Though India is now chiefly an agricultural country her people from
time immemorial have been adepts in manufacturing. The domestic
textile manufactures and the domestic metal manufactures of India were
for ages among the most beautiful and ingenious in the world. These
DOMESTIC MANUFACTURES are principally pursued in small villages, of
which there are over half a million in India. But under the influences
of modern civilisation introduced by British rule, the domestic
industries of the country are now giving way to FACTORY INDUSTRIES.
These have already become well established, and are rapidly increasing
in number and importance. The stability of India as a nation is now so
well assured that capital can be had there as cheaply as in England or
the United States. Besides, co-operative or joint-stock enterprises
are becoming common. The Indian people, with their natural aptitude
for weaving, make the best of textile operatives, and India bids fair
soon to become a formidable rival of Western nations in TEXTILE
MANUFACTURES. In twenty years the cotton spindles have increased
sixfold. In ten years the COTTON OUTPUT has increased twofold. Bombay
has become one of the greatest cotton centres in the world, a sort of
Liverpool and Manchester combined. It has practically shut the doors
of India to English manufactured cottons of the cheaper grades. Bombay
manufactured cotton is even sent to England in immense quantities, but
the principal export is to China. The total export of Indian
manufactured cotton is $23,000,000. Another important modern
manufacture is that of JUTE. The jute factories of Bengal are now
competing with those of Scotland, and the total export is $17,500,000.
A similar development is expected in iron manufactures, for already
iron-smelting has begun. But, notwithstanding these developments,
India still remains a tremendous market for the manufactured goods of
England, especially in cottons and hardware and machinery. The value
of the annual cotton importation from England is $100,000,000, equal
to the total of England's exportation of goods of every sort to the
United States. The value of the annual hardware and machinery
importation from England is $35,000,000.