Arizona republican., 1919-02-20

(Continued From Page Two)
 In a recent address at Dallas, Texas, l Bradford Knapp, who is in charge of l the government demonstration work Tn 1 the south, is reported to have said: "I have heard that Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and possibly the Carolinas mean to plant more cotton this year than last. Any man planning his crop system so as to gamble with the cot ton market is not only runnin" q risk so far as his own finances are con- cerned, but is aiding a practice that may upset our entire foreign trade re- lations This is the best time 1 have seen in 20 years for the cotton farmer to play safe. Who knows how long it will be before Russia and Germany will be able to purchase on the world mar ket? Who can say whether the mills of Belgium or northern France cah handle much of the staple this year? My idea is that the first thought of Europe, after years of hunger, is food rather than clothing" MT. Knapp further advised cotton farmers against planning to make a killing now that { all restrictions were off warning that the killing may come the other way 1 The fact that there is an active cam paign to hold down the acreage in the east in orde. to prevent overproduc- tion emphasizes the fact that short i staple cotton prices in this country | will always continue to be governed by conditions in the cast over which the i southwestern cotton grower can have | no control
 The prospects for 20 cent short staple ; cotton this year are certainly not very i favorable. While there is reason to be- heVe and hope that cotton will never again fall as low as 10 cents a pound, which figure represents cotton pro- duced by labor which is not paid a de- cent living wage, it does not seem un- i reasonable to look forward to average cotton prices in the future around IS or 20 cents. Anything less than 25 cents however may be considered as absolutely prohibitive as a price for growing short staple cotton in Mari copa county. Long staple cotton is practically independent of short sta pie and the crops of Sea Island cotton and the American Egyptian are the only factors in this country which affect the price of long staple.
 Unfortunately the growers of Sea Is. land cotton are now compelled to pay almost prohibitive taxes to the cotton
 Doll weevil. The southwest, like every
 other cotton growing section of the
 world. has it's own peculiar troubles
 with insect pests and plant diseases
 but these are insignificant beside the
 pink boil worm troubles of the cottoi
 growers in Egypt and the boil weeyil
 troubles of the Sea Island cotton grow
 CTS Of South Carolina, Georgia and
 Florida There is every reason to Z-
 pect "reatly increased demand for
 American grown Egyptian cotton
 especially from manufacturers of au-
 tomooile tires and it is reasonable [.
 expect that American grown Egyptian cotton will continue for several years
 to sell for an average of soc a pound oI
 more. The figures which have beer , presented show that in growing Egyp-
 tian cotton the growers in Maricops
 county have good margin on whicl
 10 plan for the future. It is probable that any appreciable decrease in tn, selling price of the staple will be offsei
 by decreases in the cost of implement. ' and labor. Short staple cotton, how } ever, with so small a margin of profit even with a production of bale to tn,
 acre and a price of 25 cents is nov