The Marlboro democrat. [volume] (Bennettsville, S.C.) 1882-1908, 1903-10-30
Y lyEN \ q g o ITO
Seneflts Southern Cot ton Mill own own
4. err; Says sMr. Edmond as. H sse 6
,YN PLAIN.FACTs sAND a 3 j ! alFIaUREIs
He Shows that Cotton Is too Cheap
yyhe9s {itS &; 4 Falls Below the, & 3 .
~; Average Of Ten Oents - -
-PerSPoui,nLd.3

\
Ayerage OF Ten Gents b h g. - IS
Pegc Pound .s,ss| y 4. i,
Since the days OF Solomon it has
ever, been true that the. buyer. is "a.
abear, tftrs today \ as then, {. 1aught,; J;
naught, saith the buyer" has sheen;
the cry Of the man who seeks to force ir, !
down the price Of that which. he, de-
sires to purchase; but itsswould Seem
that 1t has been left.s for this day and
generation Ito produce agseller VINO
Joins in With, the buyer and seeks to
depress theiyalle 81 his sow,na goods,
The south is the great seller Of Icbttonn
to the world, and In these days 1t
Seems to take delight In letting the
buyer of its cotton not only fix the
'price, but even joins in with the
buyer in helping to create the i'm
preston thatsthe 'bull"on; cotton is,
a dangerous animal, while the bear
Is the only truly good animal in the
menagerie. Hlsttis S'S-
It is to be expected that the great
cotton manufacturers Of Europe and
New England should unite their forces
In beating down the price OF cotton;.
we are not surprised at their efforts t0j
create the mpressionthat the man who
seeks to advance theprice OF cotton is q
conscienceless gambler who deserves
to be executed by all lght-thinking
people; we are not surprised that they
hold him up as the enemy of man
kind in forcing the closing OF mills
aud the stopping of employment for
thousands OF hands. But 1T is little
surprising that the south so mplac-;
emily accepts these teachings, and
that southern people give heed to them
as though they were the honest con-
yictions Of sincere men. On the 9TH
er hand, the hear. the man who
lives on the sufferings entailed upon
the millions Of cotton producers by
forcing down the price of cotton, is
held up as a great henefactor. Even
let it be granted that both be gam
blers, yet the bull Is a power helping
to secure for the producers a fairer
price than he has had for many years,
and to that extent at least he is doing
great good to the south; while the
=fhear's work results in keeping the
cotton grower poor for the Uenefit OF
tine manufacturers of Europe and the
north.
At the recent meeting of the New
England Cotton Manufacturers ASsO-
citation, the president and a number
Of other speakers bitterly denMlnced
the efforts OF the. bull leaders which
brought about the higher prices of
cotton. and the president expressed
he'hope that the time would soon
come when other countries would
grow enough cotton to make the
world more independent of the south
as Its chief source Of supply. Here
was the president Of a great American
business body expressing the hope
that the south might lose It's monop-
oily on cotton by the development of
cotton growing elsewhere, and against
such unpatriotic sentiments prompted
only by his desire that In thts way the
price Of raw coLton might, be forced
down to lower level, l have not seen
a single word OF protest in northern
papers and very little in southern.
What cared he whether the cotton
producer, be he black Or white, get q
fair return on his cotton? His only
concern was that he and his fellow
manufacturers might buy cotton at a
low figure, since the margin of profit
to the mill is always.much larger on
low Price than On high price cotton.
Nobody can blame these people for
lighting for their own interests, but
the south has right to ask that they
make an honest fight, and that they
do not seek to convince the world that
the man VINO leads in breaking down
cotton prices is a saint, while the one
who works fur higher prices is the
greatest Of sinners.
COTTON NOT TOO HIGH. -j
AS said, the strangest thing about
the matter is that without studying
the subject many southern people
adopt these views and think that it is
a misfortune to the south for cotton
to command high prices. Only yes
terday prominent southern banker
said to me; 81 hope these high prices
Iof cotton will not last longer than
this year, for if They ,do:the southern
mills will not; make SO much jAHaey. :
1t Is doubtless true that with high
prices the mills wouldn't make such
arge profits and no one more highly
appreciates than do the magnificent
work Of the mill interests Of the south
in the development OF this section.in
the creation OF employ ment for hith-
crto idle people and in every good
work that tends to the upbuilding or
the whole south. But suppose high
price cotton should cause net de-
| cline Of 6 per cent in fine earnings of