Evening star., 1915-11-25
1914 COTTON CROP
LOWER IN VALUE
Although 1t Was 100000
Bales Over Preceding Year
It Brought $40 Less.

While the cotton crop of the country
IN 1914 was the largest ever grown, ex-
ceeding that of the preceding year by
nearly 100000 bales. it's total value
was estimated at only s72o.0s0, 900,
equal to about seven-tenths Of the value
of the 1913 crop. which was over a bill
lion dollars. according to a report on
the American cotton industry made
public today by the bureau q the CEN
sus. About 1s per cent of the total
value of the 1914 crop Is said to have
been contributed by the cotton seed
Cotton growers received less for their
cotton in 1914 than they did during the
three years previous. the report says
further. The average price obtained by
the growers for the 1914 cotton crop
was 1888 cents per pound-more than
6h cents less than in 1910 and more
than cents less than in 1913.
2,792 Idle Ginneries.
There were 24.547 active and 2,792 idle
cotton ginneries in the United States in
1914. and the average number Of bales
g1nned by each active establishment was
64s. In the ginning industry, as in most
others. large modern plants are displac-
ing the small and poorly equipped ones
During the nine-year period from 1906
to 1914. inclusive. the number OF active
ginneries operating saw gins decreased
from 2s,4S6 to 24.418. but this decrease
was accompanied by an increase from
o4,553 to 61,181 in number of gins or
STANDS, an increase from 3,597.4O0 to
4.lS3,556 In number of saws. and an in
crease from 1875 to 172 in average num-
Der OF saws per ginnery.
AT the beginning of the cotton wear
which ended July 81. 1915, the supply
OF cotton and linters on hand in the
United States was 1.577,448 running
bales Counting round as half bales), Of
which amount 989,980 bales were held
in consuming establishments; and dur
ing the year the ginnings were 16, 6,738,-
Z4l running bales and the net imports
were 363,5s5 equivalent 500-pound bales
During the year the American mill
amounted to 6,009,2O7 bales and the ex-
ports to 8,544.563 bales; and there re-
mained on hand at the end of the year
a total of 4,364,S90 bales.
The amount consumed by American
mills was greater than in any preced-
ing year, but the exports fell OFF some
what in quantity and very much in
value as compared with 1914. The value
OF cotton and linters exported during
the fiscal year ended June 80 1915, was
S376,217.972. whereas in the preceding
year the value of such exports had
amounted to s610,475.301.
Consumption in q. s.
During the three-quarter-centur
period from 1910 to 1915 the consump-
tion of cotton in the United States In
creased from 236.525 to 6,00s, ,207 bales,
or about twentyfve-fold. The greatest
manufacturing state is Massa-
chusetts, which consumed 1.2S2,937
bales during the year; North Carolina,
with q consumption Of 910,154 bales,
stood second; South Carolina, with ST.
564 bales. third; and Georgia, with 65s,-
s53 bales fourth.
The manufacture of cotton in the
south had been carried on for many
years, but only in a small way prior to
the decade l870-1880. when the industry
During that decade and In each of the
two succeeding ones the consumption
of cotton in these states nearly trebled
and during the past fifteen years it
has more than doubled. During the
quarter century from 1890 to 1915 the
consumption in the cotton growing
states increased by nearly 500 per cent,
while the increase in the New England
states was only 46 per cent and that in
than 140 per cent. Since 1912 the an
nual consumption in the cotton-grow-
ing states has amounted to more than
one-half of the total for the United
States. and in 1915 these states con-
sumed 3.026.969 bales exclusive of lin
ters), compared with 2,570.393 bales
manufactured in all other states.