The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-07-27
Cotton Growers RidIcuIt the
 l49 Per Gent Estimate
BASED ON WRONG FIGURES
Colonel Peters of Texas Thinks Acre age West of Mississippi Has Been Reduced By Recent
 Heavy Rains.
BY WATTERsoN sTEALEY.

BY WATTERsoN sTEALEY. Washington. July 2s.-(Speclal)-The cotton report issued by the department of agriculture today indicating decrease in acreage of 149 per cent as compared with 11.4. the former report made under the direction of Edwin g Holmes. Jr., whose case Is now before the grand jury here, is rdiculed J cotton growers all most as much as the departments first report
 1 They say that while the report is nearer | accurate than the first one. in that 1t | indicates a greater decrease in acreage. ir cannot inspire confidence for the reason that the data used is the same as that left in the department by Holmes The growers aege that much of this data has been changed and some of t done away with altogether. Some even go so far as to state that the new report plac- ing the decrease at 1.9 was arrived at by striking an average between the estimate of the Southern Cotton Growers associa- | tion and the juggled Holmes report.
 | Indignantly Denied.
 This is indignantly denied by the de- | partment officials. bu at the same tirna the new percentage of decrease happens to be the arlthmetical mean between the estimate of the Cotton Growers assoeia- ton and the Holmes report.
 | The association claimed that the de- creased acreage as shown by reports re- ceived from their correspondents was 1s4 per cent. When the Holmes report came ont the decrease was placed at IA; now the new report 1i9. Is the average of the two The growers contend that while the departments new report has come al per cent nearer ffie!r estimate. q new report based on ne estimates from cor respondents and agents would closely ap- proximate 1S.4
 Will Probably Be Dropped.
 There is no indication at the depart ment of agriculture that the matter will be considered further. Assistant secre- tary Hays indicated today that the new report would stand as the finding of the department The growers. however, are going to continue the fight for an entire lg new report and President Jordan of the association and Colonel Hester of the New orleans cotton exchange. who un- derstood from Secretary Wilson that such report would ne Forthcoming. may again come to Washington. Ordinarily l the next cotton acreage report would not be gotten out by the department until 1 December In the meantime the growers say the acreage given by the government report issued today must be used through out the rest of the year by the cotton tl,a growing crop Even the value of the monthly condition reports are, thereiore'
 greatly lessened because all trade al leees that it has no reliable statement re- garding actual acreage.
 FurtherShortage of Crop.
 .I nrenared the figures for Texas for inc use of inc Cotton Growers associa- tlon." said Col E. II. Peters. vice presi- dent of the association. today, and know the government has been way off on it's Texas acreage. In Louisiana.
 Texas Arkansas and the Mississippi delta the acreage has been reduced still further since May 5 by from to per cent on account of rains My own op'n- ion Is that since May 25 tho acreage of inc south has been reduced at least per cent on account of land which was nlanted and afterwards abandoned | believe that with this per cent further l reduction that the total acreage In cot- l ion this year is at least IS per cent less l than fl WAS last year and l do not be- lieye that the crop this year will run much more than 9.250.0o0 bales. It won't be very far in the future before cotton will be selling for IS cents and If the 1 crop does not reach ten million bales, which would be the smallest in years. cotton would be cheap at 20 cents.'' i When Colonel Peters was in Washing 1 tor last October he called upon Secre- tary Wilson to complain against the | character of the governments crop re- port. Secretary Wilson turned Colonel Peters over to MT John Hyde. the chiet statisticIan. and MT. Hyde. who Is na- tive of New England. asked this ques ton:
 What do you think of the advisability of publishing these reports after o'clock after the markets close"
 Resented the Proposition. Colonel Peters was greatly surprised and vigorously resented this proposition on the RfOunu tidt ll Wodiu SiiiPiJ uc hi ,nterest of the Liverpool cotton mar There is more than i've hours differ- ence in time between the American mar ket and the Liverpool market and the publication of the governme~''s reports | at O clock would have given Englshnien | the full benefit of this governments rs- ! port before the closing of the Liverpool 1 market and after the closing of the American market. Colonel Peters point l ed out to Mir. Hyde that the American people were spending nearly two hund- | red thousand dollars year for the gpv-@ ernments crop reports and that tho American people ought to have the bene- fit of the governments estimates.
 Mir Hyde. who is now on his way to England. did not again mention the sub | ject.
 1.ha ppoliah press has had fts cou1l-