King Cotton in Doubt

Not since 1895 has the U.S. had so few acres planted to cotton, the Agriculture Department announced last week. Next day the War Food Administration prepared to relax its hold on cotton sales, left farmers free to sell all they could harvest. No longer must planters pay an 8-c--a-lb. penalty for all sales above their AAA marketing quotas.

The Government had asked for 30 million acres of cotton this year. Bad weather and manpower troubles cut cotton plantings to less than 22 million acres. This picture was gloomy, but not final. There is nearly enough in reserve (eleven million bales) to meet a year's needs, but much of it is low-grade, or unsuitable short-staple. If--and this is a big if--the 1943 yield per acre is as good as last year's (a high of 272 lb. per acre), it will be enough to meet the record U.S. needs for a year.

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