Read the passage below which of the following does the author suggest caused the slow pace of development in English cotton manufacturing before the invention of spinning machines? when we observe the sudden and marvelous extension of the trade since the invention of the spinning machines not only in England but throughout Europe and in the United States there cannot remain a doubt that which so long implead the process of the cotton was the rudeness and tediousness of the modes of working. the cost of the raw material, in countries where the cotton plant did not grow, was unquestionably another hindrance; for the present contrivances for compressing it, and when navigation was much more tedious and hazardous, must have been expensive.

A. Cotton was overly compressed while being transported
B. Europeans considered cotton an unimportant cash crop
C. Raw materials needed for manufacturing were too expensive
D. Merchants invested too heavily in outdated naval technology
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