The Washington herald., 1920-04-17
Men and Business
By RICHARD SPILLANE.

What follows is from the Manu-
facturers' Record:
New England cotton mills are
making glad the hearts of their
stockholders by earnings which
continue to swell in magnitude, de-
spite the efforts of some Of these
manufacturers and OF many New
England papers to denoUnce the
price of cotton, as though the cot
ton growers were vile profiteerinE
sinners while the manufacturers
were blossoming forth with angelic
wings and constantly had TO grab
hold Of something 10 keep them
selves from floating of to ethereal
regions OF bliss A New Bedford
dispatch to the Boston TRANSCRIPT
gives a glowing account OF the
wonderful prosperity of the mills
Of that city and says:
The first quarter OF 1890 long
will be remembered in the cotton
manufacturing industry OF this CITY
and Fall River as one OF the most
profitable ever experienced in the
matter OF dividend distribution
With no stock dividends to swell
the total, the average exceeds BY a
good margin the best previous
quarter for many years, il no;
since the foundation of the indus
try
The average disbursement for
the New Bedford mills during the
quarter is $3.50 per share. or the
average rate Of % per cent a year
Fall River mills, after putting
ASIDE their surplus account. paid
average dividends for the last quar-
n
year. and yet the cotton grower is
beGrudged n price which on the
average Yields only a fair return
for his labor. while many growers
who had small yield per acre even
lost money at the present price ~
cotton. The phenomenal profits Of
these New England mills prove that
very much higher price should
have been paid for cotton. and that
even then the mills would have
made profits high enough TO satisfy
even tn" most avariCious stockhol.
der al Q, who NiciouEly az
tackled the southern cotton growers
for trying to get a living price out
OF their staple. now spoIorf-s
10 the cotton growers for his rbnr-
oughly unjustified sectional. bitrcr
attack upon them"
The criticism in which the Ral'l-
more publication indulSes would L.-
more impressive but for the fact
that the profits OF Southern miIf-
nave been excessive also. II the
Northern mill man has been ava
riclous. the Southern mill man has
been the same. Instances can bc
cited OF Southern mills making
prohts IN one year Of approximately
loo per cent. Agents OF southern
mills have been IN New York aid
o'splaNed their statements verify
ing the declarations they made Of
bonanza days in southern mills.
There Is no occasion for weeninr
over the cotton planter. He has
received price for his cotton in
the last three years that takes hin,
out Of the mourners' class. ANY cot
ton raiser who has not fattened on
the prices obtained for raw cotton
has only his own Incidence or in
capacity to blame. The average COS,
OF cotton production in 1918 was -
cents a pound. Some few farmers
raised cotton for as low as s cents
a pound. approximately IS nc-
cent Of the crop was grown Tor .
cents a pound or less. The whole
crop was sold at an average Of 81 20
cents pound. II you take the aver
age cost of production and the aver
age price obtained for the cror :,
would appear that the cotton far
mer had a profit Of $50 cents q
pound. or O43.5O a bale.
The net profit OF the cotton grow
er IN 1918 on .->rt crop was al
most as great rs his gross return on
the biggest crop ever raised, that OF
1914.
For the 1919 crop the figures are
not obtainable as yet, but the cot.
ton farmer got a higher price foe
his cotton than in the preceding
year. Possibly his production costs
were higher also. There is no rea-
son. however, 20 believe his net
profits were not fully as large as
in 1918.
All of which would go to indicate
that, IT. the Northern cotton mill
man has had excessive profits, SO
has the Southern cotton mill man
and so has the cotton farmer, and
the general public has been -soaked-'
by all three.