Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-08-07
COTTON STATUS.
Present Mill Tie.Up Worst in
Forty Years.
One Quarter Of Country's SpindIes
Are Now Idle.
Cheaper Cotton or Better Demand for
Goods Needed.

Fall River, Aug. 5.-The present gen.
Grafton of cotton manufacturers has
never faced a situation like the present
{ ones For five weeks there has been an
average curtailment of 100000 spindles,
I not counting in a shut down for two
I days week of the local yarn mills, the
stopping of many looms in fine and
fancy goods mills, and the consequent
stopping of machines in departments
preceding the weaving processes.
During the Civil War years cotton
We exceedingly high and hard to get.
and market prices fluctuated wildly.
1t is r-'oted that the Granite Mills of
this CITY fought cargo of cotton at
New. ORIGINS in those days at $1.26 a
pound, and before it was delivered the
price had dropped to forty cents. But
that same year, through the extraordi-
nary demand and fabulous prices for
CLOTH the corporation cleared seventy
five per cent of it's capital.
Now the mills are closing because
they cannot get cotton at figures that
will warrant them in making cloth at
current cloth prices, and they see no
prospect of an increase in demand
great enough to lift prices to a pro-
fitable point. The dullness in the
demand is regarded by some man.
ufacturers as the most serious feature
of the situation, because if cloth could
be sold at cost several mills that are
closing would continue to run and
await the advent of new cotton in
September and October.
The curtailment Is affecting fully a
quarter of the spindles of New England
and the South, according to returns
made to brokers here, and unless there
is a sharp revival of interest among
buyers in the next three weeks it will
become more general, because it seems
to be conceded that the incoming crop
will be from two to three weeks late
end comparatively high. The selling
price of printing cloths is about 2@
cents per pound below cost on the
current bases of cotton, labor and
supplies.
While buyers generally are not well
supplied with goods for the next
month, they are following a waiting
policy. hoping that the manufacturers
of the country will change their
present attitude toward the prices
offered. This policy is so well settled
among the large buyers that some
manufacturers are convinced that
there is an agreement among them to
buy nothing until the cotton syndicate
faces the new crop.
An explanation of the buyers
attitude which seems reasonable is that
the retail buyers of the country will
not pay for goods on the basis of
hI1t tho
new crop is also high-priced it may
then be possible to lift prices all along
the line. Meanwhile, the waiting game
being played is reducing the supply Of
goods in all hands, and in some lines
there is already a recognized scarcity.
One of the largest bleachers in
America says that he has not been so
pressed for goods in many years and
now has business enough in sight to
keep his works going for the balance of
the year.
The calico printers have been pursu-
ing a conservative policy since last
spring, and one of them says he has
mot printed so few fancy goods in years,
as in the past few months Further,
there has not been a period in four
Years when the fine and fancy goods
mills in this section were so poorly
supplied with orders. They could
secure more business if they could
afford to do it at present prices.
The stagnation is not confined to
few lines, but in nearly all lines of
cotton manufacture, trading is slow.
and the mill men are proceeding OH
the most conservative lines. Fully
fifty per cent of the fine goods looms in
operation are said to be at work on
staple fabrics, the plain lawns, sheet
ings, and more common convertibles,
that can be stored with safety.
Manufacturers are more anxious
about early September trade than con-
corning the outcome of cotton specula-
ton. The great question is will the
demand for goods come strong enough
to warrant higher prices for cloth.
If the depression in Wall Street
stocks is to be reflected in n slacken-
ing in industries, a new basis of
manufacturing cost will have to be
reached, and that means an uncertain
winter. The general trend of opinion
here seems to be that, in view of the
worldwide curtailment, there must
come a healthy demand for all kinds OF
cotton products as soon as the price
for the raw material becomes more
staple. The oldest and most ex-
perienced manufacturers are trimming
their sails for the fall business in
hopeful frame of mind.
Locally, the curtailment has begun
to affect trade a little. There has been
an average of about 1000 operatives
more or. less idle every week. They
have not endured any great hardship.
because they have been employed
regularly for a long period at the
highest wages in a quarter of
century, and the mills as rule have
not stopped for long periods. The ex-
ceptions have been in the cases of mills
making extensive repairs on their
motive plants, but the general rule has
been to stop a week or two and run a
week or two, thus giving the workers
an opportunity to get wages to carry
them along. @% t.ss
Petitions in bankruptcy: John Fair
banks, Mt Vernon: Frank F.. Fish, Gar
diner; William G. Day. Biddeford; Jos.
II. Faulkner. Millinocket, blacksmith. liza
1>sl Dr., 7