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some of the planters believe, that the contracts were withdrawn on 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 buyers 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 
prolific 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 quality 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 decline 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 
