The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1903-08-18

From >53 TO 1861 the average Uuetu1ted
between 10 3-l0 to Is 1-1oe e,t-. 1Ae ot-
ton famine due To the civil war. caused
the average price during the next five
wear 10 Vary between 81 80 cents |o
$lol per pound. The pro~tr4uon - ia"
south following the war kept IN. average
between il aud 81 G1o cents Tor thc HcNt
eight years. 1t dropped To II s.J ccu!
III 1877 and from that tame 20 1890. a pc
roi Of fourteen years, iaulE uniform
level vas maintained I'm ou}y one yrtr.
1856, 81 TINS period dI the average ialt
! - low a. 3 $40 cents. For 1he rest OF
the time the fuctuatIon7 We're confined
between 10 and = cents,
Beginning with 1890 and eoutcmpoId.
neous with the success OF the free trade
movement IN this country decline an
cotton prices started IN carrying the
average TO go cents IN 1885 the lowest
on record Tor the past three years, 1900.
1901 and 1902, the averages have been
9 If 5 - and 81, respectively. The
present year, 1903, began with the price
at the average (S "a ccute) trf the pre-
. ccdmg twelve months. and since then the
tendency has been continuously and
+ strongly upwards until IN thg month just
4 closed the price reached II "a cents, the
4 highest IN thirteen years, having risen. to
/ this level from 5 20 cents last October.
4 The average pflcc Of cotton during any
considerable period l., like Al other prices,
regulated by the balance Of. supply amid
demand ana ae 10 the state Of tins balance
iii the future on uan1 guess - a~ good
a. hat Of another We have certain well
established facts to guide u ~ forming
4 Judgment a. TO what Is a tasr price Tor
4 cotton. We know that tine world has
been short of cotton for three on four
years that the determined efforts IT, find
new sources OF supply prom.se no great
measure oI success. The most promising
Of these enterprises j. IN Togo, German
Wet Africa, and no one who read the
story 81 the work there a. told ln the
April 1902 issue Of The Textile World by
the Tu-kcgee graduate who j. IN charge
OF it, can believe that Togo can ever
threaten the supremacy OF American cot
ton We know that the consumption ai
cotton wIlI Increase the development of
uncvilized races and the settlement OF uu-
developed territories
With these prospects, ATTENDING toward
higher prices, It j. difficult 10 escape
from the conclusion that - IS cents the
4 average price OF cotton Tor the twe.A.
!, years from 1879 ito 1890 inclusive h. more
IN harmony with present conditions and
. prospects than j. Z $40 cents. the tyer
age 10 rthe succeeding twelve years from
1881 10 1902 inclusive.
During the first period from 1879 70 1s99
the business ii the country had various
, ups and downs but on the whole enjoy
ea(a Iair share Of prosperity. During the
last period Of twelve years, from 1891 tot
1902, on the contrary. tine whole wora
. suffered extreme business depression, an,
+ nowhere was this more acute than il
! he United States. Thi. tends still furtheI
10 strengthen the belief that the recent
advance of cotton to II - Gems md
Gates the restoration Of cotton prices t.
the former high level perhaps To a still
. higher one.
The recent advance Is popularity attrb
! uted to the work of a pool engineering
corner. and rumor ha9 persisted in plac
. ing one Of the greatest individual for
tunes in the country behind this pool
This may OF may not be 50, but the othe
! conditions stated are undlsputed.
Assuming. then. that II instead OF
cents is 70 be the level for the next fcv
I decades what does that mean to TIN
, country? Coutinning the comparison o
: the country to an individual planter i
means that he VIII receive 40 for the a
pounds OF cotto nper capita he had f0
Continued on Second PageJ