The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1909-09-15
TELLS FARMERS TO HOLD
A SHORT CROP PUTS THEM IN
COMMAND OF SITUATION

And They Should Make the Best
Use of it by Putting Cotton in the
Warehouses.
There is no reasonable probability
of a large cotton crop this year
The ever increasing demand for raw
| cotton must be met. Spinners must
have cotton. The supply being cur
| tailed, as it undoubtedly will be by
this years shortage, the increased
| spindles of the world creates an in
| creased demand, which means log
ically high prices for the South's
great staple. 1t is up to the cotton
growers of the South to seize this
opportunity to reap the golden har-
vest that invites them to put in the
sickle. There should be no bar
g%ain-counter sales for cotton this
fall.
l urge every farmer to ware
house his cotton, borrow money on
his ware house receipts and pay on
his Indebtedness. Money is plenti-
full and there is no need for him to
rush his cotton on the market and
glut it during September, October,
November and December, as he has
80 often done in the past. II no
ware house Is near him 1t will pay
him to ship cotton to the n the
nearest at hand. Our farmers
should this fall make d supreme et-
fort to market their cotton gradual
ly, and only at remunerative prices.
Already the spinners are counting
on buying their supply Of cotton
during the first few months of the
cotton marketing season, as they
did last year, and as they have done
for many years. They expect the
bulk Of the cotton to be thrown on
the market in three or four months,
the beginning Of the selling season.
This they hope farmers will do, so
as to depress the price.
Now, brother farmers, let's view
the situation from a business stand
point. You have been told for a
long time that supply and demand
was the only thing that figured In
the pricing of the staple. l want
to say to you that the demand is
now much greater than the supply.
So it is evident that you have the
situation in your hands. We cannot
make this year, according to the best
estimates, more than eleven and a
half million bales, and this means a
starvation crop.
Statements from Cotton and Cot
ton Oil News, of Dallas, Texas, are
to the effect that the boil weevil has
devastated the fields of two States,
that Louisiana and Mississippi are
suffering from pests and that reports
received at the Government bureau
of entomology at Dallas from the
"boll weevil areas of Mississippi
and Louisiana show that an average
of 80 per cent Of the cotton boil
squares are infested at present with
the weevil.
In the Baton Rouge neighborhood
DR.. Hunter, who Is in charge Of the
Southern field crop Investigation,
says that 95 per cent of the squares
are infested, while in the vicinity
of Natchez, Miss, 80 per cent is a
fair figure. This, DR.. Hunter says,
Is as bad as the worst years of the
weevil ravages in Texas. In all
sections of the Mississippi bottoms.
where the weevil Is at work. DR..
Hunter has established substations,
and 1t is from these that the reports
mentioned above came. Regarding
the condition In Texas. at the present
time. DR.. Hunter said:
West of a line connecting Wealth
erford and Austin. the dry weather
has had the effect of practically re-
ducing the damage incident to the
boil weevil to nothing. Through the
central portion of the State the
damage is considerably less than 1t
was last year. But at the same time
this report must not be considered
as meaning that the cotton crop
will be better, for it will not. In
the same proportion that the dry
weather has affected the boil weevil,
it has also affected the cotton
stalks"
Texas Is the hope. Of the past.
Not in the recollection of the oldest
inhabitants has the blighting effect
Of a hot wind of the first three days
of last week been paralleled. That
spell has cost the South fully half
million bales of cotton. 1t is the
worst spotted crop, too, within the
recollection of the earliest settler.
The damage to the crop in the South
west, and especially Texas, Is little
| short of a disaster. and cotton should
be selling for a high price.
l know some farmers have solo
their cotton for future delivery, and
they will deliver it just as fast
as they an. Just think for a mo-
ment what such a man has done,
He has furnished ammunition to The
enemy to shoot him with. He is
killing the goose that has laid the
golden egg. And the man who sells
his cotton this Way is one of the