The Monticellonian., 1894-11-30
EXIT KING COTTON.
overproduction the Cause of Low
 Prices for the Staple.
"isfeading and BuIlish Estimates of the or"P- Planters Urged to Reduce the Output and Turn Their atten-
 tion to Cereals.

MONTGOMERY, Ala, Nov 96.-As a re- suit of the action of the Cotton Growers' convention, which recently met in this 'iey' the following letter was sent out:
 l" THE COTTON GROWERS OF THE SotTH- Ah conformity with resolution passed by the aeeeht cotton Growers convention. convened ih the city of Montgomery on the 18th of No 'tnlpef' 1 address You the following letter:
 ihe eonvention was called by myself for the purpose oi considering and deVising means through which southern cotton growers might if'ttee themselves from the many and unfair "'Niccs used to depreSs the values Of our chief staple the present most prominent one being heJltloaS reports fabricated in the main cotton marts sent out by cotton exchanges, and ema- Hdtlhs In the minds Of men who make pre- carlous living as bears on the cotton market
 lack of space will prevent my elaborating upon these points. and 1 will make it suffice simply to quote the resolution upon this sub Jeet passed by the recent convention;
 sBe It resolved by this (the Southern Cotton @fo"efS association, that it Is the earnest SohNlCllon or the members of the convention, ls practical cotton growers, that the estimates that are being sent cut by the cotton ex- SHdhgeS m reference to the crop are exces- SlFe, and 1t is the belief of this coyention. eased upon practical observation and the best statistical information, that the present crop
 
 AN UNDERESTIMATE.
 MT. Neill of New Orleans is one of the gen. try who K contributing his time and talent to- wards the depression of cotton values and to the dctrIment of the entire south He figures tue crop Tor the present season at I0250 ,OO0 bales, That his predcatos are fictitious and h4S ugufeS excessive no reasonable man doubts.
 The large crop Of 1sgI-92 which with the TtfnoHht left over from 1s9o-9l, reached Ol0.- m acres larger than that planted in ls91=taking the Financial Chronicles estimate in both instances. In 1891 the production was 2a3 pounds per acre, whereas the official condition Indicated crop of only ls5 pounds; the in crease, therefore, was just 10 per cent Here it should bc noted, at no time since 1889 has the bureaus estimate varied so greatly from the actual production. On similar basis the con Gttlou as reported by the bureau in 1891 indi- rateS crop of l93 pounds ta the acre add I0 per cent te this and the product will have been 2l2 pounds, .45 of q bale. and with an aefeaee Of 29t07 000 acres we have a crop of n fraction over 900000) bales.
 8he rule Of indicated production applied to each state separately, to which is added the in crease in acreage and the per cent, condition Increase as before the total crop aggregates 9,leo 0@ bales. and this sum is reached by ac- cfedttinE Texas with a crop Of 200 O0G bales this year.
 
 condition indication will be as much under the actual outiurn aS in 1891, since a large part of the crop of that year Was. really produced in is97 In fact. the average of the conditions of the bureau for five years indicates exactly the actual average production Der acre for the five years. Agaiu5 the crop marketed in 1891 showed excessive production per acre. but Mir Nettl would have the world believe that the 2d l9a 0@ acres in cotton in saI have produced 10 250 0o4 bales or over one bale to every two acres
 Consequent upon the enormous crop pro- dHeed in the season of is9t-q3 a cotton conven- ton Was held in Memphis under the auspices of the Mississippi Valley Cotton Growers as seetatioa. and its result, as was the result of the recent convention at Montgomery, was "mlRcntlS satisfactory to all engaged in it The express purpose of this meeting was to Lake action toward the reduction of the cotton acreage. How wclIit succeeded in this effort history of cotton will bear Us uut. A decrease in acreage followed the ensuing Seasons-93 and F3 of 3.i56 i3a. an acreage that is larger than is planted in any one state with the ex- ccptiun of Texas.
 Pursuant to the Memphis cotton convention Notton advanced F points in three days Pur- suant to the Montgomery meeting, cotton values advanced 27 points Whether these two occurrences were coincidental or whether they caused directly or indirectly by these farmers in convention assembled, it k for the country to judge, but to my Ilind it is a practical demon >tration of a fact that the vibrations of the cotton market arQ as sensitive and responsive 10 the touch of a convention Of practical farm CTS aS they are to manipulations of metropoli- tan fakirs
 The dominating questions confronting the farmers are. first, to refute the intquitous re- ports being sent out by unScrupulouS persons and bearing down present prices, and, sccond- ly, to cooperate in an endeayor to again de- crease the average by planting the same in and producing more on-eonsumption" crops.
 ADVICE TO PLANTERS.
 0Yerproduction encourages and fosters manipulation. and it should he the effort to every intelligent and patriotic citizen of the south to enlist all the instrumentalitieS avail able to resist thiS current that is inSidfouS- ly day by day drifting us into this vortex of poverty and deStitution, and I re- Speetiully solicit the power of the press and the kind cooperation of all those interested in the material welfare Of the south for their as- sStdncC in the accomplishment of this con summation so devoutly to be wished.
 That the present low prices of cotton are abnormal is plain to all thinking men. and cer- tainly so if the wCll-acccptCd rule of political economists applies That the cost of the production of an article is fair standard of it's value"
 There s less visible supply on hand than for years. Mills have less on hand, people have less clothes on account of the enforced economy of hard times
 The total visible supply of cotton in the world is 2,29 2O5 bale. less than in 1893 and 6O5 All less than in Is92.
 The currency and tarir questions are virtu- ally settled, and all the indications at present point to a speedy return of general prosperity, and cotton prices must naturally rule higher.
 We are of the opinion that, after all. this matter can only be accomplished by ndepend- ent individual action stimulated by intelligent argument and shall undertake to prove that to q great extent that it is the ovcrproduction of cotton in excess of it's consumption that is causing the falling of in values until it has reached that point which makes 1t less than can possibly be produced by the southern planters.
 The year the gin was invented, cotton equva- lent to about 600 of our bales was exported from the south. By 1920 the crop was 3600O0 bales. In 1880 the first crop of 100000 bales was made. For the decade ending 1sI0 the average increased to 1,300 000 a year. The first 100000 bale crop was reached in Isi3 and the decade ending 1850 shows an aver age crop of 2. .l530O bales A 3000000 crop was grown in 1852, and the average of the gold de- cade ending 1860, was 3 394oO0 bales
 From 1s7I to 1880 the crops more than doubled averaging 535.000 bales. Notwith- standing this enormous increase. our crops for the deeate of l90Q show further increase the average being t.Os0 0O0 bales, reaching in that year < 300 000 bales, an increase since the war of 2s3 per cent, and since 1872. when the first full records are given, of 200 per cent
 The aggregate sum of which this raw ma teral has sold is placed at something over 12- 10000 l001 gold dollars over eight times the sessed valuation Of all property real and per sonal, in the cotton states in 1880 Ilither- .f f..F ltt.g raTsF tra,,t