The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1892-10-06

communications for this column should be ad
dressed
Below will be found two commune
cations on the Austin cotton market
problem which commend to those
interested in the subject.
The charge made oy II. c. as to i'm.
proper grading will meet with in
dorsement from all having length.
ened experience in selling cotton.
Practically only one grade is recog-
nized. If a buyer is asked "What is
cotton worth today?" the reply will
be one figure, and so we hear that to-
day it is worth 6 3.4 cents, yesterday
6 1.2 cents, and so on; as if only one
grade was handled, whereas every
day will bring grades varying from
low to good middling. The buyer
seldom fails to "dock' the price when
the staple is below the standard, but
sometimes fails to appreciate the value
of higher grades.
The past week witnesses q consid-
cradle advance in prices and decline
at the close. The advance is traceable
to short receipts and the decline to an
increase. The receipts up till about
week ago were little over half those
of the corresponding time last year,
this seemed to indicate short crop
and prices went up with bound,
which caused every available bale to
be marketed, which in turn conveyed
the belief that the crop was not so
short after all, but that it is being
held for an advance. Then the bears
got in their work and we had fall.
This see-sawing process may be ex-
pected to 60 on as the season advances
and the shortage is placed beyond any
doubt.
IL is not surprising that spectators
should have the idea that farmers are
holding their cotton. They did so
largely for the past two years, but as
they lost by their venture each time,
there seems to be an almost unani-
nous determination not to be
caught this time, and very
little is held by the farmer. l am con-
fident that not one per cent of ginned
cotton remains unsold; while fully
fifteen per cent was held at the same
time last year.
Not bale can be seen round the
farm houses and not more than one
days ginning at any gin.
This season has been the best for
many years for saving the crop and
the yield will here be full average;
so that with prospect for better
prices, the farmers outlook is not so
dismal.
To the Agricultural Editor of Statesman:
Your remarks about the decline of
the cotton business iii Austin are cor
rect and you have hit the right nail
square on the head when you give the
reason for said decline. 1t is simply
because Austin is the worst market in
the county and perhaps in all Central
Texas.
| don't, however, agree with you
that Austin cotton buyers have a
right to buy at the lowest prices they
can prevail upon the farmer to take.
They have no right to more than a
fair, legitimate profit on the capital
invested and labor performed in an
honest manner.
But these cotton buyers have little
if any money invested in the bust.
ness; their labor-except with the
tongue-is light, and their practice in
grading cotton deserves and receives
condemnation at the hands of nearly
all having dealings with them.
Every cotton planter knows that
Austin cotton buyers rarely admit
that bale is better than "middling,n
and if forced to such admission, will
seldom pay more than 1-16 cent ex-
ira, even if the staple is beyond doubt
"good middlingn or even "middling
fair" and worth in the Galveston and
New Orleans market from half
to cent per pound more
than "middling." Not only do
they give too little for "middling,n
but they by the force of combination
take an unfair advantage of the far
mer and practically rob him of his
hard earned cash.
While the cotton farmer has to
work thirteen months in the year"
to make bare living, these cotton
barons make enough.in four months to
keep them for twelve, in "lordly
STYLE"
And, yet, not one of them was ever
known to acknowledge that he made
more than two bits profit on any bale
of cotton.
live nearer to Austin than any