n | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .1|
| +---------+------+------+------+------+------+
| Total | 551 | 549 | 546 | 626 | 519 | 736 |
| +---------+------+------+------+------+------+
|Total American Crop* | 9,436 |10,383|10,680|11,011|13,565|10,727|
|Total Egyptian Crop (in | | | | | | |
| bales of 7-1/2 cantars)** | 868 | 723| 849| 867| 846| 778|
-----------------------------+---------+------+------+------+------+------+
* Commercial crop.
** A cantar is 99.05 lb. avoirdupois.

Evolution of broking.

Originally cotton was imported by the Liverpool dealer as an agent for
American firms or at his own risk, and then sold by private treaty,
auction, or through brokers, to Manchester dealers, who retailed it to
the spinners. This statement is, of course, only roughly correct. Some
Manchester dealers imported themselves, and some spinners bought direct
from Liverpool importers, but the rule was the arrangement first
described. Early in the 19th century it became customary for Manchester
dealers and Liverpool importers to carry on business with one another
through representatives known as "buying" and "selling" brokers. About
this time the broker of cotton only began to specialize from the ranks
of the brokers who dealt in all kinds of colonial produce. Previously
there had not been enough business done in cotton to make it worth any
person's while to devote himself to the buying and selling on commission
of cotton only. The evolution of the distinct business of cotton broking
is readily comprehensible when we remind ourselves that the
requirements, as regards raw material, of all spinners are much alike
generally, and that no spinner could afford to pay an expert to devote
himself entirely to purchasing cotton for his mill.

So far change had been gradual, but the success of the Manchester and
Liverpool railway undermined beyond repair the old system of doing
business. Spinners could easily run over to Liverpool and buy their
cotton from the large stocks displayed at that port. Before the railway
was opened some spinners had been in the habit of making their purchases
of raw material in Liverpool, but the great inconveniences of the
journey, combined with less easy terms for payment than were usual in
Manchester, prevented any gr