The Arkansas banner., 1846-11-04

peassnt inclusive. 4 short resrospecs of tlie cases that bas produced in time past, tllc great fuctaations inlhe price of the goverl- ing article of southern cultivation is pro- posed. ,aoo,
 A short time previous to the year lSOO the cotton gin was invented by WAatHey. The preparation of cotton for the various uses of man, was so greatly facilitated by this tayen- ton, that we may date the extension and general use of il as an article oi elothing l from this time; for then the spining glnny and the power loom, were easily supplied with ihe raw material in proper stale for conversion into clothing, and long q cctera oF other uses and comforts.
 And thsll the contest between production and consumption commenced. For some years, consumption kept so close upon pro- 1 Iuclion, and the demand for the law mate .ial SO active. that prices were kept up above all other agricultural products This had the effect of drawing into cotton culture the labors and means previously employed m other productions. And such has ever beea the activity and enterprise of the American neopie. that whenever business becomes profitable. they are sure to direct their in-
 Instrv and enterprise to that point, and un- less the demand exceeds human calculation, inc business will be over done.
 To pass over all vicissiiudes of produc- ton, consamption, and ssrice, uutl about the year 1855, there seems to have been about this period an era in speculation ln all things. and in every place, tlie like of which had been preceded, and for the good ol ihe aye we live in, it Is deyouily To be hoped. may nol occur again. The causes that led to this universal expansion al that time, Il IS not necessary now to inquire m,o; but we find. in the following years of 1856. '37 and '38, that the public lands, the cotton region become the subject of inordinatc speculation < thousand and millions of acres Of land were purchased with the calculation of pat ting il ia cotton.
 Virginia, Maryland, kentuckv, and Ten nessee were partially despoiled of their slave population 10 furnish ihe laborers to open he new plantations. The millions expend- ed and the labor applied .o this branch ot business gave an impetus 'e It that had nev- CT been attained in any other branch of agrl
 cultural productions. within this or any other age. The consumption of cotton. altiiaagh progressing with unwouied strides, taking ihe place of wool, hemp, flax, silk and other fibrous texturs; yet such was the wild, and il may be said, the mad career that was go- iny on in inc business of production, that consumption was left lar in the rear, aud the result was that prices, which had been h.gh from the origin of the culture, now fell be- low the remunerating point m or about the year lS42, and bankruptcy among the plaut- ing community, become almost universal j; new adyeniurers in cotton business. lo a great extent, saw that the production in a great measure had been at stand for s"ne few years. and the regular progress ot con- sumption has had time to overlake the nor dnlate speculative production then produced. is evidence oI lliis, the great emporium of cotton. the Liverpool market, had for many years. been regularly accommodating surplus of cotton on hand until lS4i-5. That sur pias had reacheti near mllliou value. Bn, upon the short crop Of 1915. that SUI plus fell of near 300,000 bales. Here is evidence that consumption is pressing on the heels of production.
 It now becomes matter ot no ordinary interest to inquire what IS ihe crop of lS46: The newspaper presses from the Ca.oinas 10 Texas, inclusive. have spoken with but one voice. and have declared that the army worm has swept over the cotton fields with ihe blight of universal desolatlon. No part of the country has escaped-no isolated held has been left ntouched-owing 10 the diff iepnt stages of maturity. and the point ot i;me al which he attack was made in the several parts of the country, different degrees Of injury has been done. Many, very many, of .he bes, plantations in ihe south are liter ally eaten mp, without having even small portion which, al an advanced price, might subsis, the unfortunate planter; others have not iared so bad; part has been left, and Tn the northern portion of the cotton growing region, where inc pestilence last attacked the crop, there will, in many instances, be a yield approaching an average oi ordinary years- But that there Is deficiency, a great deficiency, m the crop, there can be no doubt, and that the surplus on hlnd, will bt greatly reduced, or wholly consumed, by the progressive increase of consumption of the article, Is an inevitable result. To cal culate the deficiency is problem not 10 be solved only by tune.
 What is 10 be the resali as to the price of the present crop, is now aqaestion of more than ordinary imporiance to ihe growers ot cotton. The consumption of the article as has been shown Is now treuching on the pro- duciion, and has actually diminished the surplus en hand, and bids fair 10 wipe the 1 whole excess of the market
 And the now asceriained shortness of the crop of lSl6, does seem properly to justify the present rapid advance in the price of cotton. If our premises be correctly taken, the price cannot recede; but must still ad- | vance to some extent IL may be objected. that manufacturers will curial their business and thereby diminish The demand--this may he the case when run high. and the price Of manufactured articles rises to point 10 re- .aFd consumption. In the case of luxurles.