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PAGE SIX
Os Interest to the Wealth Creators
ADVICE TO FARMERS.
In a letter to the press Industrial
Agent Richards, of the Southern road
has the following paragraph:
“There is little doubt but what the
farmers of the south would be much
better off financially and socially it
their holdings were smaller. Some
land owners of the south begin to
realize this. An instance of this is
seen wherein a leading planter lo
cated on the Southern railway, pro
poses to give outright, to any reliable
white farmer, ten acres of land, and
agrees to sell thirty acres additional,
provided the purchaser finds he is
able to properly cultivate (the in
creased area. This proposition! is
made to induce an industrious class
to settle in his neighborhood. This
land owner has more land than he
can take care of, on account of the
scarcity of labor, and he argues, that
this plan will bring to his locality a
sufficient number of desirable immi
grants with families, from whom the
supply of labor so much desired can
be secured.”
This is not an entirely new idea
but it may contain valuable sugges
tions for some of the farmers in
Georgia. The idea is that the planter
would experience better conditions
and be better satisfied if he owned 80
acres of land valued at SIOO per acre
than he would on a 320 acre farm
valued at $25 per acre. The first
named condition would imply better
roads, better schools and better culti
vation of the land with better re
sults. There is no question that a
small tract of land under careful and
close cultivation is far better than
twice the amount of land under care
less cultivation at the hand of inade
quate labor. —Augusta Herald.
FRUIT RATES REDUCED.
After making anumber of efforts,
the fruit rate from Georgia has at
last been reduced.
Time and again the Peach Growers'
Association of Georgia endeavored to
get the railroad to give them some
concessions, but invariably the re
quest was turned down. The follow
ing dispatch from Washington shows
that constant efforts bring results:
“The interstate commerce commis
sion has declared unreasonable and
unjust the freight rate on peaches
charged by the Atlantic Coast Line
Railroad Company from Macon and
Atlanta. Ga.. to Washington, Balti
more, Philadelphia and New York.
The rate complained of by J. J. Wax*
elbaum was 78 cents per hundred
pounds to Washington and Baltimore
and 81 cents to Philadelphia and New
York with a refrigerator charge of
12 1-2 cents per crate of twelve
pounds, and shipments required to
contain at least 550 crates.
“The commission fixes the rate at
73 cents to Washington and Balti
more and 76 cents to Philadelphia
and New York, and the refrigerator
charges at 11 cents. The new rates
are to apply to shipments containing
20,000 pounds for thirty-six foot cars*
and 22,500 pounds for forty foot cars-
The new rate is to become effective
July 15. The commission upholds the
demurrage charges of $5 a day'on
refrigerator cars for delay after the
first twenty-four hours.”
The freight rate reduction came
late, but the fruit growers are of
course delighted that it has come at
last. —Dublin Courier-Dispatch.
COTTON AT SIX CENTS PER
SPOOL.
The fact that the thread trust has
raised the price of that useful and
necessary article has attracted little
attention save among dealers and
persons who use a great deal of it.
The addition of one cent to the price
of a spool of thread will not incon
venience many people and will be
paid without protest. Let us see,
however, what the effect will be with
respect to results from the viewpoint
of the thread manufacturers.
Before the increased price was an
nounced the thread manufacturer
priced his goods at 55 cents per dozen
spools. This price, however, was sub
ject to several discounts whereby the
dealer finally secured his thread from
the manufacturer at 45.12 cents per
dozen. There are 5 1-3 dozen spools
to the pound of cotton, hence the
manufacturer sold his finished pro
duct at the fat price of $2.40 per
pound.
The new price, which has caused
the retailer to add a cent to the
price of each spool, is given as 67
cents per dozen, but being subject to
the usual three discounts is finally
found to be 54.97 cents per dozen, or
$2.93 per pound for the finished pro
duct. When compared to the price
of other cotton goods this price
seems extraordinarily exorbitant, not"
withstanding the fact that the best
thread is manufactured from the
finest grades of long staple cotton.
At 6 cents per spool, the present re
tail price of thread, the farmer is
buying his cotton back at $3.48 per
pound.—Augusta Herald.
GEORGIA’S COTTON CROP WILL
BE QUITE SHORT.
Commissioner Hudson’s Report Shows
That the Condition of the Cotton
Crop Is Very Poor for This
Year.
A very poor outlook for Georgia’s
cotton crop for 1907 is shown in the
annual June report of the state de
partment of agriculture, which was
given out Friday afternoon by Com
missioner T. G. Hudson just before
his departure for Jamestown.
An average of 94.5 per cent, com
pared to 104 last year, and the use of
92.6 per cent of commercial ferti
lizers used last year are the primary
causes of this outlook for a short
crop. Then the fact that the average
time of planting was twenty-three
days later than last year and that 44
per cent of the crop had to be planted
over contributes to the rather gloomy
average of conditions and prospect of
71 per cent. The June report of last
year showed 82 per cent.
The shortage of labor is declared by
Commissioner Hudson to be the chief
cause of the reduction in acreage. The
WATSON’S WEEKLY JEFFERSONIAN.
bad weather in April is held respon
sible for the lateness of planting and
the necessary replanting and the cold
days and nights in May are assigned
as the cause of the present poor con
dition of the crop.
This report was made by Commis
sioner Hudson and Assistant Commis
sioner Wright from 750 letters from
correspondents in practically every
county in the state, from four to ten
letters being received from each
county.
The report also indicates only 19
per ce(nt of a full peach crop, and oth
er fruits show a poor prospect. All
the grains show a reduction in acre
age and poorer conditions than last
year, planting having been late
nearly everywhere.
Average Date of May 29.
The reports received by the depart
ment bear an average date of May 29»
and consequently the department’s
report is given out as showing the
conditions of crops on that day.
If Georgia is to have anything like
an average cotton crop it is still to
be made, stated Assistant Commis
sioner Wright as practically no cotton
weather had been experienced up to
the close of May.
The state report of 71 is consider
ably lower than the last government
report, which showed 84.
The detailed figures shown in the
report will prove interesting and are
as follows:
Cotton.
Average compared to last year? 94.5
per cent.
Average time of planting, compar
ed to last year? 23 days late.
What per cent of the crop had to
be planted over? 44 per cent.
Condition and prospect? 71 per
cent.
What per cent of commercial
fertilizers used on cotton in your
county this year, compared to last
year? 92.6 per cent.
What per cent of the total area in
your county is manured with either
commercial fertilizers, home manure
or compost ? 88 per cent.—Dublin
Times.
NEW YORK’S COTTON PRICES.
The efforts of this or that official of
the New York Cotton Exchange to de"
fend the course of that institution are
idle so long as its quotations condemn
it. For example, on Saturday last
spot cotton sold at the close of the
day’s market at 13.25 to 13.50, and
yet July contracts in New York sold
at 12 cents.
In New Orleans spot cotton, mid
dlings, went to 13 cents, and July
contracts ranged from 13.09 to 13.15.
This really tells the entire story.
In New Orleans futures and spot cot
ton go along close together, the dif
ferences being small and wholly nat
ural, while in New York prices of
contracts are rigged to depress the
price of cotton. The New York
prices are devised to please the New
England spinrjers and to rob the
Southern producers.
The forthcoming congressional in
vestigation was manipulated by Sen
ator Lodge and his associates, but it
will fail signally if it does not set
forth the differences in the New
York Cotton Exchange between the
prices of contracts and the prices
of spot cotton. As things stand, no
one in the South except speculators
pays any attention to the quotations
of the New York Cotton Exchange.
They are rigged to help New England
at the expense of the South, and the
South ignores ,them.—Birmingham
Age-Herald.
JUNE COTTON REPORT.
The Journal of Commerce Issues
Statement Covering Acreage and
Condition of the Staple to Date
—The Season Averages a
Month Late.
(Special to the Observer.)
New York, June 6. —The Journal of
Commerce will to-morrow publish its
June cotton report covering acreage
and condition. The report has been
delayed one week, owing to the back
wardness of planting. About 1,800
correspondents have been heard from,
the average date of replies being
May 30th, as at that date planting
was still incomplete and the replies
indicated an increase in acreage of
1.2 per cent. This is less than ex
pected in view of the high price of
cotton, and less than the best infor
mation suggested a month ago. So
much cotton has been plowed up and
replanted that it is still too early to
ascertain the facts as to acreage with
satisfactory reliability. When re
planting is finished it is quite possible
that the above increase in acreage
wil be augmented.
Reports of conditions are exceed
ingly poor, the replies indicating a con
dition of 69 per cent, compared with
82 per cent in 1906, and 77.4 in 1905.
This is 1.5 per cent lower than the
June government report which placed
the condition at 70.5 per cent, the
lowest condition on record at this
season. Too low temperatures and
too much precipitation were the
causes, of low condition. While a
late season is not always a bad sea
son, good weather is much needed to
improve the condition and the pros
pects are that there will be a good
demand for all the crops at profita
ble prices to the growers.
Comparing with last year’s acreage
North Carolina’s figures show 103.1
per cent, South Carolina 127 per
cent, Georgia 101 per cent, Florida
102.1 per cent, Alabama 97.2 per cent*
Mississippi 95 per cent; Texas 106.6
per cent; Arkansas 97.6 per
cent; Tennessee 97.1 per cent; Mis
souri 89.9 per cent, Indian Territory
103 per cent, Oklahoma 116 per cent.
As already stated, the total acreage is
1.2 per cent over that planted last
year. So far as the figures of condi
tion are concerned, North Carolina is
80.2 against 76 last June: South Caro
lina, 77 against 81.6; Georgia, 75.1
against 85.7; Florida. 80.9, against
84.1; Alabama 61.6, against 79.3; Mis
sissippi 66.4, against 80.1; Louaiana
65, against 87.8; Toxas 68, against
84.8; Arkansas, 69.6, against 81. L;
Tennessee 71.7, against 72; Missouri
77, against 76; Indian Territory 70.6,