The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1871-04-17
THE T OF COTTON.
What a Charleston Man Thinks
About It. -.
The following communication appears in the
New York Daily Bulletin, of Thursday last:

SNt Z - VA e
There ia no doubt whatever now that the
cotton crop of this last year Will exceed 4,00O,-
600 bales and If the ratio Of receipts. In CON-
parlson with the four previous. years can be
received as an indication, we may have even
1900 900; but such may prove TO De Incorrect
data, because 1t Is certainly known to those
long experienced in the cotton trade that
planters always rush loEwarn ta aenI, crops 70
hold back their crops when they are high and
advancing, being Influenced only by the popu-
lar opinion. and following the current blindly.
II NAV be. and is quite probable, that nearly
all of The cotton has now been. marketed, and
IL is asserted by the best authorities, that fully
seven-eights ~ of the crop, In the Southwest.
have been already marketed; ana it Is certain
" the fact that, in South Carolina, Georgia
and Florida, not more than one-tenth (l-10) of
the crop is remaining in the country. It Is not
desired to give any estimate OF the crop, but
to only mention the probable circumstances
affecting it.
The planters in the South Atlantic States,
last year. Invested 80 largely ip fertilizers that
their cotton crops have not paid their expenses.
Such, therefore, have been their losses that
thew are, this spring, unable to plant as much
land in cotton as they didin 1870. And 1t may
be relied upon that, In this section, the aver.
age in cotton will certainly be reduced, and
that in provisions increased. The causes
which 80 disastrously affected the planters
here did not operate upon those OF the South
west. While the planters in most cases, even
there, lost money last year, their losses were
comparatively small 10 those OF The Atlantic
States. The best authorities on the subject
agree that cotton can be cultivated 80 as to
produce a profit 10 the planter when sold at Is
cents per pound In New Orleans or Mobile, for
middllng quality. The planters In the South
west, as we are trustworthy informed, are
now putting actually more land IN cotton than
they did last year, and thus we Will probably
find that the increase Of acreage here will
about counterbalance The decrease In the At
lantic States. One very important fact must
not be allowed TO escape observation, that Is,
the very large immigration continuously
taking place to Texas and Arkansas. A large
portion OF these immigrants Till the soil, and
necessarily produce the staple OF nose States,
and it Is in this. Southwest that the large In
crease in the crop OF 1870 was produced.
Thus far the Southern States have been
favored with as fine aspiring as could be de-
sired. The weather has been warm, and srd6-
cient rain has fallen to be beneficial, but not a
drop more than necessary. The planting sea-
son has certainly been, thus far, one OF the
most favorable known Tor some years.
The presentand prospective supply of cotton
appears to be large, but, when We look at the
enormous consumption going ON, we are led
to the conclusion that the world has not one
bale too much. Even admitting that the crop
of 1870 Will aggregate a, ESQ, 600 bales, and that
of 1871 will be as large, we will have an In
crease in the supply Of American cotton Of
only 32 per cent. over that OF last year, While
the increase in consumption In Great Britain,
since 1st January last, has been over 60 per
cent: that of the United States has slightly
increased also. 1t must be noted that on most
OF the Continent of Europe only American
cotton is used entirely; so In Russia and Spain.
In the Baltic provinces the consumption has
rapidly and steadily increased. of late years,
and it is estimated that about 700. 600 bales OF
American cotton will be used there during
1871.
The spinners Of Great Britain have been
lately doing q thriving business, and are not
afraid of cotton at present prices. True II Is,
thai q dullness has been caused In the India
markets by the heavy export OF cotton goods
from Great Britain, but 1t Is q remarkable fact
that'while prices are low whenever one Market
for goods fails others are found, because there
are always actual consumers who are willing
to buy goods at low prices. Again, when
prices are low, and now at or below Sd per 10,
manufacturers are not afraid to go on work
ing, even when they have no orders, as feeling
confidence in the reasonable rates, they Will
not be afraid to accumulate goods.
While, therefore, as we have said, Inc sup
ply of American cotton is large, we can see
CeTL dlllIS Gil CNUlNoiCAO -
sumption, and under these circumstances we
can only consider present prices safe, and see
no reason for any further decline; but rather,
if the French should be paclfed and resume
their consumption, to however small an eX-
tent, and IT any disaster from floods, or an ad-
verse season should occur to the crop OF 1871,
we could only see O heavy advance IN prices.
It must be remembered that the two past sea-
sons were remarkably favorable ones, aud the
greatly increased sizes of the two crops were
attributed to fine growing weather and long
continued picking seasons, and thus far In the
cotton trade three remarkably fine seasons
have never been known. TO follow each other
successfully. 1t is evident that the world Is
now consuming all the cotton that 1t has, and
the consumption can be checked only by a re-
duction of the supply OF raw material, which
would Of necessity cause an advance In prices.
1t ia probable that Liverpool has already re-
corded the largest stock that she will have In
1n-I --l I'LL ~nnhnhlty Annrn0nn