The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1868-10-04
The Cotton orop..Cotton Supply.

Business Prospects. s. ~
with alfthe drawbacks to tie oul-
tjgation OF cotton, gcompared with
the means and facilities Just before
the Wharf.-The crop of The Yreset;tt year year
is large and very valuable. It is now.
generally estimated at two millions
five hundred thousand bales; and it
must be remembered that this. is not
the estimate of cotton spectators,
who are often interested in misrepre-
senting the facts, but of the planters
themselves and of those who prepare
careful statistics of our productions.
The cotton generally is Of as fine
quality, too, as in the most favorable
seasons. Thisyear's crop, therefore,
will be worth, if the present price be
kept up, about two hundred and fifty
millions of dollars. There is reason
to believe the price will be sustained,
or that it will decline but little. The
stock of our American long staple on
hand in Europe is very limited and
there is large demand ut home.
The crop will realize, probably, more
than any previous one has realized;
for when it reached four and five
millions of bales, as in the years just
before the war, the market value per
pound was not half what it is now.
England has been making extraor-
dinary efforts for many years past to
stimulate the growth Of cotton in In
dia, Egypt and other parts of the
world, in order to make herself inde-
pendent, to some extent, at least, of
the United States for this article.
The money expended by the British
Government, by the Government of
India and by English capitalists and
manufacturers for this purpose,
amounts to an enormous sum. The
war in this country which cut off the
supply to England, and which at one
time threatened to break up and re-
volutionize the vast manufacturing
business of that country, alarmed the
British people and Government. AT
this crisis, they redoubled their for
mer efforts to get supply elsewhere,
and they did increase the production
vastly in India. and, to somo extent,
in Egypt Still, as soon as the war
was over here and American cotton
could be obtained again, the demand
for it was greater than the supply,
and it continues to be so even at the
high price of twenty-five to twenty
eight cents pound. Why is this?
The answer is plain. The cotton of
India is poor, short staple article
and badly prepared for market; the
cotton from Egypt, though better
than that of India, and said to be
equal in quality to some of the best
American, is raised only to limited
extent, and the crops are very unre-
liable. y
It has been said that Egypt would
produce two or three millions of bales
a year, with sufficient labor and skill
full cultivation; but there is neither
the labor nor skill to obtain such a
vast production. We doubt, how
ever, if anything like that amount
could be raised under any circum-
stances. The truth is, our Southern
States are the only reliable cotton
producing regions yet discovered in
the world for the best qualities, and
there is no fear of other countries
rivaling this in that production. Our
soil, climate and labor; and, above
all. that beneticent Gulf Stream which
sweeps round our coast, giving the
needful showers alternately With a
semi-tropical sunshine, give us for all
time monopoly of cotton culture
and the cotton markets.
When we look ut the terrible de-
struction Of property in the South
during the war, at the universal
poverty of the planters and of all
classes of people, ut the breaking up
of the whole previous lnbor system,
at the, political and social disorgan-
ization, at the worn-out condition of
all the implements and appliances of
industry, and at the want of capital,
the large cotton production now is as
surprising as it is gratifying. But
that'is not all. The South has raised
this year q vast and an unusual
amount of corn. wheat and other
cereals, with almost everything else
necessary to sustain the population,
Independent of outside supplies. In.
deed, we should not be surprised if
the South should have surplus of
provisions for expectation. Besides,
there is fair tobacco crop, and sugar
planting has revived in Louisiana.
India was never as valuable to Eng
land as the South to this country.
Only think of cotton alone-that sim
ole prOdnction-wbiob 90 o., o,t;oIo