The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1903-04-01
LAURENs. s. c.. April j, 1908.
Tho Cotton Season Here.

Oh NV icNh VI ~
meeting was held In Laurens to con-
slider the condition Of the local cotton
market. Speeches were made and time
was consumed aud there was some
cheering. A committee was appointed.
The appointment Of committees by the
way is usually a perfectly harmless
amusement,
The trouble was that the number of
cotton buyers WAS too small. 1t was
said that there would be only one buy
or. The reason OF this, so 1t appeared,
was that he offered more than anybody
else was willing 10 give for cotton.
This was a terrible state of affairs. No
serious effort'wa made 10 induce him
to lower his prices but the situation
was none the less disagreeable. 1t was
claimed at the time that the cotton
mills were in a combination to buy cot
ton cheap and the evidence of it was
that they were Offering more and try
ing to buy it higher than others. The
meeting was altogether successful, the
enthusiasm was abundant and the com
Sbb"oOO VI SOluullSuCCo WSfo dppUlutSu.
We do not remember who composed
the committees
1t was also claimed in the meeting
that q gigantic world combination had
been formed 10 keep the price of cotton
down low. Ii was urged that all farm
ers combine aud push the price up. We
are inclined to believe that this latter
suggestion was adopted. We did not
hear Of the farmers combine, nothing
was said about it in the papers, but it is
a fact that the price of cotton rose
steadily, with occasional drops, until it
reached ten cents a pound in these
parts. Then it dropped to about nine
and a half.
The prices Of cotton nuc.uated dur
ing the past season between 7.G5 and 10
cents, or near'y 25 per cent. on this
market. The worldwide combine to
keep the prices down was composed of
a set of fools. Having formed the COM
biuc, 1T was just as easy for them to
hold the price down to five cents as ten
or eight. They didn't know their
business these buyers OF cotton on
Wall street, in London, Liverpool, Lau-
rens and other PAGES; that Is, unless
they were beaten by a combine OF SELL
ers. Sometimes it does seem that when
the price Of a thing varies as much as
20 cents on the dollar in one season a
combine has not been made, The price
OF cotton was ten cents a pourd while
the Texas and Mississippi farmers
were still picking it out of their fields.
However, it may be said that the
trusts held down the price until a good
deal of the Laurcns crop was disposed
Of.
1t Is a Pleasant fact after all that
the Laurens market was maintained
all the m as about the best in this
state. Several buyers made purchases
but one buyer, the cotton trust buyer,
bought most. On the whole he paid
most. This cotton mill trust may have
bought too cheap but 1t paid more than
wall street paid. On the whole the cot
Ton buying trust dealt fairly we'll. Hav-
ing the whole situation in it's grip,
might IL not have bought the entire
crop for five cents a pound?
Nevertheless, cotton prices were too
low this year. Cotton should have
brought at least Is cents a pound. In
deed, we would favor u law that would
hold the price at 25cts. q pound.
when cotton goes to 25 cts. a pound,
we mean to raise the price of The AD-
VERTlsER to four dollars a year. We
give fair warning. When the price
rose from 7.65 to 10 cents this year, it
was mighty hard for us not to rats ,
the price Of THE ADVERTISER to q dol
lar and a quarter but we fear that there
IS a trust in existence bent on buying
the paper al a dollar and we are afraid
to buck the trust.