Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1874-05-09
4 nISASTRnTS SYSTEM.
The Cotton Planters Of the South and
Their TribulatiOns.


From the New York Tribune.
The cotton region embraces a smalle
area than northern people general
suppose. While North Carolina an
Tennessee, for instance, raise a larg
amount of cotton, they cannot be Gale
cotton states even Northern Georgia i
not a cotton region. Still, the grea
staple is raised So far north as Souther,
Virginia, Southern Illinois and Mis-
souri,, but the fields are scatteret
and small andthe yield is unsatisfactory
The greater part of the crop Is raised Ii
South Carolina, in three.tourths of Geor
gia, in most Of Alabama aud Mississippi
in half Of Louisiana and Arkansas, ant
in a good portion of Texas. If tn,
whole the state of Georgia were in cot
ton, the area would be greater than tn.
aggregate cotton districts of all the res.
OF the states. This shows now Limited
is the cotton region but where soil and
climate are especially adapted to any
product, a comparatively small area
will furnish a full supply. This is no.
tably the case with corn, for less than
onehundred countie sfurnish the surplus
that enters into the commercial market.
Where cotton planting is a business,
little else is raised, and provisions of all
kinds, manufactured articles, and even
the necessary hay and grain, are
brought in from the outside world.
North Carolina, Tennessee, and Ken
lucky furnish butter, eggs, fruit, ana.
some flour Ohio, Illinois, and Mis-
souri, send immense quantities of corn,
bacon, lard, agricultural implements,
and manufactured articles, all OF which
are paid for with cotton.
The disastrous results Of this system,
after a lapse Of mare than forty years,
are now fully apparent. A great ma
jority Of the planters are said to be in
debt, and there does not seem to be the
slightest prospect of their ~deliverauce
so long as the present mode of planting
is continued. A widespread spirit of
speculation, or Of gambling, by which
wealth is to be acquired without work,
has been the outgrowth of this system.
The remedy that has been repeatedly
proposed is that the planter shall raise
his own supplies, and thus save the i'm
sums that now 60 TO merchants,
r"'5'pauS' una ElI1le"tu' -uYi7 corn
.uu leSS Io.'9I Is 'ue proposed u!ov'o'
made, for money must be had to pay
1eots' or d, least interest," ana hothlng
o'Ilss Ie"''. money PuI c2tIoA' %
more money Is borrowed 10 raise more
'',Io" 'ItLe Is no 'IAnJ' no sA'Ii' no
."S'e loL olueI STTPS' Mean|1!,e .ue
S'9teS OF tennessee NofIA G"r-
'I'Ia, "uu heHlucAE' "ulci are lenoeIs
-. q tno co'lol S'astS' complain p!V'erIy
tue Ie1cIt9u Oh tAese adverse cohul,
IONS upon mem money is scarce "Lq
BUSINESS Is gun, ana ILose Wno would
seen 1t remedy III gong "eSO afe IN
'JIo 70 40 50 because 'Aey caAno. MAKE
T VI Ie"l eSIoye'
mere Is no uou9C that tho system
yIIcI tue COTTON Planters nave estaD-
lSheu 10 " VICIOUS one ana thaI II is
,nIy u quesVlon OF ,Ime as 10 Wheh u
'ha'I pe SIPelSedeu by a Dettgf' Even
"ullt4i purchase OF le[IlIl2rfS Tor
.utsll8 GU'toh WILL III tlme, Iead TO DIS
'S'er, mere are, perhaps no statistics
u lto HiillonS oI uollarS palu every
eur ioi SuPeFPnoSpnate ana Snano, Dut
no VoI"l IS certainty enormous, me
..ully equal 10 Ine immense sum PAD
SuppllGS' Wuether these fertilizers
replace "hat IS a~pstracted by the
'oitoh may ne questionable but the
GoeS Iot gro" rlcher, ana the Ell
Oh the Ieftlil2erS on the SOIL seem
'laloSouS TO mat OF alcohol on the
human sysIem-stlmuiaGing 1t Tor a time
% greater el1ort, and leaving 1t In a
'IaVe Oh collapse. Inc trouble with all
ne np.and OF the cotton states is that
ls naturally thin, and a few years
'roPplng wears 1t out. The millions
millions OF acres that are to be
seen, beginning even at Mount Vernon
ma running down through the Caro-
mas mo georgia, which were once IN
'ultlVatloh, ana nave now grown up to
pine, are St1hclent evidence OF q thin
sou: Nor are the supply states, such
tennessee and the Ike, much better
d. Inc absence OF powders all
through the south IS significant, for
.ihey are evidence Of a rich soil, n
mat endures long, aud IS highly favor
aole Tor all the grasses. The basis of
inc larger part OF the southern soil is
sand rock, ana the value OF such ma-
terial Is nowhere great. la those Ilmi'
Yea regions where hme rock l5the basis,
farms nave great value; for IN
stance, N parts OF northern Georgia,
a apama, and tennessee, and notably
me plue grass region Of Kentucky.
tlclou3 ana mistaken as the system
amos lnsurmountaOle obstacles oppose