The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1907-06-21
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER.
Cotton Exports Aggregate Nearly
500 Million Dollars Home Con-
sumption Steadily Increasing.

J
with the present month. The total for
the II months ending with May, as
shown by figures just announced by
the Bureau Of Statistics Of the De-
partment Of Commerce and Labor, is
40 million dollars, and as the May
exports aggregate about 20 million
dollars in value, it seems to justify
the statement that the total for the
fiscal year 1907 will fall but Slight
ly below the 500 million-dollar line.
This total Of approximately 500 mil
lion dollars as the value of raw cot
ton exported from the country is far
IN excess of that Of any preceding
year in the history of the cotton ex-
port trade. The largest total value of
cotton exported Yin any year prior to
that now about to end was that Of
1906, when the total was 401 million
dollars, the next highest being that of
1905, $50 millions; in 1904, 81 mil
lions; in 1908, 316 millions; and in
1901, 314 millions, prior to which
time the value of cotton exported had
never touched the 800 million dol
lar line. Prior to 1850 cotton exports
never reached as much as 100 million
dollars IN value annually and prior to
1860 had never touched the 200 mil
hon-dollar mark, and it was not un-
til 1901 that they crossed the 800
million-dollar line. In 1905 their val
lie for the first time crossed the 400
million-dollar line, and in 1907 will
nearly reach the 500 million-dollar
mark.
Meantime, with all Of this increase
in expectation, the share Of the cot
ton crop of the United States which
is consumed at home IS steadily in
creasing. The figures Of the Bureau
of Statistics show that in 1876, 20
per cent Of the cotton crop Of the Un-
tied States was taken by domestic
mills; in 1886, 33 per cent; in 1896,
35 per cent; and in 1906, IL per cent.
The increase in the value of cot
ton exported in the fiscal year about
to end will be nearly 90 million dol
lars over that Of the Immediately pre-
ceding year, growth due entirely to
an increase in the quantity exported,
the average value per pound of cot
ton exported in the II months for
which statistics are available having
been 1862 cents, or slightly less than
that for the corresponding period of
the preceding year, which averaged
ll.04 cents per pound; though even
this average valuation Of 1862 cents
per pound for 1907 is high when COM
pared with that of decade ago,
when the average export price Of cots
ton was but IA cents per pound for
the fiscal year 1897, SO cents for the
fiscal year 1898, and sd cents for
the fiscal year 1899, this being the
lowest annual average il a long term
OF years, while the highest annual
average was that Of tie fiscal year
1904. - cents per pound.
Adding to the value of raw cotton
exported that Of other cotton pro-
ducts, whether manufactures from
the fiber or from the seeds, the total
cotton product exported during the
year will approximate $50 million dol
lars' value, that of cloths and other
manufactures Of this character being
likely to aggregate about 33 millions,
cotton-seed oil about II millions, and
cotton seed oil cake about II millions
and cottolene and lardine and other
articles of this class produced chief
ly from cotton seed oil, approximate
ly 5 millions Of dollars.
This total of raw cotton exported,
aggregating as it does nearly 500 mil
lion dollars in The present year, is
far in excess Of any other single arti
cles. Breadstuffs, meats, and manu-
factures Of iron and steel, while
showing large totals, fall in each
case materially below cotton in the
value Of their respective exports.
Meat and dairy products for the full
fiscal year will show exports aggre-
eating approxima lately 176 millions;
manufactures Of iron and steel, about
18o millions; copper, nearly 100
millions; wood, and manufactures
thereof, over rs millions, and leather,
and manufactures thereof, about IS
millions.
All the great cotton consuming
countries Of the world have, in the
last year, increased their drafts up
on the United States for raw cotton.