The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-12-03

Was the advice which was given
| the cotton farmers early in the season
by some of those who are interested
in their welfare good advice? That is
a question which the farmers and their
advisers are, no doubt, seriously
asking.
Cotton is now about $40 a bale low
err than it was. when the advice was
so freely given, and it is doubtful IL
it will be much higher than it is
during the present year, though along
in the coming spring it may appear
that the crop isn't as large as it now
seems to be.
The downward movement began be-
fore the last ginners' report was pub
lished, and that report accelerated it.
1t created the impression that the crop
would be 100000 bales, if not larger.
and a crop of that size means s cent
cotton.
The fact must be taken into con-
sideiation, however. that while the
ginners' report indicates a crop larger
than was expected, that report may
not be an entirely safe guide as TO
the size of the crop, for the reason that
the farmers were anxious this season
to have their cotton ginned as fast as
it was picked, so as to be in a posi-
tion to market it early if they thought
it advisable to do so.
While it is true that there is a great
deal of cotton in the hands of the
farmers and at interior points, yet,
if reports are to be relied upon, COM
paratively little cotton is being gin
ned not as much by any means as
there was at this time last year. All
during September, October and the
early part of November the gins were
running night and day to meet the
demand upon them. Hence, it is a
/, fair conclusion that the great bulk of
the cotton has been ginned. It is pref
ty safe to say that this will be made
evident by the next report of the GIN
ners.
1t seems to us that two things are
made clear by the present price of cot
ton. The first is that it is practically
impossible to say, early in the season,
What the size of the crop will be.
Hence, it is impossible to say what the
price of cotton will be late in the sea-
son. 1t is largely a matter of guess
work what it will be. Hence,
those who advise farmers to hold cot
ton are as likely to do them an injury
as to do them a service.
The second point is that 1t is
mistake to think that the farmers have
it in their power to put up the price
of cotton by holding it. Hence, the
projected warehouse system would be
only a burden and an expense which
cotton would have to bear. The price
of cotton is fixed by the size of the
the hands of the farmers or the SPIN
ners or the middlemen. The size of
the crop is guessed quite closely
early i'm the season, and it is known
pretty accurately by the last of No
vember from the reports of the gin
ners and from other sources. The
price adjusts itself to the size of the
crop. If the farmers should put. the
balance of this crop in warehouses and
hold it, it is doubtful if the price could
be forced up sufficiently to pay the cost
of holding it. The spinners would let
them carry it, and if they should run
short they would buy on the hand to
mouth principle. with the view of
soaring the farmers into selling be-
fore the harvesting of the new crop.
It would be well for farmers before
putting any money in the warehouse
scheme to study the matter carefully.
The probabilities are they would come
to the conclusion that those
who sell their cotton year after year
as fast as it is harvested fare better
than those who make a practice of
holding for a higher price.