The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1870-12-30
::;5:,.5j.hituM.BIA,..:S ): 81 IS. C.
Friday Morning, December 80. 1870.
The south-Cotton.


6une, writing from jackson, Mississippi.
gives sad account of the condition Of
the cotton planters In the Mississippi
Valley, His reflections upon the ruin
ons ,;,n system adopted by. Western plant-
ers, apply with fqll force to the planters
in this State. Tie writer Is, ,,Sssfidenlfy a
sbrewd Western mah, and has at a
single gl1uce caught correct view of
"hhe a5iitaation Of THE cotton planters. He
saya:
u.asaAskBaa aAs BaarJN every, station We observe
4rain otter train, bouha South heavily
loaded. i, q with cotton, TRe. platforms at
os. less wagons moving To-. tile nearest
,phiaf topic is cotton; and, in faot, one
Ia Impressed with the idea that there is
little else but cotton to be seen or talked
about. Several facts we CLEAN that may
prove interesting. Not the least of these
In Importance is the self.evident one
that there has been q complete revolu-
tion in the cotton trade of the country,
rs conducted in former years. Cotton is
no longer. as rule, shipped to New
Orleans. in special consignmcnts to fuc-
tors, who, through advances made to
the planter, control the crop. It is
shipped now, in the main, as the pro-
perty of the cotton merchants. These
country merchants have themselves fur
niahed supplies, and, in so doing, taken
the place of the former factor in New
Orleans. There has just sprung up O
local trade in the country towns, to the
serious injury of that city.
=. That the crop made is one of the
largest ever known is beyond oil doubt.
That it will materially enrich the pro-
ducers, however, 1 very much doubt.
Or. the contrary, I believe they are
poorer, in the main, than they were q
year ago. The reasons arc obvious.
No class Of people With whom have
ever been acquainted, are 30 utterly
teckless in the matter OF running them
selves head over heels in debt, as are the
planters of the South, So it has been
from time inmemorial almost, and so it
seems destined to continue. Before the
war, they. purchased with q reckless pro.
aigality; the chief incentive in life appa-
rently being to stretch their credit to
the utmost, to make cotton, with which.
with little regard to creditors. to buy
more negroes, With which to raise more
cotton, aud 80 on, from year to year.
Such q course could have but one result.
You hear them all declaim against the
war as bringing hopeless ruin upon their
heads. The fact is, as shown by the
records Of the Bankrupt Court, the war
merely precipitated the crisis. Nine out
of ten were hopelessly insolvent before
the war. Nor does there seem to be any
improvement under the new order OF
things. AS in the olden time, the plant
er buys with perfect recklessness, that
he may stretch to the utmost limit his
number of bales. His only possible
chance for payment lies in successful
crop. He, therefore, gambIes stakes
his all upon the chances. If the crop
turns out we'll, he is able to pay up, and
again stake oil Oh still bigger crop next
time.
II the crop fail, as cotton, being pre-
carlous orcp, is at best apt to do, or if
the price is below the expected standard,
the creditor Is forced to take what he can
get, oftentimes, Perhaps, to whistle for
his pny; and, in any event, he must
again shoulder the planter through an
other crop in tho desperate hope OF max
ing himself good.
Of course, in taking such chances as
these, the county merchant cndeavors
to keep fair balance between profit and
loss. In trusting the planter for snp-
plies he not only charges, in the first
place, round profit on his goods-say
30 per cent.-but in addition to this
bleeds the planter on the amount
charged to his account in the way of in
terest, to the tune of not less than 3, Oft
times 3. per cent. per month. AS the
credit stands for, say, on much of the
amount, ten months, the planter is thus
seen to pay on large proportion of his
supplies the sum of so per cent on the
amount of the original purchase. Add
this to the SO per cent. profit on the
goods, and it is seen that by the credit
system in vogue the planter is mulct in
the sum of fully rs per cent. over and
above what he would pay for the goods
were ho "before- hand" sufficient to pur-
chase the same supplies ut Wholesale for
cash. Now, incredible as it may seem to
the oatside world, this is but fair show
ing of the credit system upon which the
cotton planter makes his crop. Nor is
this. by any means, the whole of the
difficulties under which he labors.
Leaving ont few isolated sections