The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1875-03-17
A Loss Of Millions by 3le Gettpn fa
..'-D.ss ters, y ss 81
From the, Nea0: Yo1ls:

....t A., --.Tf.,g ia e
From The New< Yofls Ezre,fa9 lE $ $
Last autnmai2ssy directed attsrtl SCI 81 s. q 3
as We had done the. year before; I5ys
the financial Iibjnry done to- anrs Ss ~
ton growers blythe speculation III.
ing on at the time Of the great stsple !
prsdnct. Of P.th he Southern States. NsWess
accused of being d aball,H stoz
use the;yulgar,jargon Of thespeculas
tors, because we expressed the opins5
ion that the cotton <crop of 1S74-75
would be less than: four millions Of
bales, and it was said, moreover, that
our opinion had no foundation, -:
Since sthen our judgment, which
was made up from a comparison of
all the facts and reports then in our
possession, has been tested by time,
and, leaving out of tho account. the
welfare of the Southern people, We
are very we'll satisfied with the re.
suit. ,The highest estimates at, the
present time, place the crop Of three
and three-fourths millions bales, and
from all tho information we can gath
er it will not surprise us if the total
amount shall be even less. ,-,..1l ?. -.
Unfortunately fol, the agricultural
Interests Of the Southern States, the
veriaeation, of our estimate involves
direct loss TO- the cotton planters Of
q great deal Of money. They have
already sold nearly three millions Of
bales Of. cotton o.the English tmanu:
facturers at the, rate of seven and
annd one-half pence a pound, or one
penny-that is, two cents-a pound.
less than it oughtto have fetched.
We have maintained that, wheneveys
the crop fall below four millions Of
bales, cotton ought to be sold for
ninepence pound, and according to-
the prospects now, this will tbe the
rate for the remainder of tho present
crop. But fair price for what is
left will make but poor amends for
the loss on what has been sold, and
in no sense will relieve from RESPONSE.
bility the spectators, who, by reason
Of TIN unusually favorable weather
Oct658r, November and December,
land the consequently, ,darge receipts
of cotton at tie shipping ports du-
ring those months, were able to
depress the psice. The loss thus in.
ficted upon the cotton planters Of !.
the country on an estimate. of,two
cents pound, amounts to nino dol-s
lars bale on every bale sold, or in
all to $27, 100000, and reaches the
proportions Of national calamity. = &
The history Of the cotton trade for
the last six months ought to teach all
persons intsrestedsin ono thing name
ly /: that excessive supplies Of the.
marketable. article earfytin the. sea-
son furnish no Just ground for be-
lieving that total crop will be large.
Calculations to be trustworthy: must
be made on the acre planted, t Q care
taken of the growing crop, the In
fuepee of the weather, and iother
|singnlat ID Gaasss ofs d 3iasge Or. small
crop. The mistake made 10 this re-,
spect in the present instance may
be fully illustrated dy a brief com.
parison. nia7..; y,r!' -. r0s3 8:
Among the last six cotton years,
those of lS70-7l and 1894 are con- :
sidercd as the large cotton crop
years. Ipthe firsttof these years the
country produced 4,3s3, 900 ;belcsi and
in the second 4,17l,0OO bales; We:
will now compare the receipts of, tbe
shipping ports during the first four
menths-from the beginning Of Sep
tember to end of December inclusive
of each Of these fruitful years,
with tho receipts dusing tho same
period of the present cotton yerr.:: Il
5Ssi IS ss sa bales. 1851 ls5s ,oSo BALES
| Itthas appears that there were re-
ceivsd for present cotton year of 400,
000g bales more than in 1901,
which is known as the great cotton =
year. But now turn To the receipts
for the months of January and Feb
ruary Of the same years, and observe
the change -.
5S bales. l5Icso asas bales. s5sss Bales.
= This shows a falling off in two
months of tho present cotton year Of
100000 bales as compared with tho
same months in 1901, and Of 370,-
900 bales as compared with last year.
In other words, the homely saying
that four gallons of liquor can be
poured as quickly out of five.gallon
keg sout of a sixtyssgallon cask, bas
received new illustration. Tho
point of the proverb becomes appa-
rent when one begins to wait for. the
fifth gallon. Our English customers
are now becoming aware that the
cotton crop of this country for the
present year is approaching evhaus-
tion. The advance in price which
will undoubtedly follow the discovery
of this melancholy fact will 90 into
their pockets and the pockets of The
spectators, and not into the depleted
purses Of the cotton planters Of this
country, who're IL justly belongs.
How names flicker out and flash up
again in the newspaper. Here comes
the st. Louis Republican with this bit
of information: "Koopmanschap has
come to the front again, after rather
long obscurity among the swarming
millions of China. He lately arrived in
San Francisco direct from China, after
an absencesofo over six months. His last
voyage to China, was made in the inter-
ests of Rio Janeiro company, which
desires to import Chinese laborers into
Brazil. His object was frustrated by an
unexpected event. The viceroy of the
province of Canton had promised to as