The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1907-10-16

proper ones. Are they too low or are
they too high? In my opinion they
are lower than circumstances war
rant, and I believe that if the farmers
will take steps they should take there
will follow an advance in prices. To
what extent this advance will go
am unable to say; and no one, gentle
men, is in position to determine
this question; no one actually knows.
The farmer has right. which ev-
cry one comedies. TO hold his crop Tor
! TX cents a pound and to hope that II
nroner,y marketed it will reach that
fpnre ioin with him in this hope
/ bacause as have already said, the
prosperity of the Southern cotton
nlanter means the prosperity OF the
South. AS be grows rich we all IN
the South grow rich with him. But ]
am unwilling today to take Ipon my
self the responsibility of saying that,
in my opinion, if you hold your cot
ton there is any absolute certainty OF
/ its enhancing in price to Is cents
pound. However, there are certainly
more reasons why Is cents is an
eoiutable price than the prices which
are now being paid are fair, and un-
der such circumstances there is every
reason -c-;4y our farmers should cease
giving ,r~:r cotton away at rates
scr :. present prevail. Cotton IN
, 0 angeburg today is bringing IN the
neighborhood of II cents pound 10
the producer. Last year the average
price throughout the South for cotton
was 10 els cents pound for MD
ding. A year and one month ago
today 9 is cents per pound was the
marketed value Of your cotton out
towards the close Of the season, on
the 9th day of August last, the
same cotton selling in September at
is cents pound was Worth Is
! 9-16 cents a pound Why TO-DAY II
has fallen in price nearly cents
: Certainly conditions do not warrant
lit. If last August, With crop "nich
! necessitated the carrying over ln1o
. the next year of one million bales.
cotton was worth 13 9-16 cents per
nound. is it not worth just as mucn
today with crop every pound OF
which will be consumed by the SPIN
| dies of the world? That cotton today
is selling for less than it did 81 or
40 davs ago is due entirely to the
fact that the farmers by forcing their
product upon the market play abso-
1utelv into the hands of the specula-
tors. Every possible excuse is useo
by the speculator to bear, the mar
ket. And whether or not there IS any
sense or reason in the pretexts "hlcn
they give for low market. as long
as the farmers insist on disposing or
their product as soon as it is made,
these pretexts will have their effect.
Reasons for Lower Maket.
IF a storm is reported or even II
a slight atmospheric depression Is
mentioned in the West Indies cotton
goes up on the New York exchange,
in the fear that the storm will re-
duce the production When the storm
does not materialize the market is
promptly reduced because the storm
has not reduced the production.
/ When the government report as nap
pened this week states that the con-
dition of the crop is not as good as II
was a month ago, the New YORK
speculators choose to place an en-
tirely different Interpretation upon
the report. They prefer to say tha1
white is black, and black it becomes;
and as result the cotton maEke'
promptly weakens.
cit is the speculator today who has
the winning hand, and he will con-
rinue to hold this nand as long as
the farmers allow him every time TO
hold the trumps and to play them
when he thinks best.
ut is the speculator and not the
cotton mill people, who, today, IS
forcing down the prices OF cotton
The cotton mills did not object TO the
prices which prevailed before the re-
cent decline in cotton, for the reason
that they were making reasonable
Inrofit on the goods which they are
selling. having made their contract
For goods based upon higher prices
than are being paid today. 1t is not
to the interest of the mills to have
cotton decline. Already as result
of the decline, cotton yarns have gone
down. and where such goods are
manufactured by mills which nave
/ hought cotton at much higher pf4ees
than prevail today, it is not to the
interest of such mills to have othe-
mills make contracts for yarns at d
flower basis.
.To have cotton now continue to
decline means that their competitor
+! who is short of cotton can purchase
what he needs for about three cents
a nound less than the cotton in their
warehouses cost them. The mill man
as well as the farmer wants staple
price for cotton; then both can, with
some degree of certainty, know what
taey can depend upon.
The Values in Cotton.
Cotton may be said to have two
values: the intrinsic value and the
sDeculative value. It's intrinsic value
today is considerably more than the
farmers are being offered for 1t. It's
speculative value can only be deter
mined by the manner in which the
farmers are willing or able to hold up
their end of the line.
Conditions taking into consider
alton the supply and consumption,
make the intrinsic value Of cotton no
less today than it was when the mar
het opened. Its speculative value
will be determined by the ability of
| the farmer to hold his cotton for ad-
vanced prices Cotton has in the past
decade, with conditions far more un-
favorable than they are today, reach
ed Is cents. This, however. was the
result of speculation, for within i've
months cotton fell TO nine cents, the
| corner having been broken.
Being interested in the warehous-
ing of cotton and joining the several
farmers organizations in advising the
farmers to hold and warehouse their
cotton this year, I feel that I can not
take upon myself the responsibility
Of saying to what extent you have 4
right to expect cotton to advance.
do say. however. that yon are not re-
ceiving today wl2t YOU should re-