Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1873-02-10
THE GOLDEN HARVEST.
What The Merchants Make from Cotton,
and What the Planters Loose
and Pay.
Plain Talk and Clear Reas0ning--Farms
and Their Management
knowledge Wanted.
A Farmers Club Needed-A Call upon
the Farmers Of Shelby County.

EDITORS APPEAL-I see In yUuI
daily of the seventh of May, 1871, an
article written by T. T. Wright, and
called by you good sense; but, in my
Judgment, it is the weakest erpoSe OF
the farmer and his financial troubles on
record, and betrays utter Ignorance of
the labor system as it is. His leading
inquiry is, "What has gone with this
twenty-seven million dollars that was
scattered broadcast around Memphis for
cotton alone?" He first assumes that it
was sown broadcast around Mem
phis, and almost In the same breath
he tells us that il was sown broadcast
somewhere else; that is, that it was sent
to the West for supplies to produce said
cotton. He, the said Wright, gives US
the items of expense, such as meat and
bread, butter and eggs, turkeys and
chickens, apples and other things. Now,
of this bill of fare, the cotton planter
and daily laborer have not received
anything bat the meat and bread, whilst
the city had all the butter and eggs,
chickens and turkeys, and other things
served up in the most princely style be-
meath their gildedly embellished eita-
dels of domestic retirement, waiting in
luxurious ease for the incoming crop,
with all its perquisites, while the planter
is filled with middlingmeat ana bread,
and physical exhaustion and mental
tOrtures at the maturity of mortgages
on his homestead for supplies to make
said
COTTON.
Had the said Wright been acquainted
with the soil, condition of the farms,
scarcity Of money in the country, sparse
ness OF timber on a majority of the
plantations, the unreliability of labor,
as well as the plan of labor adopted in
the cotton States, he never would have
Yentured a plan, much less to have
asked the question, sneeringly, Of the
debt-rldden and oppressed labOring mil
lions, "What had went with the twenty
seven millions that Memphis had sown
broadcast in the eOuntTy2n What has
went with the twenty-seven millions?
In showing what has went with the
twenty-seven millions, I will state that
to produce that amount of cotton would
require, at least, fourteen or twenty-four
millions in money. will do the trade
justice, and say that they use more cap
ital, and at less profits, than they are
accused of doing; that is, say twenty
five per cent. is a high average profit
running through the entire trade
hence, we will take twenty-four million
dollars in actual cash to develop the cot
ton crop of twenty-seven millions, for if
we assume a less amount, say fourteen
millions, it would show our merchants
to be consummated set of swindlers;
that is, to take
S27, 100000 WORTH OF COTTON,
and our notes secured on land for s14.-
BOO, 900 worth of goods; therefore we will
that they invest S24, ,000, 600 in
supplies and dry-goods at the factory,
packery and foundery, and add twenty
i've per cent. on first cost, freights added,
which would be $1,000, 900 profit to add
to the $24, 900, 900; therefore, when the
goods are laid down in Memphis, they
are worth $50, 900, ,0O0. We, as a class of
farmers, are one year behind; therefore
70 get the goods we are forced to get
some merchant to advance them-regu-
ar charges being two and One-half per
cent, and one per cent. per month for
he use OF the money, which will aver
ige five per cent. on the entire ac-
count; hence the commission for ad- !
7aneing would be $3.50, 600, and interest
IN the same would be 81 800, 900, which |
n all would be 3, go, 600; and that add
ID to the $50, 900, 600 would be S32, ,25O,- |
100 of debt sown broadcast over the |
country to produce the S27 200, 600 of cot |
on, which not only leaves the county
without a dollar, but an exhaustive debt
Df s., 5,2j0,O 600 on the supply question
alone, and SS, 900, 600 in money as dear
gains in the hands of the merchants on
.he original S24, 600, 600 invested-besides
a debt in the country for their commits
sion on handling cotton. Take the S2T,-
BOO, 600 worth of cotton at two and one
half per cent, and We have
$4,000 for sellhg, S2O2, 500 for
and S400, O00 for
STORAGE AND OTHER EXPENSES,
for in S27, 900, 600 worth of cotton, there
would be at least 100000 bales, at IS
cents per pound, weighing 450 pounds;
hence, we see it cost US 81, ,297, 500 to
have our cotton sold, to say nothing of
the amount gained out Of the very small
bales made for sampling. Add the cot
ton balance and the supply debt that is
carried over, and we have S6,527. 500
hanging over us, and increasing in vol
ume daily.
What has went with the S27, 200, 600?
We, the farmers around Memphis, have
given the S27, 900, 600 worth of cotton,
and 81, ,525, 100 in notes, secured by mort
cages on our homesteads, making in all,
S3S, 527, 500, for S24, 900, 900 worth of sup
plies and other things; that is, we are
paying the enormous sum of S9, ,627, 500
to a few capitalists TO handle our pro-
ducts and sell us theirs; that is, they
give us S24 100000 worth of goods,
and take S27, 100000 worth of cotton,
and Sc, 527, 500 in notes bearing interest.
think that l have shown where the
S27, 900, 900 has gone. 1t is painful fact
that there is not dollar in the country,
and money matters are getting tighter
and tighter every year, whereas mer-
chants are multiplying in numbers and
wealth. 1t is equally clear
hat, if the merchants were advancing
more money than the products brought
n market, that they too would go by