The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-09-14
SILL COTloS OK NOT SILL COTTON.

AZ is also the great iall-hS o 80
size of the crop.
There was every reason up to
month ago to expect big crop ana
good price. The drought and bad sea
sons have cut off the crop very much
/ The farmers can understand that.
Who can understand the shrinkage IN
prce? The Jaw of supply and demand
would naturally give a better price Oh
I > shorter crop than on large crop
And vet cotton is lower than when 1t
was supposed the crop would be large.
For two months we have been told that
the last years crop was practically ex-
bausted. AS an illustration of this, the
Goldsboro Argus printed that, upon an
order sent to New York few weeks ago
for cotton for the Goldsboro Cotton Mills,
the identical bales shipped from Colds
boro last fall were shipped back. From
everv source is the statement that the
supply from last years crop is smaller
than ever before.
And this years crop will be short.
And vet the price is low.
Why is it?
We ask questions without answering
them.
II is notorious that what the South
thinks about cotton is almost always IN
correct. Few men who speculate IN
cotton escape failure.
One reason is that the European and
Northern buyers, who purchase the bulk
Of the cotton, are not yet satisfied that
the crop will be small. They have been
reading reports Of fine seasons and bright
prospects all the summer. They do not
believe the statements of the blasting
effect of the last three or four weeks.
That is one reason why the price is low.
There are others.
What ought farmers to do!
That is a hard question to answer.
Ordinarily it pays a farmer not to be
speculator, but to sell his crops as they
are ready for the market. 1t is equally
true that he ought not to rush his crop
to market. A ght in any market at any
time tends to press down prices.
Most farmers will be forced to sell
much of their crop, as soon as 1t Is
ready, to pay their bills which are ma
turing. They have contracted to pay
early and they must fulfill their con-
tracts. 1t may be that it would be wise
ia sell all their crop early, but while
knowing that no advice is infallible. our
Judgment is that the farmer who sells
his cotton gradually as his needs require
will ha wiser than the one who rushes it
all to market early, thus helping to
keep down the price.
The New Orleans Times-Democrat, an
authority on all matters relating to cot
ton, writing on this line, says:
I'VE had hoped to be able, in time,
to get pretty close estimates Of the pros
pective cotton crop, so many are the
agencies at work collecting news of the
harvest, but, on the contrary, we seem
to be drifting further away in conse-
quence of the wild competition between
the bulls and bears. For instance, it is
seldom that there has been such wide
difference between the estimates as to
the present crop. Some declare that it is
going to be the largest ever raised; others
that it will be below the average, ana
each faction insists upon the accuracy
of it's estimates. =,
ssThe Times Democrat is neither pun
nor bear, except in so far as 1T desires 10
see farmers get the highest prices obtain
able for their cotton, and does not think
it ought to advise its farmer friends as TO
what they should do. We believe the
farmers themselves know as much about
tbe crop and the prospective yield as
those who have figured it out IN their
counting houses, especially as many OF
these are influenced by their wishes.
"We would advise the farmers, there
Zorro to look around them and form
their own opinions as to the condition OF
tho crop. They have the best cnance OF
knowing whether it is a success or rail-
ure. whether it will be above or below
late averages. Relatively the same condi-
tions prevailed throughout the South, and
while some sections are little better
than others, some are little worse. Inc
farmer. therefore, who looks around ana
secs how his own cotton and that OF his
neighbors is doing, can form pretty
good estimate as to the size OF the crop.
And when he knows that, it will be an
easv matter for him to determine whether
the present price is fair one or not; and,
therefore. whether he ought to sell OF
hold his cotton for an advance.
"The acreage in cotton is known, the
amount needed for the worlds mills is
also known. The farmer needs only
to determine by the crops around him
what the Weld per acre is likely to be
to settle for himself what he ought tc
tdo-sell or hold.
"This is what the Western farmers did
with their wheat. The spectators had
fixed on 65 or 70 cents as the price which
they proposed to pay, but the farmers
after looking over the field, saw that the
yield was not more than sufficient to CO
yer the European dencit. They refused to