The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1905-04-21

FRIDAY aPRl y q ads
exactly the amouiSE necessa es e
supply the demand ME- {}ar
points out that the Soli} }]I err,s neo. s
pie are still Hol 10 s6ii e. Hal,
cotton evepA & ES f + IS;s
holding, c0Ai}I6d 6d will S2 :: :G;;s; - -
Gus campai8A mad IA g ~
citation, has shcl q q ~ fES
price up. He sli6iSe & (,ssr y S. IS q
another such cf6{ a: q "a 81 %
last year would resiilE {lisasf s
to the South. Mr. Jordaff Sans.
The Arneridan crop of 1904;
as estimated recently ..by the
United States Census Bureau
amounts to practically 13, 600, 600
bales. OF this amount 200, 900
are yet to be ginned, and about
zoo, 600 bales are what is known
as llnters; or the lint ginned from
the seed at the cotton oil mills
his amount of cotton is far in
excess of any crop previously
grown IN the south. The last
bumper crop was made in 1fIc9
and amounted to II, ,27O, 900 bales
The crop of 1904, therefore, 'ex-
ceeds the crop of 1893 by fully
2,250, 600 bales.
The consumption of American
cotton by the mills of the world
at the present time will amount
to II, 600, COO bales per annum.
II the present rate of consump-
ton is maintained, we shall still
have nearly 2,5OO,OOO bales from
the crop of 1904 to carry over
into theIfall of 1905 and to be
added to; the crop which will be
harvested during the present
THE enormous crop of 1s, GOO.
OOO bales recently reported from
the Census Department is, no
doubt, grSetically correct, as the
bureau CLAIMS to have had re-
ports frpmRl the ginners operat-
ing in the outh, and the esti-
mate of th1crop was based upon
those repotts. If we have a sur
plus of 2,H0, 900 bales and the
consumption of American cotton
is not more than II, 500, 900 bales
per annun, it is quite evident
that a crop greater than 5000 |
J0O bales the present year would |
simply pitt thesproducers in a |
position of heaping, surplus and !
cOCCeri rIva<.--s-s:-I 49,
below the cost Of pro
luction. Even the production of |
a normal crop in 1905, added to
the surplus, would give us another
abnormally large crop.
We have been able to retard
the downward tendency in the
price of cotton for the past two
because of the persistent
holdings of spot cotton and the
promise on the part of the pro-
ducers that the acreage would be
largely decreased in 1905. If,
however, on the 3rd day of June,
when the bureau report is issued
by the United States government,
the acreage in cotton for 1905
is shown to closely approximate
that of 1904, it will be utterly
impossible to maintain present
prices for cotton, and the tend
ency will be downward the bal
ance of the year. In the face of
the census bureau report, and
the undisputed fact that a heavy
surplus is to be carried over into
the crop of 1905, it would apperr
foolhardy indeed for the grow
ers of cotton to madly rush for
ward and recklessly engage in
the planting of another large
acreage of cotton during the
present spring.
There is but one way out of
the dilemma in which we are now
placed. The task is not a diff
cult one if every man will do his
full duty in the premises. That
duty is to reduce the cotton
acreage on every farm planted in
1904 by at least 25 per cent for
1905, and at the same time make
a corresponding reduction in the