The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-05-21

upon the peoIAe WnoSe lntereSC it sehS
 movement in which the sympathy, sup port and active cA-operatton or every
 man in business and profession Tn the South should be cordially enlisted.
 Existing Conditions.
 For the past fifty years the South has | directed its energies principally in the
 production of cotton; our people have aye taken but little interest in devising the proper ways and means for marketing the staple, or in obtaining proper and l correct knowledge of the use to which | sumption among the nations of the world. We have, therefore known put | into our markets to purchase 1t.
 Cotton Has No Competition.
 | It is now a well-established fact that the South holds a complete monopoly | that no material which can De woven | into cloth, can be used as competitor against American cotton under 14c competitors-wool, flax, silk and for
 American Anne f~e cotton t0I is sold t at 14c per per
 be proitably manufactured as com
 advance to 25c and 30, per pound to
 tured as a competitor. The limited | supply of silk and fix places them be- yond the realm of competition; hence,
 
 petitor today of American cotton is surplus of American cotton. The only reason why the price of our cotton | has been Appreciated below its maxi-
 mum value in years past and gone, has been due to either bad system of mar
 keting with reckless disregard of its staple, and permitting the over-produc- tion to be used as a hammer to beat down the price of the staple actually | needcJ for consumption, either through mai energies of the exporters and spinning | interest of the world: With the knowl-
 edge of these facts; 1t is the imperative TsGa Ss
 the combined efforts of all the allied
 interests in the South to devise ways and means which will protect the staple | from depressing influences which have
 annually robbed the South from $200.- | 000,000 to $300, 0,000,0 ,000 that should have gone into the pockets of our people.
 Value of the Cotton Crop.
 The annual cotton crop of the South
 is the most valuable of any agricultural product on the face of the globe. Its | annual sales amount in the aggregate for the raw material of more. than | finished fabric, will sell for the enor- nous total of nearly $2.000.000.000. It
 is due alone to the cotton crop of the | favor of the United States in its com"
 mercial relations with foreign coun-
 tries. In 1904. the exports of raw cot. | | for each of the .365 days. And this | $36', 100000, which was sent to thls country in gold by the foreign spinner
 paid for only e5 per cent of the cror | produced, leaving the balance, oi 50 per cent, to be woven into cloth under the roofs of American mills.
 Cotton Mills in the South.
 The enormous increase in the value
 of the staple after it has passed | through the loom. presents the highest 1 evidence of the necessity for the more
 rapid-building fcotton mills in the South. and the exporting of the finish
 ed product from our shores rather than
 of the raw material. The export of our raw cotton annually brings more
 gold into this country than the com; bined exports of all other agricultural products and agricultural implements shipped from America to foreign coun- tries. crop of such magnitude in value, and one upon which the entire civilized world so absolutely depends, should receive the immediate protection
 of every business interest in thls countries up to the present time can be delivered at our ports at less prlGe than 14c per pound. It is generally admitted by experts which have investi-