The Forrest City times., 1892-09-09
The Cotton Crop.

The details of the annual report of Secretary Hester. of the New Orleans c.,tton exchange. have been seut to the press. In discussing the cotton crop he takes a wide range, but the follow ing synopsis covers the main points:
 Mr. Hester attributes the prosperity of American spiDnefs to the low price of cotton aud the increased purchasing power of producers nf careals and hog products, whose galSs iu the valne Of their crops amounted to S1OO .0J0. .ODJ. The people. he says, have been forced purchasers. because of the prohibitory tariff in favor of the latter.
 He states that the production of corn in the Southern country WIS 8. OO0. 900 bushels greater than the season before and quotes telegram from Mir. Dodge. statistician of the agricultural department, Washington, D. C.. indi- eating that the area in food crops in the cotton states for this year has been increased s per cent. The report fa- vors the production of food crops i'll the South to sufficient extent 10 make Southern farms self-sustaining and cotton more nearly surplus crop, but deprecates the possibility of the South growing surplus of cereals in compe- tition with the great granaries of the West.
 Statistics are also given to show val nes of exports of cotton, wheat, flour and corn and their relative importance as exportable products. They show that ont of crops of grain and wheat valued at over Sl, GOO .0Dt,. 000 the export for 1890 were SIS, 900 ,030 and for 1891 SPA 600 900, while those of cotton manufactures reached s26l .0o0, 900 in 1890 aud S3l4,000. GOO in 1891.
 in addition this report gives. among other data, details of the c0nsumpti on of Southern mills. showing that the in. crease in the total for the past year was l3i per cent over last season and 9 per cent over the season before. From 336 mills at the close of 1890 the total in cluding new. old and idle has increased to 356 and today there are 305 mills in operation against 270 at the close Of August. 1890, and 2S7 at the same pe- riod in 1891. The number of spindles in operation is now l,99S .6S0. an in- crease for the past season of 1T4.970 and total gain since September, 1890. of 333. .4S9.
 While there has been an increase greater or less in numper of bales ty every state on the list, two thirds of the entire gain has been in North Caro- lima. South Carolina and Georgia, the excess in three states having amouned to 60, ,0O0 bales, out of a total for the year of sl .f49 North Carolina gained 2l ,510 bales, South Carolina 2l GOO and Georgia 1i.5o0. The increase in South Carolina puts that state far in the lead. Georgia following with ls.00o bales less and North Carolina with about 2l .00a less. These figures, Mr. Hester says, speak for themselves as evidence of the increased prosperity of cotton spinning in the south. They bear ont fully the published statement that the past year has been one of the most prosperous known to Southern cotton manufacturers
 He further says that while the low price of the raw material has contri buted much toward continu q increase of consumption this year the senii ment in favor of investments in mil property in the South continues tt grow, and he is in receipt of reports indicating not only the building of al d ti0nal new mills. but projecting mate rial increase in many of the old ones that an examination of this year figures will show that to an enlarge ments of old mills has the gain il spindles during the past season beel mostly due.