The Aberdeen weekly. [volume] (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1878-1933, 1908-09-04
Cotton Crop Badly Spotted.
Cotton Journal.

CDtlDL JOuAlldt
As the growing season Of the cot
ton crop nears the end Of maturity.
it is possible to forecast with
some kind Of reliability the proba-
bic yield. We win not, however, /
at this time undertake to forecast
production from the crop Of 1908, .
as there yet remains about five weeks /
thro' which the crop must 60 before
definite results can be figured on.
What we do wish to call the atten-
ton Of our readers to at the present
time, however, is the general spot
ted condition Of the crop in practi-
cally all sections Of the belt. Our
+ special correspondents from North
Carolina to Texas have been sending
IN information Of damage to the
crop in their local sections from va
rious causes. Excessive rainfall,
long periods of drought, insect dep
relations. oyerHows and the wide
! spread damage from boil weevils in
the Southwest have become so ex-
/ tensive that undoubtedly the crop
has suffered a heavy loss from the
expectations of two months ago. in
many sections the crop is opening
prematurely, due to excessive hot
waves and dry weather. a bumper
crop, as SO confidently predicted by
the cotton trade generally some
weeks ago, is under these conditions
a practical impossibility. The cot
ton crop has reached that critical
stage Of its growth when the news
of a shower at Fort Worth, Texas,
last week, flashed over the wires to
the big cotton exchanges caused a
+ perpendicular drop in the price Of
futures Of 10 points or 50 cents
bale. This incident alone clearly
indicates that the general public is
/ in grave doubts as to the yield Of the
crop. 1t reminds us Of a drowning
man grabbing at straws. If a bump
er yield were assured the effect Of
local shower would not be Of suffi-
cient importance to cause the Bear
/ ish'' operators to use it as an argu-
ment to hammer prices. There isl
wide difference of opinion at the
4 present time as to what the yield
will be- Practical farmers say the
crop is spotted and will therefore
not be above normal yield, while
/ the Pullman car statisticians who
view the crop from the car windows
at 40 miles am hour say the yield
viii be heavy. Since the new crop
has hardly begun to move and the
farmers have no cotton to sell, the
2. spectators are having their own
sweet viii with prices, but a little
later on things will change when the
real article gets on the market. 1t
? is not our opinion that farmers will
walk up to the altar in October and
allow the product of their labor to
be slaughtered at the present low
range Of October futures, which are
quoted around 8 4c. The cotton
trade Of the world is not in such a
+ depressed condition that the farm
ers should sell their cotton below
/ the cost of production in order to
keep the mills going. The world
must have clothing, and it is well
known that the supply Of manufac-
tured fabrics in nearly all lines of
cotton goods is rapidly becoming
exhausted The mills have been GO
ing on short time for many months
and the time is not far distant when
they viii be compelled to run over
time to supply the demand of bare
shelves in merchants stores all over
the world If this crop is sold cheap
the output of the mills next year is
going into the hands of consumers
at a high level Of prices. We do not
want the mills to operate at "A loss.
nor are they going to do so. Neither
do we want the farmers to sell their
cotton at prices which do not show
j at least reasonable prices, and there
is clearly no necessity for them to
/ do 50. unless they rush the staple
on the market at the opening Of the
season at prices fixed by the Bear
+ ish" speculative interests of the cot
ton trade. Undoubtedly the fight
between the growers and the buying
trade will be a hard one this season
as it has been in the past, but the
farmers are in better condition to
protect this crop than any marketed
heretofore.
Slow Waiter-Have | ever been
in the country, sir? No sir. Why
+ ! 7