The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1919-07-05

tlarge q scale as that which has taken
place during the last few months, sund
this, too, at the beginning OF new
cotton season, an experience which is
without parallel"
Mr. NIAGARA, like some other cot
| ton manufacturers and cotton bears
undertook to throw upon cotton spec
ulators on the bull side Of the market
| full responsibility for all the advance
| that had taken place in cotton and to
denounce them as gamblers, but that
advance had begun two years ahead
| Of MI Macara'S statement, and all the
| gamblers in America could not have
brought it about had there not been
an actual shortage Of cotton, and i
the growers had not co-operated 10
! bring about these higher prices. A
gradual rise had taken place in the
price Of cotton from an average OF
I875 cents per pound for the crop
year 1900-1901 to 1927 cents IN the
following year, and then 1912 cents in
the next year, based largely on the
fact that the worlds consumption
had outrun the worlds production,
! which was the real reason for TIE
advance, while Mr.. Macara was asking
all the cotton mills Of the world 10
join in combination in restraint OF
trade for the express purpose or
closing their mills in order to peat
down the price of the South's cotton.
This was not a new thing for spin
ners to do For one hundred years
the fight of European spinners has
been to decrease the price of cotton
TO the lowest possible figure, and dur
ing that entire time European papers
and the reports Of European cotton
associations have been filled with
stories of the efforts of cotton manu-
facturers to break the price Of cotton.
Exa city similar reports are being sent
out from Europe today denouncing
the present high prices, and saying
that English spinners are bitter
against cotton conditions in this coun-
try It is natural that that should be
the case if they look at the matter
from the narrow standpoint OF their
temporary individual selfish interests
as buyers Of cotton, but it is wholly
|
humanity standpoint.
English, German and French cotton
interests for more than century
have sought to develop cotton growing
in other part sof the world. as one
statement made nearly a century ago
in report said: sIn order to lessen
the dependence upon the Southern
In 1910 English spinners engaged
ten American cotton planters to go
to India and seek to develop cotton
growing in that country in competition
with the South, but the result WAS
ractically failure, and after a few
years the American cotton planters
returned to this country.
In 1850 one Of the secretaries of
the Board of Trade Of Great Britain.
in a report to the british Association,
after referring to the dependence Of
Great Britain upon the South for cot
ton, and showing how rapidly the cot
ton ccnsumptive requirements for the
world were then outgrowing the avail
able supply, said:
.'It is by no means improbable hat
the consumption during the last nine
years would have gone forward at a
constantly accelerating pace but for
the check given to it in 1847 and IN
the present year through inefflciency
in the supplyzo OF raw material"
And in the same report it was said
The continuous fall in the price
(of raw cotton) has acted as slim
uius on the prodcers (Amerlcan /,
who have hitherto made UP in guam
tity in cultivation for the diminished
price Of their crop
In a convention OF cotton planters
held in Florida in 1850 this English
report was under discussion, and q
committee to which it was referred
quoted this sentence and sarcastically
said: Thus it is seen that increased
supplies are greatly wanted, but their
experience is that the surest means OF
stimulating production in the United
States is to reduce the price"
That has been the theory on which
apparently very large proportion of
the cotton spinners in Europe and
some in this country have acted.
depuration of English cotton man
ufacturers, shortly before Mr.. Ma
cara's statement was made in 1904
waited on Mr.. Balfour, the English
Prime Minister, with view to seeing
if he could not find some way to pre-
vent what these gentlemen called
gambling in cotton" in order that
the prices might not be advanced
against them: They had no objection
whatever to gambling on the bear
side, but they decidedly objected to
anybody gambling on the bull side.
The delegation proposed to Mr.. Bal
four that the British government
should undertake to summon an in
ternational legislation on ganb bling in
cotton and all other commodities"
The childhke simplicity of these
people in their effort to unite the cot
ton spinning interests of the world in
an effort to gamble on the bear side,
while asking the British government
to call conference to prevent gambl-
ing on the bull side, is indicative Of
their frame of mind which permitted
them to see only one side of the case.