The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-12-10
ARE WE TO HAVE
 COTTON FAMINES?

nous sales of cotton at high prices to Europe, saved Wall Street from what. in the opinion of many, would have been a disastrous panic. the effects of whi h might have paralyzed business all over the Union.
 In response to an expression of appre- ciation of the good work he had done, he said that in order to act consistently with his convictions he would have to follow year by year the same plan of campaign that he was now engaged in, but that it would be broadened to meet the exiRen, cies of a situation demanding the most serious consideration of every thoughtful man who has at heart this country's well fare.
 When asked why he felt that the situa- tion was so serious, he replied: -Four years ago discovered that there was danger of shortages from damaged seed. Since then seed deterioration Is dis cernible alike in incomplete germination and imperfect reproduction. Moreover, there are large areas throughout the States east of the Mississippi river in which there has been more or less impov- erfx hment of the soil. Then there is the lrrepressible boil weevil in Texas. But whatsoever the causes, the fact remains that the crop Is becoming smaller, while consumption is annually growing greater There will be a shortage this season sum- cient to keep closed a considerable per- | centage of the mills of the world. If we should produce next season as much as we produced in 1SsS-s9 and a million bales more, still, under the operations of the hence would be but little, if any, lower than those now prevailing. It is very easy | to figure out how much cotton must be raised in coming years to meet the world s | requirements. No one can make t..is call culation, taking due account of the steady increase in demand, and making liberal allowance for diminished consumption on account of higher prices for cotton goods, without feeling more or less anxiety over the worldwide distress that wou fol- low any considerable falling off in cot ton production.
 "But," he added, although I have for months devoted all the time could spare from my business activities to the study of this question, am not quite prepared to give to the public my final conclusions, but hope in a few days to be in a posi- tion to state the case and suggest a rem edy. The South must go forward. and not backward, in the production Of it's great staple.'
 Associated with MT. Sully as a member of the firm of Daniel J. Sully & Co. is that tlme-tried friend of the South, $. F. | B. Morse, who, as a railroad man. made a record in development work that will long be remembered in Louisiana and Texas. MT. Morse as passenger traffic manager of the Southern Pacific Railroad for some years, until he resigned last summer to become a member of this firm,
 was the leading factor in bringing about the great rice development in Louisiana
 and Texas. For several years he had in- sisted that the cotton-growers were not
 receiving a fair price for their product
 and through the press and in very wide
 private correspondence he foreca sted the
 conditions which the world now sees-oi
 production inadequate to the worlds con-
 sumptive requirements.