Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1895-09-20
THE plsICEOF COTTON
tovERNED BY THE LAW OF SUPPLY
AND DEMAND.

| l-tI.r-'e
Freo siIvcritcs Should STUDY This History
OF Production and Prices Since 170I.
wi,nt the RECORD of Crops proves-siI-
yer Has No Isifcct on Prices.
Tho spread Of freq coinage sentiment
entirely duo to tho belief that tho low
price Gf cotton was caused by tho adop-
tion of tho gold standard. Tho main
argument of tho advocates Of n 90 cent
! dollar i'll this section of tho country has
been that tho alleged characterization Of
silver was the cause Of the marked fall
i'll cotton during tho past % years
A bulletin just issued by the depart
mont of agriculture giving the history
of the production and price Of cotton for
over 100 years proves cOnclusiycly that
the uso of silver MS money has nothing
10 do with the decline in value of cot
ION. beginning with 1891, with IL crop
If $3.50 bales, worth OH ;,n average 26
cents per pound i'll tho United States,
tho production rapidly increased during
tho next ten years To 2i0, J26 bales, and
tho price at tho same time advanced to
4i cents. Phi 1902 tho crop was 2.l1 ,22S
bales, of which 120, Gl9 were shipped 10
Great Britain, but, owing to the great
Iy increased supply and II largo Stock
I5l 900 balcs--on hand at tho close of
tho year, tho price dropped to 10 cents
per pound i'll New York.
In spite Of this remarkable decrease
in price tho crop increased to $40, 900
bales i'll 1910, worth ~ cents. In 1916
the crop was I57 ,5G5 bales, but the
enormously increased demand from
Great Britain forced prices up to 29I%
tents, and tho next year to 81 cents.
These high prices caused M increase in
tho acreage of cotton, and by 1920 the
crop was 60G,0Gl bales and the price
dropped to IA cents. The production in
trcasing, prices fell, in 1892, to LILO
cents, and i'll 1927, with crop IF 057,-
PSI bales, and with 662, 3GO bales I'm
stock, to 81. 20 cents.
BY 1884 I'M Increase in tho Enroppnn
demand for cotton had advanced the
price to nearly 10 cents, with u crop of
,205, 394 bales. For the next five years
prices fiuctuatcd widely, averaging from
IA to 20 cents per pound, and when, i'll
'p1Nt viz Nibp W ., ., OUD
bales, the average price went down to
500 cents. Tho great crops and tho nc
emulation of largo stocks IN Liverpool
caused IL still further decline, in 1916
reaching cents, the lowest recorded
price, with IL crop of 2,3aI ,503 bales.
by 1850 prices had advanced to Ia.3l
cents, and for tho next ten years aver
aged about | cents. tho crop increasing
to 1865, 5J7 i'll 1886 and to i ,SGI, 2g2
i'll 1860.
Tho war which broke out in 1861
brought on tho "cotton panic" which
lasted to 1866, when prices went ms high
us 81. 50 per pound. rho close of the
war left many of the cotton growing
states i'll an impoverished condition, and
it WAS not until 1876 tlint the crop was
ms largo as that Of 1850. In tho mean.
timo the price had fallen with the grad
ual increase i'll production until in 1871,
with IL crop of I,352,8l bales, it aver.
aged 1925 cents. III 1872 cotton was
badly damaged hy excessive rains, and
with II crop Of only 2,01I, 35i bales, the
price reached 20iS. III 1880 tho crop
WAS D, fGl. 252 bales and tho price had
fallen to 1902.
The increased European demand for n
time prevented prices falling tn tho level
Of the decade previous tn tho war, but
by 1850 tho stock on hand began to in
crease beyond the demand, and in 1891
the unhcard of crop of $500, 597 bales
forced tho price down to LOB cents In
1892 tho crop was O,035,379 bales, tho
stock ON hand amounting tn 2,253 900
bales Prices fell To /. 6l cents, hut adj
vaiccd i'll 1898, when on account of nil
favorable weather tho crop fell off to
$500, 3G5 bales, to S.2i cents. An in
crease to 7,540,Sl7 bales i'll 1891 was
followed by IL decline in price, and tho
greatest crop Oh record III 1885, amount
ing to about 0,l76, i35 bales, brought
down tho price to 6. 2G
The following table gives the compar-
ntivo crops and stocks of cotton and tho
lowest and highest prices in tho United
States for two decades. showing that
prices reached tho lowest point during
the years when tho accumulation of sur
plus stocks was tho largest and that
those wero tho years of largest crops: