MANUFACTURING

139

TEXTILES

Europe holds a leading position in textile manufacturing. The mills
of Lancashire, Yorkshire, Saxony, Belgium, Lyons and Milano turn
out quantities of cotton, wool and rayon yarns and fabrics, sufficient
to enable lutrope to far surpass all other continents. Silk is the only
one of the major textiles in which it occupies a secondary position.
These industries are scattered widely throughout the continent, and

0 10 20 &---------40----------50-----------60---------------70

Workers in the textile industries of Europe. Each dot indicates i per cent of the
European total (Reprinted by permission from Economic and Social Geography, by
Hnntmgton, Williams and Van Valkenburg, published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.)

vary in different regions in accordance with differences in demand, the
character of the raw material available, and the skill of.the population.

In this activity the North Sea areas again dominate, the United
Kingdom, Germany and France being the leading individual nations.
At present, the industry is tending to spread more widely throughout
the continent, and such states as Italy and Russia are rapidly increasing
their production,

Cotton,—In spite of the lack of raw materials, Europe manufac-
tures more cotton than any other continent. If production is measured
by the consumption of raw cotton, Europe is responsible for some 45