Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1895-08-07
KING COTTON'S STORY TOLD
HISTORY OF THE STAPLES Pro
DUCTIcN IN THIS COUNTRY.
1 Hundred Years Ago the Entire
Crop Was 20. 900 Bales-Now the
Annual Product Is 5000, 900.

country, Dl II. L. 1uAAOhNo,
the editor. Just 100 years ago, the
total crop Of the South was 20, 600
bales, but by 1920 this had increased
to nearly 400, 900 bales. Under this
rapid gain in production prices gradu-
ally declined from forty-four cents a
pound in 1901 to thirteen and one-half
cents in 1899.
With prices ranging from thirteen
to forty-four cents, and averaging for
forty years, from 1900 to 1889, a frac-
ton over seventeen cents a pound, cot
ton cultivation was so profitable that
we cannot wonder at the disposition OF
the people of the South to concentrate
their efforts more and more on cotton
cultivation to the exclusion of indus
trial interests. Beginning with lS4O
there came a period of extremely low
prices and the Cotton States suffered
very much from this decline. In that
wear the average New York prices
dropped to nine cents, a decline of
four cents from the preceding year,
and this was followed by a continuous
decline until 1916, when the average
was 5.63 cents, the lowest average
price ever known to the cotton trade.
Even in 1892, when an enormous
surplus of cotton following the de-
preston that succeeded the Barring
failure forced prices TO what many
claimed wast the lowest point on record.
the average at New York was $50
cents, or nearly two cents higher than
in 1916. Moreover, in 1916 the seed
was without value, while in 1922
the scale of seed added almost a cent
a pound to the value of the crop and
transportation was very much cheaper
than in 1916. In 1S47 the crop was
short and prices advanced sharply, only
to drop back to eight and then to
seven and o~ne-fourth cents, making
the average for the decade, from 1910
to 1S49, the lowest eve known in the
cotton trade.
After giving in detail the statistics
of production, consumption and prices
for each year since lS4O, the Manu-
facturers' Record says:
A study of the foregoing figures will
show that seven years of successfully
increasing crops, as from 1886 to
1922, was unprecedented in the
history of trade. 1t is doubtful if any
leading crop raised can show such an
unbroken increase for seven years.
Jumping from 5, 700, 900 bales in 1884
So to G, 800, 900 bales in 1886, there
was practically no hating, as the vari-
atoms in two years were too small to
be noticeable, to $685. 900 bales in
1892, a gain of $500, 900 bales, or
nearly sixty per cent. advance in seven
years. 1t ought not to have been ex-
pected that consumption could keep
pace with such an increase. Fortunate
" there came break, and We have now
mad two shortcrops. This will help to
reduce the enormous stocks that have
Overweighted the market for several
years. With surplus stocks worked
bf q fresh start can be made, and il
next year s crop is moderately small the
cotton trade of the world will then be
on a sound basis for higher prices, be-
cause consumption will then have
overtaken production.
In eighteen years cotton has brought
into the South over So, 700, 900, 600, q
sum so vast that the profits out OF IT
ought to have been enough to greatly
enrich the whole section. Unfortun-
ately, the system which the poverty
following the war developed, of rails
ing cotton only and buying provisions
and grain in the West, left at home
but little surplus money out OF the
cotton crop. The West and North
drained that section o~fseveral hundred
million dollars every year, because il
depended upon them for all of Its
manufactured goods, as well as for the
bulk of its food-stuffs. Hence, of the
enormous amount received for cotton,
very little remained in the South.
The increase in diversified farming,
the raising of home supplies, the de-
velopment of trucking and the build
ing of factories are all uniting to keep
at home the money which formerly
went North and West. Whether the
cotton-raiser himself be getting the
full benefit Of this or not, the South
at large is necessarily doing so.
The figures given in the foregoing
tables show that the lowest average
yield per acre for the seventeen years
under review was l45s pounds in 1881,
and the highest 209s pounds in 1891.
Had the yield per acre in 1891 been AS
low as in 1881 the crop would have
been less than 500, 900 bales, instead
of 9,035, 900 bales.
From 1910 to 1S49 the average
price in New York was eight cents per
pound, a lower average for nine years
than any single year since has shown
except 1912.
The importance of cotton in our
foreign trade relations can be appre-
ciated from the simple statement that
since 1875 our exports of this staple
have been valued at SO, 800, 600, 600,
while the total exports OF wheat and
-four combined for the same period
have been 81, 800, 900, 900, showing 8
difference of 81, 300, OO0, 900, or over
fifty per cent. in favor of cotton.
Moreover, during the same period We
have exported about 5000, 000, 900 Of
manufactured cotton goods, making
the full value really $4,000, 900, 900.
Compared with the exports of wheat,
flour and corn combined, the value oil
which since 1875 mas been 50, 100, 600,
600, there is a difference in favor ol
cotton of 5000, 600, 900. Going back
to 1920, it is found that the totsl value
of flour and wheat exported for the
last seventy-four years is 1913, 900,
600, or 800, 600, 900 less than the
value OF the cotton exported during