Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1905-11-07

COTTON AND COMMERCE.
Business Expanding at the Ports and
Trade Increasing In Value.

Business Expanding at the Ports and
Trade Increasing In Value.
For the year 1904. writes w. w
Price from Washington, Charleston
exported to foreign ports, mainly
Germany, cotton to the amount OF
$2.300,172, while the value Of all 9TH
er merchandise for the same time
was only $30,503. The imports for
the years 1908 and 1904 were four
times the value of those Of 1890.
The terminals of the Southern rail-
way at Charleston are along the Ash
ley. and Cooper rivers, and 100 cars
per day can easily be handled there,
No port on the Atlantic seaboard
offers better facilities for handling
ocean trade than Charleston, and this
was illustrated in January, 1904,
when the British steamer Manhattan.
with a cargo Of cotton on fire, put
into that port for relief. The Man.
haitian had left New Orleans on jan
uary 21, 1904, destined for Bremen.
The cargo consisted Of 30,560 bales
Of cotton, one Of the largest cargoes
ever shipped, and also considerable
amount of cotton seed meal, cotton
seed oil, rice, tobacco and lumber.
Fire was soon discovered in the cot
ton. AS none Of the ports along the
~
supposed &c have a channel deep
enough fuv shch a large vessel to en-
ter (the Manhartrn drawing 26 feet,
seven inches Of water,) 1t was for a
time thought that Norfolk would
have to bc made. The captain took
his ship across Charleston bar Janu-
ary 27, and the fire was easily ex-
tinguished with comparatively small
loss.
The minimum depth Of the channel
Of Charleston harbor at this time is
26 feet; Norfolk, %; Newport News,
26; Washington, IT; Savannah, 1S;
Pensacola, 80; Mobile, %; New Or
leans, 26; Galveston, 25. Charleston
is nine miles srom deep water; Nor
folk, 10; Newport News, nine; Will
mington, 27; Savannah, 20; Pensa-
cola, six; Mobile, 32; New Orleans,
90: Galveston, eight.
The three leading states for the
production of cotton for the years
1902, 1903, and 1884 were Texas
Mississippi and Georgia. In 1904
nearly one-fourth of the cotton crop
of the United States was produced In
Texas. and more than one-half In
Texas. Mississippi and Georgia. The
crop in Alabama in 1904 was about
160, 100000 pounds less than that of
Mississippi, 150,0OO,000 more than
that Of South Carolina, and 100000
900 pounds more than that Of Louis
lana. During the year Of 1904 Gal
weston. Savannah and New Orleans
shipped three-fourths Of all the cot
ton that went out Of this country. In
1904 South Carolina farmers ginned
573,689,676 pounds Of cotton; Geor-
gia, 939,S71,753; Mississippi, $685.
s31; Alabama, 722.556,544; Louisiana,
542,s35,292; Texas, 1,56s,75S,071. Al
most all of the Georgia crop for ex-
ports finds its way either to Savan-
nah, Charleston, Brunswick, Norfolk
or Wilmington. North Carolina and
Virginia cotton is marketed chiefly at
Norfolk and the South Carolina crop
at Charleston and Wilmington. Mem
phis gets the larger part Of the Ten
nessee crop and the Arkansas product
goes chiefly to st. Louis. Besides re-
ceiving the bulk of the Texas crop,
Galveston draws largely on Oklaho-
ma and the Indian Territory. Nor
folk, Wilmington and Charleston each
received during the year of 1904 from
700. 900 to 9O0,O bales each.
One Of the most remarkable feat
ures in the figures for 1904 Is the
rapid increase in the exports from
gulf ports and the decline in exports
from Atlantic ports north Of Will
mington. From 1884 to 1888 about
35 per cent Of the cotton exported
went from the Atlantic ports as far
south as Norfolk, while the Atlantic
ports north Of Norfolk shipped about
20 per cent. These south Atlantic
ports shipped about the same per-
'centage Of the total exports Of cot
ton during the following years. From
1889 to 1894, 20 per cent Of the cot
ton was exported from the southern
Atlantic ports. All but IA per cent
of the cotton exported from the
United States in 1904 was shipped
from Atlantic and gulf ports south OF
Norfolk. The north Atlantic ports
from 1889 to 1903 shipped only II
per cent of the cotton and in 1904
only IL per cent. During the nVe
year period ending with 1888 Savan-
nah shipped per cent Of the total
exports of cotton, and in 1904 lS
per cent. The tendency is to ship
cotton to ports closer to where the
product is grown, hence the south
Atlantic ports are doing more busi-
ness year by year.