The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1909-10-16

ing a new and richer cOloring over
the lives and endeavors Of our South
ern folks. A few years Of good prices
and the distressed cotton grower will
be dead feature in our cotton calcu-
lations; a few years Of good prices
and the smile of prosperity will Ger
spread the face of the South, paint,
white-wash. school houses good
roads, good tools and a rising genera
ton, pure in Anglo. Saxon breeding.
the south's greatest asset. will at
tract the attention Of the worlds stu
dents. humble and astute.
The South is not to always remain
a purely agricultural country, con-
tented with the profits Of the pro-
ducer. No other section of the world
has progressed so markedly in the
march of manufacturing; for the cot
ton year ending August 81, 1909, the
South consumed more cotton than ali
the mills in all other portions OF the
United States, and the beginning of
progress in that direction has just
started.
Time unravels the mysteries of life,
and, we know the future by the past
therefore the time is not far distant
when the South will be the worlds
richest domain and will consume all
the cotton produced in America. For
example, careful computation indi
Gates production of 1850, 600 bales
in twenty years, and if we continue =,
increase in the consumption of cotton
during the next twenty years at the
same ratio as during the past twenty
years, we will then. demand 17,5OO,OOG
bales for our Southern mill supplies
Then will we not be the greatest
country named on the maps? Fall
River is rich and powerful, spinning
and weaving million bales, Man
chester is factor in English and
worlds affairs, consuming 10000
bales weekly: what then will be the
position Of the South growing seven
teen and half million bales and con-
suning it within her own borders?
Our crop this season will run
around the 100000 bales mark and
the price per pound will be very
high before the end of the cotton
year. The spinners demand from us
1S,50o000 bales to keep things run
ming smoothly, hence if the supply
falls short and our people do not has
ten in glutting the market. prices will
be strong and good. But If the tint
is thrown on the market and the buy
er permitted to, name the prices,
| there may be falling from present
quotations between now and Christ
mas Before the cotton year closes,
cotton will go higher than 1t did dur
ing the sully year.
The crop will be without doubt
some 100000 bales short Of that pro-
duced last year. You will observe we
are not splitting hairs over the finar
ginning. because no one at this time
can do more than guess the size Of
the crop and but few if any of the
recognized cotton statisticians are
| willing to take the chance of writing
themselves as reckless by guessing so
early In the season. The price, meas
| ured by ordinary years in the past is
hafo
ton year, It will be considerably high
er or course this is prognosticating
but we have foundation of facts to
stand on. The worlds population is
as a matter of fact, constantly in
| creasing hence the demand for cotton
| goods Is enlarged from season to sea-
son.
Nhat Ambitious Capitalists Are Do
ing.
To meet the demand for manufac-
| tured cotton goods ambitious capital
lists are causing new mills to be erect
ed and new spindles installed and to
make dividends possible these spindles
must be fed. For instance England
alone has installed spindles requiring
100000 bales of cotton, they being
now for the first time ready for
Transforming raw cotton into articles
OF wear. These foreign spinners it
seems to me are under the influence
of the glamour of rosy profits made
by Manchester, and some time they
may awaken from their dream that
the South is an agricultural country
| only. The South will in time, say 20
years hence. consume the product of
the Southern plantations. When we
will be producing 100000 bales,