Evening star., 1925-04-10
COTTON MEN MUST
KILL OWN SNAKES"
Will Cut Down Costs Rather
Than Hope for Aid by
Higher Tariff Rates.
BY j. G.. ROYLE.
special Dispatch to The Star.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
BOSTON, April 1O-Members of the
National Association of Cotton Manu-
facturers, embra cling the majority of
the big New England mill operators,
got home today from their convention
in Washington convinced that, in the
parlance of the old plainsmen, they
must kill their own snakes" 1t was
borne in upon them unmistakably
that they could expect no support Of
added protection from foreign com
petition by tariff increases from the
Chief Executive of the Nation.
Must Cut Down Costs.
They came back determined, there
fore, to seek other ways out of their
difficulties. Most of them are con-
vinced that drastic increases in price
would not only check consumption of
cotton cloths by the public, but would
furnish additional advantage to their
Southern competitors. These men
hope to overcome their obstacles to
profts by cutting costs. This does not
apparently involve further wage re-
ductions. 1t merely means that pol
icies of retrenchment will be fol-
lowed, efficiency of personnel will be
increased and selling and distributing
costs lowered
Some manufacturers admit freely
X
are not now provided with the most
efficient and up -to-date machinery
instead of replacing old equipment
owners or these plants are consider
ing moving to the South to take ad-
vantage of tax exemptions lower
labor costs and cheap power. Others
feel that domestic demand can be
greatly stimulated provided retailers
ana Joobers VIII render assistance.
New Fabrics Needed.
The manufacture of new fabrics
also is engaging the attention of
many of the textile men. The pop
ularity of the artificial silk and silk
and cotton fabrics has been remark
aple, ana Manchester has gained a de-
clded lead over the American pro-
ducers in these lines of goods. Spot
cotton men in the South attribute
much of the difficulty of the textile
manufacturers in the past to their re-
Iuctance to adventure into new fabric
fields.
One of the leading dealers in cot
ton, with Offices in a dozen South
ern cities and in New York, today
asserted that the tendency of Amer
lean manufacturers to make the goods
they themselves desired rather than
"hat the consumers wanted to buy
was continual drag on the advance
of the American textile industry.
England Follows.
He pointed out that England has
secured a huge and profitable trade
with India by conforming to demand,
while American producers had been
barred from that market by refusal
to do so. Many high-cast Hindus
wear cotton fabrics, which are worn
once and discarded. They are never
washed. A stiff, crisp cloth is de-
sired, English mill owners produced
such cloth by making a loose weave
fabric and filling" it with China
white, a clay product. This could
not be washed and was not meant to
be. But the American producers at
tempted TO fill the demand by a close
ly-woven stiff fabric which had twice
the amount of cotton in it that was
used in the English goods.
Uniform Prices Likely.
Although the growing season is
young, progress in the cotton fields
in many districts has been satisfac-
tory and prices for raw staple seem
likely to be fairly uniform. There
will be a need for big production, and
raw material values are not likely to
show any drastic reduction 1t is
not probable that the Government
crop report figures will have the same
influence on the market that they
have exercised in the past.
Domestic consumption is expected
to use at least 100000 bales of the
supply now ginned, and exports fire.
quently are reaching $4,000 bales a
day.
This will mean that before the
start of the new crop year approx
mately 14.500,0 000 bales of American
cotton will have gone into consump-
ton and that yield of approximate
ly 100000 bales will be required to
fill requirements in the season
1925-26.
big Production Certain.
The farmers of the South undoubt-
edly will stretch every energy to-
ward a big production. 1t is GER
tainty that the Southern farmers
would rather raise a $4,000 600 bale
crop and get around 25 cents a pound
for it than to have a crop of 10000
600 bales and receive far higher
prices. But manufacturers do not
regard the outlook for lower cotton
prices as encouraging.
CAcnIINE PRIcE GIFTS