The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1873-11-14

IF twenty or thirty thousand grain
raising farmers in the Northwest would
pull uD stakes and migrate to Louisiana,
Mississippi and Arkansas, and go to
raising cotton and sugar cane, they
would be an Invaluable acquisition to
those States, and the change would be
scarcelyg less beneficial to them. There
is, indeed, q great deal of misgovern-
ment in the South, and a great lack
of those, school advantages which
Northern farmers are accustomed to
but q heavy migration of Northwestern
farmers would soon correct these evils.
They would have something to say
about public matters themselves, and it
would not be a great while before their
influence and counsel would be exhibit
ed in a more orderly government and
more liberal institutions. There are
too many grain raisers in the North
west, and there are too few cotton and
sugar raisers in the Southwest. q @s.,
1t takes one-half an Iowa farmers
grain crop, sometimes, to pay the cost
of getting the other half to market, and
for this reason, if he is a man Ofnsman
lueans, who had to mortgage his farm
to raise the means to equip it with he
finds that the payment of the, mort
gage is a slow process. On the contra
nv, the demand for cotton and sugar is
increasing every year more rapidly
than the supply, and for this reason the
prices of these articles are always good.
1t takes a very small fraction of cot
ton or cane crop to pay for getting the
whole crop to market. 1t costs thirty
five to- forty cents Il bushel to carry
grain from Illinois and Iowa to. New
YOrk-the charge being twenty-five to
ono hundred per cent of its value. But
it costs only SO o bale to send cotton
from Memphis to New Orleans, the
charge being only four to five per cent
of its value. y a50 81 se Isltas
1t is easily seen from this that the
same labor and care which an Iowa far
mer bestows on the grain crop which
Yields him $500 net, would, il bestowed
OH a cotton or sugar crop IN the South,
Weld him $500 net. Farmers in the
South do not work harder, certainly,
than farmers in the Northwest the
general impression isfthat they do not
work as hard and yet, an industrious.
good managing cotton raiser in MlSslS-
sippi or Louisiana makes SO where an
industrious, good managing grain grow
er in Iowa makes 81. There is no com
plaint3 about transportation in the
S~outh-nO cutlery against railroads fol-
charging onerthird to one-half the cost
of a crop for carrying it to market
The prices of cotton and sugar are Sc
remunerative as to make the cost o1
carriage insignificant. Besides, thu
chief carriage in the South is by water
and in this respect the planters have
great advantage over the Northwestern
farmers. @ s 80 faa@9 %f1#
1t costs thirty to forty dents a hun,
bred to carry cotton, worth fourteen
cents d pound, to market; and it cost
seventy-five cents a hundred to carry
wheat, worth only two cents a pound
to market. 1t is a. common thing TO
an industrious man in Louisiana, will
no other help than that which his owl
family affords, to make ten to ffteel
bales of cotton, worth $50 bale, he
sides corn and potatoes enough to lido
him; and it is O very uncommon thin;
for Northwestern farmer of mOderat'
means to make a showing equal to thi
IN embarrassing. sf&tt -3aS5 Il
Migration from north to sOlth is no
In accordance with the established rule
of popular movements in this country
buttiere istgo6d reasondf for beilevin;
that suelra migration as we sugges
would, nevertheless, be highly adyan
tageous, since it would not onlysb
changing aTigorous climate fora mil
one, butt t would, als0 be exchanging
anEunfemunerative species OF agricnL
ture for d very profitable one.-GSt
Louis Republican.