The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-09-09
 13,565,885,
 SAYS HESTER Experts Annual Report
 Is Issued. INTERESTING STATISTICS Increase of Cotton Crop Over
 Last Years. Secretary Refers to Peculiar and Dis- tinctive Conditions Attending
 Raising of Yield Just
 Marketed.
 

Hester's annual report was issued in full today. He puts the cotton crop for 19o4-05 at 13.565,ss5 bales. an in- crease of s.554.511 over that of 1s03-04. He says that compared with last year, in round figures, Texas including Indian Territory, has increased roscoe 1 bales. The group known as other Gulf States. consisting of Louisiana, Arkansas. Mississippi. Tennessee, Mis- ouri. Oklahoms. Utah and Kansas, has increased 1,106.00o and the group of Atlantic States, Alabama. Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina. Kentucky and Virginia. has gained l. Al, ,000
 He puts the average commercial against $61.6s last year and the total value of the crop at S62S.195,359 against 617,5o1.5 .54S last year and $780, 770.2S2 the year before.
 Referring to value, he gives details Of prices showing that, taking the cot ton belt as a whole. the highest figure for middiing was II S-i6 cents per pound at the opening of the season in September and the lowest 1-2 cents on the 29th of December. but says that the crop as a whole averaged strict middllng and that the average value per pound was 6 9S-100 cents compared with 12 1s-10e cents last year.
 In reference to weight, he puts the average per bale at 5iB bs-100 pounds, showing a gain over last year of s9-10U. ThIs crop. he says, is the heaviest in weight per bale of any recorded, the highest previous weight having been 51s.ss in 1ses-s9 the year of the largest previous reported crop.
 The Crop Just Marketed.
 Mir. Hester remarks that while each and every crop grown has had it's dis tinctive features. the story of none Is fraught with circumstances so peculiar and interesting as the one just market ed. The commercial years of 1S97-sS and of isas~se witnessed the high water mark Of cotton culture in the United States up to that period, and with them came an era of depression during part of which the products Of the cotton field literally 'sold for a song" Tn 1S9S-se, the commercial crop of 11,274,s40 bales brought barely $2s3. 3.o00.000. The world was able to absorb only a certain quantity of the staple. and beyond that 1t was necessary to submit to ruinous prices 10 induce middiemen to carry the surplus. With values below the cost of production. the farmers then were in no condition to protect them selves, and though they were forced to accept less for their crops than they had actually expended to produce them. absolute and immediate necessity con trolled the situation.
 The panic that spread throughout the South on the eve of marketing the crop of 1s9S-99 is one that will never be for gotten. The cry of 5-cent cotton had extended to the remotest districts. until even the ignorant negro field hands, interested on shares. joined in the rush to market to sell cotton before the ex- pected crash should come.
 How conditions were righted through the logic of events and a crop of less than nine and one-half millions of bales in 1S99-1900 brought over $S0,000.000 more, and another crop the year sue ceeding of less than ten and one-half millions brought more than $200, ,000, 900 more than their eleven and a quarter million predecessor. are matters of his- tory.
 Situation Seemed Dangerous.
 With this lesson before them. he says, 1t is not. to be wondered at that when in December last the Agricul- tural Department put forth an estimate pointing to more than twelve and a quarter millions of bales a feeling akin to panic was felt In every section of the cotton growing States. It was ex- pected we should have an eleven mil lion or eleven and a half million crop, but that twelve million should not only be reached. but largely exceeded was beyond comprehension and when on the heels of this the Census Bureau more than confirmed the Agricultural Department, subsequently, justifylng anticipations of over thirteen millions, it seemed for a time that we were fac- ing a situation impossible to be coped with.
 MT. Hester goes on to say that the manner in which this monster crop has
 "A UN- all been marketed, avoiding a crash which seemed at first inevitable, will remain lasting as a monument to the conservatism and cooperative power of the Southern people. In this great economic struggle. all clements joined in the victory, he says. due to the farmer and meFchant, the banker and manufacturer alike. In fact 1t was only through the combined efforts of every interest that success was made possible.
 Mir. Hester makes the actual growth for the season 13.SO0,OO0 and says that the recent report of the Census Bureau of cotton ginned does not cover the entire growth; that all of the years growth has not been ginned, or if ginned full returns thereof have not been made MT. Hester pays a high tribute to the Census Bureau methods,
  valuable information to the cotton world. superior to any that has ever been put forth. and that he is quite certain from his own personal investi- patfon and after consultation with Di- rector North that in another season the bureau will be able to give almost an exact showing of the actual growth.
 Southern SpIndles.
 He nuts the spindles fin the South at c 905.949 against S.615,369 last year. The net gain in the number of Southern mills over last year has been IS, mak- ing the total now TIT. Of these 7Os have been in operation during the wear 9S are Idle and 30 are in course of erection, l5 old and out of date con- cerns which ceased business having | been crossed off the list.
 In reference to the general cotton | manufacturing industry In the United | States. MT Hester says that American 1 miiis North and South have had the | most active season on record. but while l inc total shows an excess in the num- | her of bales of American cotton con | snmed by domestic factories of 495, 1000 | over last season, bringing the aggre- l Sate to an amount never before reach