The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-12-20
Editorial Correspondence

he entertains the same views of the mat
ter of the high price of cotton and the
future of the cotton mill business that
have been giving expression to in the
News and Observer. He knows as much
about the cotton mill business as any
man in North Carolina and his views
ought to be widely known.
| High cotton, a blessing to the farmers,
will now prove also a blessing to the cot
ton manufacturers. The cotton manufac-
turer above referred to said in substance:
| II think high cotton will do manufac-
turers good. First, it put money in the
hands. of the people who consume the
goods. 1t has given backbone to the men
who form the foundation of all prosperity,
the farmers. Labor is a serious item. 1t is
getting very scarce and 1 do not see how
/ 1T is possible for cotton farmers to in
crease the crop. The worlds demand for
cotton increases. Until we can turn the
tide from the farms to the towns. the
/ crop cannot be appreciably increased
Nearly everything a farmer buys costs
him from 25 to so per cent more than
when cotton was seven cents. The price
or labor has gone up fifty per cent. IN
less the farmer gets more for his cotton
| how can he live?
In the course of short time. when
prices OF cotton goods are adjusted to the
higher price of cotton, the manufacturer
should make a bigger percentage than on
cheap cotton. Everything is based upon
percentage. If a merchant buys a suit of
; clothes upon which he makes 20 per
ha oo1r
suit than on a five dollar suit. No manu-
facturer would be satisfied with a profit
OF two cents pound on cotton that cost
twelve cents when he has made that
profit on six cent cotton. He is Justly
entitled to more profit.
/ eff we can maintain ths present price Of
cotton there VIII be an influx Of good
labor to the Southern cotton fields. That
is what the South needs. Unit tie last
two years, farmers have made nothing
for ten years. Now, with better prices
for cotton, they are doing better and
if it continues there will be much better
farm labor. This will increase prosperity
for everybody
1T is only IN recent years that the banks
of the South were prepared to carry cot
ton for the farmers. Now no farmer will
sell his cotton except for good price
because he can borrow money at a rea-
sonabe rate. Intelligent farmers are as
capable OF determining what price gives
reasonable profit as manufacturers and
merchants are IN their business.
There is nothing in the talk that if
farmers press for high prices for cotton,
as stated by the Trade Journal and the
Commercial Bulletin, foreign countries will
raise cotton and become competitors Of
the South. If that were true, why didn't
the foreign countries raise enough cotton
to maintain a lower level of prices during
and after the Civil War when cotton
ranged for ten years from fifty to twenty
five cents a pound? Calico that sells now
for five cents sold for from 80 to 40 cents
yard Immediately after the war.
Already the prices for cotton goods
are going up. 1t takes time to get the
fabric on basis of the raw material
Manufacturers may have a hard time
pending adjustment but there is a prom
lse of profitable operations when thai
point is reached. Instead of wishing
cheaper it should be the desire the manu-
tacturers to uphold the price of cottGa
lnasmuch as it means general prosperity
to the South which constitutes twent
five to thirty per cent of the buyers of
the kind OF cotton goods the South manu-
features.
1.-THE high price of cotton has not only
helped the farmers and all the South
but the whole country as well. The ex-
cess over and above last year in the bal
ance OF trade in raw cotton alone was
$52,000,000 up to about the first of Deem
Der. This brought that much gold to
America and it was a relief to the strin-
gent money situation that was critical
then. Think what that excess will be
when all this crop is marketed. Money
has been tight even with that. How
much worse it would have been without
it! This year for cotton alone we will
receive $500, 900 from abroad. What
a help that is! That is an increase over
last year of in the neighborhood of $14O,-
600, O00
Il take the position that the American
people ought not to wish to cheaper the
price Of cotton. There is not a man in
America who is not interested in adj
| vancing the price of cotton. The to-
bacco manufacturers have had a tremen-
dous sale in the South this year because
Of the high price of cotton. The same
thing is true of all lines of trade. 1t helps
every business.
| Everybody knows that if you can once
get prices up, it is easier to hold them
up. What is the difference to a manufac-
turer if he pays Is cents pound for cot
ton if he gets a relatively higher price
for his goods? The manufacturers are
kicking now because they can't get the
price of goods UP as rapidly as the price
OF raw cotton has gone up. But this is
temporary.
Every jobber and manufacturer has
some goods ne made on cheap cotton
Naturally as long as he holds these goods
in order to meet competition, he vii!
continue to sell them at low prices. But
when every jobber or dealer is put upon
the same high level in prices, of course
they will base their profits accordinglr-.
That is inevitable. They will make more
money, too. If a jobber sells cotton
goods at twenty cents yard and makes
five per cent profit, he is better off than
if he sells the same fabric at ten cents
a yard at five per cent margin.
IF the general prosperity Of the coun-
try has put up the price Of iron, steel,
all farm utensils and everything else, why
shouldn't it put up the price of cotton