The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1869-02-27
The South and The Next Cotton Crop

The approach Of the planting season in
the SuuJ-, and the policy To be pursued
with regard to the next crop, are matters of
more than local interest Ia fact, to the
whole community, North and south every
thing connected with the CUUUon crop OF
1869 is a subject of the highest importance.
Nor is this interest confined to our own
country The cotton manu- facturers and
consumers of Europe, and the cotton pro
ducers in India, Egypt and other places will
find their industry seriously affected for
good or i'll by the prospects and results of
the coming season. King Cotton for de-
throned monarch, still exercises decided
and positive Influence in the world; and
this influence seems to be increasing rather
than diminishing. At no. former period
have the prospects of this staple elected a
deeper or more general concern.
The action, therefore, of the South in re-
ference to the new crop is Cf the first i'm
portance No backward step should be
taken, but the same intelligent course which
has produced such remarkable results the
past year should be continued the coming
season. 1t has abundantIy demonstrated
the vitality of the South and the possibility
Of raising cotton more successfully by freed
labor than by slave labor. All that Is
nedeed now is that the lessons of the past
three years be not lost, in order that the
South may retain the vantage grouad it has
gained, and enter upon a new career Of
social and industrial development and pros
perity
At the close of the civil war, the single
element of labor was about the only means
remaining in the South of recovery from
the Industrial prOstration In which that sec
ton was left. But even this resource was
sadly deficient. The freedmen were badly
demOralized, iEsubordinate an pretentious !;
and at the same time, the white population
was exhausted, angry and jealous All
classes were utterlp broken down in spirit,
while there was no money or credit any
where. In this extremity the planters
turned to cotton as their only hope. Prices
had been high and it was thought that they
would continue SO, and on the basis of the
then ruling rates. contracts were entered
into and plans made fer the year. 1t is
scarcely necessary to repeat the disasters
of that and the succeeding seasons. The
result Of the policy pursued was that dur
ing the winter of 1867 a cry of famine
arose from the most fertile districts of the
world, and the little remnant the war left
appeared to have been lost. Relief was
sent, and the danger passed away, leaving a
severe experience, which has resulted, how
ever, in the greatest good to that section of
our country enabling them, In TACT, TO raise
q crop OF cotton at about ten cents per
pound, and to sell it at more than twenty
cents. Over two hundred and fifty millions
of dollars will pass into the South from
cotton alone tins season, placing the plant
ers in a position of comparative lnde-
pendence.
In tracing the causes of the success Of
| 1868, as contrasted with the disasters of the
( preceding years, we find the clearest indi
| cations of what should be the policy of the
/ South in the immediate future. Failure a
! first was not the result of deficient crops, but
rather of the acts of the freedmen and the
! clanters themselves. CAPITAL, to be sure
4 was shy and distrustful, and could only be
obtained with difficulty and at high rates o
interest or on extremely untavorable terms
Labor, also, was demoralized. In very
many cases the freedmen, having newly
tasted the sweets of liberty, refused Il
work, or, if they worked, it was with grea
lack of energy and efficiency. They coul'
not see the necessity of work, and it required