The Marlboro democrat. [volume] (Bennettsville, S.C.) 1882-1908, 1904-01-15
THE COTTON SITUATION
Ii the sonth.s Great staple Arenactd

by Popr seed.
According tc4 Daniel j. Suily, the
New York cotton dealer, the present
serious condition In the cotton markets
.ofthe world, and the danger threaten
ing the textile industry :of the q United
States, ct England, France. Germany,
Russia, Switzerland and Spain can be
Traced to only one cause the steFi liza
;tion or impoyerishment of the cotton
seed. He says: sSeriouS as is the
situation to-day and high us prices
are, the situation viii be more serious
and the prices higher each sir fdhttli
measures are taken by which proper
seed can be planted for the growth OF
She cotton crop. Paradoxtcal as 1T
may seem u the curtailment Of the
cotton crop Is q natural result of the
growth of the cotton seed industry. A
quarter of century ago the cotton
seed was the bane OF the cotton plant
er. He had great difficulty In getting
rjdsof his surplus seed. 1t was burned,
cast into the rivers, used to fill gullies
and hollows apd hauled away at no
little expense. But since the dis
coyery of the uses of cotton seed oil,
cotton seed hulls and cotton seed meal
the demand for the seed has grown to
great proportions. The South is dot
ted with cotton seed Oil mills, and
what was once regarded as refuse now.
brings nearly sloO,0oo,0OO a year to
the South. , ~
"This would 4be magnificent as
set were it not for the fact that the
oil mills demand the heaviest and
richest of the seed, leaving only sthe
poorest for the planter to put back In
the ground for the planting of his
next crop. The fierceness Of competi-
tion is such and the prices for seed are
SO, large thGti within the last five or
six years the planters have impoyerish-
ed their seed supply to the utmost
limit. Poor.seed brings poor cotton
yield. Increased. acreage is no remedy,
even If it we're possible under present
conditions to extend the acreage MUCH
beyond its present limits. Thought
full men of the South see no prospect
OF a change in the immediate future.
Surely none can be expected as long
aS the spinners have to scramble. for
cotton to keep their mills going and
the cotton seed mills pay top notch
prices for their suppiis.
'The statistics of the last six or
seven years show more conclusively
than anything could Say how i'm
portant part this impoverishment Of
the cotton SEE d is playing in cotton
affairs. Since 1897 the acreage plant
ed to cotton 10 the United States has
been increased from 24,OOO,nOO to
approximately 28,O00,000 acres. Yet
the yield has steadily decreased. In
1897 the South raised l l 200, 900 bales
Of cotton on an acreage Of 81 900, 900.
This season with an acreage of %, ,000,-
900, the governments estimate Is g.
962, 900 bales. Take the average
yield an acre year by year and the
detoriation is shown more convincing
ly:: In l897-9S the yield of lint per
acre planted was 224 pounds. In
IS9S-99, it was o3G, n 10000, 2lO;
In l900O1. ELL; in l90l-O2, 1888; in
l90304,E6
But even these figures do not
show the real decrease in the yield
per acre. In 1897 and 1898 cotton
was extremely cheap, and what re-
presented hundreds of thousands of
bales Of lint we're left unpicked in the
field, because the planters did not
think it would pay for the picking.
This season, however, there isn't
cotton plant in the South that hasn't
been picked of every ounce of its pro-
duct. The world absolutely requires
10, 100000 bales cotton this season. 1t
could use 100000 bales and there
would be no surplus, Cotton is the
most valuable money crop of the
world to-day. 1t Is used in more Of
the world staples than any other of
the earth's products. Its uses are
constantly widening, and yet we are
face to face with the condition of a
constantly shortening crop. It@is idle
TO charge the big advance in prices to
manipulation ofthe market, to wealth
er conditions In the cotton belt, to
lack Of moisture, lateness Of planting
or to any other of the stock causes
Every student Of the cotton world
who gives serious consideration to the
subject will come back to the basic
trouble OF the impoverishment of the
seed.
| hO ouOySOU'lo VI lSdGCl
portance than the average man realiz-
es. 1t is of as great Importance to
! North as to the South, not only be-
cause Of the manufacturing industries
of the North that are dependent upon
the cotton crop, but because every
body wears cotton goods and because
the financial world depends upon the
cotton crop to maintain the financial
parity between this country and Eu-
ropt Without our cotton the money
market Of the United States would be
In a sad way. Cotton bills are pay
able in gold,, and it is through the
payment for cotton exported to Europe
that we maintain the gold balance
with the rest Of the world. You can
not look for any change in the South
until the danger from the impoverish-
ment Of the cotton seed is brought
home to the planter. AT present he
is blind to this menace. The present
crop WI, bring to him al least g. 5O,-
900, 900 more than any other crop lie
ever raised. That would seem to
prove that he is favored by fortune.
The crop of next year perhaps will
bring even much greater returns. But
there is an end to all things, and SOON
er or later it will be realized that
what is now godsend may bring
about disaster.