Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1905-04-19
carefully tabulated statement, which

will be issued on June 3D., stating
the number of acres of cotton that
will be planted in the South this
year. If this report shows general
decrease in acreage of 25 per cent,
then the problem of Southern pros
perity during the year 1905 will be
solved. If, however, the report in
dicates but small decrease, or
shows practically the same acreage
as that of 1904, no power under
heaven can stop the immediate
downward tendency in the price of
cotton, and financial ruin and disaster
will present itself to every line of
business and all the professions in
the South within the next eight
months. The attention of the entire
cotton world is turned at this time
upon the action of the cotton growers
and they have now the practical con-
troll of the entire situation.
The demand for cotton goods is
unprecedented, and with full sup
ply of cotton on hand, every mill will
be operated to its full capacity dur
ing the next twelve months. There
fore, if the acreage is reduced 25
per cent and the spot holders of cot.
ton continu ue in their present deter
mutation to refuse to sell their cot
ton at existing prices, there can be
no question that as soon as the acre
age has been definitely ascertained,
showing the reduction which is
asked, the price of cotton will imme-
diately advance to figure which
will give to every farmer who has
held his cotton fair profit upon its
production. There is no business
sense in producing cotton at loss.
It would be better for the individual
to plant no cotton at all than to
spend the energies of the year pro-
ducing staple which when placed
upon the market will not, bring
enough money to pay for the cost of
its production. 1t is a well estab-
lished fact that no material can be
woven into cloth in competition with
American cotton up TO ID centsslper
pound. The Southern cotton growers,
therefore, have a practical monopoly
of the clothing business of the world
when the price of their staple is not
advanced to a price beyond ten or
twelve cents per pound. The only
active competitor of American cot
ton at this time is American cotton
in other words, our own staple is
competing against itself in the mar
kets of the country, due to the fact
that we have raised more of it than
the world can consume, and the sur
plus is being used as a hammer to
! depress the price of that part of the
crop which is actually needed for
immediate consumption.
Another important factor; is that
we have practically no system of
marketing the cotton crop, selling it
with an utter disregard of the de-
mand and putting an enormous over
supply on the market during short
period of time and ..allowing the price
to be controlled almost entirely by
speculation.
We can successfully meet the first
difficulty by curtailing the 9produc-
tion in 1905 to meet the Legitimate
demand for consumption lin 1906 by
decreasing the acreage and not max
ing the crop more than 100000
bales the present year. We can sue
cessfully meet the second difficulty
by encouraging the immediate con-
struction of first class llsystem of
modern up-to-date standard ware
houses throughout all important
points in the cotton belt, iwhere our
cotton can be stored and handled at
a minimum cost and sold slowly to
meet the legitimate demands of the
mills. The cotton mills would greatly
prefer stable price for cotton and
are quite willing to pay a minimum
price of 10 cents per pound for all