The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1903-12-08
Cotton Mills Curtailing.
Communicated

II has been announced that 4 con-
Vention will be held by the Southern
cotton mil;3 looking to the curtailment
Of output until the next crop of cotton
is available. 1t is understood that cur
tailment is made necessary by reason of
the fact that mills cannot sell manufac-
tured products on a parity of cost with
raw material. The appears
to be speciOuS. The law of supply and
demand should have application TO the
cotton mill industry as we'll as to any
other. Steel rails at one time were as
low as $500, and $1,000 was the cur
rent price for a number of years. For
the past several years this article has
been held at $500, and the production
Of steel in this COuntry has doubled
within five years A short crop of corn
two years ago advanced the price from
81 to 40 cents in Chicago and every
available buShel was consumed, no.
W1~thstanding that the wheat crop Of
this country was large and the prices
or hour ruled comparatively loW. The
relation Of corn and wheat is more in
innate as respects the shifting of de-
mand than that obtaining between any
other two staples Of In
duStrial skill has made more pronounc-
ed advancement in cotton manufactures
han in any other article of like charac-
ter, SO hat the demand for cotton
goods long since ceased to represent
the needs for low grade goods only.
Cotton fabrics are fast S~upplanting
woolens and silks. Cotton fabrics with
cotton at II cents would be the cheap
est article of wear known to civilized
man.
For years the farmers Of the south
have been hewers of wood and draw
ers of water, while the cotton mills OF
the south have made most wonderful
development. 1t is granted that fabu-
louS fortunes cannot be made out o.
cotton spinning with cotton at II cents,
and this only means that such fortunes
have been made heretofore at the cost
of the farmer and general
ly. A millionaire who a lost CLOS
of his fortune complained hat he was
a pauper Cotton mills which nave
been making 40 per cent dividends
when confronted with the necessity Tor
working on a legitimate basis of 10 per
cent. profit cry out that they must cur
N%NAA ~ N-~y NN@-
sell the manufactured product On 4
parity with present cost of raw mate
rial. The cotton industry; probably
| more than any other, requires skilled
labor, and the Value of a cotton mill
| plant is it's ability to operate and hold
intact its custom and labor no less
tina its physical properties. If the
! American mills cannot spin at ruling
prices for raw cotton the English AM
Continental mills will have a veritable
Windfall. Foreign trade is built up by
much labor and retained by the most
| assiduOus attention. If the American
mills wish to throw away all that they
have done in the line, no o the
European mills stand ready to accom-
modate them.
The farmer has just come to his own;
and since more than 10 per cent. of the
! population of the South is rural, this
, southland of ours is unQueStiOnably the
| gamer by high prices for cotton. The
cotton growers are, for the first time
in two generations, in position to pro-
tect their interest. They know tina
the present high prices for their pro-
duct are the legitimate result of the
| law of supply n demand. They
| cannot be bluffed.