The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1896-01-29
.Nl,enseS remaining the same.


sell into the deduction, How are we
to destroy this annual surplus The
only safe and practicable way sug-
geSted is by d jUdicious decrease OF
acreage say Of p per cent; we would
then realize - per cent. increase IN
the price, and still have 5000 00Q
acres OF land TO raise food crops up
on, which, ifraised IN sufficient guam
tity on the farm, instead Of being pur-
chased at long time prices, with cot,
ton as It's uncertain security, VIII
make another legitimate difference IN
favor of the cotton grower of % per
cent.
There cau be no palmer object les
son portrayed than that OF this last
season Of tie result Of decreased pro
duc;ion. As another lesson, as TO the
efficacy oi the decrease OF production
as stimulus 10 The increase of price,
we will cite the history OF the cotton
market in the year 1915. The average
yrice of cotton that year was 3.o6.
The production was decreased the
4ext year by general consent about 3
per cent. and cotton values rose IN
consequence thereof to Isl IN 1916.
Thy farmers Of the South, recogniz-
ing that they could not raise cotton
proitably even at this price, though
having the benefit then of slave labor
in tleir favor, again reduced the
acreage the next year, 1Si7, 10 per
cent. Gotten values continued to rise
commensurately with the decrease OF
acreage, averaging that year 11.2l
cents. \ 19 per cent. reduction re-
suited in q - per cent. rise IN values,
and this in the face of the stagnatlon
OF trade il England. due TO the great
Irish famine that year, the rapid fall
in sterling exchange in consequence
Of tae shipments OF breadstutfs to the
United Kingdom, and the reduction
Of 10000 bales per week in the con-
sumption OF manufacturers.
As an evidence of the influence OF
over production present the homely
illustrator: \ farmer goes into his
market town with a basket full Of
eggs: it is the first Of May, and the
poultry is producing freely. lie pre-
sents his eggs to the merchant for
sale aud IS met with the intelligence
that he has all the eggs that he can
handle; that tae market IS glutted,
and the supply exceeds the demand.
The farmer has more at home than
he needs, and he does not care to take
them back, SO he finally asks the mer-
cant If he can't make him an offer
tor them at all. The merchant reluct-
antly offers cents for them and the
trade is made-the merchant debating
the price. Later in the season, say IN
December, the farmer comes in, but
instead Of having twenty dozen eggs
he has only five dozen, and he goes
TO same the merchant and notes that
there seems to be dearth of eggs in
the tubs and boxes sitting around and
when the merchant asks him what he
has he replies gliby. Eggs" The
merchant asks him what they are
worth, and he replies that as the hens
seem 10 be - combine, trust or a
strike and eggs are very scarce in the
country, and the demand seems to eN-
c>ed the supply, he wants 20 cents
per dozen for them, and the trade IS
made-the farmer debating the price.
The idea that has been advanced
to deter farmers from decreasing their
acreage, 10 the effect that it would
simulate the production Of other coun-
tries, is ''delusion and snare.
This question has been settled some
time since 20 the satisfaction OF those
who have put themselves TO the
trouble to investigate.
The civil war did not have this ef-
feet. In this period Of destitution the
cotton growing resources of every part
of the globe were tested to the utmost;
and in the exhibition Of 1862 the
representatives from every country
from which supplies might be ex-
pected met to concert measures for OBJ
tanning all tina: was wanted without
the aid of America. The colonies and
dependencies of Great Britain, inclUd-
ing India, seemed well able to grow
all the cotton that could be required,
while numerous other countries were
ready to offer their cooperation. a
powerful stimulus was thus given to
the growth of cotton in all directions;
q degree of activity and enterprise
never witnessed before was seen in
India, Turkey, Greece, Africa, West
Indies, Queensland, New South Wales,
Peru, Brazil, and in short wherever
cotton could be produced; and there
seemed no room to doubt that IN a
short time there would be abundant
supplies independent of America. But
ten years afterward. in the exhibition
of 1872, which was especially devoted
10 cotton, only s few of the thirty-fve
countries which had sent their samples
IN 1862 again appeared, and these for
tae most part only to bear witness to
and failure.
The East India crop that in 1875
and 1876 amounted to 100000 bags,
amounted IL 1894 to 700, 600. The
Eeyption crop amounts now to about
the same it did then. Brazil has fallen
from four hundred and two thousand
down TO one hundred thousand last
year, and sundries, that is to say, all
other countries, have fallen from two
hundred and twenty thousand to one
hundred thousand, and the entire
foreign production amounts to only
one million five hundred and seventy
five American bales therefore we have
little to fear from foreign countries.
By a reasonable curtailment Of cot
ton acreage, and planting the same in
home supply crops, it figures largely
both in reducing the cost Of the pro-
duction what cotton We might raise,
in that we can raise bread and meat
very much cheaper than we can Or
dinarily expect a merchant to suppl Y
the same, taking the risk that he IS
obliged to takein having cotton only
as security, which is subjectto becut
Off by seasons, and ii not curtalle"
by seasons, subject to the greater un-
certainty of being able to- get anything
for II if seasons are OrODitIOuS and q