close of the war to 342,000,000, accounts for the decrease in cloth shipped in the fiscal years 1918-1919.

With the close of the war exports of gunny cloth advanced to new levels. For the years ended March 31, 1920, and 1921 the exports were 1,275,124,656 and 1,352,738,649 linear yards, respectively.

Had shipments been limited to actual requirements, the aggregate for 1921 would not have surpassed the figure for 1920. The demand for gunnies depends upon the volume of goods to be removed. Notwithstanding the world-wide slump in trade commencing in the last part of 1920, which was followed by a sharp decline in demand, incapacity to pay, and a marked increase in stocks at hand in the largest centers of consumption, Calcutta continued to run her mills on full time and to expand the volume of her shipments. At the end of October, 1920, exports of cloth in the past ten months were 32.6 per cent greater than for the same period in 1919. In the same time there was a gain of 36.6 per cent in the number of bags shipped abroad.

25 The probability of a further increase in India's shipments of yarn is discussed on pp. 46, 47. 26 Exports of gunny bags and cloth, 1900-1922 (rupee=32.44 cents) were as follows:

In November, 1920, the disparity between the consumption and the production of gunnies became so evident that it was decided to curtail weaving operations. Accordingly, an agreement was entered into by all the mills to reduce during the period January-June, 1920, the working week from six to five days. In March it was agreed to run the mills only four days a week in the months April, May, and June. Later the 4-day week was successively extended through the first part of 1922.

Following this agreement there was a marked decline in shipments. In January-September, 1921, 812,819,000 yards of cloth were sent abroad, a decline of 28 per cent compared with the same months im 1920. Exports of bags likewise fell off, but not in the same degree. There were 345,951,000 bags shipped in the first nine months of 1921, as against 425,764,000 in the corresponding period in 1920.

Percentage of cloth shipments consisting of burlap.-India's shipments: of gunny cloth consist almost entirely of (1) hessian, and (2) sacking. Exports of burlap in recent years have formed from 96 to 98 per cent of all the cloth shipped. In contrast exports of bags are usually made up to a very large degree of sacking bags. That India's foreign trade in gunnies is practically limited to hessian cloth and to sacking bags, is explained by the fact that the hessian is shipped abroad for manufacture into sacks, whereas the twilled cloth is retained to be sewed up by Indian operatives. Beginning with 1917, India divided her shipments of gunny cloth and bags according to those consisting of (1) hessian, and (2) of sacking. Exports of hessian cloth amounted in 1920 to 1,233,141,000 yards and in the fiscal year 1921 to 1,318,014,000 yards, and of sacking in the same years to 41,982,000 and 34,724,000 yards, respectively.

Exports of cloth to the United States, 1900-1921.-The United States, India's leading market for hessian and hessian bags, normally receives about two-thirds of all the burlap and about 40 per cent of all the burlap bags shipped. During the fiscal year 1921, 928,392,169 yards, or 70 per cent of all the hessian, and 64,300,000 bags, or 47 per cent of all the hessian bags, were consigned to the United States. As a rule the hessian cloth sewed into bags is equal to about 5 per cent of the cloth shipped as taken from the loom.

Since 1900 shipments of cloth direct from India to the United States have constituted, annually, with the exception of the war years, from 60 to 70 per cent of Calcutta's constantly expanding exports. For instance, gunny cloth consigned to the United States for every fifth year beginning with 1900 has amounted to between 61.1 and 69.9 per cent of all the jute cloth exported from India. In the five years, 1910-1914, the United States received 68.4 per cent of the cloth shipped direct to consuming countries.

The war affected only to a slight degree India's shipments to her leading market. The American consumption of jute cloth of Calcutta manufacture amounted to 56 per cent of the total in 1917 and 58 per cent in 1918. With the restoration of normal conditions, shipments to the United States in the fiscal year 1920 amounted to 64.21 per cent and in 1921 to 68.96 per cent of all the jute cloth sent abroad. The United States is even a greater consumer of Indian jute cloth than the figures relating to direct shipments from India indicate. In addition, the United States usually consumes more than half of the