The Marlboro democrat. [volume] (Bennettsville, S.C.) 1882-1908, 1904-12-16
BENEFITS WILLIE, S. q. FR1DA Y IpEoEMBER le, 1904.
HOLD JOUR HOLT .


F"HOLD YOUR HOLT
Farmers Of the South Advised tc
Fold Their. Cotton
UNTIL The PRICE ADVANCES.
This is ttss Advice Given Them by
CottcHIkipe Brown of New
osIeans and General
Butler.
w. 2. Drown, OF New Orleans Che
great cotton king, has issued an ad-
dress oyehhis signature as follows:
To the Planters, Merchants and
Bakers 4t the South: Cotton has
declined TO point below the cost of
productioh. Are you going to sell at
presentpTlces, or hold until you can
get the market value for the balance
of your hs4dirgs3 The decline is un-
warranted. To be conservative, I
will ay,taat the balance OF this crop
should bring at least 10 cents at the
ports, ard, according to my Judgment
the only say to obtain an advance is
for the planter to keep his cotton on
his plantation until the actual demand
is sufficient to enable buyers to pay
the prolsr value for the stuff. The
merchants who are carrying cotton
should rpt force what they have on
the market, but stand firm and de-
mand higher prices, or not sell.
The pbanks all over the south
should stands by the merchants and
planters and not force them to sell
their cotton at present prices, which
they a know is below the cost OF
production. These prices mean ruin
TO the s1atth. 7. Affects every branch
OF tradeSand the oIly>~thirg to do is
for every man that is interested in
any manner, shape or form to stand
together.
'For5the sake OF argument, admit
the crop is l2,0OO,0CO bales (though
do not believe 1T is), the consumption
at thess prices will be at least II >
500, ,003 bales, and the other 100000
bales will be a small quantity to go
into mil reserves. The spinpers Of
American cotton throughout the
world ehould, at least, add this year
to their depleted stocks 500, 900 to L.
600, 900 bales. The visible supply at
the emu OF the season, In order to pre-.
vent 'SlueeZes' and corners should
be at ienst 1880, 600 bales. Any we'll
posted cotton man knows that this is
practically correct, hence I see no
reason1ror the holders Of cotton to
get scaEed and sell at anything like
present prices.
.Sit ce the bureau report was Is
sued on Saturday we have seen q great
many ;telegrams from some of the very
bests slon merchants scattered over
the 81, 81 sssiii sssii 4the effect that they be-
lisyedl the estimate was too large. l
mention this to show you that 1 am
not the only one who thinks the estl-
mate too large. However, it has the
effect Of putting middling cotton
down to I 1-2 cents in the New Or
leans market.
The South went broke raising cot
ton at ,5 cents, and 6 cents per
pound In l897-9S, and during that
period everything was cheap, as we'll
as cotton, and the cost Of raising cot.
ton was small, as compared to the
present crop, which is the most ex-
pensive one ever grown. 1t would
pay the farmers to sit still and not
market another bale Of this crop un-
TIL he can get above 10 cents and re-
duce his acreage another season at
least Is per cent and instead of rails.
ing another bumper crop, raise only
enough to supply the world. The
last crop was only IO.OOO,O 900 bales,
and it brought more money than any
crop ever raised-much more than
this crop will bring, unless the bal.
ance left brings much higher prices
than those ruling today. With cot.
ton at I cents at the ports, cotton
plantations are worth today Just about
half what they were at this time last
year. Now, every man that is Inter.
ested in the south, regardless OF the
character OF his business, should be
interested in keeping up the price OF
cotton. Cotton Is one Of the few
things that the world must have, and
the south has a monopoly on the ter
rltory where 1t can be grown, yet
they won't take advantage of the sit
uation.
There are 80 many things that
can be raised In the south profitably,
why not turn your attention to other
things and raise less cotton? We have
been told that we needed twelve
million bale crop this year, and, now
that you have raised one close to that
figure, they say you must sell 1t at a
give away price.
Stand together, both merchants
farmers and bankers, and you will
come out all right, but II you throw
your holdings on the market you may
rest assured that the spinner will buy
1t just as low as ne possibly can, and
| don't blame him for doing 80. 1t
isn't the spinners OF the world at this
time Wno are forcing the market
down, 1t Is the bear speculators
Spinners In every country of the
world, with few exceptions, are
do ng the best business in the history
of the trade. They can afford to pay
from to 10 cents per pound and
make good profit at the present
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