The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-07-22
SOUTHERN PROGRESS
REVIEW OF CONDITIONS BY THE MANUFACTURERS RECORD.
Ideas of the Cotton Planters' Conven- tiOn in Tallahassee, Fla, in 1851, Adopted By Company Just Incorporated.

Baltimore, July 21.-(Special. )-Tt,
 Manufacturers Record of this city hal
 come into possession of a full repor
 of the Cotton Planters Convention 1,
 Tallahassee, Fla, in 1851. which s, completely typifies in almost every dc tail the conditions prevailing in th
 cotton trade of the world at presen
 that 1t gives in this weeks issue ;
 synopsis of the leading features of thi half-century- old report.
 In view of the widespread interes
 throughout the South in the develop
 ment Of the cotton warehouse syslCn and which it has been supposed was
 on the broad lines now advocated, new Idea based fundamentally on tn. same system which prevails in tn, handling of grain in the West throuyi eleyators-it Is of interest to xnyN that the plan was suggested in the ral lahassee Convention and unanimously favored. report made to that con. vention by Q committee of planters, af. ter an elaborate argument covering tho | cotton conditions of the world, sus. gested that the difficulties under whicf 1 cotton growers labored could only be remedied by the organization of 9 | company to be chartered by the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama Louisiana and Florida, with a capital l or Ut lSaSI $Gu,UVV,VVV. to pC iHCtdSct | in amount as the wants Of the busi. ness might require.
 'The association should erect or pur
 chase extensive warehouses at Charles ton, Savannah, Mobile. New Orleans Appalachicola and St. Marks" with {
 view to the warehousing of cotton | Then follows an elaboration of thu l value of such a warehouse system a! | of vital importance to the interests o | the cotton trade, alike profitable to tn, grower and the manufacturer.
 | The committee of planters whicf made this elaborate report suggesting the development of great warehouse system and pointing out with keen ar gument Its value coveredsin their dis cussion every phase of the cotton in | dustry of Europe and America.
 | The report was unanimously adopted | but in this case, as in so many other | broad undertakings projected by the Old South but delayed by the coming | on of the war. 1t has been left to this | day to see their naturalization. It Is an interesting coincidence that the amount of capital suggested by this re- port in 1s51-a report which is quite | certain has never before been seen by | any of the people who today are advo' | cating the establishment of cotton warehouses--is identically the same as | the capitalization proposed for the company lately announced as being formed by combination of New York Western and Southern men to estab- fish warehouses throughout the South In this report are discussed many of the topics relating to cotton which are so, predominant in the cotton cir cles of the world today. It Is point ed out that the wide fluctation in pric- es has been injurious alike to planters and spinners. Attention is called tc the effort made by English manufac- turers to depress the price of cotton and it Is argued that in the long run efforts to Bear" prices are disastrous to the spinners as well as to the grow | CTS A report made in 1850 to the Board of Trade before the British Associa. tion of Edinburgh. dealing with pro- duction and consumption of cotton | throughout the~world, is quoted as fol. | lows:
 This increase has been concurrent with and mainly caused by a continual reduction in the price of cotton. Or | the other hand, the continual fall in the | price nas acted as a stimulus on the American planters, who have hitherto made up in general by the extent oi their cultivation for the diminished | price of their crops"
 
 | Cotton Planters Convention, 'it is seen that increased supplies are great | ly wanted, but their experience Is that | the surest means of stimulating pro- duction in the United States is to re. duce the price"
 Bearing on efforts which were then being made by the British Govern | ment to increase the production ir | other countries in order to lessen the dependence of Great Britain on the South for cotton, number of English papers, of 1850 and 1851, quoted show ing an urgent desire to stimulate the growth of cotton in Africa. India and elsewhere. These English papers pointed out the increasing consump- tion of cotton In the United States, the difficulties under which British manu- lecturers must labor in being depen- dent upon the South for their raw ma terial, and some of them grew almost hysterical in demanding of the govern ment, as well as of the manufacturers greater efforts to grow cotton in Africa, Asia and the West Indies. But a report made to the House of Con- mons in lS4S shows that even then for sixty years past the Court of Direc- tors have taken an interest in this question and have expended considera- ble sums in various attempts to stimu- late the growth of cotton in countries subject to their rule"
 Reviewing all of these conditions and closing with an elaborate argument the Cotton Planters Convention shows that uniformity of price would prove in the long run equally as profitable to the spinners as to the planters. In view of the great changes in the pro- duction from year to year, caused by weather conditions. it is held that if is practically impossible under present conditions to avoid wide fluctuations in prices. and thus periods of depres. sion in manufacturing, followed later by periods O. depression in production. 10 be continued from time to time in ups and downs unprofitable to all.
 The only way in which this condition can be avoided is said in this report to be by the establishment of warehouses :hroughout the cotton districts, in which, in years of large production, planters can store their cotton and by being able to carry it avoid pushing 1t on the market and thus breaking prices
 With surplus stocks from years of heavy production carried over in ware houses to years of short production, 1t Is claimed that the entire cotton trade would be placed on a sound basis of profitable prices to the grower. and that in the end this would prove far more profitable to the cotton manufac-