The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1899-03-25
WE corrON olrrLooK

| EHE COTTON OUTLOOK.
More than half of the cotton
season of ls9s.99 has passed, anc
: the cotton market maintains {
: strength which it developed severa
weeks ago. Contributing to thi;
statistical strength is the fact that
while the movement into sight
is more than 240,0O0 bales less,
the distribution of the crop, in
spite of q deficiency in buying OF
more than 10000 bales among
Northern spinners, is more than
932, 900 bales larger than for the
same period in the season of 1897
9S, Great Britain having increas-
ed its demand more than 300, 900
bales. 1t appears, too, that this
strength is likely to continue, even
if 1t be not enhanced. OF the
crop af last season l, 1858, 116 bales
we're brought into sight after
March 10. If that number should
be brought into sight during the
rest of the season the total crop
would he l0,048, 964 bales, or
near 250,o0 bales smaller than
that of the preceding season. The
a,S4l,S7s bales brought INTO sight
before March 10, 1898, represent
ed S7.S7 per cent. ofthe total crop.
Reckoning on thas basis this hsslS
this years total crop would be
10, 1926, 193 bales, which is within
. few hundred of the probable
total crop, should the falling off
from last seasons crop continue
at the same rate as at present. ard
greater than the aetue! crop if all
indications 20 oot fail.
Superficial observers, or per-
sons interested in manipulating
statistics for the purpose of prov
ing preconceived theory, may
take the ground that the EXHIBIT
now Doirg made by cotton Is of
advantage to ciac planters. For
example, stat leDt n ON an of
fetal government source is ;ha:
"while the wheat t-growers are not
obtaining as satisfactory prices for
their products as they did at this
time last year, the cotton-gr overs
are more fortunate" Under ex-
isting conditions, however, an adj
vance in the price of cotton six
months after the crop has begun
to move to market is practically
of no value to the planter. Until
the cotton-bonding warehouse sys-
tenn has been more generally in
the South, and while the great
mass of cotton-growers will CON
tinuo to depend upon outside
sources for their home supplies,
there will be few planters able to
maintain control of their cotton
beyond the two or three months
after the opening of the season.
The great point to be noted by
the individual planter, the point
emphasized by the present situa-
ton more thoroughly than could
be expected of one hundred con-
ventions with resolutions fired in
to the air, is not to permit the
present improved price to lead
him to enlarge his planting oper-
ations for the coming season. The
basis of the price paid for the bulk
of the crop is not the p1ce obtain
ed at the fag end of the market,
but the mum ber of bales in sight
when the market opens, The
regulation of that number is abso-
lutely in the hands of the planter.
Where his operations are not
handicapped by virtual mortgage
upon his crop his guide as to the
number of acres he will plant in
cotton should be the number of
acres he can cultivate successfully
after raising at home food for his
family and stock, with surplus OF
sufficient surplus of foodstutfs to
meet family expenses, disregard
ing the plans of his next-door
neighborhood or the speculative
Observation-Disclosures Record.