The daily gazette., 1874-09-26
The Cotton CPCD.
.om the Neic York World.

4
| There Is now no longer any doubt that,
notwlt hstanding prolific yield of wheat,
the money that the entire crop of 1874
will fetch, will be- far less than the
| amount realized from lat years crop
In 1870 we produced 2S7,7l5. .62G bushels
OF wheel. This year We may safely csti-
mate the crop at 80 800 900 bushels At
the lowest estimate the difference BE-
tween the price this year and the price
lat year Is about an average of p cent.
per bushel, which will apparently reduc,.
the farmers receipts from wheat alone
! Ss1 ,JoO,ODo. This is certainly great de-
| tciency, but 1T is entirely owing to boun-
| tiful harvests, not only on the Continent
| OF Europe but also in England, which j.
now the only customer for the American
wheat.
We are apparently threatened with
another and greater deficiency in the
| amount of money to be realized from
our cotton crops. There seems TO be-
several conflicting influences operating
| on the price OF cotton. Willie private
| aovices generally and the official reports
| OF the Bureau OF Agriculture point to a
reduced crop of 3JD,UuO bales the most
stubborn and enthusiastic belief of a
| determined bear clique in a crop of only
| iGG,UD bales seems to Ice fully indorsed
| by the low pr.ce for cotton now prevail
| ing. IN" cotton crop vitality differs from
| our wheat crop in this respect, that
whereas of the 3JO,OoD.UO bushels Of
wheat We produce, We only export aom,.
| 5oNp,Hu bushels, or about - per cent
| We cxpulteI during the cotton year lust
ended 2,ei1.9sl bales out of crop ct
| flV,uD bales, or nearly 30 per cent. OF
the whole production. The difference.
then, lies in this fact, viz That if i
prolific crop of wheat ON the Continent
| and in England reduces the price OF our
| surplus wheat. and consequently of oI
home consumed wheat ~ per cent. the
foreign consumer gets the advantage II
only 2i per cent. of the whole reduction
IN the price of the crop, while our homr
consumers enjoy the advantage Of - per
cent. But - our great staple, cotton, i
reduced IN price ~ per cent, EuroI-.
gains to the extent of 30 per cent "f the
total reduction resulting from the de-
pressed price and our home consumer
only gain 30 per cent. Hence the i'm
portance Of fair or depressed price IN
cotton Is OF immense greater Importance
to the country at large than the tluctua-
tlons IN the price OF grain.
Cotton Is now lower than it has been
At this season for three ycarc past by
from to ) cents Il pound. The follow
lng We're the prices OF middling cotton at
he beginning of Sept mber tur the past
three years:
| September. 1871 ~. cents
' September. 1872 2l cents
September, 1873 ~! cents.
The price at the beginning Of Sep
tembcr, 1874, and at this moment, j.
about III to l64 cents a pound for mid
ding cotton. Assuming. for argu-
mcnts sake that our crop prospects
promise more than 1000, 900 bales of
cotton, it may he said that there was
hardly any doubt in September 1873.
that the crop would be over 81 ,0oO, ,u,U
! bales, and therefore, il the prospects
4 Iurn HinnllN- tr4t1 NNliN- t.. thor.
this discrepancy To hc sure there
: is the law OF supply and demand which
might give the desired explanation.
But 1t is a significant fact that thcrr
, are daily sales of -, 600 to 20 600 bales
of cotton in Liverpool, half of which
is generally American cotton and most
of if for future delivery. That is L.
say, Liverpool is securing some II. btio
, bales of cotton week of our crop that
is now in process of picking, AT the
) moderate price to say : to = pence for
| middling, to bc delivered To her durin-
! the winter months and while she j.
: securing our crop Al a price which
would be justified. at the lowest calcu
lati0n only hv a crop of 1. 323 600 bale.
we are, as no ono will deny in great
doubt whether the crop will Weld
} 500 coo or 0o0. 900 bale.
: is, ON short crop Of 5000, ,H0 bale
la loss of $63 900 oOo, and a loss ot 3
cents a pound is a loss on the crop ii
; ~, 900 900. 1t musl hc evident that Il
we make 4 crop of 4. 100 uN bale W
have to ship = 500 .on to Europe, and
, keep some BOO, ,m0 bales for homo
I consumption But il we only make !.
crop of 3 IO0 O00 bales and ship = S@
t Oo0 bales t. Europe We should run
/ short some tuo, ,UoO bales for home con
e sumption, or We would ship less and
e retain more for home consumption
Il But in either case the pIiCc must make
F, lup tor the >hortncs~ of the supply
= The most prudent thing ut present
would he not recklcSSly 10 press sale
d while the crop is still so douhtfnlly
e estimated The large receipts of The
+ new crop for September and October
s. are hy no means criterion of the crop
n for il is obvious that one might I'LL .
: lake a. fast from 4 one gallon keg a
e from a fiye-gallon keg. The important
u question is How many bottles viii
, one key till ? The first picking of Tia,
;, cotton fields will yield nearly equally
= large receipts in September or octohe
:, if the crop is 4 50o, OOo or nearly ), 5oo,
Il. 900 bales. The question is, How lone
- will the large receipts last > Ii Is Ill,
III second and third pickings that I'LL NJ
or the deficiencies and make a large crop
IT, And IT any reliance is IL be place,
u, on the reports of the Bureau Of Agri
"A culture, we fear that after the first pich
=. ing season the cotton yield will be me:
I'd gre
l