Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1866-09-13


test, dwelling particularly upon the nature
OF the Ereedmen's Bureau bill
From the Charleston Courier 1st
Cotton Statement.
The period has arrived in which it is Gus
tomary to estimate approximately, at least,
the extent of the cotton crop, and with the
supply at the ports of shipment, the export
of the probable consumption. The diff
HANGED the present year from various dis
turbing causes. The principal of these is
the labor question. Being the leading ele-
ment of production, the results became
predetermined in proportion as the supply
of labor became precarlous and uncertain.
Hence the varying estimates OF the coming
crop-at one time computed at one million,
at another at one million and half, then
at two millions, at two millions and half,
at three millions, and even at three millions
and a half of bales. These discrepant
statements show the mystery and obscurity
in which the question of supply, as regards
the crop Of 1866-'67, is involved
In addition to this disturbing influence,
the question of supply was complicated
with other causes, both physical and moral.
The weather was unusually fuctuating.-
Droughts afflicted certain portions of the
cotton region, and excessive rains other
portions The near prospect of war in
Europe tended to discourage the planter,
and his mind vacillated between putting
his land into cotton or corn. Besides these
discouragements. the state of political af-
fairs at home and abroad, the threatened
exercise of the taxing power of the United
States with regard to the staple, in an un-
usual degree, formed source of further
discouragement, constituting altogether a
series of circumstances that necessarily
made the estimate of the growing crop
very vague and lnconclusive. We approach
the subject, therefore, with high degree
of doubt and distrust as to the entire accu-
racy of any statements we may make i'll re-
lation to the supply of 1867, promising
that they may be regarded as approxima-
tiOns merely.
SUPPLY OF 1855 -66-UNITED STATES.
The extent of the crop of the present
year can be ascertained within few thou
sand bales. It far exceeds the estimates
made few months since. The cotton re-
naming in the South at the end of the war
was estimated at 100000 bales. 1t has
reached 2,4O7, 900 bales.
The following are the receipts at the Ia
test dates, at the various ports, since Sep
tember l, 1865:
Galveston, August t......................l .lsO,0 QUO
New Orleans, August 10. 0.................746 TAG, ,OOO
Mobile August ii Observation-Disclosures. .42O, 900
ApalachlcOa, August. NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.. SO,OOU
Savannah, August. .26O, 600
Charleston August "a. ,OOO
Overland to the North. th.................. loo, COO
Probable receipts of 1865 &C. 900, 900
We have made no attempt to estimate the
quantity remaining in the interior, as there
are no data as the basis of such an esti-
mate.
The first remark we have to make on this
head is the discordance of the statements,
as we have said, in regard to the efficiency
of negro labor. The trials made of the sys-
tenn of voluntary exertion, at the commence
ment, were highly discouraging, The
scheme promises more favorable results
The notifications introduced by several of
the planters are leading to better fruits than
was anticipated. The system of weekly
money payments seem satisfactory both to
the freedman and his employer. The Freed
mems Bureau is also operating benefcially
in the same direction. Under these Cir
cumstances, the prospects are more hope
full than they were some weeks since. Of
course this does not apply universally
Whilst several portions of the South will
make half an average crop, some sections
will not produce onethird, or even one
fourth of the ordinary yield Texas, it
would appear, has been visited with the
most favorable conditions for the develop
ment of the productive resources of its soil,
while it has been comparatively exempt
on those casualties which usually affiict
the cotton region.
There is one circumstance, however,
which is apt to be overlooked in the ques-
ton of supply, which is the extraordinary
stimulus presented by the hope of gain, act
ing on the minds of large number, from
the high price of the staple All who pos
sess small patch of ground were anxious
restraint being the want of seed If each
individual, able and willing to work, were
to raise only one bale of cotton in q oopu-
laton of six millions, the aggregate would
be very large. This is intended only as an
illustration, but it exemplifes the force of
that principle of gain which, acting under
the incentive of high prices, induces indi,
viduals to act in the same manner as COM
munities. The influence of this motive, we
are confident, has been overlooked in the
estimates made of the growing crop.
The invariable proneness is to underrate
the supply. The crop of 1866, was es-
timated on the 1st of April at 800, 900 bales.
It has proved at the latest dates to have
reached 2, 2,407, 900 bales The estimates of
the crop of 1s66-'67 have gradually ad-
vanced, as we have shown, from one mil
lion to three millions of bales And, al
though this latter estimate must be deemed
an extreme figure, as the actual result will
prove, the accuracy of our remark will be
confirmed, that there is proneness to un-
derrate the supply.
RATE OF GROWTH
In entering on this branch Of our subject,
we must distinguish between temporary and
permanent effects It is no part of our de-
sign to consider in detail the causes which
Will promote or retard the culture of cot
ton in the future. As it was no part of our
purpose to take into view the circumstances