1911. From the Preface: The cotton industry is probably the greatest single industry in the world if the cultivation, manufacture, commerce, and the uses of the cotton products are considered. The influence of the cotton plant on the history of America is especially interesting. The commerce of the Middle Ages, Columbus's discovery of America, the trade between England and her American colonies, the revolution of the colonies, the War of 1812, the building of the nation, the institution of slavery, the tariff question, the extension of the nation beyond the Mississippi, the Civil War, and the rebuilding of the South were all deeply affected by the cotton industry; and the world's commerce for more than a century has been affected largely by it. For nearly a century the industrial life of the South has been either directly or indirectly related to the cotton industry, and this industry controlled for many years the politics of this country and influenced in no small measure the politics of Europe.