The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1903-09-02
The WORLDS Greatest and Best.

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and they needed the representations
made by the bear operators, exagger-,
sted the last crop Of cotton and failed
to provide themselves with the raw
material to keep their mills going.
That is all there is in that. -
G Can you say anything with refer
ence to the profits in manufacturing
cotton cloth from the raw cotton?"
Well, only in very general way.
A friend of mine who is largely in
5erested in the manufacture of cotton
in the South, gave me some statistics
at one time of the profits from a
pound of raw cotton converted into
the finished product, and ] am told
that in many instances that profit has
been anythere from 10 per cent. to 100
per cent. which of course, is very
gratifying to me, for / didn't want to
see the cotton mills Of the North, or,
the South, either, crippled in any
way. But they have not paid fair
prices for cotton in the last ten years,
and If the law of supply and demand
is to cut any figure new raw cotton
ought to be worth Is cents a pound.
g And If, as understand, the mills
state they cannot manufacSre cotton at
the present price and make any money
ont of It, the simple remedy for that
is tosbny the cotton at the ruling price
and put up the price of the nanufac-
tured goods, for think. we may safely
expect that We will In a very few
months. find famine of \ cotton
manufactured goods in this country. "
"What is the visible supply Of raw
cotton on the market, and about how
long would it last!''
MY information. and think it is
pretty accurate, is that the visible
supply of cotton today is about $50, :
coo bales, which would he about three
weeks supply for the cotton mills.
That is my information
aAnd how long before the. new crop
viii begin to come into the market?''
ssWell. they are picking cotton now
in the extreme South bat, as rule,
cotton ought to be rushed in October
or November, and then, of course,
the mills can buy what cotton they
want. And ] think 1 ought to be
correct that we are now having the
greatest cotton famine IN this country
since the civil war. I want to repeat
that cotton should be selling today for
Is cents pound, if Sae rule of supply
and demand is to cut any figure. -
"What is your information as to the
number Of bales of cotton in the last
crop?'
"Well, I understand the bears sent
circulars all over this country and
Europe representing that the crop
would be 1l,5@,000 bales, or there
abouts. whereas, if an correctly in
formed, it was only ABOUT 10, 250, 600
bales, and If the cotton factories
were better informed they would have
laid in a supply to keep their factories
in operation
ssIn other words, Messrs. Brown
and Hayne had better information as to
the actual crop than Use manufac-
turers of cotton9"
Unquestionably.'
ssAnd they took advantage of this?"
"They simply took advantage of it
and acted upon it, and they required
the bears to deliver the cotton that
they bought, aud that is all there is in
it,
Secretary Wilson taxes an alarmist
view of the foreign competition in
the growing of cotton, referring to
the possible increase of the cotton area
in Egypt after the completion Of the
Nile dam.
"The German, the English, the
French and the Russian Government
have for years been trying to hnd q
locality suitable for the production of
cotton, and so far they do not seem
to have made much progress Ten or
twelve yers ago-perhaps longer than
that-the Russian Government en-
pIoyed very intelligent young cotton
planter in my State, and sent him into
Central Asia, with view to develop
ing the cotton growing in that coun-
try, but my information is that it
was a failure, and l am inclined to
think that Mr.. JOHN G. Calhoun was
right when he said that cotton, to be
successfully grown in any country,
must have frost. -
"In view of the increasing world
; demand for cotton, Go you think that
we in this country have any cause to
fear foreign competition?''
"Not the slightest. On the con-
trary, I think we will go on increas-
ing the crop. The demand is increas-
ing every year. The enormous in
crease of cotton factories IN the South
is absorbing a great deal of the crop
made in that section, and it's going
to continue, for those cotton mills
wherever properly managed, have made
enormous profits. That is one Of the
reasons why it was so important for
the cotton planters of the South to
have what they call an open door in
China, and this is going TO be one Of