The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1870-06-11
COTTON
Probability and Consequences
Of a Decline i'm Price.
arcH.r.n,.Y.. Nav 2eth, 1870.

ATcHAFALAYA, May 2sth, 1870.
Mr.. Edispr:-The prospect of an inereas-
ed supply Of cotton, even over the large
crop of last year. is calculated to suggest
some anxious enquiries as to the effect 1t
will have upon the price, and the ability OF
our planters to pass without disastrous con-
sequences, the crisis of a sudden fall of the
cotton market.
A Northern journal has truly remarked
that the manufacturers have much better
facilities than planters, for combining to
regulate the price Of cotton, and as nothing
| but the necessities of the former lave sus-
tanned prices for the last, two years, it is
highly probable that they avail themselves
of the earliest opportunity afforded by ainll
crop to aepress the market" Thus W esee
that the Southern planters are at the mercy
of Northern manufacturers and capitalists,
who can, whenever the supply OF hand is
sufficient to sustain sIeln, effect q decline
in prices purely fictitious, having no sutfi-
Gent warrant neither in over-production
nor in q financial crisis.
Now the question arises, How will Sou
thern planters be prepared to meet this
emergency? In all contests with the North,
whether political or belligerent, the South
has been beaten by the force Of mere nun
bers. But if her people will be true to
themselves and to each other, and make
use of the means which the advantages Of
soil, climate, and productiveness have placed
in her power, she can render herself irwin.
chile in a contest with capital The idea
that the South is dependent on the North
for capital is a very erroneous one, and the
sooner it is dispelled the better it will be
for her people.
The South, with less than one third Of
the population of the Union, and in despite
of all her drawbacks, furnished in 1869 one
half of the entire exports of the whole coun
try. The entire exports were $57l, 1873, GAO
OF these exports, of the agricultural pro
ducts the South furnished $l91,Ol2, l69, Of
nearly ten millions more than the agricul
.tural products of the balance of the Union
And this is exclusive of the Southern pro
ducts consumed at the North, which woult
not fall short of one hundred millions more
On the other hand the total imports of TIN
country during the same period were S413,
954, els, and if we allow one third (which
is more than she eonsumed) for the South
she would show a balance of trade in he
favor of $54, OF, 76s, while the balanc
against the rest of the Union would STAN
at $96, 948, 1874.
With these facts before us, can any on
be so blind as not to see that the South car
if she will make use of the means in he
power, in a few years command more cap
tai than allthe balance of the Union? Wha
was it that, by supereeding the use of coir
: reduced the premium last winter to eleve
, per cent, but the cotton crop of the South
which answered a better purpose, in maxim
, remitlances to Europe, than gold? But a
this is a subject Of vast Importance and on
which cannot be properly discussed in on
communication, I will, with your permi:
sion, continue the subject in a series, unit
it is thoroughly examined, as it is not ii
tended as a display of some fine spun theor
!. in political economy, but to evolve fact
practical facts, which may, ifcarried out an
acted upon, produce a total revolution, an
inaugurate a neao era in the prosperity an
> Independence Of the South. .
JOHN j. GLOW.