Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1912-01-09

matched by the Scent price Of the
CLOSING days Of December Of that year.
The mills takings" thus far this year
outnumber those of 1908 by about 4OO,-
600 bales. The number Of spindles
employed in the cotton trade outnum-
ber those Of 1908 by about 10 to IL per
cent, and the question in price now, as
it was then, is dependent upon the re-
suits Of the coming year.
Speculatively speaking, the world
has become acquainted with cotton
ranging between 10 and Is cents per
1 pound, and has partly forgotten the
6 and scent cotton, which we saw in
the last days Of the last century. The
increased yield per acre has been part
| ly, II not wholly, due to an increased
use Of fertilizers, which makes cotton
raising more expensive than 1t was.
The increased cost Of labor and the
increased cost in living and the in
creased desires Of the people all play
their part in having raised the cost
of producing cotton to approximately
9 or 10 cents per pound.
Quite recently considerable agita-
ton has arisen as to a reduction of
acreage for the coming season, and
numerous conclaves and conventions
have met and resolved on this sub
ject. Those who have watched such
affairs closest during the past twenty
or twenty-five years, however, are
prone to believe that any reduction
in acreage will be better brought about
without, such conclaves and conven-
tions than with, the tendency being to
magnify the importance of these con-
ventions and create the idea with the
individual that everyone will decrease
acreage except himself. The necessity
OF cereal crop In the southwest Is
so great that both Oklahoma and Tex
as must devote within the next month
or so a considerable portion Of their
agricultural area to the production Of
corn, wheat and oats, which were prac-
tically a failure with them last year.
The decline Of cents a pound insures
smaller use Of fertilizer in the east
ern states, where 1t is largely used, and
1t is hardly to be thought that even
were last years acreage replanted any
such phenomenal yield per acre would
result.
The trade conditions in America dur
ing the past twelve months have not
been good, the mills having to be con-
tent with little or no profit. The trade
conditions in Europe were equally
poor up to the beginning of this sea-
son, but Europe, with her long credits
and long range forward sales, seems
to have been able to make a profit on
all cotton since It passed below the 10
cent level until the recent labor wars
In England, where at the moment we
have 100000 people thrown out Of
employment because Of the attitude
OF one man and two women. India,
which is raising a small crop this year.
has the price Of her cottons at closer
fapproach to American cotton than ever
before known in history, only about q
quarter Of penny, or half cent per
pound, being the existing difference
between middling uplands in LIVER
pool and the standard grade Of oomra.
These differences in previous years
have been as wide as a cent and q half
per pound, the American cotton, Of
course, being the dearer Of the two.
the more valuable and the more SPIN
nable, too. This has decreased the
use Of Indian cotton and increased the
use Of American cotton remarkably,
not only on the continent In Europe
and Great Britain, but also in India,
where 1t is estimated 100000 to $780,
900 bales Of American cotton will be
used by Indian mills, and this is again
reflected in the immense increase in
takings Of American cotton by Japan
and also by China
While the American crop this year
promises to be 10000 bales larger
than its predecessors, various esti-
mates Of the Indian crop indicate that
1t will be from 1,O0o,0 900 to 1900, 600
bales smaller than last year, and the
Egyptian crop is estimated at from
200, 900 to 100000 bales smaller than
a year ago. 1t would appear, there
fore, that the worlds cotton crop
might exceed that Of last year by
about 100000 bales Of cotton; but
that increase crossing the dividing
line between famine and plethora, and
having crossed 1t causes a loss Of
about $40 per bale in the value OF
every bale Of cotton which we export.
estimated this season to be in the
neighborhood Of 100000 bales, and
entails a loss to the southern farmer
Of about $270,000, 900, which IL evil
denced by the fact that a 10000. 900
bale crop would have sold at SIS a
bale, whereas 100000 bale crop
is only bringing about $42 per bale.
There is no intensified interest in the
market at the moment, 1t being prac-
tically a professional market, In
which cotton merchants are fighting
the battle for a few points one way or
the other, and no decided trend in
values need be expected until some
definite information in regard to the
next crop is forthcoming or there is
some decided abatement in the de-
mand for spots, which, while not as
phenomenal as the crop itself, is the
largest demand ever known In his
tory-New York Sun.
Harpers Weekly Drops Wilson.-A