The war served to disarrange the system of cotton cloth distribution of the whole world. It is now a commonplace to say that the United States, by the cutting off of the usual sources of supply, succeeded for the first time in entering in force markets which hitherto had been closed. It would probably be truer to say that foreign buyers, finding it impossible to secure their customary supply from their regular sources, came to the United States and asked American manufacturers to supply their imperative wants. Just what this meant is found in the statement that while in 1913 our total exports of cotton goods amounted to about 445,000,000 yards, in 1917 the figure was about 690,000,000 yards, an increase of fifty-five per cent. The increase, moreover, has been in the colored cottons, the uncolored cloths showing an actual decrease. The United Kingdom, during 1917, exported nearly 5,000,000,000 yards of cloth, so there is no immediate prospect that the United States will be a dangerous competitor for that country, except in a few limited lines and in a few markets. The chief gain to the American cotton industry brought by the war was the opportunity it gave merchants to introduce their goods abroad at a time when loss was next to impossible. Operating at an assured profit they were able to learn the markets without the long and discouraging fight which would have been necessary had the competitive power of the other nations been at full force. If, as seems likely, the economic forces which projected the United States so suddenly and dramatically into the world's markets shall continue to operate, then the future will see a further development of our sales. Future of Foreign Sales And Probable Markets Our best and most permanent markets are probably to be found in such countries as Cuba, Mexico, the Philippines, Central and South America, and, to a certain extent, Canada and Australia, and parts of Asia and Africa. To be sure, competition will have to be met both from European countries and from Japan, whose development in the cotton industry in recent years has been nothing short of phenomenal. She has practically doubled the number of her spindles in the last ten years, and her competition has already been felt, for instance, in China, where American gray goods have been practically eliminated from the market. Other growing markets for Japanese cotton goods are South Africa, Australia, India, and the west coast of South America.