The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1894-11-28
What Ais Cotton9

Hector D. Lane, commissioner Of agri-
culture of Alabama, and president Of the
late Cotton Growers Convention in Mont
gomerv. has addressed circular letter
to the cotton growers of the South, which
concludes as follows:
The year the gin was invented cotton
to about one thousand 1,O00)
of our bales was exported from the South.
By 1920 the crop was 100000 bales. In
1880 the first crop of 100000 bales was
made. For the decade ending 1S40, the
average increased to Q,3O0,OOU one mil
lion and three hundred thousand year.
The first two million bale crop was
reached in 1S43 and the decade ending
1850 shows an average crop OF two mill
lion, one hundred and flfty-three thous-
and bales. A three million crop was
grown in 1852, and the average of the
gold decade, ending 1860, was three mil
lion, three hundred and nlnety-four
thousand bales.
From 1871 to 1880 the crops more than
doubled, averaging from four million,
five hundred and thlrty-fve thousand
hales. Notwithstanding this enormous
increase. our crops for the decade Of 1890
show a further increase, the average
being six million and eighty thousand
bales. reaching in that year eight million,
five hundred thousand bales, an increase
since the war of two hundred and eighty
two per cent. and since 1921, when the
first full records are given, of twenty-five
hundred per cent.
The aggregate sum for which this raw
material has sold is placed at something
over twelve billion, i've hundred million
gold dollars, over eight times the assessed
valuation OF all property. real and per-
sonal, in the cotton States in 1880. Hith-
erto consumption has barely kept pace
with the cotton supply. The cotton
mills have drummed every quarter OF the
earth. for consumers. As wide as are the
markets the production Of the raw ma
terial has mere than kept up. A large
stock Of cotton holds over from year to
year, and in consequence thereof buyers
occupy a vantage ground from which
they can regulate the market and dictate
prices. AS stated above, our crop has
increased 2S2 per cent. since the war.
During this period the total actual con-
sumption Of the world has only increased
III Der cent. or at g rate less than hall
that OF which our production has in
creased.
The boomers who figure out in glow
ing articles the rapid increase Of Southern
wealth may doubt that we are poor ;
they may be right 80 far as mines and
factories and railroads and towns are
concerned, but everyone knows that the
farming communities-tho engaged In
cotton growing -are getting poorer and
poorer year bY year. There are fewer
carriages before church doors on Sunday
than there were q quarter Of q century
ago. Old homesteads are falling into
decay and stand as gloomy monuments
to our improvidence. Our gallant South
ern boys are leaving the old plantation
homes to the negroes, while they seek,to
mend their broken fortunes in q more
promising field. The country gentleman
of ante.bellum days is figure Of the
past, and to-day bears restiYely the criti.
que applied TO sDon Caesar de Bazan,"
who, though brave, loyal and magnani.
nous, is living under the cloth OF pow
erty, and what was once the nearest
approach to an aristocracY that ever ex-
listed in Republican form Of govern
ment cannot now leny the imputation
cast at them of s'shsbby genteel."
How could it be otherwise2 Since
1921, for five out Of seven decades,
together with the constant increase of
our cotton crop, prices have steadily
decreased; the exceptions were the de-
cade from 1851 to 1860, when California
and Australia poured out their streams
of gold and raised flood tide Of pros.
perity the world over. Then cotton,
obeying the upward tendency, rose in
with other things.
The other was the war decade, when
our production wss cut off over half, and
prices rose as hign as $1.50 per pound.
In 1870 the average price of cotton for the
decade then was 45 cents per pound; for
the ensuing twenty years the price
averaged t2i cents. This collapse can be
to but one cause; it is this !:
In 1871 we had eight million acres OF cot
ton which produced on an average two
hundred and nine pounds of lint per
acre, $35.42; steadily year by year we
increased our acreage, until in 1890 we
planted nineteen million acres, yielding
an average of one hundred and seventy
four and q half pounds Of lint per acre,
worth SOIL.
Here is more than double work done,
the cost of wages and material remaining
the same and the value Of the gross pro-
duct S1631 less per acre. For the last
thirty years our crops have sold for three
hundred and five million dollars. The
2, ,269, 900 bale crop of 1879 sold for S4l2, ,24,-
600. The 7,Sl3,O00 bale crop Of 1889
brought only $3,161, GOO and the cost of
production is about the same.
It is evident that the world has about
S4OO, ,OO0, 900 to spend annually with Us for
the material for their clothing.
live send out a 1000, 900 bale crop they
will pay about the same for 1t and they
will compete among themselves for our
products.
If we send out an 100000 bale crop
they pay the same sum and leave us to
compete among ourselves for the cash.
The average price in the eight cotton
States to produce pound Of lint cotton
is seven and half cents at the gin
house to transport and sell it at the
nearest. market town .62; the difference
between the price there and the New
York quotation will not averageless than
.63; 81 cents New York prices is the cost
Of producing pound of Lint cotton.
It will be remem bered by all that only
a few years ago coffee was being sold at
eight pound for the dollar. Now you
will do well to set four pounds tor the
same money. We are adyised~by 0ne
who made q study Of this subject and is
Ina condition to know that the down.
ward tendency of coffee was produced
by over-production. So great was the
crop that the market was glutted and the
purchase price did not pay for the culti-
vation and handling; as result many
became so poor that they were forced to
give 1t up and many quit on account of
annually losing money. Thereupon the
production of coffee fell suddenly off and
he purchase price doubled in an incredi-
bly, short time.
The convention at Montgomery ad-
burned to meet at Jackson, Miss, on
second Wednesday in January, 1895,
when and where we will endeavor to go
nto permanent organization under the
name of the Southern Cotton Growers
Protective Association.
The various Governors of the States
will be requested to appoint four dele
rates from each Congressional district
ind three from the State at large. Two
Of agriculture were elect
ID vice-presidents for their respective
States. I urge upon all farmers and
,thers interested in this movement to
attend the meeting at Jackson, as il is
question of the grsvest importance to the
common country. Most respectfully
yours,
HECTOR D. LANE, President.
"A cup of muddy coffee is not whole
ome, neither is bottle Of muddy medi.
,ine. One way to know reliable and
killfully. prepared blood.purifier is by its
reedom from sediment. Ayers Sarsapar-