The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1899-11-15
MIR. HENRY NELL AGAIN.

A very pretty controversy is goin
on just now between Mr.. Henry Neill
the famous cotton expert of New Or
leans, and Mr.. John Hyde, the chic
statistician of the Government Depart
mcnt of Agriculture. Mr.. Ncill i
easily the best known AMI most imp0r
tant private cotton expert in the coun
try, and his views may be said to be
controlling upon the English buyers oI
this staple. He has been out for sew
cral months with prediction Of an,
other enormous cotton crop, based
chiefly upon the favorable weather
hich, he declares, the growing crop
has received. The data of this char
acter and the general crop conditions
reported by the government are not
nearly as favorable as that given by
Mr.. Neill, although the government
has made no definite estimate of the
crop, as Mr.. Neill has. A long letter
has been published, written by Mr..
Hyde TO a firm of cotton merchants
here, controvcrting in detail Mr.. NcilPs
statements, chiefly those referring to
the amount of rainfall in the cotton
belt. TO this Mr.. Neill has replied in
a second proclamation.
People in the cotton trade are natur-
ally greatly interested in tho dispute
If the crop turns out to be a short one
there will be big, rise i'll prices, while
if there is another bumper crop prices
will probably rcccdc. From the fact
that the price of cotton has risen de-
cidedly already we infer that the gen.
eral opinion of tho trade leans in Mr..
Ilyde's favor. Mr. Hyde receives sup
port also in the movement of the crop
from the plantations to the coast and
interior cities, 1T being much below
that of last year. On the other hand,
Mr.. Neill and his friends maintain that
an immense quntity of cotton has
been picked and that the Southern
planters are holding it back for more
money. Some day, they say, cotton
will come out with Il rush.
We feel that we may not improperly
alluoo at this time to certain cOnvic-
tions that we have heretofore freely
expressed concerning Mr.. Ncill and
his prophecies. 1t is exceedingly un-
fortunate for any one business that the
views Of any one man have come to
exercise a predominant influence over
its various fluctuations and vicissitudcs.
We do not think we cXaggeratc in
stating that such is the influence eX-
ercisel in the cotton trade by Mr..
Neill. In some way-whiCh is not al
together explained by the fact that on
several occasions Mr.. Ncill has been
very lucky in his crop gucsscs-enor-
,,.l,t -, 70 Nn,ll J,
uttcrances. When it is known that he
is about to issue circular, the trade
in cotton is quieted and rumors as to
the probable character CT the circular
becomes thick as snowilakcs. If he
predicts small crop there is an ex-
cited rush of prices upwards, and if he
p! cdicts big crop there is slump.
Millions of dollars hang upon his
words, and of course something besides
is felt when these words
prove to be mistakes.
Now, while we wish to state most
emphatically that we have never heard
a syllable spoken against Mr. Ncill's
integrity and that we believe him to
be an absolutely honest man, Yet it is
obvious that any such position as he
occupies must be very uncomfortable
for an honest man to be in. 1t GER
tainly imposes upon him strenuous OBJ
legations Of reticcncc and extreme care
fulness. Indeed, one would think that
Mr.. Neill would wish to stop issuing
crop estimates or would issue them as
rarely as possible and al such late dates
in the season that they would not work
mischief. IN. Y. Sun, Nov. 3.