Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1866-05-12
FAILURE TO GROW COTTON.

done, speedily. The magisterial manner
in which they cast the depth and breadth
of the cotton yield this season, must be
splashed with cold water and made RI
diculous. The foolish idea that the freed
man will grow cotton by sort OF en-
chantment, or produce it all over his
body as a sheep produces wool, is an alb
surdity too monstrous to be INDUCED
except in the fctions that wallow and
luxuriate in yellow covers, and claim
HARPER and his brother philanthropists
as channels Of communication with the
public And so the heecy dream will
dissolve. There will be no such thing as
driving the freedmen into pens and
shearing them for cotton every month or
two The staple doesn't grow on them.
We doubt if sensible men have, at any
period Of the world, shown less aptitude
TO compare agencies with results, than
those who rely upon an immense yield Of
cotton in the South as the fruit of the
present season We grieve to say that
Memphis mem only few-have eaten
the cotton lotus. One gentleman thinks
the yield will be fully four million bales
Another is astonished to hear the opinion
expressed that Memphis will not receive
and ship, the coming autumn and winter,
fully four hundred thousand bales. 1t is
painful to reflect that any business man
will permit himself to embrace such
transparent delusion Where is the cot
ton to come from2 Who are to produce
IT'D OF the four million negroes in the
South at the commencement of the war,
fully one million, according to the best
authority, are dead Forty per cent of
this number we're producers of cotton,
They are to be subtracted from the amount
of labor in the cotton fields. OF the three
million left living, how many are availa-
BILE as laborers2 How many of them did
the war kill, main and demoralize
They are TO be subtracted from the amount
of labor Before the war, two-thirds of
the colored women we're field hands 1t |
is the general report now, that they re-
fuse to 60 into the fields at all They |
have exchanged the plough and hoe for |
finger rings and crinoline Hoops won't |
do in the cotton fields. They are to be
subtracted from the amount of available
labor to grow cotton. With all the negro
labor in the South under the compulsory
system, the. production of cotton wanted
half million of reaching 5000, 900 bales
in 1859 That was the greatest amount
ever obtained With the same number
of laborers under the free loiH or rol,tn-
tary system, it is not extravagant to say,
not more than half that amount would
be produced.
This is not all Every poor white man
IN the Cotton States was to the extent
of his own personal labor producer of
cotton. How many of this class were
killed or manned by the war The bone
and sinew Of the South-the tillers of
the soil-they fell at Shiloh, Chicka-
manga, on the Potomac, at Gettysburg,
at Antietam, in the Shenandoah, from
Fredericksburg to Richmond and Pc
tersburg-all over the Soath, every
where They are to be subtracted from I
the number Of those who grow cotton.
But there still remains another aspect
of this cotton supply question: the
young plant is in many places dying
from causes well known to cotton plant
ers. The seed, in general, was defee-
tive Much of that which came up has {
either died from want Of congenial
weather, or, if living, is dropping and
hopeless. The supply of seed is ex-
hausted, and immense tracts Of the best
cotton lands might be replanted with
some prospect Of q partial yield, but for 4,
this misfortune Then the worm, quick
ened into life by the agencies at war on
The cotton plant, is cutting it down in ,
many places. This disaster may be
comparatively triAing, but il still may be
great In some localities the plant is
ioing we'll In sandy lands we may an
icipate pretty fair yield. In fact, from a
be uplands, mainly, the next supply I
must come. The bottom lands have a
generally been inundated and the plant 4
uined. On the banks Of the Mssis' c
ippi, for more than Eve hundred miles,
much of the cotton lands are under =,
rater Planters who have expended r
immense sums Of money TO stock plan !
atoms, have, in many cases, been driven
u Nearly all the Southern water I
purses have overaowed their valleys
nd injured the plant These things, all
ken together, do not make out favor d
lie case for cotton. The present price n
it is in strange dispropOrtion to the e
.odactive prospect Men are being n
ined daily because they are compelled
sell cotton at present prices If they
did hold until the facts We have stated Al
ED their fruits, they would confront ."
offs instead Of losses. Ct
We have only TO say, in conclusion, Pl