Evening star., 1934-05-20
Gains Average rs Per Cent
Above Level for Same
Period Year Ago.
RAISED ITO PER CENT
BY ASHEVILLE EFFORTS
Textile Factors and Futures Trad
ers Hail Response From All
Sections of Country.
BY JOHN A. CRONE.
Special Dispatch to The Star,

Special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK. May 19.-Cotton
goods sales, aided by promotion plans
featuring National Cotton week, in
creased from II to 110 per cent, the
average gain being 25 per cent over
the first several days of the same
week in 1888. according to Charles K.
Everett, manager of the new uses Sec
ton of the Cotton Textile Institute.
Dollar sales of cotton goods the
first three days of this week in Ashe-
vile, N. c., were up 10 per cent over
the same period of year ago. In
Chattanooga sales rose 20 per cent.
Boston, Buffalo. Chicago, Cincinnati,
Cleveland, Little Rock, Memphis,
Portland, Greg; st. Louis. st. Paul,
Seattle and Washington, D. c., like
wise reported gratifying sales results.
The success of Cotton week was
hailed along Worth street, center Of
selling agents and factors for the in
dustry, and along Beaver street. on
which is located the New York Cot
ton Exchange, where rs per cent Of
the country's trading in cotton futures
takes place.
Mills Curtailment Feared.
The cotton goods industry, which is
the largest employer of American fac
tory labor, naturally is anxious to see
its products moving out of the 10000
stores in this country promoting Cot
ton week, because further curtailment
of mills appears in prospect If such
merchandise does not continue to
move quickly. These 1900 cotton
goods manufacturing Establishments
plants dependent on cotton for 81 per
cent of their raw material-normally
employ 475,000 workers.
Before these cotton mills can turn
a wheel, however, between 100000 and
100000 freight cars filled with the
white commodity and thousands of
uckloads-dependin on the size of
the crop and state of business-have
to be hauled from the fields to the
gin. thence to the warehouse and on
to the factories.
Raising cotton for these mills takes
the full-time employment of 2.500,00C
growers and tenants. 1t also employs
thousands of others, such as bankers
clerks. storekeepers, warehouse men
and the like.
Financing cotton along its various
steps from seeding to picking time
from plantation to gin. from gin to
warehouse and from warehouse to
mill. involves a huge turnover OF
commercial funds, variously esri-
mated at from S1,000,000,000 to
81 $50 600 900 a wear.
100000 Farms Used.
OF the Nations 100000 farms
100000 farms are necessary to pro-
duce the cotton crop. The totaI
acreage of corn. wheat and hay is
much larger than that of cotton
which brings in a higher cash yield
per acre Nevertheless. before the
A. A. A. started its program in 1888
cotton-planted acreage-plus acreage
planted to feed and forage for the
work stock. such as horses, oxen anC
mules, used to raise cotton-was
$4,000, 900 acres out of the $50 100000
acres of field and orchard lands
within the United States.
Growing, distributing and manu-
featuring of cotton. its seed and its
products requires, directly and indi-
rectly, in this country about l3,000,-
600 people, more than live in New
York State-or. to put it another way
as many people as live in the COM
bined States of Texas, Oklahoma
Louisiana and Arkansas. This num-
Der excludes the thousands of foreign
mill workers, merchants. transporta-
ton employees and the like in Great
Britain, the Far East and elsewhere
who depend on American cotton fol
their basic raw material.
(Copyright, 1934)