The Dillon herald. [volume] (Dillon, S.C.) 1894-????, 1921-03-10
CUT CROP IN HALF.
Only Hope Lies i'm Fifty Per-
cent Reduction.


years president of the Bank Of Dill.
Ion, and now president of the Stand
ard Warehouse Co., sees no hope for
the south unless the cotton acreage is
reduced at least SO percent. Mr..
Stackhouse has thousands of bales
OF cotton stored in his various ware
houses, and standing between pro-
ducer, banker and spinner, he is in
position to view the situation from
its several angles. Mr.. Stackhouse
thinks the south would be far better
off not to plant hill of cotton, but
says it may be able to pull through
the present crisis with a so percent
reduction in acreage
Following is copy of a letter
which Mr.. Stackhousa has just writ
ten to one of tn, largest planters in
the Pee Dee country in response to
a letter from the planter asking for
Information on the cotton situation:
Il am in receipt of your favor of
the 5th instant and, IN my opinion,
If not more than one-fourth of the
fertilizer used last year is used by
the southern cotton growers in 1921
it will not materially help those who
are holding 1920 cotton until the size
of the 1921 crop is known, for the
reason that the world will not believe
i'll small cotton crop until the 1921
crop is harvested. Not less than so
percent reduction in last years acre
age will help the farmer get better
prices for the 1920 and 1921 crops.
Texas and Oklahoma farmers sold
last fall at from two and three times
today's prices, and in my opinion will
plant freely this year. Mr.. ]. NJ. Mil
ler, president of the First National
Bank of Richmond has recently sent
out to customers of his bank a letter
from which l quote as follows:
In our judgment the cotton and
tobacco already on hand in this coun-
try together with not over a half a
crop for the coming year is all that
the world will be able to purchase
and pay for at reasonable prices"
His opinion is sustained by the
most noted cotton authorities in Eng
land, France and Belgium.
This mornings paper. states that
twenty four mills in Spain have shut
down, and the remaining mills are
running on half time. A recent letter
to Mr.. Maybank, of Charleston from
his Brussels correspondent states
that the Belgium cotton mills are
selling their cotton for whatever they
can get for it, and that mills In
France running are doing so at
an enormous loss.
l hold in my hand a card signed
'Dr. Bradford Knapp" from which
quote as follows:
Get it out of your head that any
thing but the supply and the worlds
ability to buy fixes the price of cot
, ton"
This quotation is followed by a
statement that there is now enough
cotton in the world to last about two
years.
/ heard one of the largest manu-
facturers in the Piedmont section of
this state made the statement last
Saturday that the southern cotton
mills were facing as mean conditions
as the cotton farmers of the state
now face, in that their warehouses
were full of manufactured goods for
which there was no market and a
great deal of the goods made out Of
high priced cotton. Under all these
conditions it seems to me worse than
folly for South Carolina to grow cot
ton in 1921.
My interest in this matter is Who'll
ly impersonal, as / haven't bale of
cotton, spots or futures.
Very truly,
T. B. STACKHOUSE.