New-York tribune., 1877-05-16
THE SOUTHERN COTTON BELT

NOT LABoRERs-NFGRoES LACKING INDUSTRY.
PROM A STAFF CORRESPONDENT or TIE rRIBuSE.l
SELMA. Ala May with the exception of the
cane-brake region west of this place ana tic bottom
lands along the Mississippi River the cotton belt
does not wear a prosperous look The people COM
plain of poverty and debt, and there are many ndi-
cations meeting The eye Of traveller that show their
complaints % he well founded. lhcir houses are
out Of repair their stock is poorly fed. the wear
homespuu clothes 4 good deal. and the women dress
very plainly; there il 50 little travel on the rail-
roads that il Is a mystery how the companies make
il nav to run passenger trains; the towns are lone
some and tho stores empty OF customers hotels Sub
sist on the patronage Of the dTummeTs from North
crn cities That these surface signs OF hard times
are not deceptive is proved by the statements ot
many persons familiar with the condition Of the
cotton-planting interest. On good land cotton Is r
moderately profitable crop taking good years and
bad together as they come, but where the land is
poor as IN Eastern Mississippi and in large districts
in Alabama Georgia. and South Carolina, II rs nara
work for the planters so come out even. Many of
them are getting deeper III dcbt every year. "hen
tbev yet q good crop they clear little money, hut
half the time the crop scarcely pays TOR Worklhg H.
and the bad years more than eat up the profit of the
rooJ ones Even the most favored portions OF the
COTTON region do not compare for evidences OF
wealth with farming districts in the North 81
average fertility. farmer III Northern Illinois or
Southern Michigan, for example, who OWNS loo
acres well stocked and we'd funned lives more com
fol1ably and has more money at the years end than
most cotton planters with 900 acres
Cotton is fascinating CROP but its culture to the
exclusion of the food and forage crops Is running
large sections of the South 1t takes more than the
crop brings 10 feed and clothe the planters family
aud his hands, to purchase fertilizers and to keep
r1...F.s NM
the good sense To devote half his land to raising
grain and root crops lie prospcrs, but the majority
are welded to the custom of neglectng everything
cxcept the culture of the Southern staple, and il
seems as if nothing but bankruptcy will convince
them that they are pursuing disastrous policy.
Only on sois that make at least bale to the acre
can the planter afford to devote all his arabic land
to cotton On the light soils found in most parts of
the South that produce only bale to two or three
acres. cotton should he a subsidiary crop, and none
of the money it brings in should be paid out for
food and forage. The plantation ought to furnish
its own supplies Of bread and meat and Of feed for
its stock Tie culture of a single crop would be
fatal to Northern agriculture, save perhaps III GER
tain prime regions Of the West that are peculiarly
adaptcd 10 corn OF wheat. suppose farmer IN New
York or OHIO were TO raise nothing but oats ana
were to buy his wheat potatoes, pork, beet' ana
bav and his animals for farm work. How iohe
could Ec keep out Of debt II would NOT 6e ten
wears before the sheriff Wond sell him ont II is Icy
raising variety of crops, making the most OF all
the resources Of the farm and buying nothing that
can he produced upon it, that Northern farmers
prosper. The planters Of the cotton belt must !oi-
low their example if they would succeed.
Besides the ruiu0us practice Of buying food ana
forage there is another cause that i keeping the cot
Ok pf
Half the population work in shitticSs, careless
wav and the other hale scarcely work a. all. The
negroes lounge over the pow and the hoe. putilnQ
very httlc energy and esmcstnoSs into their toil
and frcqucnLy leaving the fields when they are
most needed to go 30 religious or political meetings
or to enjoy holiday II is hardly fair 10 find fault
with them however. as long as the whites are less
industIiou. as "a class than they. The planters APP
pear 10 think that the land ought to support them
without work In a journey from Washington to
New-Orrlns and thence 10 this place | have
seen only one white man ri work IN the fields. lie
was powing some new land near Brandon, Miss.
Ii the train had stopped I would have greeted him
os q hettcr reecncrator Of the South than all the
speccn-inakcrs takers, and writers. The South
wants white labor bat it mas plenty cf it already if
the idle white men wculd 90 to work. 1t is trying
10 make agriculture profitable with hired labor c&-
clusively and il viii not succeed. There are few
Northern farmers VINO could make both ends meet II
tLcv and their soEs never put hand to the pow,
and If their wives and daughters employed servants
10 do all the homework. Poor Richards maxim.
He VINO by the plow would thrive, Himself must
either hold or drive" il just true in the South az
in the North. And yet most cotton planters arc
striving against fate TO live by the labor Of the
blacks as they did in the days Of slavery. Their
SONS are seeking 10 escape manual labor by keeping
eto,es-of which there are twice rs many as can be
well supporcd-or going into the ovcrcrowdcd
ranks Of the professions. or, worse yet, by idhng
their time away: and their families think they can
not get along without number Of house servants
who must bc paid and fed and who waste and steal
more than they earn. The prosperous planters are
those who work themselves, ,lant more corn than
cotton. raise their own poIt, keep cattle, breed
horses and mules for farm W Jrk instead OF buying
them and 10 not mortgage their crops III advance 10
get mems 10 make tnch
IEtclliLcit people throughout the cotton belt e.
hcgInYine to advocate aad practice div iycIsfcatIOn
al 9r;cuItre The habit of raising little nothing
d,s cotton !, rooted but II viii yield slow
~ 10 c force OF circumstances. 10 show how much
in cqrrps: some landowner, alc in behalf Of tic new
policy may mention the fact that a gentleman ~
Ncrla1 'tii>s.. who haa sold many smal! tracts ~
rol.l,.d ,c, yuts in TIE contracts Of sale q condition
to orc ~ corn. By hWdiIg them 70 this lie gets ms
pari.cns when they fail due and thc purchasers are
i,ro.psiiug II thcy had planted nothing but cotton
.ir s3vs tie Hand WOud have come back upon MS
hand, amt iucy would have been rnlncd' = v =
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OPENING or THE TOBACCO EXCHANGE.
new cxchongc, to bc known as the New