New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1870-10-23
The War and the Cotton Crop.

While every week Of European war ana
business arrangement buoys the hopes OF
the whcat-grOWer ana Sustalns ms pricc. IN
the same ratio is cotton depressed. The
declaration of hostilities IN July, followed
by the amazing viGor OF the Prusslan adj
vance and the collapse OF the French
armies. has made it more and more certain
that thousands and thousands OF splndleS
must cease to run; that millions who had
money 10 buy cloth last year viii have no
money this yca". Navigation became tlmor-
Gus and capital oyeI-cautious. The result
is Just what all the South teared-cotton
hardly over Il shilling pound-in fact, less
than twelve and hall cents gold
Ii is now quite well ascertained that cot
ton gives no profit worth mentioning when
the price goes below fifteen cents, and none
at all when only ten cents IS the price OF
good middling. At the New Orleans fair in
April the cost of q pound OF cotton was DIS
cussed. and the conclusion reached that on
the best alluvial soils, i'll n good season. and
with close management, ten cents WILL make
q pound. But on the average upland. and
with the average economy, the planter loses
who does not receive fifteen. Southern
prosperity, which for two years has gone
bevond all precedent in the days OF the old
regime has received Il blow; the planter Is
dishcartened; the merchants are afraid to
buv, and Southern goods are gathering dist
in the lofts of New York warehouses;
We have again and again counseled The
cotton-growiDg States that q devotion such
as they have given to a single product, for
marketing which they must look to foreign
countries. is bad economy, and can result III
no lasting and permanent thrift. A com
munity that lives by cotton only, or wheat
only, or tobacco, or rice. or sugar. VIII run
over n great surface with IL low and eX-
haustive tllage. Nothing is returned 10
the soil for crops taken OFF. Prosperity IS
measured by dollars that come over seas
not by such true tests as the condition OF
roads, houses, bridges, churches and stock.
4 foreign market IS a pfccdrlous market.
When it is good, it throws abundance of
spending money into the planters pocket,
and he scatters it for things that perish with
the using. He buys a sadd]c-hOrse from
Kentucky. q carriage in New York; his
family indulge in expensive silks rare CHINA,
and velvet carpets.
Then come, a crash. The merchant has
advanced several thousands on Il crop that
hardly pays for picking, and holds Il mort
gage on the land. Expenses must be re-
duccd, the old Injuries are partly ahan-
doned. and retrenchment throws q gloom
over the family and broOds over the neigh
borhood. Another wear the price goes up,
and with it the protusi0n of living. linus
agriculture. instead OF proceeding with the
wise calmness and grand uniformity Of ma
turc. becomes a speculation, almost game.
If the planter becomes a gamester what
wonder that the merchant, the lawyer. the
| politician follows iii his wake, and the whole
social fabric is CONFUSED by Il sudden tele-
gram from Londoni Can not our Southern
brethren see that composed, well-based,
established. vet progressive civilization Is
inconsistent with their misplaced confidence
IN a single product! And will they not take
lesson from the gloomy experience of this
year, and no longer prop all their hopes on
cotton bale' Though the planter makes
only his living this year. he is by no means
poor. The crops OF 1868 and 1869 paid him
handsome returns, aud he can command the
means for engaging III varied culture and a
diversified industry. J. Tribune.