Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-03-19

running on short time. Many of them
have warehouses full of finished goods
for which there is no market at present.
This will naturally reduce the demand for
raw cotton and that will be followed by
a reduction in price according to all the
laws of trade But the Cotton Growers
Association is still bravely shouting for
15-cent cotton and many of the members
expect to get that price.
Lumber Prices Fall.
There has also been a heavy slump in
the lumber business throughout the en-
tire south. 1t began in October and still
continues The sawmill men have i'm
mense stocks of lumber piled up awaiting
better market. Prices have gone away
off, The demand has practically ceased
for the present except for export, because
the financial depression has arrested
building operations throughout the coun-
try. all railway construction and other
enterprises in which lumber is used. AS
lumber is the second item of importance
in the freight traffic. the earnings of the
railways have suffered accordingly:
There has also been a large falling on
in the shipment of finished cotton goods
other parts of the state. because OF stag
nation in the eastern market.
The mills down here kept on running
for several months in the hope of an ear
ly revival Of trade until their storerooms
of the Columbia factories has over SIX
hundred thousand dollars worth of cot
ton fabrics all baled and ready for ship
ment as soon as the orders are received:
but in the absence of a demand for their
products they have beer compelled TO lay
off portion of their operatives. and most
Of them are now running only three days
In the week. This has also affected rail-
way earnings very considerably.
Fertilizers Not Shipped.
One of the largest items of freight in
this part of the country during the win
ter season is fertilizers. shipped from the
factories at Charleston, Columbia and
other centers to the local markets
throughout the cotton belt. And that
trade has been seriously interrupted
nearly all winter because the farmers had
not sold their cotton and had not decided
how much acreage to plant this spring.
The influence of the Cotton Growers AS
ISOLATION is being used very strongly to
limit the acreage in order to force up the
price. It's officials who go about the
south addressing farmers conventions
argue that :. more profitable to get a
big price for NAL crop than small
price for q rop: that the economy
in labor. in l.. exhaustion Of the soil. in
the side of the small crop: and many
planters have been following that advice.
The crop of 1907 was unusually large and
the officials Of the Cotton Growers Asso-
citation are trying to secure agreements
from the planters that they will plant only
three-fourths as much this year.
While that question remained undecided
the planters did not buy their usual stock
Of fertilizers. and hence the immense win
ter tonnage which the railways have al
ways handled in the south has been with
held Recently the demand has begun and
the local papers now ACRE. that there has
never before been such rush for fer
tlizers as there is at present. The farm
ers are all sending in big orders and de-
handing immediate delivery. SO as to have
the fertilizers on the ground for early
blowing. The railway companies are do
ing their best to deliver the goods. but it
will take long time to make up for the
traffic they have lost during the winter.
Decreased Passenger Traffic.
Passenger traffic has fallen off in the
same proportion as the freight and from
the same causes. The largest patronage
of the railway companies in the south
comes from drummers and buyers of mer-
camille houses running back and forth.
Al most of them have remained at