The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1872-07-05
Cotton Growing.

is slikely to be forced on the market, and hold
lit until it can be sold at a standard price
fixed by the company. No cotton shall be
sold at less than the standard price, and, IN
case buyers refuse to pay that price, part
OF the capital OF the company shall be ap-
piled to the erection OF mills, where the
staple may be manufactured into yarns. and
cotton goods. All the profits OF the company
would be divided amongst the stockholders.
Such company could not have the de-
sired influence unless the large majority OF
Southern cotton.growers became stock
holders. This cannot be. The planters
who do comprehend the laws OF trade, and the
spectators who would expect to sell their
cotton to advantage while the Cotton Com.
pany was waiting for higher prices, are nu-
merous enough to defeat such q scheme.
And il it could be organized as the repre-
sentative of three-fodrths Of the cotton
growers, it could not succeed. No board of
directors could fix standard price which
would satisfy all the stockholders, and, il
they did, the chances area hundred to one
that they would fix price that the con-
sumers would not pay. Spinners will buy
cotton just 80 long as they can use 1t TO
profit, and no longer. In exceptional cases,
the spinuers sell yarns aud goods at frac.
lion less than the cost, but this is only when
the loss 80 incurred is less than would be
caused by the suspension of work. Cotton
manufacturers are ready to work at cost, or
fraction less than cost, for few weeks or
months, il there is a prospect OF profit later
in the season; but when the supply of Ameri-
can cotton is In the hands OF Company,
which demands more thsnsthe staple is per-
manentl; worth to the manufacturer, the
spinner will either turh to Indian cotton
again or close up his mills and employ his cap
ital in some other business. To put anything
In the pockets OF the stockholders, the Com
pany must demand more than the spinner
thinks cotton ls worth; which Is the price he
is ready to give al all times without the In
tervention Of Cotton Company. Making
every concession to the views OF our corres-
pondent, it is evident that such Company
as he proposes would be very injurious to
! the South. 1t would break down, as every
attempt. to permanently regulate, by COM
bination, the price Of any such commodity
must break down. The ruin which Its collapse
would cause would be as general as that
with which the South was familiar imme-
diately after the war.
We should not have noticed this scheme
only that it is an evidence.pi the little pains
which many Southern planters take to
familiarize themselves with the fundamental
laws OF trade. They can see that the selling
price OF iour-pound loaf, or. the rate OF in
terest on money, cannot be regulated by
law; yet they hope to fix the price OF cotton
by Company for less powerful than the
Kings Kaisers and Republican Consuls who
in other days have strlyen to make water
run up hill 1t is; besides, an expression OF
the feeling that the cotton-planters are
cheated out OF their just gains BY Rings Of
spectators. An attempt is always made
to depress the price Of cotton in the fall and
winter months, because the buyers know
that large part OF the crop must, at any
price, be thrown on the market It is te
the interest OF the buyer to give glowing ac-
counts OF the crop prospect; to exaggerate
the probable supply, and to diminish the
estimates of consumption. The planters
cannot wholly prevent this. But, to q great
degree, they have. the remedy in their
own hands; remedy which calls for no
combination OF capitalists or cotton-growers
In the first place, the planter should be con-
tent il he gain the ordinary rate OF profit
which is gained by merchants and produ-
GERS Of staple articles; he should not expect
to sell always at the top OF the market, or to
get twenty five cents for what cost twelve or
fifteen. Cotton-growing is business, not
a gambling concern. :, There. is too much
haste to be rich. A planter who cultivates
only ss much land as he can carry without
borrowing large sums OF money at lS or 24
per CeuG., lhy uuI uloho o ioipuuo al o yORis
but he will not be ruined in a. year. Neither
the caterpillar nor bad seasons can ruin the
planter who keeps within his means. The
next question is that Of price. We say that
cotton will bring about what 1t is worth, the
season through, il the planters will take the
pains TO let the true condition OF the crop
be known. Spectators may temporarily
lower or raise quotations-but the supply
and demand in the end will fix the price.
The dealers in cotton, led astrSy by the Ag-
ricultural Bureau and the professional Bears,
counted on crop-of three and half mil
lions for ls7l-72. They were badly bitten.
Now they, in the same way, hope for four
millions this year. They will be worse hit
than they were last season. Each State
should have its Cotton Supply Association,
with trustworthy correspondents in every
county. The reports from each State, pub
lished each month, would show the world
what to expect. They might doubt for a
season; in the end they would see and be-
lieve. And planters, with this information
before them, could be independent OF bulls
and bears: They can sell cotton in May OF