The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, September 29, 1905, Image 5
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LOOK
FARM
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ARRIVALS AND DEPARTURES
1
Off the Double Dally Passenger Trains, i
Union, S. C.
Train going North 9:00 a. m.
44 44 South 11:35 a. m. 1
14 44 North 2:35 p. m.
44 44 South 8:58 p. m.
These trains only make a few min- 1
ut >s 8top at Union, so that the hours :
of arrival are practically the hours of ; (
departure. Any change in this sched- j
nl? will 1m nnhliftliRd in Titr Ttmkh for
the benefit of the public generally.
Local News Notes
Points Personal and Otherwise
Picked up and Paragraphed
by Our Pencil-Pusher.
r
Dr. J. G. Going spent Sunday at
White Stone.
Mr. Charles finder was a visitor
at White Stone Sunday.
Rev. A. Mo A. PitHHflan, of Greenwood,
was in the city last week.
Mr. Ben. F. Townscnd was in
Columbia on business last week.
Mis3 Ethel Foster left the city 1
last week to teach school near Al- 1
8 ton.
Bishop W. W. Duncan, who was I
In the city last, week has returned
home.
Mr. James W. Duekett, ofGreen
woxl, spent Sunday in the city
with friends.
Mr. J. P. K. Bryan, of Charleston,
wlio was here last week, has
returned home.
Mr. David C. Clark, of Spartanburg,
spent Sunday in the city with
his parents here.
Mr. McGowan Holmes, of Charleston,
passed through Saturday on
his way to Columbia.
Mr. George Perrin came down
from Jonesville Sunday and spent
the day in the city.
Miss Aurelia Gallmon has gone
to Sumter to accept a position with
a largo millinery establishment.
P Mr. Robert W. Beaty left Monday
for the South Carolina college
for his second year's work there.
Mr. John Rodger, who is_ here
visiting his mother, Mrs. J. H,
Rodger, spent a few days last week
in Columbia on a visit to friends.
itf*' ^ v
- ?
HERE
IERS!
. is here
ig Oats
at. We
ood suplNO
Der sack
d would
i to sun- I
- ?
lemands.
I
I
Bobo.
Mr. 8. H. McLean, the agent of
the Southern railway at Union, was
in the city yesterday.?The State.
Miss Julia Mclvcr, who visited
Friends here sometime ago, passed
through the city last Saturday night.
Mrs. J. W. Mixon entertained
at bridge a few friends Saturday
morning from 10 to 12. A light,
dainty lunch was served.
Saturday from 5 to 7 p. m.
Misses Hunter and Myra Young
entertained very pleasantly quite a
number of their young friends.
Mr. J. It, McKissick spent Sunday
at White Stone with his friend,
Mr. Albert H. Wichman, of Walterboro.
Mr. Allan Nicholson and Mr.
Uonnn -M
uxuiiuit iuvii iiuivi arc apenuing
their vacation in Brevard, N. C.
in the Toxaway country.
Union's delegation to the South
Carolina college left Monday.
Messrs. Roy Fant and John B.
Wardlaw went from the city.
Miss Bessie Long has returned
home for the month of October
during which her school at Piney
Grove takes its usual vacation.
Court Stenographer Mott left
Saturday. He has been under
heavy fire but came through all
right and got it all down on paper.
Miss Bculali Gallmon has left the
city for Salter's Depot, in Williamsburg
county, where she will teach
the same school that she had charge
of last year.
Mrs. E. L. Henry and children
left the city Monday for their home
in Aahoville, N. C. Mrs. Henry
has been here on a visit to her
mother, Mrs. Dora Powell.
Mr. B. F. Alston, of Cliarleston,
passed through the city Sunday on
his way to Flat Rock. Mr. Alston
is the father of Mr. B. F. Alston,
Jr., of the Union oil mill.
Mrs. T. N. Timmerman, of Columbia,
stopped over Saturday on
her way home from the mountains
to see her sister, Miss Sara Watson,
at the home of Mrs. J. W. Mixon.
A dispatch from Gaffney brings
the unwelcome news that the barn
of Hon. T. B. Butler of that city
and other valuable property belonging
to our former fellow townsman
was destroyed by fire last Thursday
night.
ABOUT DUNCAP
CONDITION IN THE UNI
COMP7
Nr. August Kohn Visits the Cifr
ful Inquiry?The Indebtedne
Aggregates Two or Thre
is Closer to the Latter
ure, but the Nills are
at a Conservative
Losses in Cottoi
Half a Nillion
curred for th
Since Jai
Union, Sept. 20.?Special: With
a running horse in the shafts, and <
a load of passengers aboard, it is
not at all safe to be bothering with
the driver or to throw rocks at the
man with the lines in his hands.
He is going to do the very best possible
to save the passengers and
himself. That is the situation here
in Union relative to the Union and <
Buffalo Cotton Mills. It is serious <
and there is no purpose to compli- i
cate it. , i
The desire is to give such infor- 1
mation as is available at this junc- ]
turc that will be strictly in accord
with the facts, without holding back
a thing that will explain the situation
here as it really is, as far as
can be ascertained. :
A great deal of wild and sensational
talk has been afloat. The
situation here is remarkable in many
ways, and perhaps the most strik
ing feature is how very little is
really and accurately known by.i
those who ought to know, as well as
by those who think they do know. ;
THE GROWTH OK UNION.
One can hear almost any kind of
talk and the wildest sort of rumors.
Ten years ago Union was a bit of a
village of 1,600 souls. Today, as a
result of the cotton mill development,
of which Mr. Thos. C. Duncan
wap the pioneer, it is a flourishing
city of over 10,000 people, with
half a do/en cotton mills.
It is not at all unusual for a cotton
mill to have considerable bills
payable and a large floating debt,
but it is unusual for mills to have
a loss account of more than onehalf
a million dollars in less than
a year's time on cotton.
As a matter of fact the directors.
the officers and others arc really ignorant
of the real and exact condition
of financial affairs with reference
to the Union and Buffalo Cotton
Mills, but from all that can be
gathered, with due regard to conservatism
and at the same time giving
the conditions as they exist, the
indebtedness of the two mills, outside
of the stock obligations, aggregate
more than two millions of dollars,
and is nearer the three-million
dollar mark than it is the two-million
dollar mark. This is, it might
be stated, about in the proportion
of two to one, that is, 82,000,000
of debt oa the Union Cotton Mills
and $1,000,000 on the Buffalo Mills,
with an obligation of a considerable
sum from the Buffalo Mill to the
parent mill, the Union Cotton Mill,
of this amount.
Of this indebtedness, which covers
money borrowed for current operations,
machinery and losses,
more than 8-300,000, it is estimated,
has been lost on cotton investments,
and some figure that the cotton
losses will easily aggregate as much
<18 8750,000.
EXACT FIGURES NOT TO BE HAI).
The exact figures as to the amount
of the indnbtcdess. as wall n? tlm
amount of cotton losses, cannot be
definitely ascertained, and no one
here will venture an expression until
the professional auditors, Messrs.
Menzies, Robinson & Co., of Now
York, make their official report to
the stockholders on Octolier 3.
As has already been stated, the
stress of this situation was brought
about by the heavy losses in cotton
and fluctuations, and whatever may
be said in blame it is also to be said
in extenuation that whatever profit
was received, had there been
any, would have gone to the corporations,
just as the losses were
charged against them. From what
I can understand President Duncan
docs not regard that he has done
anything wrong in going into the
cotton market as he did, and ho
simtllv holds thAt hfi mnfln on Sfrmr
in judgment in thinking that cotton
would go down instead of going us,
and it was because of this error of
judgment that the corporation, in
which he is the largest individual
stockholder, lost so heavily by the
cotton transactions which he directed.
HE WAS NOT ALONE.
Mr. Duncan did not think that
cotton would go over 7 1-2 cents for
spot cotton between January 1 and
the first of this season, and it was
because of his conviction that cotton
would range around this price that
L '
?s&s=ss===-?s-?a
I'S TWO MILLS. 1
ON AND THE BUEEALO g
INIES. I
/ of Union and Makes a Care- fi
ss of the Two Corporations M
e Millions of Dollars and S
Than the Former Tig- ?
Worth Tour Millions ?
: Estimate ? The m
n Amounted to gg
or More, In- 35
ie Most Part ?
luary I. K
such a volume of money was lost on 9p
cotton. jg?
Ten yeais ago when Mr. Duncan ^
first went into the cotton mill business,
he did not think that a cotton 52
mill ought to buy from hand to gjg
mouth, nor did he think that a cotton S
mill ought to buy cotton between the 8y
first day of Scptemlxjr and the first
of January and store it. In his
opinion this was more of a specula- .
live venture than the mode of buying
cotton which he inaugurated
here. Mr. Duncan's idea was, and
from what I can gather he was the
first to inaugurate it in this State, ^
to buy. cotton on what is known as W
"call contracts." This system ob- p
viated having buyers in the field
and having cotton stored for the gg
bulk of the season. ^
In other words, he made con- J
tracts, with responsible firms like PJ
Knoop, Frerichs & Co., Inman, f*
Weil Brothers, Knight & Yancey gg
and the Jones Cotton Company and ?
others. Of these firms he would
ask at what price over the New ^
York market would they sell 10,000
or 20,0(X) bales for future delivery, w
so many bales a month, from October
to February, inclusive. They gg
would seemingly sell cotton at New
York prices plus 40 points on each ^
month's contract, he having the t*
right to fix the day for the call,
which would fix the price during gg
the particular month that the de- gg
liveries were made.
THE CALL FOR CONTRACTS. ^
These call contracts were made at
40 points above New York prices, ^
but this varied for the current
month in" which the deliveries were
made, the prices to l>e called during
iL. -
me inonin or any one day. The 40
points covering carriage of the
cotton and the delivery at the warehouses
in Union. ?
Whatever day was received for
tho "call?' fixed the price for the
particular month in which the do- ?
liveries were made for the entire @
month, and settlements were made >?
on this basis at the end of the *?*
month. Sometimes the firms had ?
to make up the difference in the ?
month's settlements, but recently *?*
the balances have gone to the cot- ?
ton buyers at the end of the month.
For instance, if last June cotton ?
was selling at 7 cents in New York, ?
he could call a contract any day ?
that month for June deliveries at 7
cents, plus the 40 points for ex- ?
penses, and that would fix the price ?
during the entire month for the de- *?*
livcred cotton. <?
The price of cotton went up con- ?
stantly while Mr. Duncan had these
"call contracts," and in that way ?
he lost considerable money for the ?
mills upon the basis of tho "call <$
contracts."
In fact, the losses run quite upon
the call contracts basis. If, however,
cotton luid gone down, he ?
would have made considerable for ?
the mills. So, to reduce the aver- ?
ages, Mr. Duncan sold cotton futures
for the two mills, and with a
constantly rising market money 4*
was lost on both ends, that is, at
one time on contracts, as well as
upon the futures that had been sold
in the eJfort to reduce the averages ?
\J1 VUDf* I ^
Hedging the lows, it is claimed, ?
would have done no good. ?
THE LUCK CHANGED. ?
It is claimed that this system was p*
worked out all right heretofore for p*
the Union cotton mills, and that p*
the only considerable loss was that p*
which was undergone during the p*
last twelve months;" in fact, the p?
bulk of it since the first of last Jan- p*
uary
The Union and Buffalo cotton p*
mills consume about 35,000 to 37,- j*
000 bales of cotton per annum, but ?
it has been suggested that in his j*
effort to retrieve the losses that had ^
been sustained cotton futures were pf
handled upon a larger scale on Mr. p*
Duncan's personal judgment, and p*
that as much as three or four cents pf
a pound was lost on the cotton. V
n.iA J - _ ? ^
v/oitun utiiumg at lis Dcst is very ^
complicated, and it is rather a difli- *
cult matter to explain these delicate x
details to oven those who have somo Jr
idea ol the complexities of such ?
transactions, but whatever may be &
tho "ins and outs" of such finan- 2
?
(Continued on, page 7.^
?3? ?i
...WE PA
4 PER GENT I
On money deposi
SAVINGS DEP.
compounded semi
November 1st am
TUC Drnni r
l 11JU I JL-rVy r" L/CCapital
and Surplus o
wmmmmmmMmm
YES, IT'S
TURNER & MA
that you will find a pretty line (
and sizes, also Roll Foot Bed
money on the market.
TRUNKS!
ALL SIZES AND ^
PRICES.
Have you bought oneIF^li
of our 36 pound featherwSjK
beds for#10? They can't
GIVE US A CALL BEFOR1
THING IN OUR
TURNER & M
NEXT TO FLYN1
^ -A "A -\A
New Ar
Every E
Fresh Oat Flak
Fresh Cream o1
Fresh Shreddet
Fresh Postum <
Fresh Force
In Fact we have no old <
no left overs or carry
dollars worth of Delicic
our mammoth stock i
wholesome and desirabt
New arrivals of Walni
Pecans, Brazils, Coco;
Expected this wee
Cranberries, Saratoga <
on everything we sell s
as the lowest. Quali
good as the best.
r H J,.
I ^
union orop
Clean, fresh Gi
\
K
if... I
NTERESTj
ited in our ?
\RTMENT |
-annually, g|
1 May 1st. ?
S BANK,!
ver $80,000.
iwiawaigMiiB
AT \
YFIELD'S *
)f Rockers, all kinds jk
s the best for the 4
*
*
E BUYING ANYLINE.
*
AYFIELD j
n'S. 4
rivals i
f
>ay! |
&
?
es |
f Wheat |
1 Wheat S
Cereal |
&
&
z &
&
f"
or stale stock,
overs. Every
>us Edibles in J
? ,
s new, crisp, ?
e. ?
&
uts, Almonds, ?
muts, Etc. ?
k: Lemons, $
Chips. Prices ?
ilways as low
ty always as
*
&
ery Co.,:
?
ocerics. |
$