The Savannah morning news., 1904-01-29
THE UPWARD MOVEMENT OF COT
TnA

TON.
Cotton futures passed the Is cent
mark yesterday and there is now a
| quite general belief that they will be
forced to 20 cents. The bulls are in abb
! solute control of the market, and
it looks as if they could do about as
they please with it. 1t may be that
| they wouldn't be able to realize on their
! holdings If they should try to take
| profits, though that is a matter about
which there is a great difference Of
opinion.
1t is a safe statement that the pres
! ent price isn't beneficial to the cotton
! farmers. About all of the cotton is out
! of their hands and they are getting no
benefit from the present high price
They got a big price for their cotton
this year, but doubtless the most Of
them are regretting they did not hold it
longer.
The harm to them from the present
high price is coming in two ways. They
are preparing to plant a much larger
area than they did last year. All their
surplus cash is going into mules and
fertilizers. Indeed, they will go into
debt in order to plant large cotton
acreage. The result will be probably
that there will be an enormous crop
produced next year-d crop that will
send the price down to or s cents
pound. 1t might go even lower than
that If the crop should be a record
breaking one. In that event the re-
turns to the farmers will not be suf-
ficient to cover expense of producing
the crop and to meet obligations in
CURED in preparing for 1t.
But what is to be particularly re-
GREETED is that diversified farming will
receive setback from which it will
not recover in years When cotton
was around cents pound the farm
ers were urged to diversity their crops
Most of them needed this advice. The
result was they became prosperous.
Now they are going back to the one
crop plan. Farmers are saying that
this year they will not give any atten-
ton to the growing of corn or of pro-
ducing meat. They will grow cotton
and buy their supplies. 1t isn't diff
suit to see what the result will be- The
farmers will be back in the old ruts.
They will become burdened with debt,
and will have to begin the diversified
system of farming all over again.
And there is anothr thing the high
price is doing. 1t is stimulating cotton
manufacturing countries of Europe to
experiment in growing cotton in their
colonies. In our dispatches yesterday
there was a statement from Consul
General Mason at Berlin to the effect
that the movement in Europe to eman-
cipate textile industries there from de-
pendence upon American cotton is
much greater than it is understood 10
be in this country. The idea that the
American cotton market is at the mer-
cy of spectators is causing the govern
ments of England, Germany and
France to put forth every effort to get
cotton supply outside of American
cotton fields. While it isn't believed
that cotton can be grown prontably
elsewhere, on large scale, there is no
certainty that it cannot. In few years
we may wake up to the fact that the
South has serious competition in the
growing of cotton.
Only the other day we called atten-
ton to the fact that much better short
staple cotton was grown in Porto Rico
this year than can be grown in this
country. and If in Porto Rico why not
in many other localities I'm which cotton
isn't known now as a crop? Even now
the price of cotton is practically be-
yond the reach of the spinner at the
present price of cotton cloth. Unless
prices of cotton goods advance the
mills will soon have to close. And as
we have already stated cotton is now
virtually out of the hands of the farm
er. He will not be benefited no matter
how high the price goes.