The Montgomery Advertiser
- City docks obliterated; 2,000 buildings ruined
- A million lost daily as cotton prices break
- Small foreign community trapped with Wuchang’s population
Miami’s losses arrive in Montgomery as fragments relayed through Mobile and a ship linked to Hialeah. Alongside this emergency, the cotton association argues that rushed sales are depressing prices and urges farmers, bankers and merchants to act together. A Shanghai dispatch describes civilians and foreign residents facing hunger inside besieged Wuchang. Each selection identifies who supplies the information, preserving the distinction between a received message, an interested association’s calculation and a military forecast.
Translation
City docks obliterated; 2,000 buildings ruined
MOBILE, ALA., September 18.—(AP)—Seventy-five known dead, property loss of $100,000,000 in the city and every boat in the harbor sunk was the toll of the hurricane which struck Miami today, according to fragmentary messages picked up by the Tropical Radio Telegraph Company station here tonight. The station is working with the American steamship Siboney, which has established communication with a makeshift transmitting plant at Hialeah.
A million lost daily as cotton prices break
Foreseeing losses of millions of dollars to the people of Alabama during the next few weeks caused by disorderly marketing of cotton, Edward A. O’Neal and Allen Northington, of the Alabama Farm Bureau Cotton Association, issued Saturday a public appeal to farmers, bankers and merchants to stand together and avoid this probable loss by marketing the cotton crop of the state to the best advantage.
The statement points out that during the last ten days the price of cotton has dropped two cents per pound and that this is equivalent to $10,000,000 on the Alabama crop alone, a loss of $1,000,000 a day. Hasty selling to the extent of breaking the price by selling much faster than the normal demand is assigned as the chief reason for this severe drop, and the fact that the price of cotton is now only two-thirds of that on the same date last year, although the crop for the South as a whole is less than was made in 1925.
Small foreign community trapped with Wuchang’s population
SHANGHAI, September 18.—(AP)—Starvation threatens twenty-one Americans and five Europeans hemmed in with the Chinese population of Wuchang by the besieging armies of the “Red” Cantonese government.
Two weeks of bombardment and assault having failed to wrest the city from its northern army defenders, the Cantonese have completely blockaded it and settled down to starve it into submission.
Unless relief comes within one week, it is believed Wuchang must fall. There are two faint chances of relief.
Context
A ship became a bridge to the disaster zone
The Siboney was part of a temporary communication chain linking a Hialeah transmitter to a station in Mobile. Such a relay could carry news when ordinary land connections failed. It also explains why an Alabama dispatch could supply a report about Miami. The ship’s radio had become useful infrastructure for people ashore, carrying fragments of information out of a city whose own communication systems were damaged.
Why farmers needed bankers and merchants to hold back sales
A farmer who must meet immediate bills may have to sell at harvest even when many neighbours are selling too. The association’s appeal includes bankers and merchants because credit and payment arrangements can influence that pressure to sell. Its proposed remedy is coordinated marketing over time, rather than simply producing less cotton. The argument distinguishes the total crop from the pace at which it reaches buyers: a smaller harvest can still face a falling price if sales arrive too quickly.
A siege changed the danger from shells to food supplies
The Wuchang dispatch describes a shift from bombardment and assault to complete blockade. Once supplies cannot enter, the defenders and civilians share a problem that military resistance alone cannot solve: how long food will last. The precise count of foreigners gives the American news audience a point of connection, but they are trapped with the Chinese population. The threat concerns an entire inhabited city, not only a foreign enclave.
Original
CITY DOCKS OBLITERATED;! 2,000 BUILDINGS RUINED
MOBILE, ALA., Sept 18.—
(AP)—Seventy-five known dead,
property loss of $100,000,000 in
the city and every boat in the har:
bor sunk was the toll of the hurri
cane which struck Miami today,,
according to fragmentary mes
sages picked up by the Tropical
Radio Telegraph company station,
here tonight The station is
working with the American steanti
ship Siboney, which has estab
lished communication with
makeshift transmitting plant at*
Hialeah.
LOSE MILLION DAILY ON BREAK IN COITON
Foreseeing losses of millions of dol
lars to ths people of Alabama during
the next few weeks caused by. dis
orderly marketing of cotton, Edward
A. O'Neal and Allen Northlngton, of the
Alabama Farm Bureau Cotton associa
tion -issued Saturday a public appeal
tp farmers, bankers, and merchants to
stand together and avoid this probable
loss by marketing the cotton crop of
the state to the best advantage.
The statement points out that-dur
ing the last ten days the price of cot
ton has dropped two cents per poutid
and that this is equivalent to $10,000,
000 on the Alabama crop alone, a lops
of $1,000,000 a day. Hasty selling to
the extent of breaking the price by
selling much faster than the normal
demand is assigned as the chief rea
son for this severe drop, and the fact
that the price of cotton is now only
two-thfrds of th/tt on the same date
last year, although the crop for tha
South as a whole is less than was made
in 1925.
Small Colony Hammed In With Population of Wu Chang
SHANGHAI, Sept. IS—'(AP>—Starva
tion threatens twenty-one Americans
and five Europeans hemmed in with
the Chinese population of, Wu Chang
by the besieging armies of the 'Red
Cantonese government.
Two weeks of bombardment and as
sault having failed to wrest the city
from Its northern army defenders, the
Cantonese have completely' blockaded
It and settled down to starve it into
submission.
Unless relief comes within one week,
it Is believed Wu Chang must fall.
There are two faint chances of relief.
Source: Holding institution