The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1900-01-15
The "Uncounted" Stock.

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by some Pigment of the Imagination
possible only to commercial men and
financiers, a dead line of production
has been drawn, beyond which it is
fatal for the farmer to go,
and below which 1t would not do to
acknowledge the fact. This fictitious
amount of cotton becomes the normal
crop, upon which the best price allow
able to the farmer is based, and every
bale made to appear in excess is used
as a hammer with which to beat down
the price.
Two results have grown out OF this
system, both conducting to the end OF
keeping high the stock figures and low
| the price in consequence. The one re-
suit is the making up of records by So
called experts, who presume to have
ability to count the increase to the
market each day. Although the grow
ing of cotton covers an empire. from the
| Virginias and the Carolinas across
| to Texas and Oklahoma, engaged in by
| hundreds of thousands or One-horse
| farmers, and marketed in as many diff
/ ferent points. still these experts pro-
| TESS to be equal to the task of keeping
/ tab on every bale. Upon their inn
probable count from year to year, the
crop is made to appear hundreds OF
| thousands of bales more than il really
| is. For fear that these figures might
| fail OF their purpose, the second result
has been called into play-that of car
rying over n surplus each year to act
as a nest-egg for the count of the year
/ following. Based upon this machinery.
all in the hands of the spinners and
the spectators. no note has been
| taken Of the increased ability of the
world TO consume cotton, nor of the
wastage and wearing out of goods
made from previous crops.
While all this was going on, all that
/ the farmer cou.. do was to grumble.
! He resolved to curtail the crop, to mp
peal TO legislation, and to other resorts
/ which had no more relation TO the
! problem than 10 the man in the moon.
/ Ii hardly occurred TO him that the
game Of big crop was but a bluff set up
/ by manlpulators, for the purpose of
transferring the money which should
seek the farmers pocket into their
own. 1t eventually happened. hOwey-
er, that the old adage of whom the
gods would destroy they first make
mad" was true. Emboldened by the
success of past years, the leading statis-
teal expert flew so wide of the mark
that he was called down. The destruc-
ton Of Neill was gratifying, so far as
it went, but il was Neillism which the
farmer was after. rather than the ac-
commodating individual who for a
season served the purpose Of those who
employed him.
The recent furry, i'm which another
firm took up the game where the first
left OF. illustrates that the combina-
tion which would make the element of
chance the leading one in the market
still exists When the New Orleans
man tried TO wreck the market on an
assumed twelve million crop and fail
ed the New York man comes I'm and
tries to fill up the crevices with cotton
from "uncounted" towns. In a season
when the profit made by the spinner is
wider apart from that made by the
producer than exists in the sale of any
other commodity, the game is still 70
haggle about the size Of the crop. For
tunately. the farmers were not STAN
! peded. and they propose to enjoy what
ever profit there is in waiting. At all
events, they do not want to embarrass
the spectators by asking them to
share in either profits or losses.
The great lesson taught our people
in the present controversy is that the
counting business is as fictitious as it
is bold and unscrupuloUs. The cotton
stock held over each year is unmer-
charitable stuff. which has been re-
jected by the mills, and is simply do
ing dummy duty by bearing down the
market Its retention In the column
of figures is the boldest fraud ever
kept uD with market appreciation. Then
there is no such thing as a count of
the cotton crop in the field, where IL
might be accurate, nor at the gin,
where il could be accurate. The count
IS made from points Of sale and ship
ment. Hundreds of thousands Of bales
are counted twice and even thrice-at
the small town market, at the interior
collecting point and again at the port,
So sharp are these people at the bus
mess Of counting that it would not be
a matter of wonder if some of this
cotton was not counted a fourth time
In Liverpool, EIavre and Bremen.
When an attempt is made to lug in
bogus cotton from "uncounted" towns,
il is but an after thought in the wide
spread conspiracy which seeks to
wrest the crop from the farmer for the
benefit Of the Spectator.
When should a farmer sell his cot
ton? Certainly never in the other
mans market; never in n stampede;
never in response TO Sign given by
the one set of spectators or the other
The power does not exist which can
correctly advise the farmer as to when
10 sell. Newspapers can keep him
advised of conditions, but he must de-
eide for himself when it is best for his
own interest to sell. Conditions which
may impell sales in one place may
not obtain in another. The only safe
plan is for each farmer to make him.
self independent of outside influences
With meat and corn on hand Tor the
year. he can afford to pick ms own
time for selling his own products.
Never before was the hand OF specu-
lation more daringly brought into play
and never before was it so important
for the farmer to be on the alert as
now.
Suggestive ut Least.
Tho sore straits to which the British