Evening star., 1924-05-20
SIZE OF COTTON CROP
IS PRESENT PROBLEM
Manufacturers and Others Interest.
ed Express Anxiety Over Out
look for the Year.
FACES TURN TOWARD GROWER
Number of Pounds Produced Per
Acre Shows Drop.
BY J. G. ROYLE.

n1 Js u nO1 LLs
Special Dispatch to The Star
NEW YORK, May 20.-The question
Of just what the front porch cam
paign" Of the farmer will amount to
this summer is causing considerable
anxiety among those interested in cot
ton and cotton cloth manufacture.
This is not a political question, dele
gates to the meeting of the National
Association of Manufacturers explained
today. 1t concerns the amount of time
the cotton growers are going to spend
sitting on the porch in the shade this
summer. which will have almost as
much effect on the size Of the crop as
the weather Of the next few months.
Political Situation Disappofnts.
The manufacturers gathered here,
however, made no attempt to conceal
their disappointment over the real
political situation connected with the
final passage of the bonus. They feel
that the amount of cash which the
bonus payments will put in circulation
will have little effect in stimulating
trade when compared with the possi-
made or that If such reductions are
made it will lead to heavy issues OF
trust certificates and other govern
ment financing.
The manufacturers, however, feel
that the effect of the bonus will be
more noticeable in the future than in
the immediate present and are pre-
pared to continue the activity of their
operations as long as circumstances
justify them.
Outlook for Production.
AS to the cotton situation. the num-
nj nf hn .fa nj oad
per acre is falling lower in many of
the older cotton belts. This has been
due not only to the wearing out of
the soil but to the fact that fertilizers
were not always intelligently and
properly used. The emigration of
farm laborers from some sections of
the south led to the splitting up of
the the larger plantations into small
work such tracts, it is claimed by
cotton men, are prone in some cases
to work on cotton cultivation only
unit! the plants have a start on the
weeds. Some use fertilizer and some
expend little for this kind of crop
assistance. Not all these tenant farm
ers can be counted on to take drastic
Weevil
These things undoubtedly will be
1924 crop and the cotton "pars" on
which government estimates and
forecasts are reckoned are being
carefully revised in the light of 1924
conditions. The new land broken to
cotton for the first time this wear
naturally will not be so widely at
fected.
Increases In importance.
The fate of the new cotton cron is
becoming OF increased importance to
the manufacturer of cotton goods,
since the strong statistical position
OF the old crop and the heavy ex-
port movement on the one hand and
the heavy curtailment Of domestic
mill production have each practically
been discounted. Nevertheless. the
movement Of manufacturers toward
selling abroad their reserve supplies
or cotton not Immediately needed. at
high spot price levels, and buying op-
tions for future delivery in its place.
was soon checked. Conservative cot
ton men estimate that a crop two
million bales larger than that grown
in 1928 will be needed this wear
| More depends on this years cron
! than that Of any time since the civil
war.
Fafmfng shows Improvement.
The position Of agriculture in gen.
eral has greatly improved in the last
Two years, according to Finley P.
Mount. president of the Advance
inT KSme1y eoyne1itisn rhresher s c9mpany Meet
- lioh oS io"cIinS prO0uc-
tfon costs" he said. 'is the open
secret of the most successful manu-
facturer in the world. This has
been followed out in a limited degree
by the American farmer through use
of better equipment In my judg-
ment the farm problem is not a prob
lem Of price. 1t is a problem of
profits. and profits depend not on
price alone but on the spread between
price and cost of production.
"The price of farm products is
practically beyond our control Pro-
duction costs are largely within our
control, for they may be reduced by
saving labor, by increasing the yield
per acre and by reducing the farmers
overhead"