700 | 738 | 10,600 |
| Leigh | 5,000 | 1,667 | 5,900 |
| Great Harwood | 4,900 | 72 | 12,400 |
| Middleton | 4,900 | 511 | 2,500 |
| Radcliffe | 4,800 | 157 | 8,900 |
+------------------------+-------------+--------------+-------------+
* Manchester only.
** The number of operatives in places in Derbyshire is not separately
specified.
*** Includes Foulridge with Colne.

Local markets have steadily lost in importance, partly owing to railway
development, and it is now almost entirely in Manchester, on the
Exchange, that dealing in yarns and fabrics takes place, and
arrangements are made for export. The old Manchester Exchange, built in
1729, was taken down in 1792. A new Exchange, reared on a contiguous
site, was opened in 1809, the first stone having been laid in 1806. The
present building was erected in 1869. The great bulk of the exports of
cotton goods proceeds from Liverpool, though London used to be the
leading port, and Liverpool is still the chief English market for raw
cotton, though now from one-sixth to one-eighth of English cotton
supplies come up the Manchester Ship Canal.

Modern organization.

To understand the present organization of the cotton industry the reader
must begin by mentally separating the commercial from the industrial
functions. By the industrial functions are meant the arrangements of
factors in production--choosing the most suitable machinery and hands,
combining them in the most economical system, adapting the material used
to this system, and keeping its working at the highest attainable level.
The commercial functions consist in business which is not industrial.
Analysis will show that there are, broadly speaking, two classes of
commercial functions, namely (1) arranging for purchases and sales, and
(2) the bearing of risks. The character of the former is apparent; it
consists, as regards yarn, in discovering for each manufacturer which
spinner makes the yarn which is best adapted to his requirements at the
lowest cost, and in finding the most suitable customers for spinners.
Risk-bearing is a commercial function of another kind. Every business
that involves anticipation involves commercial risks. Thus the spinner
who sells "forward" yarn, trusting that the price of cotton will not
rise, is takin