Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1903-02-21
#1iseellaneuns Reading.
PASSING OF NELL.

PASSING OF NE1LL.
He Cost the Farmers Millions But
Now He II q Back Number.
Within the last week there has been
a remarkable advance in the price Of
cotton. The English spinners have
been buying, the American spinDers
have been buying and the continental
spinners have been buying. Values are
at about the highest level Of the year
August 31-and the south Is enjoying
an era of unexampled prosperity. But
this great advance in the value Of one
Of the earth's greatest products brings
no JOY to little old man in New Or
leans, who has welded power in the
cotton world so absolute as to be be-
yond the comprehension Of any one ex-
cept person familiar with cotton.
The little old man Is Henry M. Neill.
He has cost the planters untold mil
lions, and they used to look upon him
as they would upon a plague or pest.
But Neilrs day is done. His power is
broken. He, too, Is broken In health,
in spirit and in purse. Where once his
word was all-powerful he now Is little
more than memory. His influence In
the making or unmaking Of millions
Is gone, and he is nothing but faded
voice and a blighted life. The i'm
mense sums he once commanded are
gone, and none of his wealth is left
to him.
For nearly twenty years Henry M.
Neill was the most unique figure in the
world. In the days when communica-
ton was slow and the system of col
lecting information regarding the cot
ton crop was loose he laid the basis for
thorough, scientific method Of collect
ing returns. No plant in the veseta-
BILE kingdom is so variable as is cot
ton. It Is said Neill was the first man
to appreciate in its fullness the proper
tionate effect Of rain upon the plant.
Whatever merit there was in the basis
from which he made his calculations,
his deduction were wonderfully accu-
rate for many years, and his fame as
judge or estimator Of the size of the
crop became so great that there was
practically no one considered worthy to
challenge his reports.
He had been cotton trader; but the
demand for information from him re-
garding cotton became so urgent that
he abandoned his regular business and
devoted all his energies to his Tip
ping" bureau. He had one office IN
New Orleans and another in London.
He had more than 1000 subscribers to
his service, and they paid fiat rate
Of $40 a year for his letters. Usually
he sent out four letters a year. Near
ly all his subscribers were In England,
and they received his Information 81
multaneously. Whenever he issued a
bulletin the effect upon the market was
startling. One blast from his horn has
been known to knock the price Of cot
ton down fifty points, which meant an
apparent reduction Of nearly $20,000,000
in the value Of the crop. The spinners
had the most absolute faith In his pre-
dictions, and his influence so dominated
the market that, regardless Of what
conditions might seem to indicate. the
price Of the south:s great staple was
practically dominated by this one mans
opinion.
It was when his power was supreme
that he went astray. He departed from
his old groove Of figuring, and, cater
ing to the desires Of his customers, who
always wanted to buy cotton cheaply,
he persistently over-estimated the crop.
For a few years his prestige was so
great that it kept the price Of cotton
down when it should have been up. In
this time the loss to the planters Of the
south was incalculable. They had no
redress. Neill was master. The Eng
lish spinners were the buyers Of the
American crop, and the price was es-
tablished on NeilPs estimate. But
Neill, although a man Of marked abil-
ity did not keep abreast OF. the times.
He clung to his system. Others I'M
proved on his method Of collecting In
formation and getting at logical results.
Not only that, but the wall from the
suffering south for relief from the In
justices Neill had visited upon the
planters became 80 strong that the gov
ernment, through the agricultural bu-
reau, took action and established Its
own system of official reports upon the
condition Of the cotton crop. In addi-
ton to that, the government went to
the extreme of issuing official estimates
on the cotton yield. This action on the
part Of the government was the most
remarkable acknowledgment of the
power of Neill.
Neill scoffed at all this, and to show
his contempt he gave out crop esti-
mates that were extravagantly wrong.
In the crop of 1S99-1900, despite
drought that curtailed the yield, ne
persisted in predicting the largest crop
on record. The government predicted
To- 600 900 bales; Neill's forecast was H.
O0O 600. England believed Neill; Amer
lean spinners bought cotton early In the
season: the English spinners used up
their reserves and tried to force the
producers to sell at such figures as the
foreign spinners dictated. The struggle
was the most momentous in the history
Of the cotton trade. Planters held
meetings throughout the south, and
every effort was made to hold cotton
back until the spinners were compelled
to yield. 1t was a regular internation-
al contest. At the beginning OF the
season cotton had been selling for less
than cents pound. 1t was not until
the next crop was in the ground that
Ene,and realized Neill ives wrong.