The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1906-06-27
COTTON TRUST SUGGESTED.
Alleged Advantages of a Combination
of Cotton Mills, With the View OF
Eliminating the Cotton Spectators.

ress seems to have been made. AS
one definite result a virtual gentle
mans agreement exists between grow
er and spinner to work for better ball
ing and the matter Of government crop
reports was so thoroughly discussed
\ that definite effects are bound TO fol-
Z low the discussion. But when it
came 70 speculation, the delegates
virtually acknowledged their power
lessness, for their positive work in
cluded little more than strong res
oIution OF condemnation.
From that, of course, the only tan
gible effect is that it places grower
and manufaeturer both squarely on
record as believing that speculation IS
disastrous to both parties andds, there
fore. a common evil against which
every individual is pledged to work.
Some Of US have hardly expected, IN
l.yiew of the general interest in specu-'
lation there is among planters and
business men alike, that so broad a
condemnation would arouse SO little
discussion as to the right Of the indi-
Yidual to hedge his future dealings.
There was one speaker at the con-
ference, however, who actually hinted
a. what may be the final solution of
the whole cotton supply problem-a
cotton trust. It has for many years
been a; boast at the meetings of the
various cotton manufacturers that
t,1e rs is the only great American
industry not as yet in any portion con-
trolled by a trust.
President Maccoll, for one, gave
voice to this Sonly the other day 1t is
true that there are several chains Of
mills managed from one headquarters.
like those of Robert Knight, or the
Goddards or the big commission
>houses,5 5and that there are corpora
tons which have a mill at the North.
The recent consolidation at Marches
ter, n. H.. which brought unaer one
corporate control mills worth over
half million spindles with some 12,-
coo employees, created an organiza-
tic- as powerful as the trust which
II ny lines of business, now have.
But for an out and out combine, one.
which has an authoritive voice or
large power in the whole indstry, the
cotton business has none, and the on
ly serious attempt ever made to form
one, that at Fall River in 1899,
ended without success.
There is room for honest doubt,
just the same, whether the result Of
this absolute independence has been
all that is claimed for it.
Perhaps it has resulted in cheap
er cotton for the final consumer than
would have come from a combined
industry. That is always claimed for
unrestrained competition and is its one
conspicuous merit. But not even the
benefciaries Of competition Will in
sist that its effects ought 20 include
a failure on the part Of the mills to
earn dividends or even to result in
meagre earnings. Yet that is ex-
actly what the agent Of the Cocheco
Mills, Charles II. Fish, than whom
few stand higher in the cotton in
dustry, told the cotton planters at
this same conference was happening:
eve know very well that in our cot
ton mills in the North comparatively
few Of them are making a legitimate
profit. Many of them are paying
dividends which came partially, if not
entirely, from a surplus which have
come to them perhaps from rise
in values or good business OF many
years ago.
Obviously the cause Of this condi-
ton, or at least partial cause, is
the competition between the mills.
The elimination of this by combina-
ton would go far toward making the
Industry properly profitable.
Nevertheless, one may well suspect
that another cause, the speculative
character which the whole industry
has acquired as result Of the work
of the operator in cotton futures, is
fully as responsible as any eother fac
tor for the state Of the industry. To
quote Mr.. Fish again:
'I think what the manufacturers,
both South and North, need more
than anything else is a stable price
for cotton That such stability is
possible until there exists in the in
dustry a dominant influence, which
can regulate prices Of cotton and of
goods and. most essential of all, can
regulate the production and oistribu-
+5on of cotton from wear tc, wear iS