Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1922-04-28
The Cotton Situation.


York county producers are still hold
ing the title of not less than 10000
bales of cotton and some estimates
place local holdings as high as thirty
thousand bales.
But there is very little doing in the
cotton market except among the
gamblers Of the New York cotton eX-
change, who persistently continue their
manipulations with view to keeping
the price of cotton marked down.
Probably never before in the history
Of cotton production and trade has the
situation been so peculiar as now. The
raw cotton in sight is not nearly suf-
ficient to keep the spindles Of the
world in operation until the next crop,
and the fact is as thoroughly under
stood by the holders Of the available
cotton as it is by the spinners.
The stocks of manufactured goods on
hand in proportion to the world re-
quirements is probably as small
as they have ever been in the
history of the industry, and although
trade is now stagnant, there never be-
fore has been more general confidence
in the certainty of better prices in the
immediate future.
The public is not buying very strong
ly at the present time for number OF
reasons. One of the principal Of these
reasons is the circumstance of so much
decentralization throughout the entire
industrial world. 1t is not so much
that the people do not want cotton
goods; but rather because so many OF
them are up against conditions where
they must devote their incomes only to
the things that are more essential.
But there must be a change sooner
or later, and there will be q, demand
for cotton goods. When that demand
does come it will quickly wipe out the
stocks in the hands of the retailers who
Of course, will go after the stocks now
being warehoused. And that will mean
higher priced cotton goods.
MANY Of the mills are closed at the
present time, and the reason is largely
as set forth by The Yorkville Enquirer
last fall. They know that they will
have to be closed a part Of the year,
and they figure that it is better to close
now, while there is so much cotton IN
the hands: of the original owners, than
later on. Strong demand now to Keep
the mills running would boost prices Of
raw cotton. OF course some OF the
mills are closed for other reasons
They are unable to more than break
ever. on the present market and they
lack the capital with which to carry
their finished products in storage
against the increase which even they
believe is inevitable.
How long present conditions are
going to last, there is no satisfactory
way of predicting. There seems TO De
very little reason to doubt, however,
that these conditions are artificial ana
temporary, and that sooner or later
there must be a change, which change
ought to be for the better.
There seems to be good reason forl
believing that the mills will force a
better price for their products, ana
whe they do it should follow that the
holders of raw cotton ought to be able
to compel better prices also; but
whether the holders Of raw cotton Will
eventually win out with the mills Will
obviously depend on how long they
may be ableto hold.
One thing seems to be reasonably
certain, and that is that the surplus Oh
the next crop will hardly be sufficient
to bear the price of present holdings