The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-02-02

| III the Daily JOufllal OF commerce
ana Commercial Bulletin of the 25th
inst, and. as it is not placed in the
regular advertising columns of that
| paper. | presume it had TO be paid for
at double the usual rates Your laud-
! able desire TO "re-aWaken" us ''to an
| appreciation of certain elemental
| economic truths, will receive just
| recognition from the distressed and
| ignorant people whom you strive TO
serve and enlighten. Your generosity.
| can only be measured by the many
! thousands of dollars you have paid out
| for this and mass OF other pupt "a
! lions of similar character with which
you have been flooding the South. We
| fully understand the motives that in
! spire you, and are far from accusing
YOU of "overgroWn egotism or thirst
! for notoriety." 1t is quite a different
thirst that possesses you. You say
YOU are short only . moderate GUAM
titv OF cotton, but your desperate
anxiety TO induce the farmers OF the
South to rush their cotton upon the
market and sell far below the cost of
production. gives ground at least for
the suspicion that "a moderate guam
titv" may run into the hundreds OF
thousands OF bales.
You make Il profit Of i've dollars
with every decline of Il point H. every
deal and, if we should listen 10 Nout
holdings. thus depressing the price to
five cents, the point YOU predict it will
reach you could count your profits By
the millions.
have not heard of that candid in
vestigator" to whom YOU refer as csti-
mating the crop 10 be 1900 0Q0. We
are all aware that there has been over
production, but those whose past rec
ord entities their estimates consider
alton do not place the crU1 at ever
I3o50O00 based Upon the accuracy
of the gin returns. which in many IN
stances have been proven to be CHROME
Gus. I know of several Sinners i'll TINS
vicinity who in their zeal to eclipse
their neighbors, have doubled the ac-
tGul output i'll their reports. not real
ling at the time how disastroualy such
a thing if generally initiated Wo1ri
affect prices. The writer we'll ranelH-
bers a prediction YOU published in the
summer or early fall of 1905, OF
crop in the nciehborhood of twelve
and a quarter millions. and, IS thai
was in excess of the actual Yield 10y
more than two millions, | must h'
pardoned for placing but little faith
in your present estimate. And fur
Their. presuming that, as an intelligent
business man, your speculative FCll-
lures are always governed by your
views of the supply and demand, how
can your two failures in business as Il
cotton speculator be explained other
wise than that your estimates were
wrong?
And now permit me to Offer YOU
few suggestions. If YOU will listen To
and be governed by them, it nav SaT.
YOU from adding third TO your list
of speculative failures. For you are
simply a speculator pure and simple.
you toll not neither do YOU spin
You buy what YOU don't want an
never expect to use. You sell what
YOU don't have and never expect 90
possess. Listen to one economic ruth
which you seem to ignore. staple
article viii soon or late bring the cost
of DroduQtion. Labor conditions in the
South have, in the last few years.
greatly changed, and the cost of pro-
ducing cotton has increased at least
sixty to seventy per cent. The farm
hands that received in 1898 from seEeli
to nine dollars per month and rations
the weekly ration consists of -four
pounds OF fat meat and one peck CT
meal--arc now hard to get at from
twelve to fifteen dollars. There was
over-stimulation last season, for We
were assured by the highest authority
in such matters that, If we produced
the largest possible crop, the price
could not fall below ten cents. We
increased our acreage and went wild
on commercial fertilizers. Moreover
climatic conditions were abnormally
favorable TO the growth and gathering
of the staple.
Financial conditions have also
changed The ability of the South -
hold cotton with the active cooper
alton of farmers. bankers merchants
and manufacturers is ten-fold greater
than in 1898. You can count on at
least two million and half bales be-
| ing held back till prices reach eight
| l.n,s aTN,afif .
be held for ten cents. AT present prices
it is better for the farmer to hold lis
cotton than to make more. We are
not such fools as TO adopt the remedy
YOU suggest for the evils of over pro-
duction. You stultify yourself ana IN
suit our Intelligence by making such
a proposition. 1t reminds me of ali
old scrap of doggerel,
There was man III our town
And he was Wondrous wise.
He jumped into a bramble bush
And scratched out both his eyes
And when he saw his eyes We're out
With all his might and main
He jumped into the bramble bush
And scratched them in again.
Do not be deceived. The movement
which started over month ago stimuli
taneously in widely scattered commun-
tiles throughout the cotton belt, has
gathered to a head and resulted in
concentrated organized action. The
pledges which are beino circulated in
every school district are being al
most universally signed and will oe
faithful yobserved. The report of the
Agricultural Bureau, which will APP
pear next May, will show a reduction
of the cotton acreage of at least %
per cent, and probably in excess of
80 per cent Should your prediction
conform to your evident wishes and
the price reach five cents. YOU may
look for reduction of not less than
so per cent.
You may be able to influence the
ignorant and credulous, but the South
will not drag at the wheels of your
speculative chariot, and impoyerish
themselves to put millions in your
pocket.
1t is not at all likely that conditions
will be as favorable for production IS
during the past season. A reduction
in acreage of 80 per cent as compared
with lact con con which was ranOrta1