The age-herald., 1898-08-24
PROFITS MADE
 DOWN SOUTH
From the New York Times.

| of tba husiness west, cheerfulnesS TOT the south shows in what develops not ohly HI 1 it's iron-making enterprises, but also Ill one | of inc chief industries of that section-the manufacture of cottonseed oal' WHICH eh- | terprise reaches international consequence. The securities of the American Cotton Oil oornnanv dealt in on the New York Stock | exchange reflected last week to some eK- | tent the great gains scored recently py tihs l industry At the beginning Of the "eeh | Cotton Oil common shares were quoted i around 29 They had been long tlrne | lower than that figure. At the close or the | weeks business on the stock exchange the l market value had risen to 8, and there | was activity in the stock suggestive Of ae- | gressive confidence upon the part of in- ) siders.
 I Wall street report has it that during the ] past twelve months the American Cotton | Oil company has made unprecedented prof | it's. and there are semi-official intimations | that a dividend-it may be per cent-is about to be declared upon the companys | common stock. | The cotton oil situation was discussed with a representative of the New York | Times by MT. Oscar s. Flash manager of ' the sales department of the American Cot | ton oil company. This company controls | the greater part of the total output of the | United States. MT. Flash is thoroughly ac- 1 quainted with the industry's developments | both in this country and abroad, and he Is | a firm believer in the great future before | the American cotton oil trade. MT. Flash said:
 'The condition for the last couple of ! years in cotton oil has been that while l prices have been low sales have been enor- mous-greater than in any of the previous | years when higher prices ruled The chan I nels of consumption have somewhat | changed, increasing in some quarters and diminishing in others. The same amount of oil has not been used in compound lard manufacture as in previous years when lard at much higher figure. The low prices forced by the lack of demand for compound lard have opened up channels in the soap line for cotton oil, and much more has been used for soap and mechanical purposes than in previous seasons.
 "New markets continually open up-some in the far east, small but growing. and the South American and West Indian markets are consuming more than in previous years; and the fact that the crop of ground nut and similar oils from India and the eastern countries has been short. owing to the plague has necessitated the using of cotton oil in place of them. The European market has been left short of soap oils, and the demand had consequently to be supplied by cotton oil.
 While crops are better this year in ground nut and archide oils, still cotton oil will never sink back to the position it held before the last two years of immense con- sumption. There will henceforth be a per manent increase of consumption in those lines.
 | More cotton oil has been produced this last season than for a number of years be- fore; but it has all gone into consumption. And current demands have been used up this crop, and all the surplus stock car ried over from the year before.
 | Tt has been shown that cotton oil can compete fayorably with any fat, edible or otherwise, which the world produces. Not only has the crop been practically con sumed, but the industry generally has made considerable money on it, even at extremely low prices.
 "The quality of the edible grades of cot ton oil has gradually improved, bringing it into consumption for the manufacture of article where only high-class archide and sesame oils had previously been used. To a large extent, and successfully, it now competes with them.
 l France is the largest single market. Last year they took about 29O,00O barrels. | Next in importance Is Holland. where it Is used particularly for the manufacture of butterine; they take about 10000 barrels. Austria and Germany follow.
 Reports for the coming crop in a num- Der of districts show poor quality of seed as likely. This means that there will be larger percentage of low-grade oils, fit only for mechanical purposes or the nnanufac- ture of soap, and corresponding decrease in choice edible oils. Of course a great proportion of the seed will make a choice edible oil, but the percentage will be smaller than during the past year or two. This means better price for choice grades and while we do not look for any immed- fate great boom in prices, we believe that the course of the market will be upward. We have had a dull market for some
 time past. but it has been clearly shown
 that the export markets will take large quantities at a small cut in price, showing pretty conclusively that they want further supplies but are holding off, attempting to
 force our market down, to replenish the stocks now held by them and bought at the
 time of the war scare, which purchases were more than their immediate wants,
 and supplies then purchased would have to be exhausted before they were actually in need of further quantities.
 ''This state of affairs is bound to come to an end shortly, and demand at fair
 prices will again be the order of the day. The people of the United States are using
 more and more cotton oil in their homes and in their daily food. and cotton oil is
 being pushed now in foreign countries in . districts where only locally manufactured , oils of other kinds have been used up to the | present time. Cotton oil is better in qua,i- ty and cheaper than the oils they have been in the habit of using. and this fact is e