Cotton's opinions attracted controversy, as extracts from newspapers of the day show. For instance, in a spirited public debate on unemployment, a Thomas H. Smeaton, under the heading "Delusive Demagogues", said of Mr Cotton and his supporters: "Dangerous men these at the present. Discard them working-men; they will fool you and nothing more...", and another man wrote: "He is a secret enemy, not an open fee, and in future it is the duty of all right-thinking men to treat his wordy vapourizings with the select contempt they deserve..."