The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-03-22
4 LittIc Common sense Needed.

Little Common sense Needed.
1t is to the interest OF about everybody
in the cotton-growing states that the cot
ton acreage shall be reduced this year.
| If the crop that is now being planted
should be as large as the one that is now
| being marketed ii is about certain thai
the price of middling cotton would fall to
cents a pound. Can the cotton states
stand Accent cotton? We don't think they
can. When cotton is > cents a pound
there is talk of hard times, not only by
the planters. but by business men in all
lines Of business. We cannot have good
times in the South when the price of cot
ton leaves no margin of profit for the
planters. What the planter has to spend
for necessaries and Injuries is the profit
on his crop. If ne has no profit he has
nothing to spend. He has to go into debr
for whatever he buys. Hence. business
men in the cotton belt cannot prosper.
The planters complain that times are
hard, that they find il difficult TO make
living and pay their taxes. They know
what the trouble is, but they won't admit
it. They prefer to say that their lack
of prosperity is due to the money power.
10 Wall street. to the banks. etc. This
sort Of talk they get out OF newspapers
which are interested in misleading them
for political purposes.
It is strange that they will try to de-
ceive themselves The facts are so plain
that they cannot be misunderstood. The
South is producing more cotton than the
world can consume at a fair price. AS
long as the market is kept overstocked
the price of cotton win be below the profit
line. That what the demagogues call the
money power doesn't keep down prices
is shown by the fact that the wheat farm
ers of the West are very prosperous. They
are getting more than dollar bushel
for wheat Why? Simply because there
has been. and stin is, an extraordinary
demand for it, owing to the shortness of
the last crop in some other wheat-produc-
ing countries.
In order that good price may be OBJ
tanned for cotton there must be a strong
demand for it. There can be no such de-
mand if the supply greatly exceeds the
demand. 1t is predicted that the crop that
is now being harvested will reach II ,0OO,-
900 bales. In the face of such a supply
does any planter think it possible for the
price of cotton to advance?
There are particularly strong reasons
why The cotton acreage this year should
be greatly reduced. War between the
frst-class powers Of Europe is threatened
on account of events transpiring in China.
The relations between the United States
and Spain. are now greatly strained and
may be ruptures What chance would
the cotton planter have to get good price
for mis- cotton il there should be war In
Europe and war in this country and the
cotton crop should be a very large one?
1t is strange that the cotton planters do
not look at the situation from common
sense standpoint Cotton is not the only
thing they can grow. There are other
things to which they can turn their at
tention with proft-much greater profit
than they can get from cotton. Let them
cut down their cotton acreage and up will
so the price of cotton. A small crop will
bring as much, if not more, money than
large one, and as it costs much less il
is far more profitable. Must the cotton
planters be reduced to absolute poverty
before they will do what experience
teaches they must do, namely cut down
the cotton output to what the world is
willing to take at fair price?