The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1875-09-30
Planting on Credit-Startling Figures.

A recent report Of the Georgia Depart
ment of Agriculture makes an exhibit Of
the business methods and prospects of the
planters and farmers of that State, en-
bodying facts, which, though they cannot
be said to be new to any Southern COM
munity, are aggregated and formulated so
as to presentsomes startling and instructive
statistics. We are told that the farmers
have not bought on credit to as great an
extent this year as last; that about twcn
ty per cent of their number have been
purchasing exclusively for cash; that
about forty-four per cent has been paid
on the cost and prices of goods when
bought on credit, payable November
1st; that sixty-sevcn counties report hay
ing paid S2,078,5 500 as annual interest, by
buying on time; that about thirty-eight
per cent. of the cotton crop was pledged
for supplies advanced to make it-in
other words, one-third of the crop was
virtually sold before it was grown that
of those who raise their own supplies,
about eighty per cent. make profit by
farming, and eight per cent. lose. Again,
it is found that about seventy-one per cent.
of the farmers give daily personal super
vision to their farm labor, while twenty
nine do not; also, that land is more rap
idly aexhausted and Quilted under the
cropping and renting system than when
worked by wages labor. The report, ac-
cepting these returns as rejecting the ac-
tual situation, indulges the following re-
fections:
We learn from the above that only 20
per cent. of the farmers buy entirely for
cash, while those who buy on credit
pay at the enormous rate of A per ocnt.
per annum interest on what they con-
sumo, amounting in the aggregate, in the
State of Georgia, to the astonishing sum
of 81, 240, ,000-.four and quarter million
dollars, paid by the farmers in interest on
what they consume. Is it remarkable
that farming is not profitable under such
a suicidal policy? No legitimate busi-
ness can pay fl per cent. per annum on
the capital necessary to conduct it and
live.
Another instructive lesson taught by
the above answers in the fact that so per
cent. of those who raise their supplies
make profit, while Is per cent. of those
who buy lose money. Let us put these
facts together, and study the lessons
taught by them.
1st. Only 20 per cent. of the farmers
pay cash for what they buy.
End. Those who buy on credit pay
an average of A per cent. per annum in
terest on the CASH prices.
Ord The farmers of Georgia pay, in
interest of supplies-nearly all of which
can be raised On their farms-the sum of
sS4,25O, 900, which is more than halt Of the
bonded debt Of Georgia, and is IA per
cent. of the value Of the entire cotton
crop of the State.
Among the remedial measures sugges
ted by the report, the farmers and plant
ers are recommended to cease buying
supplies that can be raised on their farms,
and at the same time to reduce their
planting down to a cash basis; to de-
mand such tax upon dogs and such
protection from their ravages as will en-
able them to raise wool and mur.on, and
thus at present utilize their waste or use
less lands; also, to commence at once to
provide against the leeks which are sap
ping their financial life-blood, by sowing
largely of grain, and especially of the
rust-proof oat, early in the fall, by care
fully outstanding all the manurcs Oh the
farm, under shelter, for use in compost
ing for the next seasons crops, and by
taking proper steps towards increasing
their facilities for raising stock. As to
the plague of dogs" the fact is worth
mentioning that with only 370, 1872 sheep
in Georgia, the annual loss by these ami
mails, valuing the sheep at only $3.50
per head, is $50, ,457, which is a mere triae
compared to the amount lost to the State
by the prevention of sheep raising.
The advice given to the Georgia plant
ters may be needed with advantage by
those of South Carolina as we'll. Here,
as indeed all over the South, the reckless
use of credit has been the bane of the
planting interest.