Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1871-02-23
better prices. Planter need not as

the rule of selling their cotton when
ready for market Except in times OF
panic or other temporary depressiOn),
| they may RELY upon it that customers
| and spectators will make demand for
] the cotton at prices quite high enough
| for the relation of supply and con-
| sumption, and when, as now, the
production has suddenly Outrun, in
] large measure the consuming power,
/ the sooner the surplus is taken up and
distributed the better, though prices
be distressingly low"
As a general rule, planters are not
apt to take or seek advice from the
/ papers on the subject Of reducing their
/ crops, or holding on to them when
made. 1t is of some importance to
| them, however, that they should
have brought to their attention the
statistics of the trade, and the views
of those intelligent parties who make
the subject their study.
From the Goodman (AIisE.) Central Star.
THE NEGRO WILL NOT WORK,
Say you; Ethen go to work yourself;
set him the example of earning an
honest living by the sweat of your
brow. That is the ticket, and the
only one that will win in this canvass.
Quit cursing negro laziness; pull the
beam out OF your own eve, and take
hold of the pillow handles yourself,
and you will soon see labor in plenty.
There are more than sufficient men
ia the country to till all the arabic
land now open, if they will only 90
to work, instead Of repining over the
past. Don't be ashamed to turn a
furrOW yourself That is the only
way ever to become Independent Of
the negro. When he finds you can
do entirely without him, he will soon
humble himself to your own terms,
and we shall no longer witness the
paradox of labor controlling capital.
There is a dignity in labor that is not
appreciated by our people. How
much easier it is to earn with your
own labor your substance and that
Of your family, than to be perpetually
in debt, and worrying after a squad of
worthless negroes, who impoverished
your lands to no profit. The remedy
for this people lies ia three WOrds-gO
to work.
From the New Orleans Times
PROSPECTS OF SOUTHERN STAPLES
AND LABOR.
For several years after the war it
was confidently prOphecied that the
cotton crop of the South would never
exceed 2,5U0, OGO bales. 1t is now less !
than five years! since the war, and the |
crop approaches 50 near to four mil |
lions Of bales as to justify many sa-
gaCiOus persons in wagering on that |
figure. The lowest estimate is 3,750,- |
600 bales. This, too, upon a very |
loose and incomplete picking, with |
many fields abandoned for the want |
Of labOreTs to pick the opened bOlls.
The reflections suggested by this re. |
suit are interesting and valuable. 1t |
is obvious that there is labor sufficient |
in the South to raise as much cotton |
as the world demands or needs, and |
that the production is no longer limi- |
ted by the lack of labor. It is equally |
clear that that labor can be made !
available as long as the price of the |
product is reInuneTative. At what /
price it can be made remunerative is |
to be determined by many facts and /!
considerations. II the prices of sup |
plies and provisions do not decline in /
an equal ratio with that of cotton the /
planters cannot pay for the labor the |
high rates paid the past aud previous /
Seasons. Either, therefore, the pro- 4
ductiOn or the rates of labor must be /
reduced. 1t is better for all the par /
ties that the labor should be reduced !
so as to produce permanency and /
regularity, and at the same
time secure the means of cOmfOr-
table subsistence to the labOrers !
than that by the abandonment Of this
crop these labOrers should be driven
from the plantations and compelled
to pursue a Vagrant life. It was the
high rate Of cotton which 80 unsettled !
our labor during the last year by
drawing the labOrer5 from the sugar
plantations to the cotton. Not one
half Of the sugar crop could be real
lied, from the scarcity Of labor. With
a good cultivation in the spring aud !
summer, the cane would have yielded |
a third more than il did. But cotton |
paid so much better that the old |
hands were attracted TO the cotton
fields. The rapid and large decline in
cotton has driven them back TO their
old plantations, and for sugar culture
the prospects OF a good cultivation
this year, and of an abundance of
labor, are far better than they were
last season. Is it not better that the
labOrer should remain on the planta-
tiOn to which he is attached, where
he has his homestead, his family and
friends, than be drawn away by a
small advance in the price Of labor to
a new and strange place, and exposed
to the contingency of a reduction in
the rates Of his labor?
The great prosperity Of the South, |
and the welfare Of the planters as well
as the labOrers, will, we think, be
alike promoted by a fixed and regu-
lar, even if a lower, rate of prices
than that of the seasons previous to
the present. Better small profits than
constant and sudden fluctuations.