The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1877-03-21
Expenscs that MAY be Saved,

The expenses of ginning, baling,
forwarding aud selling cotton, and the
expenses of the manufactured goods
when returned South, and an estimate
Of the enhanced value of the cotton
when converted into yarns by the ma
chinery of which the Clement attach
ment is an important part, is thus
described by Col. F. E. Harrison, of
Anderson County:
Take a bale of cotton on o farm near
Anderson, and see the expenses, &C., in
sending it by way of Charleston to Bos-
ton, Mass. Hauling to Anderson, sam
pounds from weight, profit Of purchaser,
freight and insurance to Charleston, dray-
age to cotton shed, storage, insurance,
deep sampling, commissions for selling,
general average account, brokerage for
buying, deep boring, second weighing,
repairs, drayage to compress, compress
ing, drayage to steamer OF depot, freight
and insurance to Boston. To these add
waste, drayage and stealage, all the eX-
penses, speculations and populations of
the guerillas of the South, and the great
cotton rings Of the North, and also the
expenses in our seaport towns, (where it
Is recompressed to be shipped to Europe
the expenses and profits Of the shipment,
and the expenses after its arrival there
until it is sold to the manufacturer, who
buys only the net cotton, mot tho bag
cling and ties, } at his own price, for civ
erpool, Manchester, Leeds, &C., take the
surplus crop of the world, fix and control
the price tnot only there, butin every.cot
ton mart,
Europe, China and India pay gold for
cotton and fabrics shipped from Fall Riv-
er, Massachusetts, and other places. The
planter gets receipts from his merchant
for a years supply Of provisions, farm
tools, &C., and is fortunate If the receipt is
over and above his scant food and clothes,
gets jewsllarps and ginger cakes. Who
gets the difference in exchange between
the nations, the margin of IA per cent. be-
tween gold and national bank notes? It
probably is n of the perquisites of
"middlemen," exceptin such instances as
Fall River Manufacturing Company"
Now, if to all these you add the expen-
ses, profits, &C., of the manufactured
goods returned South, you will have some
idea of what "middlemen" receive, and
what the ''new drocess" will save to our
impoverished but still beloved Southland.
For instance, take eight Of the above
twenty-five enumerated items of expense
on cotton IN transitu from the field to
New England, viz: Ginning 81; bagging
and ties $3.50; freight to Charleston 80
commissions Sl.25; brokerage 75c. stor-
age soc. COMPRISING 75c. freight to
Boston $6.25; total SIS per bale, which on
4, 1000 bales amount to S75,6OO, 600. The
item of seed is worth IS per bale as a fer
tilizer, equal to so, 000, 900, and decorticat-
ed more than double its value.
There can be no competition away from
the cotton field, for seed cotton will not
bear transportation, and none other can
be used.
The crop Of 1875 is estimated at AGO.
900 bales, of which the South consumes
about 100000, the balauce was shipped
North and to Europe, tho average price
was probably about ten cents per pound
or $50 per bale. The enhanced value of
crude cotton, when converted into yarn,
is estimated at from 100 to Us per cent. /;
into shifting and sheeting, 200 per cent. ;
into prints, still more, and into fine mus
Inns, 300 to 400 per cent. These are gross
profits, but if the South made her ma
chinery, furnished her operatives and fed
them, they would be net to her.