The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-05-03
THE Cosr or RAW COTTON


WASHINGTON, May AT the meeting
OF the New England Cotton Manufacturers
association In Boston a few days ago Mr.
Theodore II. -Pr4oe made the following
statement
me cost OF cotton production a. aScertained by
the United States Government for the crop OF
l.yo-H was on the average to0 cents per pound
ai'er allowing for land rental Of t2oi per acre
VIC net cost In that year being therefore ABOUT
iour cents per pound The production that season
was l'2 pounds per acre. The production this year
ts'o pounds per acre, and the indicated cost there
Iore' 70 per cent less, probably not over three
ana one half cents per pound, after alloWng Tor the
increased cost OF picking. Ten cents per pound
WOULD therefore represent pront OF 200 per cent,
per cent
II any organised monopoly attempted 70 TeAlifs
such PROFITS ss thsss there ia no doubt that leris-
lAhon would ind way 70 deal with Il OF that CON"
petition would speedily invade itS neid.
Probably Mr.. Price would have great
difnoulty in finding more than a very small
number Of cotton growers who would ad-
init even the possibility Of raising the staple
at such prices, II would be even more
difnoult TO find any who would admit that
u Is grown by any one at such figures.
This IL dihlcult Of establishment for the
reason that few planters conduct their
affairs In a sufficiently budnesslike manner
to AFFORD anything more than a rough guess
At cost Of production. The guess Is usually
In the neighborhood OF six cents.
II American manufacturers conducted
their business enterprises on the lines fol-
lowed by the average American farmer and
planter, the cost Of mill and shop products
would be vastly greater than II now is. The
average farmer lives as he does less by
virtue Of his own labor than because his
Implements, clothing, house utensils and
Manufactured things that he needs and
wants are reduced to their minimum cost
by business methods. Inventive genius
has produced tools and appliances which
are manufactured by strict business meth
DDS. These enable the farmer to do In a
day more than he did In several days by
the oldtime methods.
Comparison Of the cost Of living to-day
with the cost Of twenty-five years ago is
moro than dificult The standard has
changed greatly. The farmer and his
family want more and have more now than
they did then. But there has been large
reduction in the price Of coffee, sugar
boots and shoes, cotton cloth, prints and
oaliooes, tools and wagons, and many other
articles which the farmer must buy. Al
though cotton forms one Of the exceptions,
no such reduction appears in the list OF
general farm products The average price
Of raw cotton for the last ten years Is some
what below the average for, say. the deo-
ade Of ls75-lSSS. Nevertheless, the South
ern farmer has made moro money, and has
had moro Of the comforts Of life, has worn
better clothes, and has lived, in general
a larger life during the later than during
the earlier period. In snort, he has ex-
perienoed a greater prosperity in spite Of
the cheaper prices.
That he IL not far more prosperous is
his own fault. Mr.. Proe hit the nail squarely
on the head when he said;
The cotton crop Of the United states Is probably
| lees carefully cultivated and more Wsstefully han
died than any other OF great staples. Il Is est
mated By the closest students Of the subject thai
intelligent methods Of culture. picking and trans
portGtlon would enect an economy OF not less thar
| 20 per cent, or probably not less than one cent
/ per pound. II the South could be brought 70 real
| lie. and in time Il will be brought 70 real
Ire, that its true policy Il 20 decrease the cost o.
| It's production, and BY 40 doing increase the de
mAnd for that production, a new era Of prosperity
will dawn for both the manufacturer and the planter
The man who is content to get 200 pounds
Of cotton where he might get 100 pounds
| or 20 get twelve bushels OF wheat where he
might get fifteen, OF twenty-five bushels
Of corn where he might get forty. must
expect TO find this world a place Of trials
and fluctuations which will not be over
come by attempts TO increase prices by
| curtailinR production