New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1875-08-21
TAKE CARE, NEIaHB0R!


the reform Of Southern agriculture, .an6
insists that the planter should be farmer
also and raise his own corn and stock
This is reasonable to Western mind, but
the planter may be safely trusted to decide
what proportion Of hired labor he will
employ in product which brings so little
money as corn, and whether he will set
up dairy, or buy his butter in Goshen.
In the zeal to instruct those Southern bar
barians, the Times examines the use of the
factor for produce sales. Itsays:
We now turn to the factor. He has seen
levees break, and crops Of sugar upon
which he has advanced $25 Q hORsht ad.
utterly destroyed in . single night. Worms
have appeared in blooming fields, and. in .
weeks time, not green leaf was visible.
He has known Red river to dry up, and the
cotton he paid for before it Was grown, lie
idly upon the bank while his 1cceptances
went to protest. For years he has unwit-
tingly plAyed tho roles of either Ha,cksAay
or Briarlv, the vigilan: and frequently NOR
CHESS detective, or the victim Of snOther's
treachery. The system was a fallacy from
its very commencement. While slavery
existed, and human beings were declared
BY law to be real estate, the civil tribunals
afforded some protection, but the chan ces
then were the planter proved q victim.
With two and half per cent for a1vanc-
ing. the same on purchases, an equal sum
for sales snd the innumerable charges, his
annual balance materially diminished. A
rule, the planter was never OUT of his fac
tors debt, and always more or less ut his
mercy.
This means that at one time the factor
was indispensable to crop production
It means that the investment of factors
loan in labor, put on the same footing with
immovable property or real estate, afford
ed superior security for such loan.
The Times argues that since the factor
can not take the risks Of the present free
labor system, and the planter has to make
his crop without the aid of the factor,
that the occupation of'the middle man is
no longer necessary, and by corrollary
that Southern Granger can as well sell
bis cotton without paying two and half
per cent upon the transaction as West
ern Granger can sell his corn without
similar agency. This points unmistak-
IDLY to public warehouses, common CLASH
ication Of all cotton on sale, and conse-
Iuent saving on all sale and transit
charges. l. is, however, bold stand to
'ay that IN Ter the former system "the
chances were that the planter proved
'ictim." That s'as q general rule the
planter was never out of the factors debt,
nd always more or less at his mercy
nd that the factorage System was fall
acy from the very commencement"
The Times might have added that when,
S in old times, the factor was better ad- |
Used of stocks and prices than the planter
ould have been, at present the remorse-
ess telegraph announces daily the stock |
nd rates all over the world, so that even
he laborer can know the state of the
market without paying commission of |
wo and half per cent on a public dis
atch.
1t is true that the organization of the
actors renders great service to the planter
y publishing accurate reports of the grow
ag crop prospects, and so preventing the
otton buyers from having the whole mar
ct news to themselves, as they formerly
id; still the limitations thrown ont by
ne Times show the growing independence
the planters, and the tendency to dis
ense with middle men and intermediate
harges. Now, the temerity of the Times
onsists in this, that it has pitched its
1estern pebble into hornets nest of the
lost formidable power and irascible ma
Ire. Is the Times aware that it is preach
lg ''radicalism" Of the most ultra charac-
4? 1t is inadvertently taking the part
the planter and laborer against an |.
lstitution built up upon services that
ay or may not be necessary to these pro-
acers, but which they are encouraged to
canine to see if they may be diminished
; dispensed with. With this caution to
us reformer, who comes to awaken our
norant people to the vast advantages of
e up-river systems Of agriculture and
We leave the subject. Should
e Cotton Exchange permit it to pass
ithout comment, We shall expect the
ines to profit by ogr suggestion, drop
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