COTTON 61 



DEMORALIZING CHANGES IN PEICES 



If it had no other object the organization of the 

 cotton farmers would find ample justification in 

 the opportunity it affords for co-operation in keep- 

 ing the cotton acreage limited to the apparent de- 

 mands of commerce. 



Very large and very small crops are alike demor- 

 alizing to every cotton interest. These lead to 

 fluctuations in value which make the manufacturer's 

 hair turn gray as he tries to fix a fair price for his 

 product, and which make the cotton farmer the prey 

 of speculators and the sport of chance. 



Take the difference between seventeen-cent 

 prices in May, 1904, and seven-cent prices in Janu- 

 ary, 1905, eight months later, meaning on a 10,- 

 000,000 bale crop the difference between $350,- 

 000,000 and $850,000,000. 



The remedy for all this lies in a more systematic 

 plan of marketing the entire cotton crop must not 

 be rushed pell-mell upon the market in the ninety 

 days of the picking and ginning season. Almost 

 invariably prices the following spring are very 

 much better than during the fall; and this is natural, 

 in fact, inevitable. 



BUYERS MAKE FALL PURCHASES ONLY WITH ODDS IN 

 THEIR FAVOR 



If he must buy during the picking season before 

 the size of the crop becomes known, the spinner 

 buys on the assumption that the larger estimates of 

 yield are correct and he must then allow himself 

 a full margin of safety, else it were better to keep 

 his money employed in something else and buy later 

 with less risk and with less outlay. 



