The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1907-04-10
SUMTER. S. G. WEDNESDAY APRIL 10. 1902.

b11siness lines formulate a simple CO.
operative plan, by which uniform
price could be fixed upon cotton
which price would include the cost of
production and profit to the grower,
and profit to the company financing
it plus the necessary carrying charges
AS it is now, and has been for years,
the merchant and banker and busi-
ness men of the south, who furnish
the goods and capital to the producer
of cotton, have actually contributed
to the depression Of the price Of cot
ton by demanding from the producer
a settlement Of their accounts with
out regard to the price that cotton
my be bringing at the time that
these accounts fall due, while those
who are making the price are keenly
alive to the fact that these accounts
arr being pressed, and that the hold
er OF owner Of the cotton has no 9TH
er means Of meeting these obligations
save his cotton. Hence, by depress-
ing the price just at the time that
these accounts are due, and by the
holders OF these accounts pressing for
their payment, the whole amount has
actually contributed to the depression
Of the very article upon which the
commercial expansion Of the south
is dependent It is to relieve this
very situation that the Southern Cot
ton association was formed; and is
fighting to bring all the interests in
the south to realize the necessity for
mutual cooperation.
.eThe demand for cotton products
has advanced in the last few years
far beyond the advance in production.
The amount Of cotton goods consunl-
ed today is limited by the spindle ca
pacity Of the world. ~ spindles OF
the world running full time are not
able to meet the demand for cotton
goods. The prices paid today for
manufactured cotton goods are high
er than they have been since the war
period. Mills could easily pay a
much higher price for the raw ma
terial than is now paid and still clear
a. greater profit per bale than the
producer is now obtaining.
aAs an evidence of the demand for
cotton goods and the profit that is in
its manufacture, In Lancashire dis
trict. in England, alone, new mills,
representing new companies aggre-
eating 10,000,OOo spindles, have been
organized and constructed in seven
years, or since 1900. A like increase
is indicated in other European dis
tricts. In the northern and southern
districts of America and in Canada,
as one mill president expressed II
when asked why the mills Of the
world, in view Of the unprecedented
profit being made by them, did not
nav more for the raw material, re-
Piled: we don't have to- 1t is up
to the south to combine her business
interests to make them have to. The
Southern Cotton association does not
propose-nor does it 6lesire-to be-
come a predatory power, but simply
to preserve the intrinsic and compet-
tive value of cotton; her practical
monopoly of the worlds necessity.
.sThe purchasing world organizes
it's exchanges, sends out its buyers
into every market, concentrates all
it's energy and capital in systematic
ing and concentrating its power for
the purpose Of controlling the mark
et for its best interest. The south, or
the producer of cotton, and those de-
pendent upon him, build no ware
houses, employ no sellers, organize
no exchanges, do Eot systematize or
concentrate their capital, but leave to
the individual to dispose Of his prop
erty as best he may, and the net re-
suit is the south's poverty.
"our plan for organizing is to
build warehouses, elect board Of di-
rectors and a business manager, and,
as cotton is practically money, al
low the individual to hypothecate his
cotton to these companies and re-
ceive loan sufficient 70 meet his
pressing obligations; these companies
to concentrate their holdings and sell
to the purchaser at a price represent
ing, as said already, a legitimate pro-
fit to the producer and legitimate
profit to the fnancier, plus the nee
essarv cost Of warehousing, insuring
and storing. The modern facilities