The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-06-23

Business in the wholesale district con- tnues active, and both sales and receipts are heavy. supply and demand being well balanced on staple merchandise. Among shipments of produce received yesterday were two cars of cantaloupes by Douglas Bros. from Florida. This lot of melons is reported to be of excellent quality, and sales are said to be brisk to the retail trade
 Local cotton quotations have of late been affected by reports of favorable weather conditions for the growing crop and spot cotton has been reduced to sac, which is the lowest quotation made in several weeks. By far the greater portion of cotton raised by the farmers of this state has now been disposed of, and a largo percentage has been exported or has passed into the hands of the spinners and manufacturers to be made up into fabrics. The major portion of the 1914 crop, according to statistics, has been sold by the producer while fairly good
 prices prevailed.
 The 1914 cotton production, as is gem
 erally known. was record-breaker; and 1t was the prediction of experts last fall
 that only comparatively small percent age would be absorbed by the domestic and foreign trade. It was thought that exports this year on account of hostilities would be extremely light. but this pre- diction has failed to come true
 According to a preliminary report re- gently issued by the department of com
 merce of the United States bureau of cen sus 7s76l11 had been exported within the 10 months ending May 31. as compared With S.72S.012 exportation for the same fe- riod of last year. The domestic consump- ton for the same time is estimated at A. 5so,o22, and that for 1914 4.7s1.600 bales There Is. however. a much larger number
 Of bales of cotton on hand in the ware houses now than at this time last year. It is estimated that 2441,1s3 bales are | stored away in this manner as compared
 with storage of 947 ,043 at the end of May | Of last year. This is accounted for in a | large measure by the fact that a much heavier crop was picked last fall than that of the year before.
 l It Is stated by Birmingham cotton men
 that the governments percentage figures | Tor the southern crop will apply with a | fair degree of accuracy to the Alabama
 cotton production and the disposal made | or 1t; and it is stated that only a com paratively small percentage of cotton now
 on hand Is held by the farmer the great
 CT portion having been disposed of before
 the domestic and foreign demand had been practically exhausted
 Current quotations are now based to a
 large extent upon conditions which may anect the coming crop. The acreage has
 been reduced greatly. but with the surplus ] supply remaining in the warehouses it is
 anticipated that there will be nevertheless a heavy supply on hand at the cotton picking season this fall.
 | W. D. Nesbitt of the Warrant Ware house company of Birmingham makes the ! following statement with reference to the | cotton situation in Alabama:
 The average cotton producer may count | himself well off if he has disposed of | his production at the prices which have
 prevailed during the past few months. | These prices have. indeed, been greater
 than we hardly had a right to expect un- der the circumstances. Few cotton men
 thought that the foreign trade would ab- sorb as much of the south's staple as was the case: and this. together with the demand of the manufacturers here. is what saved the situation. I would not ad-
 wise the man who now holds cotton, how
 ever. to be in hurry to dispose of 1t, for
 orable for heavy production this year,
 two or three months must pass before we
 can tell with any degree of certainty how
 the crop will turn out. and almost any
 thing may happen within that time The Warrant Warehouse business has in- | creased here more than 100 per cent since
 the beginning of the year"
 l Yesterdays quotations follow: