The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1909-09-29
SMALL COTTON CROP
GIVES THE FARMER A CHANCE
FOR GOOD PROFITS.
W. b. Thompson, Pres. of the New
Orleans Cotton Exchange, Dis
cusscs the Outlook Interestingly.

Mr.. w. B. Thompson. president
of the New Orleans Cotton Exchange,
has sem out a most interesting let
ter on the cotton outlook. He says
the record Of the 1909 crop will con-
stitute an important chapter in cot
ton history. A moderate crop GER
tainly, a dangerously short crop prob
ably, and a wholly inadequate crop
possibly, is coming to meet a demand
which could be satisfied only by the
greatest crop that was ever grown.
This conjunction of an overwhelming
need with insufficient supplies is
fraught with tremendous possibili-
ties for profit Of loss of profit to
the producer and of menace to the
cotton industry.
Whether the issue from this crisis
shall be fortunate or unfortunate,
whether the producer shall realize
his rightful profit, or shall fail to
use or misuse his present advan-
tage, and whether the spinning In
dustry shall 90 through this year of
shortage with the minimum of In
convenience or the maximum of
decentralization, will depend upon one
important particular, namely: the
distribution of the crop. With the
producer and those who help him
abides the power to regulate the dis
tribution and to shape the result.
1t Is a large advantage thus pos
sessed and a grave responsibility
thus entailed. If the power Is en-
| ployed unwisely. or wasted In spas
modic efforts to "~squeeze' the buy
ers ND to a predetermined price, not
only will the producer fail to realize
the maximum of the present benefit,
Int be will help to cripple the man
ufacturing industry and curtail its
| CAPACITY for future consumption.
If the power is left unused, and
| the producer, dazzled by the present
| unexpectedly high prices, rushes his
cotton to market, he will inaugurate
a movement which subsequent pro-
duce can not arrest, and will re-
| neat the time-old mistakes OF sell
| ing the bulk of his crop at the time
when the price is at the lowest OF
the year. If the power Is employed
| wisely. the producer will distribute
the supply Of cotton as evenly as
| possible over the year. and thus rea-
lize for his entire crop the highest
price that an eager demand can pay
| and at the same time keep the de.
mand presently active and keen for
future supplies.
In other and more fruitful years
when the yield has been great and
| the demand relatively small, The
| farmer has been compelled to accept
for his crop whatever he could get,
even though the return was less
| than the cost of production. When
he complained at his lot. he has
been reminded by opulent philoso'
| pliers, that price is regulated by the
law of supply and demand, and that
if he made more cotton than was
needed, he must bear the burden,
In this suggestion there is truth,
But a good rule must work both
ways.
The law of supply and demand
must be permitted to work for the
| farmer as we'll as against him. If
he has to accept a low price when
he makes too much, he should re-
ceive a correspondingly high price
| when he makes too little. If the
| consumer profits by over-production
the farmer should profit by over
demand. There is no divine right in
the consumer to always make the
profit, nor is there any justice in the
apparently generally entertained ex-
p~ectation that the producer must al
ways sustain the loss.
If it should so fall out that the
spinner has ITO pay for the raw
material a price go high that his
season will be unprofitabl BILE, it Is to
be regretted. but the misfortune Is
no greater than that of the farmer
who has to sell for the cost of pro-
duction. If such loss Is to be sus-
tanned this year 1t should not fall
upon the farmer; nor will it 80 fall
if he will but exercise the same pru-
dence in selling his crop that he uses
in buying his clothes. He buys his
clothes when he needs them and has
the price; he should sell his cotton
when the other man needs it, and
has the price.
Efforts have been made to ad-
vance prices by covenants to with
hold cotton from the market until
an agreed figure should be reached.
These efforts have not been success
full, although they have had the eff
feet at time of restricting offerings
and to some extent relieving the
pressure. But there are in this plan
two fundamental defects. The first
Is, that it can not be fully accom-
plished, and the second Is, that If
it could lie fully accomplished, it
would automatically defeat its own
purpose.
The farmer can not hold all his
cotton from the start: but If he
could and prices were forced to the
stipulated figure. at that instant
there would be such an avalanche
of cotton for sale. that the reaction
would he as swift as the advance was