The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1900-11-21
DON'T CROWD MARKET
Sell Cotton the Year Round as the
Mills Need 1t.
THEN MILLS, NOT SPECTATORS WILL BUY
President Jordan Declares The Conventions OBJ
Jet is 10 Form Interstate Bureau to
Collect and Distribute Statistical
Information For Growers.
(By the Associated Press.)

Macon Ca, Nov. 2O.-The Macon Inter-
State Cotton Growers Association which
was formed in Macon last May, held its
first convention here today. President
Jordan stated that the prime object of the
convention was to form an Interstate
Bureau for the collection and distribution
of statistical information relating to the
cotton business of the South, and to Off
set the over-estimating of parties whom
he believed irresponsible.
Hon. Hoke Smith. of Atlanta was the
principal speaker of the day. His adj
dress partook largely of the historical
and statistical and was well received.
Mr. Smith said in part
while cotton today brings 10 cents
pound, it has only been three years since
the crop was selling at cents per pound
What are the elements which have caused
this variance in price? Recognizing the
laws of demand and supply, we must see
that the depreciation in the price of cot
ton has been due to a production of the
staple in excess of the demand for man
ufactured goods. A knowledge of the sup
ply of cotton and Of the demand for cot
ton goods for consumption will enable
the producer to tell at the time of the
year when cotton is picked the price
at which lint cotton should sell. An
other cause which has facilitated the de-
precautions of price at the time the cotton
left the hands of the planter has been
the unbusinesslike plan of selling it.
more than 20 per cent of the cotton
which is used in the great cotton mills
of the world is raised in our section. The
mills run during twelve months. They
H. In Tt1Ixy how
do in December. The plan of selling has
disregarded the time of consumption. In
stead of handling the crop so that it would
be sold from month to month during the
year as the mills required it for use, it
has been the practice of the planters in
the South to rush the cotton on to the
market during a period limited at most
to two months, forcing its purchase by
spectators, rather than holding the crop
until the consumer or mill-owner came
after it.
81 am thankful to say that east of the
Mississippi River during the present year
the planters have been informed as to the
extent of the crop and as to the worlds
demand for their cotton. Realizing that
it was worth at least 10 cents a pound
or more they have declined to sell it for
less. They have received 10 cents for
what they have sold. m
by the cooperate Iof merchants and
the bankers they have been enabled, so
soon as the buyers succeeded in depress
ing the price, to take their cotton off the
market, and as result they today see
the price of cotton going back to the fig
ures at which it sold during the month
of September. and / have no doubt the
balance of the cotton crop thus cared for
by your farmers will bring them over 10
cents a pound. This price, however, could
hardly have been realized had the farm
ers raised 900, 900 bales more of cotton.
There are three questions of vital i'm
portance which will affect the price of
next years cotton crop. They are: How
much will the mills of the world consume
in 1902? How much lint cotton will the
balance of the world produce for other
than domestic consumption in 1901? How
much will we produce in the South in
1901 2"
Continuing, Mr.. Smith said
Fifty years have showns an increased
demand for cotton goods, causing an in
creased demand for lint cotton of about
700 per cent. While the next decade may
not show proportionately increased de-
mand. / have no doubt that by the end Of
twenty-five years the manufacturers of
the world will consume over 3O,OOO,O0O
bales of cotton annually.
while the Southern planter should aim
at receiving for his lint cotton it's full
market value, care must be taken that
the South shall maintain her supremacy
as the cotton producing section of the
world. England, Russia and Germany
have devoted and are devoting great at
United States, through the Agricultural