Notes Upon Indigo — Text and Context

wn manufactures. In the hands of the English this product rapidly rose to be the most important of India, in a commercial view, except that of rice. The small cost of a factory, and the comparatively small capital required for this production, caused the indigo culture to be preferred to sugar planting. The importation and sale of this commodity at the East India House, in 1792, amounted to 581,827 lbs., while the importation into Great Britain from other parts of the world amounted to 1,285,927 lbs. In 1806 the importation from the East Indies, and sales at the East India House, amounted to 4,811,700 lbs., and produced in sterling money £1,685,275. In the year 1862–63, the export from India, and the destination of supplies, were as follows:—

Destination. Quantity. Value. ---------------------------------------------------- United Kingdom 8,537,133 lbs. $1,627,035 America 134,064 26,949 Arabian and Persian Gulfs 343,037 33,385 France 1,922,120 371,396 Germany 85,680 15,504 Suez 295,269 51,730 Other places 9,577 815 ---------------------------------------------------- Total 11,326,880 lbs. $2,126,814

The value of exports in 1866 was £1,861,501. In the same year the imports of indigo from the whole of Central America, including Honduras, was 672,480 lbs. The consumption of indigo in Great Britain did not increase during the ten years ending with 1867. This stationary demand, notwithstanding the fall in the price of the drug and increase of population, is attributed by McCulloch principally to the decreasing use of blue cloth. It is more probably due to the substitution of cheaper dyes. The average home consumption in Great Britain for seven years ending in 1867, was 1,675,072 lbs. per year.

The importation into this country for the twenty years last past is shown by the following table, kindly prepared at our request by the chief of the Bureau of Statistics:—

_Statement of Imports of Indigo into the United States during the Fiscal Years ended June 30, 1853–1872._

INDIGO. Fiscal Year ended June 30 FREE OF DUTY. DUTIABLE. -------------------------------------------------- Pounds. Dollars. Pounds. Dollars. 1853 1,387,847 947,367 1854 1,965,789 1,282,367 1855 2,097,397 1,151,516 1856 1,732,290 1,063,743 1857 1,533,037 1,010,509 1858 1,647,767 945,083 1859 1,773,868 1,441,429 1860 1,707,116 1,413,790 1861 185,039 160,138 719,563 505,766 1862 2,501,052 3,281,441 1863 885,834 1,008,187 178,364 219,169 1864 684,813 623,406 897,821 671,899 1865 741,438 601,283 415,575 324,207 1866 798,855 609,160 44,660 41,268 1867 1,069,506 816,974 1868 870,164 775,751 1869 1,574,449 1,649,550 1870 1,270,579 1,203,664 1871 1,994,172 2,052,222 1872 1,526,869 1,484,744

EDWARD YOUNG, _Chief of Bureau_. Bureau of Statistics, Nov. 16, 1872.

The extraordinary quantity imported in 1862, we hardly need remark, was due to the demand for consumption in army cloths. Indigo imported directly, was made free of duty in 1861. The duty which appears by the above table to have been charged since that period, was upon indigo, the product of India, imported by way of England, which was subject to an extra duty of ten per cent.

The indigo consumed in the United States is generally supplied by the Boston and New York Calcutta houses, who have either an American partner resident in Calcutta, or who employ a resident American as agent. Indigo, like other Calcutta goods, is sold through the agency of brokers, who receive on this article a commission of one per cent. The value of the article is known almost daily in these cities by telegrams, giving exact information of the state of the trade, transmitted from Calcutta as often as every five days. Some of the brokers publish monthly circulars, showing the stock of indigo with other Calcutta goods on hand in our market. The regular trade reports issued by the India merchants show that The higher qualities of indigo do not come to our market. The following is an extract from a report of Whitney, Brother, & Co., of 1871:—

Indigo for Continent fine 350 to 362 rupees. „ „ „ good 330 „ 345 „ „ „ „ middling 310 „ 325 „ American consuming fine 280 „ 300 „ „ „ good 250 „ 275 „ „ „ middling 200 „ 240 „ „ „ low and ordinary 150 „ 170 „

At the present moment there is great depression in the trade in this article. The last telegrams show a decline of price in the Indian trade in this article of from fifty to seventy-five per cent from the prices of last year; and the apprehension is even entertained that indigo is going out of use, the dreaded competitors being the aniline dyes, and particularly the Nicholson blue. We maybe presumptuous in giving our opinion on the question, but we hazard the prediction that, notwithstanding the temporary popularity of the cheap substitutes, a reaction will take place in favor of that “wonderful and most valuable production,” whose importance as a dye has been held in India for thousands of years and Europe for two centuries, “greatly to exceed any other.”[2]

------------------------------------------------------------- [2] The “Dictionnaire Universel du Commerce,” &c., published in 1861, contains an exhaustive article on the commerce in indigo, by M. S. Beekrode. From the statements of this writer, it appears that the consumption of indigo was estimated, in 1835, as follows:—

Great Britain 1,214,380 kilograms (2,683,779) lbs. France 912,915 „ (2,017,542) „ United States 130,000 „ (277,300) „ Other countries 2,435,473 „ (5,382,395) „ --------- ----------- Total 4,692,768 kilograms (10,362,016) lbs.

The approximate consumption in 1859 is stated as follows:—

Great Britain 800,000 kilograms (1,768,000) lbs. France 800,000 „ (1,768,000) „ United States 400,000 „ ( 884,000) „ Russia 860,000 „ (1,900,600) „ The Zollverein 1,250,000 „ (2,762,500) „ Switzerland 150,000 „ ( 331,500) „ Austria 400,000 „ ( 884,000) „ Other countries 300,000 „ ( 663,000) „ --------- ----------- Total 4,960,000 kilograms(10,961,600) lbs.

The average production in 1859 is estimated as follows:—

Bengal, Madras, &c. 3,500,000 kilograms (7,735,000) lbs. Java 550,000 „ (1,215,500) „ Central America 300,000 „ ( 663,000) „ Other sources 100,000 „ ( 221,000) „ --------- ----------- Total 4,450,000 kilograms (9,834,500) lbs.

As the maximum annual consumption in 1859 is set down at 5,000,000 kilograms, the author concludes that the average production at that time did not surpass the requirements of the dyers of the whole world. -------------------------------------------------------------