The courier-index., 1919-09-26
Cotton Situation
 Plainly Discussed

prn Ark. has sent out q +eresting letter in which he discusses tba nresent cotton situation and teiis why the prices of staple IS not now what it should be. His letter TOT lows: ,.- hut 2 crook or fool, and we lay no claim to being neither, would at tenopt to forecast with any degree of certainty the price of cotton during the coming season; but tnere are certain fundamental facts that it will be we'll for those who nave cotton to sell to consider.
 .Tt is the custom of the man Wno has cotton to sell to consider only l the size of the crop and thus pelhs the fifth short crop in suecesslon' we are prone to take that view only and to feel because of such, we should have and will get abnormauS high prices. T, bua
 "We agree that we should nave abnormally high prices, because we have to pay such prices for all we eat and wear. .
 "But it is just as important .na' we should consider Consumptioii as well as production, in figuring the possible price of cotton. IL matters not how little is produced, if that little is more than the mills can consume on account oi lack of labor is willing to worK' and if that little is more than they can consume, it is certain that we will not see the record for high price cotton.
 "Let us make ourselves perfectly clear-It is a fact that the demand for dry goods is far beyond the snnplv and that the prices asked for and had are higher today than at any time in the history o1 ohe world; but what makes cotton go down and drygoods go up? The answer lies in the labor situation. mill that has capacity in normal times. say when labor is working fifty-six hours week, to spin o,ooo bales. can only spin fraction less than four thousand when working only forty-four hours a week. And when we consider that labor spends fairly good proportion of US time in strikes and walk-outs, the possible consumption is still further reduced.
 "With this ratio of reduction in all of the spindles of the world, it can readily be seen that the pros pective crop of eleven millions of bales, together with the carry-over, will furnish ample cotton to keep the mills supplied.
 "On the other hand the de- mand for the finished product IS greater than the mill can supply on account of the short working hours and two buyers stand in front of every one piece of goods that comes from the loom begging for it at any price the spinner sees lit to ask.
 eIt seems to us as if the whole world had gone crazy-bughouse; Economy and discretion have been thrown to the winds. We eat just as much breakfast bacon at 75 cents as we used to eat at 25 cents We are willing to pay just as much for what we wear as the tailor asks. We consume just as much at the present prices as we did in the pre- war period.
 Much is being said and little is being accomplished in the High Cost of Living. We doubt if any remedy | is possible by legislature, even If the investigators were competent and in earnest, both of which we doubt the only remedy is for the pro letariate to produce more and con- sume less.
 "We were very much struck with an advertisement we recent ly saw in a New York paper. IL was, "Wanted, fifty laborers, $37.5O per week" In another place in the same paper was this ad Want ed One Professor of Mathema- tics, Salary S15 per week" All of WHICH SOcS oHOW ARE AT A DISCOUNT, and labor is in the saddle and riding deep
 "We have great respect for hon est labor-intelligent labor. We have no respect for labor organiza. tions as they are today. Controlled by a set of agitators whose income is regulated by the amount of Hel he can enthuse into the ranks.
 "As a matter of fact major ity of the members of the labol organizations cannot speak the Eng fish language today. We mean 1T the East, where all the strikes ar' taking place.
 "We have diverged from oul subject-COTTON.
 We see no reason to fear an! : disastriously low prices for the sta pie provided the farmer and merch ant will market his cotton intelll | IL 6.