The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1909-12-21
COTTON ADDENDA.

Il Following Il an annual review of the
cotton market for the year, some sta :
Aistics and the outlook for the new
year, as mailed by II. and B. Beer. cot
ton merchants of New Orleans, to their
correspondence:
Before commenting on the remark
able developments Of the past year we
desfre<to quote from ours of December
IL OF last var, when values were at
the lowest levels for the past five years:
What might be the lowest levels Of
the season were recorded yesterday,
December AZ, '0s)" The above utter
ance was made one year ago to day
when middliug cotton in this market
was quoted ats "a and contracts were
at the lowest levels OF the season. To-
day. one year later. middiing cotton in
New Orleans Is quoted at Is cents, the
highest price for this time of the sea-
son since 1874, or thirty-five years.
Our conclusions at that time were
founded on the following conditions
then existing. though we were in the
midst of marketing the largest cotton
NEuropean political situation was Inn
proving and the trade and financial
outlook the world over was decidedly
more cheerful. All traces of the panic
were fading and the world was at
peace, nothing then being observable
on the horizon Of a disturbing nature
except the Balkan affair. which difiicul-
ties were soon adjusted satisfactorily
AS noted above, there has been an adj
cetns per pound. or from s4s.75 per
balea-to SIS.
While it Is not question of how
and why such big advance was
brought about or made possible. It fol-
lows nevertheless that since the trade
and the public Is so deeply interested
In the staple today that IL will not be
aniss to explain The faff and winter
of last season was open, to to speak
no rain worthy of mention, especially
In the southwest. particularly In Texas
This was the first drawback. Mean
while trade continued to improve, as
surfing the need of another large crop
and the wheels of industry were grad
ualiy but surely reaching their maxi
mum capacity.
During this interim the 1000. 900 far
mers and farm hands had a full acre
age prepared for the pitching of the
crop. but the opening of spring was
unfavorabie for sowing of the seed, no
rain OF consequence having fallen In
Texas. It was not until the last half
of May that rains made their appear
ances " Texas and permitted planting
operations in a general way. While
climatic conditions were favorable dur
ing the spring and during most of the
summer In the South Atlantic States,
the weevils had made their appearances
in Texas, and were SO numerous In
Louisiana and Mississippi that much Of
the acreage planted in cotton was
plowed under and put in diversified
crops instead.
In the central ard western sections Of
the belt, rains set in throughout Lou
isiana, Mississippi and Alabama. the
precipitation in the last two States be-
fiye ysars, and as the rains continued
excessive all throtksi Fthe j1aohth OF
June in the Mississippi Valley and Ala
bama. great deal Of land had to be
abandoned. Later In the year Texas
complained of the want of moisture.
little or no rain having been had In
June or July and when the trying
months of August and September pass
ed into history with the highest tenn
peratures on record to their credit and
as the hot wave gradually spread all
over the Central and East Gulf States,
including Oklahoma and Arkansas, all
hope for q normal. much less large
crop, was dissipated.
'To cap the climax, one of the earli-
est killing frosts on record struck the
northern portion of the central belt,
and q little later the whole belt, which
hurt the Tennessee crop severely and
put a stop to the making of small
top" crop. All the while prices con-
tinued to advance. having reached
about IL cents by September, in which
months we placed ourselves on record
again by expressing the opinion that
the lowest prices OF the season would
probably be recorded that month,
though at that time a big night was on
in the north to force the market down
keeping with our convictions. It was
only on the 10th inst. that the United
States Government Bureau OF Agrtcul-
ture estimated the probable crop a To-
088, 900 bales Of average 800 pounds
gross weight.
Until then Continental Europe and
New England had not taken the stu
alton seriously, now they realize that
they are up against conditions equally
as strong statistically as In the famous
Sully season of 10000, whilst there
are 81, 900, 900 spindles more in the
world to feed than there were SIX
years ago, $4,000, 900 against 10000
900. The price Of raw cotton Is very
high, of this there Is no question, but
the supply In the South is still about
q, 500, 600 bales less than one year ago,
the crop promising to be about 100000
bales less than last year., 10,3OO,OOO
compared with IL, 1000, and the cot
ton Is In strong hands and VIII be nara
to buy except at higher prices.
Long staple cotton Is usually hard
to buy and very dear at that the
small Egyptian crop and the spreadins
of the weevil in the Mississippi Valley
IRENE advance for this character of cot
ton. India's crop, however, is about
so 900 bales larger than last years pro-
duction, but Is only drop In the buck
ct. AS to the prospects for next year )
crop. much will depend upon the
weather and the weevils. thus far this
winter Texas has been devoid of sufti-
cient moisture to put satisfactory
season in the ground. but 1t Is abie
that there will be a large increase IN
acreage, induced by the unusual high
prices"
ITO no country but the United
states can the world look for the
greater part of its supply or cotton :.
America produces 81 per cent; OF tne
worlds total prOd1cton ner f cent R Rnsy
STA 4 per cent, China 2 per cent. Bra.
iii, per cent, all other countries 4
per cent: having produced In 1soS "a
bales of 500 pounds +s net N Mei 600 1a-
dia $4,000, Egypt 1,726,O0O' Russ sa
SAG. 900, China 100000. Brazil $4,000,
Peru 81 900. Mexico 100000; Turkey
80 900. Persia $4,000. al "a otn neG cU Tbe
worlds CROPS of 1909 will fall short OF
the production of 1908 by about 5000
900 bales. or about 20 per cent less
Notwithstanding the famine prices
American Civil War, when it sold as
high as $3.50 per pound, India In 1860
only made 100000 bales ana the hesl
she has done during the past tortS
years was to make 3,926,o00 in 1905.
"As for Egypt providing the deficit
IT is out Of the question, her crops
having remained stationary FOR the
mast ten years in the face of high ano
10y prices oo G ran r so6 srGm # being
essary to irrigate the land. The south
has a monopoly and in time will con-
troll the situation. II indeed she does
not do so already. This section OF the
country is not only, the greatest COT cot
ton producing section of the world
! hut is fast becoming the largest CON
summing center. having used up 2,5eo,,