THE RELATION OF COTTON BUYING TO COTTON GROWING. 13 



have abandoned the Sea Island cotton altogether and are now plant- 

 ing Upland short staple varieties. Hybrids between the Sea Island 

 and Upland types are of frequent occurrence, thus adding another 

 factor of diversity and deterioration. 



The manufacturers probably believed that they could secure the 

 same cotton at lower prices by letting it go into the open market so 

 that the buyers could secure it at a flat rate, and this they may be 

 able to do, but only for a short time. The decline of the industry 

 has begun, and this course is not likely to be stayed unless there can 

 be a return to greater discrimination in buying. If it be true, as 

 some of the planters believe, that the contracts were withdrawn on 

 the assurance of the buj^ers that they could furnish the same cotton 

 at lower prices, any such assurance was based on a misunderstanding 

 of the essential factors of production, and the manufacturers have 

 been deceived. The buyers can not continue to furnish the same 

 cotton at lower prices, because the growers will not continue to pro- 

 duce cotton of the same quality. 



If the farmers are no longer to look for special prices for special 

 quality of fiber, they will no longer make quality the prime considera- 

 tion, but must begin to take more account of quantity, as in other 

 branches of the cotton industry. The planters are preferring more 

 prohfic stocks and are abandoning the special selections formerly 

 grown on the basis of contracts. The buyer may send the manufac- 

 turer cotton from the same plantation, but it is no longer the same 

 cotton. The commercial interests are beginning to recognize this as 

 one of the causes of deterioration of the Sea Island crop, but it is 

 equally important to understand that the attempt to buy the cotton 

 at flat prices places a premium on quantity instead of on quality. 

 Of course, the buyer wants the cotton to have quahty when he takes 

 it to the manufacturer, for his profits depend on this, but it is hardly 

 businesslike to expect the planter to provide special quality without 

 being paid for it. 



Thus, it may be seen that the plan of buying Sea Island cotton at 

 flat prices without proper discrimination in favor of producers of 

 superior fiber is having the same effect in the Sea Island district as in 

 other branches of the cotton industry. The general tendency is to 

 discourage and cause the neglect of the special precautions that are 

 necessary to produce fiber of the highest quality. The next step in 

 deterioration is a general dechne in uniformity and reduction of 

 demand. If these commercial tendencies are not resisted, the ulti- 

 mate effect must be to discontinue the production and put an end to 

 the superior fiber. The present theory of the commercial world — 

 that larger profits can be made by refusing premiums for superior 

 fiber — if worked out to its logical conclusion, means that all the 

 higher types of cotton will be excluded, so that the cotton production 



