The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-04-19
SULLY HAS BEEN FARMER FRIEND R. H. EdmOnds Talks on the
 Cotton Situation LABOR IS VERY SCARCE
Seed Deterioration Is Also an Import. ant Cause for Smallness of the Crop-criticses Secre-
 tary Wilson.

Atlanta, April 1s.-The Atlanta Consti- tuition will tomorrow quote Richard H. Edmonds, editor of the Manufacturers Record, of Baltimore, in an extensive in- terview on the cotton situation in tho south and on the suspension of Daniel Sully. Mir. Edmonds agrees with sully in the belief that the cotton crop Is not likely to be increased for several years owing to the seed deterioration and the lack of labor to cultivate and pick tho crop.
 In the interview MT Edmonds takes occasion to state that Secretary Wilson. of the department of agriculture made an unjustihable interference with the trade when he denounced and criticised tho cotton bulls as gamblers. MT. Edmonds' interview in part follows:
 "The efforts of the bears who control the New York cotton exchange to keep Sully from getting on his feet again in order thereby to prevent his restoration to membership on the exchange, are giv- ing the country an object lesson which may prove very beneficial to the south. One of the bears Is quoted as saying: Why should we accept sully's offer when he would make out of us the money to pay us?'
 Due to Seed Deterioration.
 Tt may be worth while to explain Sul4 lys position in the matter of suspension. Impressed by the tendency 10 smallei crops of late years, a close study caused him to foresee that production was mol keeping pace with consumption. His in- vestigation lead him to believe that this Is largely due to seed deterioration, that on this account 1t will be impossible to produce large crops until there Is mark. ed improvement In the quality of seed.
 "A erop Of 1i,5G0.000 bales Is not sufiis cieit tc meet the world g needs and unti. our crop ip lafe sly increased beyond that figure we ought not to see cotton below 10 cents a pound, though without some re- sourceful, daring bull leader, such as Sul- ly and others, who have led In the fight for year or two, It may be possible for the cotton bears ta i.s.'. prices below that on any fair D rood crop
 MT. Edmonds a rule which holds on the in re- gard to suspension serts that if the announcement aG Suly's suspension had been made two minutes earlier lt would have meant $1GO0,000 for Sully This rule Is to the effect that If a suspen- sion is announced much as one hour before the closing the settlement must he made on the basis of the average prices of that day. but if the suspension Is an- nounced after ? p. m. dhe exchange closes at 8, the settlement must be made on tha basis of the average prices for the fol- lowing day. Continuing, MT. Edmonds gays:
 Held Down the Price.
 "The play of the bears for years has been to beat down prices and keep them down till cotton was out of the hands of the farmers and then, and not till then. let it advance in order that they and the foreign mills might reap the profits to which the growers were justly entitled. Suly, Brown, Hayne and their associates sought to advance prices early in the sea- son that south might thus get the bene- fit of the profits. They added S1O0,000,000 or more to the south's wealth last year by this campaign"
 Referring to Secretary of Agriculture Wilson, Mr. Edmonds says:
 But let Us have no more national n- terference with the prices such as Secre- tary Wilson undertook last fall when ha denounced the cotton bulls as gamblers and curse to the country. A more un- justihabe interference with trade and d more baseless criticism showing an ob- SOlute lHcK or hnOWleuge apoht lne cOt- ton situation as Secretary Wilson dis- played probably never before emanated from cabinet officer.
 When the bears have hammered down prices and destroyed the last chance for profit to the growers. Secretary Wilson has never. l believe. denounced them as gamblers and d curse to the country. A bull is a gambler if he makes the secre- tarys friends pay good prices for cot ton but the bear who beats down prices for the same people. himself included. to the loss of the producer of whose inter- ests the agricultural department is sup posed to represent, Is gentleman and scholar"