of the weather renders an indoor occupation desirable,
and the scanty sunshine, combined with the unfruitful nature of much of
the soil, prevents the absorption of the population in agricultural
pursuits. In later years the port of Liverpool and the presence of coal
supplemented the attractions which were holding the cotton industry in
Lancashire. All the raw material must come from abroad, and an enormous
proportion of English cotton products figures as exports. The proximity
of Liverpool has aided materially in making the cotton industry a great
exporting industry.

Early system of manufacture and organisation.

Before the localization of the separate parts of the industry can be
treated the differentiation of the industry must be described. We pass
then, at this stage, to consider the manufacture in its earliest form
and the lines of its development. First, and somewhat incidentally, we
notice the early connexion between the conduct of the cotton
manufacture, when it was a domestic industry in its primitive form, and
the performance of agricultural operations. A few short extracts will
place before us all the evidence that it is here needful to adduce.
First Radcliffe, an eye-witness, writing of the period about 1770, says
"the land in our township (Mellor) was occupied by between fifty and
sixty farmers ... and out of these fifty or sixty farmers there were
only six or seven who raised their rents directly from the produce of
their farms, all the rest got their rent partly in some branch of trade,
such as spinning and weaving woollen, linen or cotton. The cottagers
were employed entirely in this matter, except for a few weeks in the
harvest."[15] Next we may cite Edwin Butterworth who, though not an
eyewitness (he was not born till 1812), proved himself by his researches
to be a careful and trustworthy investigator. In the parish of Oldham,
he recorded, there were "a number of master (cotton-linen fustian)[16]
manufacturers, as well as many weavers who worked for manufacturers, and
at the same time were holders of land or farmers.... The number of
fustian farmers who were cottagers working for manufacturers, without
holding land, were few; but there were a considerable number of weavers
who worked on their own account, and held at the same time small pieces
of land."[17] Other passages might be quoted, but these two will
suffice. Weaving was not exactly a by-employment of farm labourers, but
many weavers made