The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-08-08
THE coRNER AND 1,HE PLANTER.

AA1 QONos- VII 4Ahl odelJ NAAC NANpA So
! Senate tabled the bill of Senator Gold
en- which provided that cotton futures
should not be sold in the state. We
have not heard the arguments that
were made against the bill, but we
assume that it is the belief Of the
senators that the cotton future mar
ket helps the spot cotton market.
But is it not fact that the corners
are made at a season OF the year
when the planters have disposed of
their cotton? The two corners of this
year, the first by Sully of Providence.
r. l., and the other by Brown of New
Orleans, were made after the cotton
had about all passed out of the pos
session of the producers of it.
We are certain of one thing. and
that is if the sale of cotton futures
We're prohibited in Georgia the state
would grow richer faster than she will
without any restriction upon such
sales. 1t is true that now and then
a planter makes a little money in
dealing in cotton futures, but many
more lose than make money There
is no doubt that a vast amount or
money goes out of Georgia, and every
other cotton state, to pay losses in cot
ton futures. If the money lost by the
South IN this way since the Civil War
had been retained by the Southern
people, and invested at home, there
is no telling how much richer she
would be to-day than she is.
But there is another point from
which the cotton corner should be
viewed. That point is the danger Of
forcing the price of cotton to a point
where the mills cannot purchase it
with the possibility of making a profit
upon it, as is the case at present; and
also the danger of the success of efforts
that are being made to open new
fields of supply. If the mills are forced
to close because there is no profit in
manufacturing cotton goods not only
is a large number of consumers of such
goods thrown out of employment, but
the consumption of cotton fabrics the
world over is reduced. Naturally the
supply will soon be greater than the
demand and then what becomes Of
the price? No number of corners can
keep 1t up.
And when the price is abnormally
high viii not the people Of other coun-
tries who can grow cotton be tempt
ed to undertake the cultivation of it?
They certainly will, and they may
find, after a little experience, that they
can grow it at much less cost than
ly we may have powerful competitors
in the production of cotton in the near
future, if the price of cotton contin-
ues as high as it is at present.
The man who is interested in the
corner in cotton likes it to be under
stood that he is the friend of the cot
ton farmer, that, in fact, the cotton
farmer is his partner to the extent
of sharing in his profits. But he Is
not interested in the farmer. He is
a purely selfish individual. 1t looks,
however, as if the cotton farmer would
get an unusually good price for his
cotton this year, but take one year
with another would he get as much for
his cotton as if no corners were made?
1t is doubtful if he would. Take,
for instance, the condition of the
cotton operatives in New England at
present. They are large consumers of
cotton goods. BY the corners in cotton
this season the wages of a large ma
jority of them have been stopped. In
one publication the amount of wages
that these operatives are now losing
because the mills are closed is esti-
mated at nearly 100000 a week. And
it is said that mills in England,
France, Germany and Russia are clos
ing. There also the loss in wages is
great, and that means reduction in
the consumption in cotton. Should the
crop of the season which begins the
first of next month prove to be above
the average the chances that there will
be a considerable drop in the price of
cotton, Notwithstanding the report
that Sully and Brown proposes to reg
ulate the current prices of both future
and spot cotton.