Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-07-29

facture in Texas There has been . great
deal lost. A few years ago, after very
good season tor the business, there was an
epidemic of oil mill investment in the state.
Every large town in the cotton-producing
parts of Texas had its mill There were no
fewer than 30 of these enterprises, A bad
year sent two-thirds of them to the wall.
Last season was q good one for those mills
which survived in Texas
And now there is another endemic OF
oil mill building likely to be followed Dy
another assortment of wrecks. In the
manufacture of cottonseed oil men play for
big stakes Few products are 50 fluctuating
in price as those which come out OF cot
tonseed oil mill. The Sherman mill has
cold oil at IS cents and oil at 20 cents. 1t
has sold oil cake at $40 ton and oil cake at
$40 ton.
1.-THE size of the cotton CROP" Mr. Tas-
sey explained, in the course Of an interest
ing conversation about this peculiar indus
try, "has nothing to do with it. The mar
ket is speculative In 1882 we had good
year, one of the best. In 1887 we had a
fairly prosperous season. Last year was
good. The elements of uncertainty in the
business are men. Last year, for example.
we had good crops in this country. In
Europe the crops failed. There was great
sold at profitable prices. Practically all OF
the oil cake goes abroad. This year Europe
has good cereal crops and a good root crop.
She will not need so much oil cake as she
did last year, and she will not pay SO much
for what she does take.
1t Depends on Other Industries.
"There are other conditions which enter
into this business. A big corn crop in this
country means big hog crop. That means
lots of grease and less demand for cotton
seed OIL The most of our oil product goes
into the manufacture of compound lard.
When the hog crop is large the oil man has
to scratch his head to think how he will
pull through. We have to commence buy
ing and working up cotton seed before We
know what the hog crop is going to be and
what the demand for oil will be. Thus, be-
fore we know what our margin will be we
are in the midst of our season. Then there
are years when the seed rots on our hands.
For some climatic reason the seed will not
keep some seasons as it does others have
seen $3.50, 900 worth of seed lost by Texas
mills in single year Just because it would
not keep until it could be worked up.
ALI is not gold that glitters in the cotton
seed oil business For instance, there is
the oil-cake feeding in this country. Some
Texas cattlemen builded great e1pecta-
tions on the results of the early expert
ments
"Under present conditions there Is no
money either to the mill or the cattlemen
in feeding cake here" Mr.. Tassey said. II
believe that every cattleman who has taken
it up and followed it has lost Two years
ago cattle which were fattened on oil cake
yielded a profit. That was on account of
the high price of beef cattle. Last year the
balance was the other way. There were men
who fed 3, 900 head of cattle here, but they
made nothing.
"Cottonseed meal and hulls make the
finest fattening food that can be given cat
tie. At the average prices they will fatten
cattle cheaper than corn at 20 cents a
bushel. But there must be better balance
between range and fed cattle than there
has been to make this kind of feeding
profitable.
The Cotton Acreage Cut Down.
Returns from the cotton acreage of North
Texas show a decrease of 25 per cent as COM
pared with last year. For the rest of the
State the decrease is not qnite SO much. The
average for the whole State IL about 20 per
cent This reduction of acreage is in degree
more apparent than real Last years cotton
crop in Texas was extraordinary in acreage
and yield The reduction of Is per cent
this year is in reality only about 10 per cent
under two years ago Low prices and the
agitation over the cotton growers condition
prompted the North Texans to cut off one
fourth of their cotton ground and put it into |
corn and other grain.
But Mr.. Tassey doesn't believe the Texas
cotton growers condition is as bad as it has |
been pictured. "Last years cotton CROP"
he said, ''was marketed at only about per |
cent below the average price for ten years.
1 mean that in North Texas the man who
picked and sold his cotton Immediately came
within per cent Of the average price for
the whole ten years preceding.
What the South mostly needs, " said Mr.. |
Tassey, is manufacturers of cotton. I |
could talk to you all night about that. or I
could tell you my opinion in sentence.
To put it the shortest way I would say For
a man of enterprise with sufficient expert
ehce and capital, who wants a stable, legiti-
mate business. the manufacture of cotton |
goods in the South presents to-day the fin
est opportunity in the United States.'