The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1910-01-25

Sumed an important place.
merce, and in certain respects - .
been the most Significant ana alum
inating of all. A brief resume OF the
events of the year will easily lead up
to a short discussion OF the larger
questions to which these events have
given rise.
When 1908 began the cotton world
was just emerging from one of the
most trying and pulling periods
thu ough which it had ever passed.
The panic of 1907 had caught indus
try in q state which most sane ob-
servers regarded as highly inflated
and 0~ver-extended. The first min
months of 1907 had marked the Gull
animation of an extraordinary world
wide demand for all classes of cotton
goods. accompanied by an extension
of manufacturing facilities in all IN
dustrial countries beyond anything
ever known before. Prices Tor all
goods a reached a very high level
without in any way checking the IN
satiable demand, and mills had been
able to make contracts for the de-
livery Of goods many months ahead
at this level of values. The price of
raw cotton also, in spite of the recent
notwithstanding crop of 1906-0l,
(thOugh partly by reason of the poor
er prospects for 1907-0S), was, just
before the panic, very high and bade
fair to go much higher before the dis
tribution of the crop OF 1907-OS was
ehected. The panic, therefore, with
its paralysis of credits and utter I'M
certainty as to the immediate future,
found the cotton industry in appar-
entity a most unpromising and danger
Gus position.
First Effects Severe.
The first effects OF the panic were
unquestiOnably severe. Prices at once
began to decline-print cloths falling
from = IA CENTS Dpr ward to - cents
during the ensuing year, and mlddlng
cotton from 13 IL cents per pound
to 10 cents in New York within seven
months. The great QeStlon, now
ever, III ev~erybOdy's mind was that OF
the working out of the immense vol
ume OF contracts at high prices fol-
both goods and raw cotton which had
been entered into in many cases foI
the whole Of the year 1908. Should
there lie q general breaking of these
and defaulting upon them, the cotton
industry would undoubtedly receive a
blow from which it would take years
to recover.
The year 1908 was largely devoted
TO the disposal of this problem, anc
the results We're of the most crafty
ing nature. Heavy losses We're I'M
doubtedly sustained in many direc,
lions, but on the whole a degree o
sOlidity and strength was disclosed il
the whole vast industry of manufac-
turing and distributing cotton which
perhaps nobody in the trade, With
ocular demonstration, would have be.
lieved possible. AS the year ad
Vanced it became more and more APP
parent that the adjustments would b'
completed without serious trouble.
Supply and Demand.
Accordlngiy when the year $50:
able to dismiss further consideration
of the special questions arising iron
the panic and to devote itself to thu
perennial and fundamental question
of the demand and supply of raw cot
ton and cotton goods. And with re
gard to this question, as soon as /
again became dominant, it speedil.
appeared that some kind OF a chang
had taken place in the old order O
things. 1t was a matter for genera
comment that during and after tn
panic the price of middling cotton il
cents per pound, a price which les
than ten years before was locke
upon az an exceedingly high one 70
cotton. To be sure. the American
crop of 1907-08 was a very moderat
one, as crops go nowadays, being onl.
11-50o,00O bales, against 1880. 90
bales the year before. But a larg
supply had been carried over by spin
nefS and merchants from the previ-
Gus crop, and further, both Egypt an,
India had large crops; 50 that it wa
the general expectation that at leas
as low prices would be seen 70
American cotton as in 1904-O5-i. G.,
IL cents. But this did not come t
pass, even after it became apparen
that the American crop Of 190S-0
was to be a very large one. On tn
contrary, SO Unsuitable was the de
mand for spinners for the last par
OF the crop of 1907-0S and the earle
ana heavier part Of the crop of 1908
O9, that the price of middIing cot
ton In New York slowly but sureI
worked to a higher level. Cotto
goods also o~bstinately refused to de
cline to the level of only a few veay
ago, and by the middle of 1908 show
ed the same tendency to advance i
price as did raw cotton. Print cloth