The Marlboro democrat. [volume] (Bennettsville, S.C.) 1882-1908, 1903-09-11
THEsCOT OTTON SITUATION. IN !.
Anew York Broker Snysthe Farmer,

:f l4ss sa { I ~ S:a Sc III i
A:SsS YoTI SIS i BroKor s M says i tho Il Farmer m
9 Gan OontroIIt.
E.s ss$J 8 n: yyeer,as q New FORK cotton
broker, re6ently y PRESENTED iiisYiews on
the remarks: Of, Secretary Wilson and
Gen.F utlerilt He says: -.
l;ss Ye will all have to recognize that
statements can be made under, misap-
prehenSi0n and that men ;;as well
equipped. both intellectually and In
the matter Of, f,inf0rmation as DIessrs.
I3ntler 3! and Wilson: can soccasionally y
be mistaken. Mr.. Wilson seems to
have. been unfortunate in the use OF
terms BY inf ,rerce,.he characterizes
as gamble Sstheimen'whoiar credited
witiis having put the price of! cotton
up 5Ti they are gamblers, then, every
shopkeeper /, and every merchant on
earth who buys any thing with a view
TO selling it for, an, advance on. the
purchase price Is d gambler. Cotton
Is bringing Qaly what manufacturers
Will lSspalyfforsIt. Mr.. Wilson's Sssgilm.
blors' Gar. name any price they PLEASE,
but! they can compel no one to buy
lslyllnesstliis rs so,5 it is generally
|ithoGglit, and perhaps must he ad.
mitted, thattcxlsting conditions have
brought about such manipulative
tactics as have caused prices OF cotton
Or2Sfnturc months to reach a higher
evel3 3tiiah they would have touched In
thesyabsence OF such manipulation.
But'pyen In this, the suggestion holds
good that no one can be male to bly
at q Hlligher! price than he thinks ne
caniafford to pay. n &
Fhe high level reached! has acted
as as;Shccs on, the consumption OF the
supply Of cotton in existence, and this
has resulted, as Mr. Wilson says, in
l;thesY closing OF many mills and the
shortening of time by many others,
etcsI but as has been pointed out. if
every EknOwns bale, of cotton had been
In the hands Of the manufacturers
and all OF 1T had been consumed, this
condition would have necessarily pre-
vailed some time during the season
Just Closing, Tt is, therefore, clear
that. the ,so-called corner in cotton
cani.Ot be held responsible for the In
convenience and hardship imposed on
cmploycs by the closing OF the fac
tories.
The amount of available cotton
that has been or can be marketed
FROM the past crop and old supplies
at prices above 81 cents is compare
lively small, and taking into consid-
GRAFTON the price at which the greater
rtanf ftn nlA 1,oc, = 4, d.
actual average paid for it by manurac-
turefs would mot exceed n price at
which it could be consumed at some
prollt.s OF course, the spot prices. OF
today could never have been paiu for
tallithe:0ld crop without ruin to the
facttries unless there had been cor
resp ,nling increasc in prices Of tile
ilfactured b products. Hence, it
2 y., - q 81, ssI,
pr0a Ac5s 4. ~ advanced
dqTag the. coming year, the QUOTA
;tiSns of today cannot profitably be
paid for the coming crop.
AIr. Butler takes occasion to call
attention to the quotations of GER
tain date, ranging around 10cents for
December, January, ETC., and says
that on that day every planter in the
South could have sold the cotton he
expects to produce at those prices for
future delivery, and that If the plant
er has failed to RIO so it is his own
fault. Now, the sale of every bale of
cotton made on the exchanges presup-
poses actual delivery and whenever
more cotton is offered than is desired
at the time, sale cannot be effected
without some sacrifice in price For
Illustration, let us say the next crop
will be / 100000 bales. Then let us
suppose that all the planters had Of
fered their product (amounting to this
11,0)0, 900 bales) for sale on that day,
and had kept Offering it until all Of it
was sold. The consequence would
have been nothing less than disas-
trous panic and the crash in quotations
that would have resulted can hardly
be guessed. In this particular, Mr..
Butler seems to have been as unfortu-
nate In his superstition as Mr.. Wilson
was in the use of terms.
The situation now is one in which
the planters could, If they would, put
themselves in absolute control. There
is no cotton in the country, and little
is available from any source supplies
must be procured from the coming
crop, and if this crop could be moved
to market only as fast as consumers
would pay l0c or more for it, that
price might be realized for practically
every bale Of cotton produced during
the coming year.
The operation Of such an ccono-
mic plan as this can hardly be hoped
for, and there will surely be periods in
which the rush Of cotton to market
will be in excess Of actual demands.
The result must necessarily be some
decline in prices; how much, remains
to be Scen.n