Weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1858-1865, 1863-03-25
COTTON .pL ANr1Nt IN THE SOUTH.
ExEeUrIvE DEPARTMENT,
adoevi)Ie March IL. 1868,

ExECUTIvE DEPARTMENT,
Milledgeville, March IL, lSGs
Dear Sir On nv return from Atlanta, your let
ter has been handed me by my Secretary. reply
to both YOUR enquiries that he who plants more
than ttilee acres In cotton for each regular .fsM
hand, in ,uy opinion violates the law, and IS sub
ject to its penalties.
I deeply regret to see disposition manifested by
many Of our planters to cultivate every acre OF their
land in cotton, which they can plant without incur
ring the penalties of the statute. The patriotic
conduct Of the planters, last spring, IN the reduc
ton of their cotton crops, and the increase OF tler
gram crops, saved many of our people from stsrva
ton, our army from disbaHding, and the Confedera
CIV from ruin Ii the necessity existed then for this
change of production, how much more imperativels
it now? The enemy have overrun and nov hold d
large portion of the most productive partof osr ter
ri,ory. How much more Of it may be thrown in
their by the vcissitudes Of war; so as to destroy
the crop of the present year, no one can with Ger
tainty predict. As our limits are contracted,
large part of the loyal people leaveth section III
the possession Of the enemy. and come into the nte
terror. Thus the population to be supported by
the lands in our possession, and the labor at our
command us increased while the Of production
is diminished, and our productive labor constantly
weakened by new leves of troops for the army
When three foarth Of the white lahorers Of the Con-
fedcracy are under arms, the women and children,
and the army must look to the products of slave
labor for bread. If this labor, any considerable
proportion of it is employed in the culture Of cotton
any thing else that will not sustain life, the
sequences must be of the most fatal character.
In a large portion Of the Confederacy, and very
important section of our own State, where most
grain was heretofore produced, bread cannot be
bought for money, at any reasonable price, and the
poor, and especially many poor soldiers families.
upon very short allowance, and could not avoid
the most intense suffering, if not starvation, were
there no surplus in the cotton regions This re-
suits from two causes:
lst The lands in these sections. of the country
have heretofore been cultivated almost entirely by
white labor, which is now in the military service
The population is heavy, and the number Of women
and children left without assistance very large,
while much of the land lies idle.
I'd, The drought last summer was unusually Sc
vere 1t has often been said, thstshis is war for
the negro. Mr.. Lincoln with his abolition Congress
is beginning to make it so. As the indiscrminate
destruction of no other kind Of property has yet
been decreed by his edicts, no other class OF our
population has SO mich at stake the shareholders
And as the negro not fit for military service and is
left ut home usually with some to oversee him.
while the white laborers are compelled to leave all
their home interests and 60 10 the field of battle the
shareholders have great advantage, and they alone
have the labor which can make bread to sustain the
army ana their needy families Our Shareholders
would do we'll to remember when poor white men
have left their families and volunteered. how often
the pledge has been made to them by their wealthy
neighbors, "yonr family shall not suffer while you
are gone." Many of these families must suffer Sc.
verey unless all the slave labor Of the Confederacy
is Employed in the production ofprovisions. When
ever there is not bread for the families Of soldiers at
home neither the love of country, nor the rigors Of
military law, can prevent the decentralization Of the
army. If the army is demorSlized, every savehold-
himself and his posteri.y.
1t is true the Legislature Of our State has author
lied every planter to cultivate three acres ofcotton
to the hand, and other States have passed similar
acts. 1t is said, the planters will generally put
their best lands in cotton and all their manure up
on it, and that they will bestow. upon this their
chief attention If this is done, my honest convic
lions are, that they will neither have lands topanl
nor negroes to cultivate them, another year. Il
three acres of the best lands of thecotton States
planted in cotton for every hand this year. it is im
possible for US TO raise provisions enough for the
people at home, and keep the army in the field mex
1 year. If we are ever subdued, it will beby starva
ton, and not by Lincoln's armies. If we are evel
starved into submission, it will be by abuse of tn.
blessings of Providence, growing out of an avari
cious greed for gain. The white labor of the South
| Is uiIuct " euStdsu M We'll dS Uu
other interests and the labor of the slaves must b.
employed to sustain our white men in the field ant
their families at home -
Whatever may be our desire for gain, or our wisl
to employ labor for its accumulation, we cannot shu
our eyes to the stern reality. It is a,question 0
property or no property, Liberty or subjuSation
life or death. The issue is trembling in tho Balance
and the action Of the planters for the next six week
must turn the scale one way or the other. an
no alsrmist-I but speak the truth in soberness
appeal to you then, planter, and to every othe
planter in the Confederacy. Do not plant enc acr
in cotton more than is absolutely necessary to kee
seed In the country. One quarter Of an acre to tn
hand, is large crop this year. There is plenty i
the Confederacy to clothe our own people for year
to come. If we cultivate it this year, it is only
make money. Let him who does it fear, lest it /
said, "thy money perish with thee" and the curse
OF his enslaved posterity rest upon his memory.
i am respectfully, your obedient serv't
i - JOSEPH E. BROWN.