New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-12-30
BURNING COTTON.

What il the New-England cotton manufact-
urers had got together when cotton was selling
at Is cents and planned to destroy onetenth
Of their mills in order to decrease the demand
for cotton? The proceeding would have been
just as sensible and just moral as the at
tempt of Georgia planters to boom prices by
burning part of the crop. 1t Is a scheme OF
folly and wickedness 1t is foolish because 1t
means loss to the farmers which is not likely
to be compensated for by corresponding rise
in price. 1t Is wicked because 1t means loss
to the world, a destruction of Natures bounty,
Of which the farmer is only trustee, just as
the owner Of coal mine is a trustee.
What If the coal operators We're to destroy
a part of their product in order to get an arti-
fetal price for the rest2 We should have riots
far worse than those portrayed in Charles
Reades story as the result Of an obstinate
miller petulantIy tossing his bags of wheat from
his windows because he could not grind at his
own scale of wages. 1t is a crime against hu-
mainly wantonly to destroy products which
serve the needs OF mankind, whether the de-
struction be wrought by Fulton Market fish
dealers who deliberately destroy part of the
catch in order to make the consumers pay I'M
reasonable prices for what remains, or South
ern planters who burn part of the worlds cot
ton crop. hoping to reap some selfish advantage
from the shortage
get the best price they can for their product.
It is legitimate for them to hold Ii back from
market for higher prices; at least 1t Is legfti-
mate so long as individual interests and compe-
tition secure reasonable supply for the worlds
wants. II O. great trust should be formed among
the planters which overcame the play Of indi-
vidualism and interfered with the natural OPP
Grafton Of the law Of supply and demand, such
course, which would arbitrarily deprive the
oP tIs ,ot h,
legitimate any more than 1t would be legiti-
mate for the coal operators to refuse in CON-
bination TO supply the community with coal.
though to any one Of them might be conceded
the moral right to shut down. The laborer is
worthy of his hire, he Is entitled to hold his
product for what 1t is or may prospectively be
worth to his neighbor, but at the same time
he is trustee and is morally forbidden to
become a party to an artificial corner. The
people in general are entitled on fair terms to
share with the actual producer the fruits of the
earth.
This burning scheme moreover. IN the end is
bound to hurt the planter more than 1t Will
help him. All the persons concerned in such
project will never play fair. Some will burn
their cotton and lose while others will feed
theirs out TO the market and prevent any such
rise in price to compensate the one who
makes the sacrifice Besides. the market Is IN
likely to respond TO an artificial attempt to force
1t up, advertised beforehand. The burning Is
likely to prove an absolute loss Of property to
somebody, In all probability the planters them
selves. Then, too. the planters should consider
the future The cotton manufacturers Of the
world and the millions dependent on them for
clothing not going to rest content at the
mercy of bull spectators, either in the pit of
the Cotton Exchange or about pile OF blazing
bales If the South will not furnish cotton at
prices based on the natural relations of supply
and demand plant an increasing acreage from
year TO year, harvest the crop and market 1t,
the world will turn to Africa and the West
Indies. King Cotton is powerful sovereign,
but he is not an absolute monarch now any
more than he was forty years ago He cannot
rule capriciously and lawlessly. II he tries it
his sceptre will be taken away and a new
dynasty established elsewhere