The southern press., 1852-01-15

their coarse clOtHoS. LA tho o0yOUU,UUU OF Lilo
! French and the 100000 of Germany consume
| cotton in the ratio that the United States. Great
Britain or India do the crop of the United
States, if doubled would not supply their
demand. Cotton, however, is spreading rapidly
in favor and popularity in those countries. Be-
sides its superiority in both comfort and beauty
Its transcendent advantage over, flax and
hemp, is, that tits manufactured entirely by ma
chinery; whereas, flax and hemp, We must re-
member, have to be woven by hand. The land
that produces them too must be highly MANFRED,
and the labor of preparing for spinning is very
severe, and potatoes or wheat is found more
profitable crop Cotton is fast supersedirg
i other fabrics.
] The consnmptiona at the North has fallen of,
and the mystery ls;thus to be solved The OPP
orators IN cotton letting the price 60 down 50,
compelled the export Of large amounts of specie
to fill the vacuum produced by the unnatural
decline. This expectation caused the Northera
banks to suspend their accustomed accommo-
dations, and the manufacturers were unable 10
Edictate prices for their manufactures Ii
i isuot reasonable to suppose that those who are
usually SO sagacious will permit this unnatural
state of things to be continued. They now
4 must support the price of cotton. 1t is not a
mere matter Of speculation, but compnlsion, as
if they do not, the vaults of their banks must be
! effectually drained Cotton and specie are tbs
only things we have to pay the foreign delft
with--that is, if with the little tobacco and rice
we export, cotton does not make up the balance,
specie must. Will Northern capitalists close
! their eyes to this position? The imports are
enormous, and the amount the crop must COM
mand must correspond in great degree with
the amount of the imports
We now arrive at the question of prices Of
cotton.
I, .There are two branches to this subject. One
is, what can an article be furnished at paying its
1 prime cost, and reasonable profit for the use
of the capital employed This is its worth or
value and commonly its price; and the other Is
i what can be given for material, having as
certained what it will command in its mannfae.
tured state, deduct the cost to manufacture, and
the usual profit for the use of the money from
that, and the remainder is the worth or value,
and ought to be the price of the material This
is merely the philosophy Of prices, for each
party is apt to use its skill and power to disturb
this principle. But let ussee for moment the
relative positions the cotton producers and the
cotton manufacturers occupy in relation to this
value. A few years since, for instance, the cot
ton planter bought lands at ST. IS, and about
that, per acre; now Ss5 to $40 are low prices.
Negroes he bought at $3.50 to $3.50 piece;
now he pays $500 to $1,000, not to say any,
thing of increased value of provisions. Thea
the cost of production has been largely en-
HANGED evidently few years since the manu-
facturer had to keep heavy stocks Of goods on
hand, and worked with machinery which was,
compared TO the modern, quite imperfect. He
paid duty on cotton, On his provisions, ard
/ money was scarce and interest high, freohts
| high. Now relieved of duties, with interest low,
freights low, demand active for his goods, his
machinery wonderfully improved, it is evident
that ne can afford to pay the producer more for
his cotton than formerly. and yet retain equally
as fine profit. This is the relative position of
the parties, but the cotton planter can hold TO
his cotton longer than the manufacturer can do
withoutsit Were we to hold on to our cotton
for ninety days, they would not have bale to
go on, and being at our mercy, we could make
item give fifteen cents.
6 may sum up with regard to prices, pros
poets of consumption, and the crop-that every
element that could be desired is favorable TO the
planter. The crop is an average one nearly ard
is Obliged from the position and concurrence Of
things, to command a full, nay high price. 1t
cannot be avoided. The stock on hand in Eu
rope is fast melting away. France has no cotton
at all, we may say, and is actually shivering FROM
fear. Cargoes at sea are bid for. The stocks
| in England are lower now than at this time last
year their receipts in this month and December
were unusually heavy; but this year must, from
the smallness Of the stock of cotton in our
ports, be unusually small while the ratio of their
consumption aud export is, this year, very much
larger than last. Hence the stock in Liverpool.
on the LIST Of January will be so light, that | look
for panic there by or before then, and If so,
where will prices gol Money everywhere il
abundant. The Bank of England and the Bank
of France are encountered with larger amounts
of bullion than they ever had before. The har-
vests have been fine, food must be cheap, inter-
estis low now and falling, trade is extravagant-
| y good, no wars or rumors of wars The
French repubic seems to be working to suit the
people of France admirably, though some per-
J sons have been in constant perspiration from
the fear that France might do something they
| would not like.
"Should any planter doubt the probability OF
/ my correctness, let him remember my circular
of 9th January, l649, issued when middlings
here were 90. ioretold prices would 90 up,
Notwithstanding the crop was large, and that
they would be higher the next year than they
might reach that. Remember that notwithstand-
ing the country was swept clear, and some 300,.
600 bales Of old cotton was sent TO market with
that crop, altogether swelling our receipts TO
| 2,729,000 bales--that middng cottons sold be-
fore the season was out IN the face Of all Theses
tremendous receipts at l0l cents, and, with all
the stock on hand at the end Of the year, was
about the same as the year before, and that our
average for the next season was ia cents.
Don't forget these things, and that the next
year, with crop Of 2,353,00O bales, we got an
average of ~ cents. You are sustained in n
demand for full price, by the fact staring you
in the face, that you must plant next spring
more corn, oats, and wheat, and do something
about raising hogs, as bacon at 10 to Is cents
il higher than cotton would be at 30 cents.
| The chances are, you cannot make a large crop
the next year. You cannot plant the land to do
| it, and make your corn &c.
al have RETAINED from making much allusion
TO California gold, but as the wealth Of tho
country has been enormously added TO already
by II, and all the accounts concur that gold is
still abundant there, we are certainly entitled Ia
our share Of the advantage IL is comforting on
] the country. 10 that we NAV nacribe the swel.