The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1896-02-12
FOUR CENTS COTTON.
That is the Prediction OF 4 Prominent


Augustan.
AUGUSTA. Jan. 30.-What, are the
prospects for the price of cotton next
year; have you thought the matter
over or does it interest you? Well
it would seem that almost every South
erner should be interested in the mat
ter and should do all he could to keep
the price of the staple from going
down. Yesterday on Broad street
there was little knot Of gentlemen
congregated who were discussing this
subject which is of such vast impor.
tance to the South. Not only to the
farmer, but to every class of trade.
At the conclusion of the conversation
all were convinced that if the facts
we're as they believed nothing short
of cotton at four cents stares the South
in the face. What the gentleman said
was this:
II understand that. so far this sea-
son the Georgia railroad alone has
dumped into Augusta and along the
route from here to Atlanta, and other
wise handled one thousand and six
hundred and sixty car loads Of stock.
Do you realize what that means? At
twenty mules to the car, which is
about the average. there are nearly
thirty-fve thousand mules and horses,
which this one road alone has handled
in the South. OF course many of these
were for through shipment, but the
statement, if true, goes to show that
there are perhaps hundreds of thous-
ands of mules and horses shipped to
the South from the stock farms of Ken
tucky and Tennessee.
Any casual observer will have
noted the great numbers of mules that
all this season have been driven
through the back streets of Augusta.
But that is not all Go to any hard
ware merchant in Augusta and ask
him what his supply of plows and
other farm implements amounts to.
You will find that his stock is very
low and he will tell you that he. can
get no orders filed at the great facto:
RES in the South and East. They
have sold out up there and the tons
upon tons of plow shares have been
dumped into the South. The demand
is unprecedented, so say the dealers.
There is yet another fact that has
great weight. The sales of the fertili
ger manufacturing companies in all
parts of the South have been great,
The shipments over the railroads have
far exceeded those of former years.
NOW what does all this mean?
Year before last we had cents cotton.
The price of cotton in Augusta today
is 15-16 as against 1-2 in 1894. In
1898 it was 10, so this year has been
the most prosperous one the cotton
raiser has seen in three years. He is
greatly encouraged by the difference
between the price of last year and the
year before, and forgetting the causes
which led to the slump of prices in
1894 and 1895 he is now preparing to
do the very same thing over again.
These immense shipments of mules.
plows and fertilizers do not meah that
the crops are to be diversified, but are
proof positive that the farmer of the
South intends to plant cotton again.
If the staple does not sell at cents
this time uext year will be greatly
surprised. The time for action is
ripe. It's no use to theorize with the
farmer, so the only way to do is to
show him these bare facts and let him
see debt aad the money lender stare at
him from batween the liGes. ."-Chroni-