Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1869-01-08
From the New York Mercantile Journal.
The Cotton Trade.

With the close of the year, business men
generally are balancing their books, taking
stock, and prospecting for new commercial
ventures and although the transactions
Of the past twelve-month have not, perhaps,
been so remunerative as was expected by
the most sanguine, vast strides, however,
have certainly been toward solution of
our financial affairs by the success that has
attended our efforts in agricultural and in
dustrial pursuits. In no branch in this
appreciation of the national wealth has
there been such marked improvement as
is shown in cotton culture, although the
trade has undergone serious fluctuations
during the past year.
In January, there were several reasons
assigned for the rapid depreciation in the
price of the raw MATERIAL the principal
one arising from the urgent necessities OF
the planters, who were obliged to re-
aize ct any cost, in order to repay
the advances made on the CROP
This decline was so marked as to make
many suppose that we had not only lost
the supremacy we had enjoyed in the Guilt
vation of cotton, but that, under the
changed condition of labor in the South,
the uncertain tenure of land, the unsettled
state of political affairs, and, above all,
the difficulty of obtaining the necessary
advances, we should have to abandon its
culture to more favored nations. The fact
was, that middling cotton at 16 cents,
there was only a loss in its production, and
many planters turned their attention to
more profitable crops. AS the season ad-
vanced there was, however. marked ap-
probation in its value, and, although the
crop was considered fully up to the pro-
duction of the previous year, yet prices
have been sustained beyond the eXpecta-
ton of the trade, and there is an appear
ance now of % cents forming the average
price for middlings during the present
cotton year.
This rate affords very fair margin of
profit to the planters, and from almost
every section of the South, we have the
most cheering reports of the increase IN the
material welfare of the population, and
the decrease of Indebtedness on advances,
and the studied ameiioration of the plant
by more careful and systematic cultiva-
ton, so that, with the aid of Divine Provi-
dence, there is every reason to believe that
we shall shortly witness such q develop
ment of the resources of the South, as will
re-install that section of the country in the
prosperous condition it held before the
outbreak of the rebellion.
The careful perusual of few statistics
bearing on this important branch of trade
will demonstrate the necessity Of renewed
efforts, if we are to keep our command of
the foreign markets. The receipt at all
the ports since September 1st, amounts
to about one million bales, against eight
hundred and seventy-fve thousand bales
at the same period last year, but whether
it be from the crop having been exag-
gerated in quantity, or that the planters
are holding back for better prices, the re-
ceipts begin to show a material falling off,
which fact must influence tho market un-
favorably at Liverpool. It is true that a
short supply will enhance quotations, but,
at the same time, it will cause the spinners
at Manchester to curtail production, and
the news has arrived by cable that the mills
are now running but three days in the
week Under these circumstances it would
be q mistake to hoard the remainder of the
crops, the more so, as our own manufac-
turing interest would be gravely imperilled
by such an action. At the present moment,
the production of domestic staple goods is
attended with serious difficulties, arising
from the low prices obtained for cotton in
its manufactured state, and as we see no
likelihood of establishing any material adj
vance on current quotations, unless the de-
mand during the ensuing season should un-
expectedly exceed the supply. our mills
might be reduced to like expedient of
running on short time to the evident en-
barrasSment or our industrial classes.
more ready solution to this difficulty
will be, therefore, not so much to increase
the area of cultivated land, as to improve
the production. All the cotton we can
grow is urgently needed at fair prices, for
it is estimated that if the rate of consump-
ton of the past year is kept up, that all the
cotton in the world will scarcely suffice to
supply the mills. With many hearty con-
gratulations to our Southern subscribers
on their improving prospects, we close our
remarks On the cotton trade, and in conse-
quence of many inquiries on the subject, We
attend during the coming year to devote
more attention to the statistics of the great
staple than we have hitherto done.
Washington Correspondent N. Y. Express.
The South,