Evening star., 1925-11-06
DAMAGED COTTON
REACHES BIG TOTAL
Buying Power in South May
Be Seriously Reduced by
Rain and Frost.
BY j. c. ROYLE.
Special Dispatch to The Star.


NEW YORK, November 6--The
amount of cotton available for spin
ing purposes will be more than
million bales less than the latest
Government estimates for the cotton
crop, even though the Government
figures are correct. Misapprehension
over the true meaning of the Gov
ernment figures is likely to cost
business in the United States mill
lions of dollars. Conditions which
have brought about the discrepancy
between estimates and actual supply
already are having an effect on the
prosperity of producers and reflex
action is beginning to be felt in
manufacturing and distribution all
over the Nation.
Dispatches today from the great
cotton producing sections show that
there remains of the 1925 crop more
than 100000 bales of cotton of such
inferior quality that it cannot be de-
lfvered on contracts and is too low in
grade for spinning purposes. Several
hundred thousand bales additional are
of such a grade that they will not
bring above 10 cents pound.
Much Damaged Cotton.
For a month much of the cotton
and weather conditions that ii
brought the growers only around l3
cents a pound. Today some of that
late cotton injured by freezes and
moisture is selling around cents
pound or S35 bale in some OF the
Southern States.
1t costs $50 bale for picking, gin
ming and bailing this cotton alone out
side the other expenses incident TO its
LIT,
600 bales OF low grade cotton is To-
Gated in the Southeast and half in
Oklahoma and Texas. Instead of
growers receiving from - to rs cents
a pound for their whole production,
as they hoped earlier in the season,
it now looks as If the average price
would be adjusted around the Is to
Is cents level, according to acknoWl-
edged experts.
There seems small doubt that some
of the cotton now in the fields is of
such Il grade that it will never be
picked. This will mean reduction
in the Government figures which in
late October forecast "a crop in excess
of Is, 900 900 bales. Even If Is, 900, 900
bales are produced and ginned, grow
ers will feel that they have sustained
tremendous loss through late price
readjustments.
Losses Reach Heavy Figures.
This sum may we'll reach 500, ,000,-
600. II is difficult to compute it ex-
actIy, but the total will be sufficient
TO discourage a large amount of buy
ing in the South and TO curtail pur-
chasing power in that section to an
appreciable degree. This. in turn, will
affect production and distribution of
goods in other sections which sell to
the South.
The seed of the low-grade cotton Is
not salahle and the loss of this source
Of revenue will cut down big item
in the cotton planter 5 income. Some
of the wiser dealers on the Cotton EX-
change and in the world markets have
foreseen the possibilities which this
condition might cause, and their view
has been reflected in some late mar
ket advances. These, however, have
only an indirect effect on the position
of the growers, many of whom are
financed by their local merchants and
bankers, and dispose of their cotton
through local channels.
Cloth Market May Change.
The situation is not without it's pos
sibilities to the textile industry. On
the basis of a Il 1000. .000-bale crop, cot
ton goods prices have been in process
of readjustment downward. If the
100000 or more bales of low-grade
cotton is removed from possible mill
use, the carry-oVer of the 1925 crop
will be small, since exports have been
heavy. This will tend toward higher
raw material prices. and, while it is
easy to put prices for finished goods
down, IL has proved exceedingly diff
cult TO put them up again without
curtailing demand
Copyright. 1921