The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1896-01-29

future values.
The world spends annually abou
$400, 900, 900 for cotton goods. If w
send out 6,5OO,O0O bale crop we ge
this money foi it, and the consumer
will compete among themselves fol
our product, and the producer sub
stantially dictates the price. If w
send out a 10, 600, ,000- bale crop, as WI
did in 1894, they pay the same O.
less, and leave us to compete among
ourselves for the price, our labor ant
expenses remaining the same.
The world has to be clothed. Th'
consumption of cotton is nearly in
flexible. The production is flexible
With these conclusions it resolved it
self into the deduction, 'How are we
to destroy this annual surplus?' Th'
only safe and practicable way sug
gested is by a judicious decrease Q
acreage say of 25 per cent. we wou!e
then realize rs per cent. increase II
the price, and still have 5000, OO(
acres of land to raise food crops up
on, which, if raised in sufficient guam
tity on the farm, instead of being pur
chased at longtime prices, with cot
ton as its uncertain security, will
make another legitimate differences IN
favor of the cotton grower OF % pei
cent. s.S.s5s 81;
There can be no palmer object lel
son portrayed: tnan that of this las
season of the result of decreased pro.
duction. AS another lesson, as to the
efficacy of the decrease of production
as stimulus to the increase of price
we will cite the history of the cottor
market in the year 1915. The average
price of cotton that year was $50
The production was decreased the
next year by general consent about
per cent. and cotton values rose ir
consequence thereof to 7.S7 in 1916.
Thy farmers of the South, recogniz.
ing that they could not raise cotton
profitably even at this price, though
having the benefit then of slave labor
in their favor, again reduced the
acreage the next year, 1S47, 10 pei
cent. Cotton values continued to rise
commensurately with the decrease OF
acreage, averaging that year 11.21
cents. A. ~ Per cent. reduction re,
suited in 80 per cent. rise in values,
and this in the face of the stagnation
of trade in England. due to the great
Irish famine that year, the rapid fall
in sterling exchange in consequence
of the shipments of breadstuffs 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 I present the homely
illustration: A farmer goes into his
market town with a basket full of
eggs; it is the first of May, and the
poultry is producing freely. He pre-
sents his eggs to the merchant for
sale and is met with the intelligence
that he has all the eggs that he can
handle; that the 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 5 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 to be in a combine, trust or a
strike and eggs are very scarce in the
country, and the demand seems to ex-
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, to the effect that it would
simulate the production of other coun-
tries, is ''delusion and a snare. !"
This question has been settled some
time since to 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 tie 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 that 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
a 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
to cotton, only a few of the thirty-five
countries which had sent their samples
in 1862 again appeared, and these for
the most part only to bear witness to
disappointment and failure.
The East India crop that in 1875
and 1876 amounted to I, 100000 bags,
amounted in 1894 to 100000. The
Egyption crop amounts now to about
the same it did then. Brazil has fallen