Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1903-09-22
PROSPECTS OF THE SOUTH
Everything Looks to Its Increasing
Prosperity.

Everything Looks to Its Increasing
Prosperity.
President Stuyvesant Fish, OF the
Illinois Central Railroad company
writes to the Manufacturers Record
as follows:
II fully agree with you as to the
south being at this moment the most
prosperous part Of the country. 1t has
been selling it's lumber at higher prices,
and in the south, certainly in the va
ZOO delta, the cutting down Of standing
timber adds to the value Of the land.
which condition does not prevail in the
heavily timbered districts Of the north,
where, on the cutting down Of the for
est, a sandy or rocky desert is gen.
orally left.
In the Mississippi valley we have
this year an absolutely assured good
crop Of corn, and our prospects with
respect to cotton are flattering. More
over the south, particularly the agri-
cultural south, has not lost a doHar
by the tremendous liquidation which
has taken place in Wall street, nor
does it owe a dollar in respect to un-
derwritings. At the present moment
the farming population Of the United
States are, in my opinion, the richest
of any class In the community, and
among them the farmers Of the south
20 IN,
future"
Prosperity of southern farmers is
traceable in part to the good prices
which cotton has brought during the
past two or three years, and, despite
the efforts Of foreign cotton buyers TO
create the impression that the south's
supremacy in cotton may some day be
contested by other countries, there is
not much danger on that point. AZ
ter a thorough investigation Of cotton
conditions abroad, Colonel Alfred B.
Shepperson, the cotton statistician of
New York, writing from Liverpool,
says.
while yarns and goods have no
where advanced to the parity Of cotton,
the spinners who bought large pro-
portion Of their cotton in the early
part of the season at an average cost
not over five-tenths, have had a re-
munerative season, and many spinners
on the Continent and in England are in
this class. The manufacturers who
sold their yarns or goods for future de-
livery on the basis Of lower price for
cotton than they had to pay when
they bought it to enable them to fill
their contracts-and there were many
in this situation-have had, Of course,
a very unsatisfactory season. The ef-
feet was exactly as If they had been
specializing in cotton futures, and had
got on the wrong side Of the market.
In a general average of the matter
the losses Of these unlucky ones have
about offset the profits of their more
conservative and fortunate neighbors,
so that, as a body, the European cot
ton manufacturers have probably made
no money during the season. Many
of them, however, are in a much bet
ter condition than at this time last
season. as the stocks of yarns and
goods in the mills and in European
markets are much smaller. 1t may be
added that nowhere in Europe are the
mills burdened with large stocks of
high priced cotton"
Col. Shepperson, referring to the
fact that imports of cotton from India
have increased about 100000 bales
during the season, says:
There is no doubt that more careful
cultivation and preparation would
greatly improve many Of the varieties
of India cotton, and a continuance of
high prices for American cotton would
be the greatest incentive to such i'm
provement. Taking a broad view of
the matter, I cannot regard as an ad-
vantage to our southern states the en-
hancement Of the price Of American
cotton-after the great bulk Of it had
passed out Of the hands Of the plant
ers and farmers-to such an extent as
to encourage an increase Of cotton pro-
duction where 1t is now grown, and
to the world which offers the slight
est hope of successful results.
THE European newspapers frequent
ly refer to the efforts for promoting
the cultivation Of cotton In the British,
French and German possessions in
Africa the West Indies, Australia, etc.,
but do not find that any substantial
progress has been made in any quar-
ter. Indeed. some Of the published re-
ports from Africa indicate an amazing