The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-02-05
FARMERS MESSAGE
Their Answer to Prices
Frenzied Figuring.
The Organization o! The Farmers is
Responsible For the increase
in Price OF Cot
Ton

TO the Editor 1t may be We'll for
the Southern cotton planters to retro
spcct for a moment and see To. whaf
extent their united effort, in so far rs
it has yet awhile developed. has bcen
effective in stimulating the cotton sit
uation and arrestins the disastrous
conditions that were threatened just
TWO months ago.
When l wrote the first article thai
appeared In any Southern newSpape
on December 9TH, suggesting that the
farmers unite ana stand pat upon the
Two propositions TO hold last years
surplus and reduce this years acreage,
cotton was tumbling in the New York
and other markets, at the rate OF
from one dollar to two dollars per
BALE every forty-eight hours ana it
looked like five cents was inevitable
The crop then WAS estimated ny The
government 1T 12,200, 600 bales. since
then many things have happened, crop
estimates have climbed up until now
the crop is estimated by Mr.. price and
his workers of disaster III over four
teen million bales. Russia and Japan
throne of the Moscovites has
been threatened by internal strife.
That great juggler with fig
ures, Theodore II. Price. has flung
the entire multiplication table into the
dens of the market bears, using col
umn after column Of the leading news
papers in efforts to establish his claim
that the remainder Of the cotton crop
cannot be expected TO sell for more
than five cents per pound He has rid
icuIed the attempt of Southern farmers
bankers and merchants TO organize
and take control OF the situation. He
has dumped thousands of bales of wind
on the New York and Liverpool cotton
markets for March May and june de-
livery. lie has inaugurated 4 system
of frcnZlcd figuring and phrase max
ing which doubtless makes Tom Law
son rave with envy. He has taken the
mills, the banks, the jobbers and the
merchants all into his confidence and
labored and fingered with them in an
effort TO convince them that he who
buys or holds a bale of cotton must
eventually bust" lie has pounded the
market with all the power OF his &C
knOWledged genius, and still cotton has
not yet sold for five cents, nor even six
cents, and but little OF it as low us
seven cents. and during the past few
days cotton has advanced in New York
and Liverpool from two TO three dol
lars per bale. Estimating that there are
five million bales still i'm the hands OF
the farmers and the country nler-
chants. the advance OF the past Few
days amounts 10 q gain of twelve mill
lions of dollars for the Southern cot
ton planter and his neighbor. But what
is il that has thus arrested the threat
ened disastrous slump III cotton? What
is it that has put the price UP $500
per bale in the face of MIR. PRICES
fIcnzied figures? What is it that
planted itself on reef and holding up
a beacon light steered the ship AWAY
from the shoal OF 5 cent cotton. What.
is il that has stemmed the tide of the
mad stream of frcnzied figures tilsJr
eISh from Il Wall Street as the days
are going by? What is ii that
stopped the steady stream OF the
fieecy staple to the ports and inland
nlarts? What is it that has. nut the
world to thinking that this years cot
tor acreage is going to be curtSjled?
Hold your ear close to the ground and
you will ascertain. 1t is a message
from the planter himself, that has
echoed and re-echoed from Red river
to Rhamkatte. The determination to
make less cotton this year and thereby
make room fer the surplus Of last
year seems to abide in the hainlets
and homes of the South. VIII the
farmers OF the South allow MI. Prices
frenzied figures to deter them in this
essential undertaking We slsan see.
F. b. ARENloELL.
C1Ia;ob " n Fabyl1ary 1Q0