The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-02-05
RESULTS ALREADY
 VERY NOTICEABLE
THE FARMERS ARE BEGINNING TO PROFIT BY ACTION OF NEW ORLEANS COTTON oRoWERS' CONVENTION.

To the Editor of The Age-Herald:
 Already the results of the New Orleans convention are showing themselves All though there is pretty generally con ceded to be a crop of 13,OO0,00 bales of cotton, prices are moving up. The "5-cent cotton" gamblers are hedging and carry ing their contracts over Whenever the blackboard farmers thoroughly under stand they are up against the same courageous class of men that made the four years record of 1861 to 1865; that this same spirit is backed by full cribs and smoke e-houses and often by savings in bank therell be lively scramble to get the real stuff to cover blackboard trans actions.
 If the farmers and small merchants hold hard down the real stuff the hot-air fellows will pay a fair price for cotton.
 The weakest factor in the situation is the merchant or farmer who is persuaded to sell his cotton and buy futures. He helps to give bit of sustenance to the hungry bears and puts himself at sheir mercy; they will have a symposium at the Waldorf-Astoria and work the black board see-saw until the freeze-out
 It is doubtful Ii In the whole range of industrialism there is presented such phase as in cotton That is to say, that the price of the raw product has such small ratio of relationship to the price of the manufactured product as a gem eral proposition. In some lines of very fine spun goods, cotton brings to the manufacturers from $l0 to $25 per pound; that is, in "Swisses.
 l have been talking with mill man in regard to cotton spinning. He says that they are working cotton that cost them an average of 9h cents. There is no trouble for mills to sell their product up to March l, but buyers are disposed to hold off in the farther months. think ing that the present prices are likely to bring slight reduction in time. Nearly all the mills, foreign and in the United States, are stocked with cotton that cost an average of to 10 cents. except Fall River. The starting of the Fall River mills came in good because they manu- facture largely print cloths (cloths to make colored goods of) and the demand is strong for the reason that there are fewer mills engaged in that branch of the cotton industry in the United States. There is more money in print cloths than in three and four-yard goods-that is,
 
 to the pound
 Although cotton has varied in the last twelve months as much for spot cotton as 10 cents per pound the variation of print cloths has been only l cent per yard, or from cents 50 eents-this last in February, 1904, for short while; then cotton was 16B cents in New York for spots Now, when 1t is known that a pound of cotton will spin seven yards of print cloths. which today in New York are quoted at cents, or 2l cents per pound for manufactures cotton; that this cotton cost, say cents at mill and 5 cents to spin and weave the same, all things counted, 1t will be seen that there is still d margin of 8 cents per pound of profit At 10 cents for cotton there is still a profit to the mill of cents per pound This will in a measure account for the very large dividends Sometimes 80 per cenD paid by water-power. modern mills in the south with 5-cent cotton!
 Mills loaded with high-priced cotton, where they are not sold ahead for the entire year. are willing to see higher prices for the same cotton, as it prevents the Fall River mills cutting prices with cotton purchased at the lower levels. Again, with the demand good and healthy why should Fall River desire to cut prices?
 Mills that are not full up in stocks of raw cotton are trying to average ID on cotton purchased at the higher prices by taking on cotton at present prices where their facilities will permit.
 It is a conservative estimate that the crop of linters and samples will be GO0.000 bales Counting cotton seed products and cotton the state of Alabama will get sl5O 000.000 for the two years past on cot ton alone.
 The receipts are falling behind: the farmers are holding. If they can carry any great amount of the 4.0o000n bales un- til March and after. cotton will bring 10 cents in May in Alabama
 The exporters and big bears have been carrying their contracts over by hedges and transfers. By March the seige to make the farmer turn loose will have resolved itself into n tempting bait of price to get the stuff
 Let the farmer do the ground hog act go in his hole and stay there for six weeks and they will see 9-cent cotton for sure. PERCY CLARK.
 Birmingham, February 4, 1905.