Woodruff County news. [volume] (McCrory, Ark.) 1901-1910, 1908-11-26
10 Cotton Tee chssn.

SSssOU - CN00A.
nc Business farmer WIN aoms...A
Aas operation like any other Au.,n...
man. There is good rassam whv 81
South should hold cotton for h,.ns.
prices. The whole crop ia not n..A.s
by the mills in three month"; ana -.
one must hold 1t until it In n..d.a
We think It will pay the South Ia Aola
1t and give 1t to the world an u 4.
needed at fair value.
The first item that q mereAar1 =.
manufacturer would consider vouI.
be the cost Of store and stock. or ro.u
ufacturing plant; then the cost eY A..
Grafton, plus the services Of thu nan.
aser, Plus a profit, would deterwinA
the price at which the article az e.yn.
merce or manufacture should ho u.Ia
Is not the farmer entitled to iu,t a.
much. There has never been IN the
history of this country IL we excent the
civil war period, time when the price
OF every thing that 10 needed for the
making Of crop Of cotton was Aixh.
or than at the present time. Tia pric.
OF live stock, the price Of grain. nav.
labor, all are at top prices, and have
been for more than year; every com.
modify under the sun h relativaiv
higher than cotton, and the planter AZ
cotton who makes out of his product
only little more than the cost Of
production is going backward. nut
ting himself In debt to make clothes
for others.
During the cotton season of 1905.
1907, cotton reached the highest price
we had seen since the year 1875, bar
ring the season of 19o3-1s04, when the
market advanced to over 16 cents Der
pound for middling cotton, under con.
ditons that nearly every one interested
In cotton is familiar with, conditions
which forbid using that year as q
fair example In an argument for
higher prices, for in that year was
raised one Of the smallest Of the crops
Of recent years, following the carry.
ing over from the season before very
small visible supply. In the season Of
1906-19o7 we have Q normal condition
Of trade to reckon with, the second
largest crop on record, a crop Of Vs.
$4,000 bales, with visible supply
from the previous season Of $4,000
bales. In that year there were taken
for foreign and domestic mills 1875
900 bales, leaving q surplus at the end
of the year Of 1885, 900 bales, visible
supply. The highest price reached
was at the very end Of the season,
when the trade knew that there was
q surplus mentioned, indicating that
there was, and Is. an actual need for
that much cotton to be carried as O
surplus stock. Statistics show an In
crease Of consumption that more than
keeps pace with the production Of
cotton, and we have passed the day
when eleven million bales is consid-
cred q normal crop; more likely Is 1t
that we need a crop OF thirteen mil
lions, and anything under this means
a short crop. Last year. In spite OF
the miserable trade conditions, the
mills took 11,so0,ooe bales of cotton.
and it takes but 10 per cent Increase
over these figures. apparently an abb
surdly low estimate. to bring the
amount needed to over 100000 bales.
Now, after the bad weather and the
setbacks that the cotton plant has SUI
fsred in the last few weeks, It 10 not
likely that we will have Q crop any
where approaching such figures, ana
there will be consequent shortage OF
supply. The present price Of cotton 10
too low. There should be marketea
only enough to supply the actual 90
mands Of consumers.
Farmers Union National Cotton
Committee.
O. r HiEhtOWer Secretary.