The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-10-23

Let us make . comparison. Las, year the value of cotton sent abroad was $4o0. 900. .00O.---.more than all other crops of the country and more than all agricultural and other machinery exported. And yet the people are in different to the marketing of the crop.
 The WaFsh0uee System.
 ''The Southern Cotton Association Is urging a course of building first clas warehouses extending from North Car olina to the Rio Grande, for the pur- pose of storing and holding cotton. The great trouble has been that we have tried to market the crop of the year in from three to four months. We have overlooked the market at the wrong time, and have thus made the crop sub ject to market manipulation. During the four years since the Southern Cot ton Association movement was insti- tuted, 1t has gained great strength and is now spreading rapidly through every part of the South. By building these warehouses. we will have a place to store our cotton. We will thus provide immense amounts of the best collateral in the world. And by holding 1t and selling 1t as the demand will justify, we can secure a price which will be a fair return for the labor we have put into It's production.
 Within the past four weeks. we nave AAQ LnT0e ITOQACdl BUT HIS, WHICH have resulted in unprecedented damage to the cotton crop. We bave had also 6 destructive, frost. In addition to these two calamities. great quantities of cotton have been destroyed by the boil weevil. From all causes togeth- CT, I believe the cotton crop for the year has been damaged to the extent first week of August~we were calculat- ing the crop would reach 12.500.000, it Is a question now whether 1t will reach Q total of l1,500.000 bales.
 Your State has suffered as no other State in damage to cotton. and you should combine your efforts to save cotton and make 1t bring, in the mar kets of the world. the price 1t is worth. The price of nine cents adopted as minimum at the Hot Springs Conven- tion was not the selling price we ad- vocate. 1t was dead line price, bread and butter price, and not what the average raise of cotton was worth. Let us lo0k at the worlds consumption and manufacture during the last two years. ss
 Tn lsol ws went into the year with a surplus of 50O.oo0 bales. We gather ed that year 13.soo.ooo bales. We re- ceived an average price of nine cents per pound. and at that price the spin ners took 12.Soo.O00 bales. That gave us a little rover ten cents average price per pound.
 DeMand Greater Than Supply.
 We have this year about s00,00O bales of cotton surplus. This, to- gethsr with the estimated yield of Ill., 5o0,000 bales. will give us a total of 12,S0O.000 bales for the entire crop. This will not be enough to provide the world its immediate demand. There has been no decrease in the demand Of cot ton. but there has been a decrease ing the supply. There Is mo- reason in the world that cotton should not bring at least eleven cents .and much of 1t should bring twelve cents.
 Tn marketing the crop, If cotton is temporarily depressed. then temporar- fly depress the selling. There is only one factor which can depress the price. and that is the haste of the farmers to market their crop. We should guard against this.
 "A short time ago visited Washing | ton. I found out from the Chief of the Bureau of Cotton tSatistics that there would be no report on the crop before December 10. I gave this information out for publication because thought it was . matter in which the public would be interested. was surprised the next day to find it reported that had said the ginners would give out no re- port It was also reported that I said the price of cotton would be depressed. Both of thees statements were untrue. What did say was that the Bureau of Statistics would not give out re- port. and that the only thing which could cause a depression in the price Of