The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1907-10-01

jus uuIscTSdi DuSiucSS expansion lHS
consumption of cotton will increase
far more rapidly thaa it has done In
the past. The world knows that ii Is
dependant upon the south for it's sup
ply of raw material with which to
keep in operation the 122, 100000 spin
dies which are now at work and TO
clothe mankind. With such a mono
poly on coal and iron which we have
suggested, with the worlds demand
for cotton increasing more rapidly
than ever in the past, would it not
be the height of business folly-prac-
| tically business suicide-for this Sec
ton not TO demand OF the world a
full and profitable price for its grea.
staplee And yet a full price, higher
even than what cotton is commanding
today, is not by any means exorDi-
tant. 1t is absolutely certain that the
world could take the worlds crop at
Is cents a pound and pass it into con-
sumption just as readily when once
| adjusted to that basis as it did at
six or seven or eight cents a pound
Low prices do not always guarantee
| consumption, and what we call high
prices do not always prevent lncreaS-
! ed consumption. The cotton splnnefs
of the world became so accustomed 10
the starvation prices prevailing be-
tween 1891 and 1902, when they rang
ed from an average Of six cents TOT &
full year, in 1889, to a little less
than nine cents in other years, that
sometimes they seem to have entlrelE
overlooked the fact that there were
only two periods of low prices in the
history of cotton.
Prior to 1889 cotton ranged very
| generally from II to Is cents to 40
| cents a pound. In 1S39-4O there came
a rapid drop from 1886 cents as the
average for the year 1844-5, when cot
| ton averaged in New York for the
| year only 5.63 cents per pound. For
two or three years it ~f1uctuated slight
", but rose again in 1849-50 to 1924
| cents, and ran at an average of about
IL cents until the beginning of the
war in 1861. After four years o. war
cotton averaged, for 1866 1890 cents
per pound, continuing to command for
some years largely over 20 cents, and
not until 1876 did it go as low as an
average of Is cents.
The average for he whole period
from 1900 to 1875 vas probably over
Is cents a pound, but at these prices
cotton found a ready market, so there
gas NO inability. because of high
prices, to consume it. even in 1859
so, nearly so years ago, when the ma
terial progress of the world was trit-
ling compared with the present, and
when the population was go short Of
what it is today, the cotton mills read
BY consumed 1850, 900 bales at an
average New York price of II cents
Based on the increase in population
and in the worlds consuming ability,
instead of u crop being only a lit
tie than two and a half times
what it vas then, it ought to be three
or four times as great, and still find q
market as high prices as then ruled.
During the low-priced period which
closed with 1902 the south losttmoney
on cotton growing. Here and there
! a farmer could make a small profit a.
these low figures, but as a whole the
south simply wasted it's energy in Civ
ing to the world it's great staple at
less than it cost to produce. e
Last year one of the English cot
ton commissioners, while visiting ibis
country, in an address urging reasons
why the south should not Undertake
To demand hiOh -riooc f0r- ontf0p I,1S
should be content with the low prices
prevailing some years ago, said that
these advanced prices "took clothes
Off the backs of the poorer people of
India, who are great consumers 81
E~ngland's cotton goods" In reply the
writer expressed regret at this condi-
ton of the poorer people in India,
but added that for ten years low
priced cotton has taken the clothes
Off the backs Of the cotton farmers of
the south, and, with all good friend
ship for the cotton spinners of Eu-
rope and for the cotton of
India, if any nor undressing has 80
be done it will not be by the cotton
producers Of the southern states. They
have at last come into their own. and
they propose to maintain a price for
cotton which will give them a fair
profit" This was not in any spirit
Of unfriendiy feeling to the cotton
manufacturers of Europe. Naturally.
they have sought to secure their raw
material at the lowest possible cost.
They have naturally followed the plan
suggested in a report made to Par
lament over so years ago, in which il
was suggested that the policy of En-
glish spinners should be 10 exert their
influence to keep the price of cotton
at the lowest point possible in order
that the planters in the Southern
States of America may seek by the
increased number of bales TO make No
for the smaller price per bale. We
are MOI hla 01jnr Nur fNraiCn friends