The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-10-19

oII1CSo al SodI VI = Ia
regard to the cotton crop are thor
oughly unreliable, the yield this year
will be very short. Considering the
rapid increase in the worlds consump-
ton Of cotton even during such a Pc
Rod Of depression as that OF 1907
1908, it may be accepted almost with
out question that with the wonderful
prosperity which is now coming upo
this country and which from this
country will spread more or less to all
other lands there will be a very great
increase in the consumption of cotton
goods. The very general claim made
by mill owners that higher prices will
lessen consumption may prove a fal-
lacy. Last year it was very difficult to
find a market for 10000 900 tons Of
pig iron when iron was selling on the
basis Of $40 to $11 in Birmingham.
Now the market is consuming pig iron
at the rate Of 100000 tons, though
prices are IN the basis Of SIS at Biz
mingham. With double the produc-
ton Of last year now going on, with
prices at an advance Of about SO per
cent, buyers are eager for iron which
last year they were unwilling to accept
at the lower prices and while produce
ton was just about One-half what it
Is now. 1t is, therefore, not altogeth-
eT safe for SpinnerS to count on a re-
duced demand for cotton goods by
reason of higher prices Of raw mate
rial. If general business revives COM
n~ensurate with the revival in the iron
trade, and it seems that this is abso-
lutely certain, then the world Will be
ready to all the cotton goods
that can be produced out of this years
crop. eve though prices for the raw
material should rule higher than at
present.
The English spinncrs, as usual. are
playing a very shrewd game. Some
years ago a leading cotton manurac-
turer in the South wrote to the Manu-
facturerS' record that he was opposed
TO any invitation being extended the
spinners Of England to visit this cour-
try, because, said he, they were the
ableSt merchants in the world, and he
vas opposed to their gaining by per
sonal study any knowledge of the cot
ton conditions In the South. He did
not "a them as competitors to any
greater extent than they were, and he
was afraid that a visit to the South
would enlarge their knowledge Of cot
ron production and cotton manufac-
ture in this section. The English
spinners Of the Continent are making
"A great cutlery at present about the
high price of cotton and are endeaV-
oring to induce the cotton s%pinners OF
The world to curtail production in or
der to force down the market for the
raw cotton, or to force up the market
for cotton goods; but. while doing this
they are vigorously buying cotton as
rapidly as it can be had. American
mills, IN the other hand, are limiting
their purchases, hoping to secure low
ar prices.
Considering the decrease in the
yield, prices which ordinarily might
be counted as good, would this year
be disastrous to Southern farmers as
4 whole. In some States, especially
The Ga rO1jn2S and GEORGIA the crnn
is fairly large and the growers in this
section will be enriched by the high
prices due to the shortage in the
Southwest. Taking the situation as a
whole. however, it ought to be the aim
Of cotton mill people of the South, as
~ ell as every business man in this sec
lion, to do all in their power to secure
for the benefit of the South a high
dng Of prices. The policy which
would attempt to force down the price
CT the raw staple is unwise from every
point of view. SO important is cot
ton in the trade relations of this coun-
try and in our financial relations with
Europe that every industry in the
country is benefited by the prosperity
which flows from the prosperity of the
cotton growers; while many ndus-
tries would be greatly hampered and
aheir prosperity curtailed by low
prices Of cotton. Nature has forced
upon this section his year a very
short crop. 1t is the South's oppor-
tunity, if not it's duty, to unite in Sc
curing the utmost benefit Of this mo-
Eopoly and compel the world to pay
a price commensurate with the worlds
needs for cotton goods and with the
shortage in the crop. The cotton mill
in the South who takes any
other view of the situation is dealing
with the problem from a narrow point
of view, rather than from that of the
hest interest Of all the people of the
whole South.