The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1879-02-08
THE GUANO WAR.
DIFFERE ENT VIEWS T4KTGN TIIRO'
DIFFERENT SPECTLICLES.

Cotton vs.. Guano- Another Article from
the Guano Sido of the Question--The
Cost of Manufacturing and tho Small
Profits Of Manufacturers Uncertain
ties OF Cotton Option.
Editors Chronicle and Constitu-
tionaIist: 1 can hardly persuade
that if the planters thoroughly un-
derstood the guano question they
would speak and feel as they do to-
ward the manufac turers and general
agents. 1t would occupy too much
space to enter fully into tho discus
sion of this Cat presently important
subject. The raw material that it
takes to manufacture ton Of guano
to sack it, and transport it to the
ports in the South, at the, present
price--leaves but a small profit, and
were it not for the great quantity of
1T that Is sold, would not be worth
the trouble. If any one will put
themselves to the trouble of calcu-
latlng the cost they will be satisfied
that unless the manufacturer gets
noar thirty dollars per ton for it at
the coast, he could not mako any,
thing on it, and to do this, it would
DO necessary that they should carry
no surplus stock over. This can
hardly be expected, however. Thore
is always moro or less stock carried
carried over from one year to anoth-
er, which has to be cared for at con,
siderable expense, snd then to be
handled and re-sacked the next
season, storage to. be paid, large
quantities lost in waste. and many
other minor things, which, in aggre
gate, foot up heavily. =.
When the guano comes into the
hands OF the general agents, there,
are other and Formidable cllare es
which are necessary before 1T reach
es the farmer. The general agent
himself is entitled to some compen-
satlon for the risk of guaranteeing,
pre~paying freight, paying travelling
agents, who establish interior agen,
cles--his own time and that of his
office clerks-for there is immense
labor connected with his business.
tie Is also entitled to the interest
on the money advanced in paying
freights to the farmers ne 1rost
depot. And after it arrives no has
ms interior agents to pay, and has
heretofore had to pay in many in
stances storage on guano, and also
drayage, and also to pay even for
weighing the cotton that was paid
IN exchange for the guano. The
general agent or the manufacturer
has also to pay for mending sacks,
and loss in weight from wasteage;
they have to pay freight on cotton
from place of delivery to tho coast,
and they have to receive cotton at
interior woights-and in this they
lose about five pounds to ovory bale.
About ten dollars per ton is added
to manufacturers prices to cover all
tho numerous incidental expenses,
which includes anct ther very impor-
tant item, that Of guaranteeing the
salos of their interior agents. It is
true that tho interior agents guar
antee their sales to tho general
agent, but only to tho extent of
their aggregate commissions they
can only lose their labor, while q
general agent in many instances
may not only lose his commissions
but much moro. There is sometimes
large quantities carried over at inte-
rior points, which entails additional
expense. It also frequently hap>
pens that one point is too heavily
supplied, md thon comes another
expense of transportation of from
one to two dollars per ton. All
Of these little amounts in the end
make large sums, which go to res
duce the profits. In some in
stances general agents accept n
moro forwarding commission rather
than incur the risk to which they
are subject. It is hardly necessary
to add, that we have now and then a
loss in the way of bad debt. The
writer has heard of instances where
there we're bad debts enough to con-
sumo the entire yoar's profits.
Our farmer friends complain that
while everything else has declined,
the prico of guano has advanced.
Is this in fact true? Last year the
currency price at the coast was S44
4 r