Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-12-27
Add stock in Europe Oct. l, 1857
r $1,000 bales more than oct. ], 1857.
AVERAGE WEIGHT.

Or $1,000 bales more than Oct ], 1857.
AVERAGE WEIGHT.
= American......-.------- lbs
: 3 aZlllitli- 20 .
p Egy ptian.. ------..-...-.--.3sJ "
Surat OF .------.---------.-------ss2 o.
] Bombay ..-----.-.-.---.-..-.- East Indian
Madras or ---...--.-..-...-.-. $50 lbs.
Benfat .---.~-- ----.-----.59g .
Such a supply may not come forward
in consequence Of low prices, but there
is sufficient evidence that crops which
would warrant such a supply have been
made, and it Is only question of price
whether it comes forward or not. There
can be but little doubt that O supply even
much less would be ample for the prob
able demand, as the power Of Europe TO
consume cotton goods during the ensuing
yesr has been very much curtsiled by
the disturbed condition of political af-
fairs, but far more by bad hsrvests and
the high prices Of food. The great con-
4 sumers Of cotton goods are the mass of
the people who live upon the earnings of
each year and have no surplus, and the
more they have to spend for food the less
Z they have fer clothing. To q certain ex
tent cotton goods have also been super
seeded by other fabrics during the period
Of high prices.
>. Your committee urge the repeal Of
the tx upon Gotten because it gives too
gIeat bounty to the growth Of cotton In
[ other countries. How great this bounty
is may be realized from statement of
the cost Of raising cotton in India, our
! principal competitor.
Upon this point your committee are
/ con nviueed, from the evidence that has
Z been placed before them, that the cost OF
raising cotton in India, allowing only
/ 40 pounds as the product Of clean cotton
I per acre, does not exceed } pence sterling,
say six cents per pound, and that sucn
( cotton can now be laid down at Al pence,
say s. cents per pound, ia Liverpool.
The quality of India cotton mas been
much improved, psrtly from better care
il the selection of native seed aud the
use of exotic seed, but mainly from bet
/ ter processes in ginning ami packing
especially IN ginning, in which depart-
ment new and improved gins have been
introduced TO very great extent aud of
8 model which we may find it expedient
to adopt in this country.
1t may be said that India cotton is now
worth on the average seventy per cent
the price OF middiing uplands, while
very considerable portion Of the crop is
worth eighty to one hundred per cent for
the manufacture Of cOarse goods. 1t will
Oe observed that the consumption Of In
dia cotton upon the continent Of Europe
was last year much greater than that Of
American, while ia England it was
less, the reason being that the goods
made upon the continent are cosrser and
labor is much chesper.
India cotton did cease to be grown and
shipped 10 8 certain extent when the
average price in Liverpool ranged from
three TO four pence per pound, and the
cost Of transportation was far more than
il now is. II it be admitted that il can
now be laid down in England at A pence
or 81 cents and is worth on the average
only three-fOurths the price of American,
thea in order TO regain the control Of
the cotton market Of the world We must
be able to lsy down middling uplands in
Liverpool at 81 pence or III cents, all
taxes and charges paid.
II Is true that our tax Of p cents is col
iected in currency; but with the cost Of
collection, the interest on the additional
capital required to move the cotton, and
other incidental expenses, il is equal to , /
cents in gold or ! penny. Deduct this
from 81 and We have Al pence, or 81
cents left TO cover the cost Of raising our
cotton and sending it to market. It may
well be asked whether We can at present
do that, and this leads US to the third /
point, upon which your committee base
their opposition TO the tax upon cotton,
viz: that the agricultural system OF the /
South is undergoing an entire revolu- !
ton.
Cotton did not cease to be grown at the /
SOuth, nor did the crop cease TO increase /
even when middliDg cotton fell to cents |
per pound in Southern markets, nor did 1
the average range Of 50 cents in Liver
pool for the years 1913, a and IS prevent /
a very rapid increase in oar crop, thereby
proving that 1t was then 3 profitable
crop even under the wasteful and costly
system of slave labor.
Your committee have entire confidence
in the ultimate cheaI,uess and economy
Of free labor as compared with slave la
Dor, and they believe that this country,
with its superior climate and soil will
presently supply as large a proportion of
the demand for cotton st as low prices
and with mOrs profit than formerly, un-
less as education and skill increase, more
valuable commodities shall drive out
cotton, in which our loss would be our
gain; but during the change from the
plantation 10 the farm system, the cost
Of cultivation must be high, and it is
during this period that every impedi-
ment should be removed.
When slavery was abolished, the
plantation system was doomed. The
improved lands Of the South have here
tOfOre been held in large parcels, a small
portion under cultivation upon an ex-
haustive plan, without any rotation Of
crops, the remainder held for the purpose
of keeping a free population at a dis
tance ana to supply new fields as the old
ones become exhausted. The change in
the social order must involve an entire
change in the holding of land it will no
longer be FOR the interest of the owner to
repsl immigration, but to invite it; his
fictitious capital in slaves having been
destroyed, he must now find real capital
or value in his land he must sell q por-
ton in order 70 make the rest more val
liable be must invite the farmer to
come to his aid, the man who will
get large crops from q small number
Of acres; he must use good tools and im-
plements, and endesvor to introduce
agricultural machinery ss in the West,
and to accomplish this he must educate
the lsbOrer The slave could only be
trusted with rude and heavy tools, and
however intelligent the planter might
have been, and We do not deny that very
10 sny Of them were very intelligent, yet
they were crippled by the very ignorance
which the Necessity Of their system
obliged them to enforce by law.
But the change is in process, and with
out cOniscatiOD, and without incurring
the great risk OF running the negro popu-
lation by bestOwing lsnd upon them be-
fore they have, by earning 1t, educated
themselves 70 its proper use, the natural
and beueficeDt law 0f freedom is work. I
ing out its logical result, and we NAV
expect before many years to see such
changes in the social order and land ,
tenure of the South as will bring that
section TO harnaOBy and real union with
the rest of the country.
But to such small farmers,-tO the r
men who by their own labor cultivate
their little patch Of cotton, and with their ]
wives and children pick it, the imposition
Of a tax of SO to Sl2 per bale, or twenty
per cent upon its present value, is most
onerous burden. The lsboriDg man who ;
has five or ten bales of cotton from his
little patch cannot be expected to have I
500 to SlO0 on hand ia money before be :
has sold it, and he must either borrow 7
money at high rates or sell his cotton at
q disadvantage.
Your committee believe that the South
must continue TO raise cotton as its ssls-
bic product to a very large extent. Until
it secures q more dense and better edu-
Gated population, its crops must be such
as can be raised by what may be called
the ruder or simpler methods Of cultivs-
ton, and such crops are grain and cot
ton. And white the Southern States
will doubtless raise more grain for their /
own consumption than they have before, .
it is not believed that they can, to any
very great extent, produce grain to sell /
in competition with the better lands and
far better methods Of culture Of the
TVaskarn States hence their onlv alfar.