New Orleans Republican., 1871-10-19
A FEW PLAIN STATEMENTS.

New Orleans, and which it is, in certain
restricted sense, is indisputably the sourc'
of many evils in a financial sense. Th'
first Of these is, that it suggests number
less falsehoeds, and originates disastrous
speculations that injure the entire com
munity. IN tee opening of the season
we are told that the crop is failure<b!
those who desire to sell, and that it is
success by those who wish to buy. Ever,
little country newspaper is hunted owe,
for paragraphs to sustain these asser
tions, a worm being found in Rapides
assisting the sellers, aud good report
from Caddo assisting the buyers. II thu
impression can be fortified that q ten.
acre field has been ravaged in DeSoto,
then the market is feverish for a rise, be.
cause it is assumed that this devastation
Is to influence the entire purchasing in
terest from DeSo:o to Manchester.
The prevalence Of these falsehoods may
be traced to al Old tradition that the
! South controls the cotton market of the
world, and that when our cotton fields
fail the price Of the staple must advance
Planters are told that the worm has made
its appearance, and they at once refuse to
ship to market, because such news ought
to send the price UP. So it would, prob
ably, If the South controlled the marke:
as she once did, but fortunately, or other
wise, the South does not control the sup
ply Of cotton. OF the surplus on hand in
Liverpool, at the latest dates, the United
States only grew about one-tifth. OF the
amount Of cotton on shipboard, en- route
for England last month, forty thousand
bales were reported to be from the South,
and six hundred thousand bales from
other cotton fields. If these figures are
calculated for moment, the planter will
discover that his crop is not necessary
to the world at all, and that when he holds
it back for the purpose OF producing a
rise in prices, he is not only running the
risk Of fall. but he is paying interest on
his own money.
A little sensible honesty in regard to
our farming transactions viii help every
body. The planter should forward his
crop at the earliest moment, sell it, invest
the money, and then attend to the i'm
provement Of his place. By doing this
he will be enabled to pay his debts and
stop the interest which be is paying to the
brokers; and he will lie relieved from
great deal of anxiety; and he will help
the country by keeping money plenty.
AT present all the legitimate capital
that belongs to New Orleans is locked up
in cotton. The banks are assisting to
move the crops in the interest of their
and commission customers,
and they are, therefore, incapable Of assist
ng the other legitimate departments of
business with that financial aid which they
iced. This enables Set of brokers' to
inter the money market aud demand
wenty and thirty per cent for loans.
some Of the best houses IN New Orleans
re paying twenty per cent, and an unex-
eptlonable piece OF commercial paper
vas discounted last week at twenty-five
'er cent Other parties find it abso-
uely impossible to obtain money on any
hing like even these extortioaate terms.
This thing occurs annually. Just
bout the time our season ought to open,
lew Orleans is regularly tied uo with her
otton crop, which the planters in the
ountry refuse to sell because they have
card something about worms, or are
Specting to hear something about
orms which will enable them to realize ,
lough more money out Of their cotton !
pay the interest which they have !
ound themselves for. Robinson, with ,
le hundred bales which lie has farmed,
ads paragraph from some incompetent {
'untry editor that the crop in Tigerville t
a failure. He at once orders lis cot c
n to be held back, which necessitates il
S broker to raise money at twenty per Y
mt in order to pay expenses. By and e
koGlnson hears that the same incom- c
tent editor has reported the cotton at s.
gerville splendid, and then he orders g
lie and pockets his losses. For years A
is thing has been going on in the il
putting on the ruinous "
IS OF spectators, capitalists and cotton p
mblers. And for years they have been u
Ken in at their own expense. t
Farming is one thing and speculation u
other. One is done in the country. "
nestly. and the other is done on Caron- S
let street, curiously, to draw it mild. t.
tton circulars are the cards of the lat te
, and the ordinary market reports ci
'uld be the guides of the former. Men d.
o desire to gamblein in cotton, by buying b,
rise in the market, are a different
t of people from the planters who IL
Nv the staple. Spectators are men Of al
lespread intelligence, whose area Of di
owledge spans all countries. They NJ
ure with the product of Egypt, Brazil, fu
ia and all other cotton fields before T
m. They lock up their own money, IL
are well paid if ten per cent is made. it
e country farmer in Louisiana hardly to
S beyound his RAJ! fence; neither un- CT
stands the yield Of other regions nor as
consumption of his own State, and th
KS up somebody e!se's money. If he dc
us q cent on the pound his increased ";