The Morgan City daily review. (Morgan City, La.) 1916-1920, 1918-10-28
ow Of Cotton Situa.
IL b. Springs &
C~-.'2ny
Commercial Stocks of Grain.
Flour, Corn Meal and Other
Food Products in the United
States October l, 1918.

: New York, Oct. "a, 1918.
:, The cotton situation at the pre-
3 ent time is involved to a greater e,
tent than in the recollection of tn
present generation. Our fathers an
IN some cases, our grandfathers ma
seek parallel in their Civil Wa
memories, but it is doubtful if eve
the events of those days can b
brought forward as a guide to he'll
us, as business men, in the problem
that are facing the world today.
Four years Of wars chaos has dis
organized the cotton industry. TIL
rivers of trade have sought new chan
nels as the old channels have bsel
damned up. Peace will bring bacl
to us the civilian demand from peo
pie OF the entire world, for the worle
must be clothed; but probably never
again will the supplies be delivered
as they were before the war and
therefore, the statistical position o.
cotton must be looked upon from ar
entirely new standpoint and compari
sons with pre-war days will be use.
iass.
/ In the summer Of 1914 a wave of
pessimism swept the South. This
was before the realization that cot
ton was necessity in the conduct
of the war, and as necessary to its
success as wheat or steel. From
prices ranging from around five
cents spot cotton advanced to close
to 40 cents. Gloom quickly changed
to optimism.
We are again at the parting of the
ways and the world believes this the
ship of peace is about to be launched
and we must, for our own guidance
and for the safety of our business
affairs, carefully and just analyze
the situation to the best of our abil-
tiles and our foresight.
The Demands of War.
Statistics have shown the amount
OF cotton consumed per soldier, in
Guiding uniforms, underwear, tent
ing, canteens, hospital supplies, gun
covering, aeroplanes camoufage and
the thousands and one products that
war requires all of which will cease
upon the signing of the peace treaty.
The pressing needs of the govern
ment will have passed. The burden
OF consumption will fall again upon
the civil population of the world.
The millions of soldiers now fight i
ing at the front will return to their
homes dependent upon civilian sup
Plies. Very few of these millions of
men have shirts or collars or under
wear or clothes laid away and the i
demand upon the merchants for these
supplies will be enormous. On the re-
urn Of the bread-winner the won en-
II the houshold who have been hoard
ng their pennies for bonds and thrift
tamps and who have been donating
o the Red Cross and the Y. M. C. A.
viii again begin to replenish their
supplies and this demand will fall
lpon merchants. +,
Who Will Supply the Demand. :.
The mills Of America and England !.
mainly, some mills in France and +,
pain, Japan and Italy and few in !
Their parts of the civilized world.
he largest part of the burden, howl ,
yer, will rest upon the shoulders of .
ne American and English manufaoc- :
lrer. :
The drygoods market today is bare [
f staples. The mills of Northern ,
rance have been destroyed. The {
ills of Austria and of Germany, ac- ]
ording to current rumor, have been =
lrned into munition factories and I
ieir reconstruction is problematical {
n years to come. !
Supplies.
The supply of American cotton for n
le four past years has been 2,OOO,- {
10 bales under the requirements Of b
e four years prior to the war, in .
lite Of the tremendous demand for =
ilitary needs. The visible supply 4,
America is $4,000 bales less r
an it was in 1914, and of this SUD- T
y, it will be necessary for our Eng il
n brothers to draw heavily for the 81
lrpose Of re-clothing our continental f,
lies and the civilian population of
utrals and Of the central empires. A
,e normal consumption of Great Il
'itain prior to the outbreak of the te
n was around 100000 bales. Our Ia
pplies in the United States, should a,
ace come in the near future, would ii
, therefore, greatly depleted, and -
liking at the cotton situation from =
far-sighted standpoint, we are