New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1877-05-10
SOUTHERN INTERESTS

THE SOUTH TO SUFFER FROM The WAR.
A. INCREASE Is THE COST OF uyING-,OCuERN
PRODUCTS NuT TO ADVANCE IL PRICE-rnE
NORTH a GAMER WITH THE SOUTH LOSER.
,riJN srtrr CORRESPONDENT or rH rBmuEI
JACKsoS, Miss. May 2.-While people 40 the East
look upon the war in Europe certain 10 stimulate
revival OF business, and hc farmers 90 the West Az
tcipate higher figures for their produce than they
have obtained since the crisis of 1879 started prices
on a down-hill road. nearly all classes no the South
look upon the prospect with serious apprehension.
II is an iii wind 20 tncm that blows good TO the food
producers of the North for they are heavy food con-
suucrs They do NOT raise as much as they require
TO eat. and they draw every year upon the Northern
States for millions Of dollars worth OF grain and pro-
visions Every railway tram from Cincinnati,
Louisville. Chicago and st. LOUIS that starts
for the South aud every steamer that dcscends
the Mississippi come laden with supplies
for consumption IN the Cotton States and the Lou
Isiana sugar region. Wheat flour pork, bacon.
lard. butter cheese all forms of manufactured food
products, such as Eom.uy, crackers aud tarna, and
oats, hay and bran 10 feed 10 stock come southwark
in a steady stream along all the avenues of trans
portaton. An increase in the cost of these necessa
res of life is evil 20 the South too evident not 10
be quickly and keonly appreciated The ucwspa-
pcrs are discussing the subject with great earnest
ness. and it il the first thing preached IN CONVERSE
ton.
The trouble ia that the misfortune Of high
prices of food is not likely be- compensated for by
a rise in the value OF cotton. Factors and cotton
bruk rs are a good deal puzzled about the probable
effect Of the the Southern staple, but none OF
them anticipate an advance iu ITS value. Turkey s
"a heavy consumer of cheap cotton goods, and the
disturbance I'm industry and trade sure to lol-
low Immediately upon the outbreak of hostties
in that country viii lessen the demand and 60 that
extent dcprcss tile English market for tire raw
material Russia D., also 20 large purchaser Of English
cottous, but the is not likely TO De- pro-ccu-
ted Oh her soil 10 viii probably produce important
dimiuutiou iu her demand. No contingencies can
be- Thought of probable results from cine war that
would make q more active market for cotton. except
tine very remote one of an invasion of Egypt and
consequent heavy falling oG lon the crop of ,hlt
country The best that the South can expect s that
her staple will be- held pretty closely mp to the
present very moderate prices These price, have
proved only fairly ramuncniiyc. II thr food thr
planter buys for his hand, and li- mules costs hlm
20 or 30 per cent more thus year than la,t and Dee
gets only last years figure for hI- cotton, he will
have to mauac, h, affairs with grea. prudence or hr
viii come out iu debit and if the ri-. iu grain and
provisions s accompanied by ,crog, fan BOO cotton,
"a crop at positive loss
Tie remedy s % plant corn. II s late 20 adopt 10,
but not too late. In -62. when DO became evident
that the blockade would prove effective and that
the war would last long time, the planters by
simultaneous movement, plowcd mp their cotton
fields as late rs the m.de of May and planted them
with coru II they had NOT done SD the CDHfcdcrJcy
would have been starved into submission iha el-
suing year. The necessity is not as urgent ROW.
a1d t scarcely probable chat go mi, late day the
planters generally throughout the cotton belt can
De aroused 10 make serious effort TO raise food
crops More corn viii De- produced than last year.
but not enough TO check the upward movement IN
prices
The south. 10 therefore seems, must suffer from
the effect. of the war ON the Danube, while rHc North
profits byit. II the southern planters Will only
learn from this experience the wisdom of diversity
ing their agriculture tine lesson VIII not be- in -hc
end. a dear one. There needs to Doe radical change
I'm the southern system of farming. less cotton
should Dee raised and more grain, cattle. and hogs
know what the answer wIll De- "Nuy should
plant corn. which wall yield me only twenty dg.as
to the acre." tine planter viii say, when can make
forty or fifty ont of tine same land hy putting li in
cotton2' Well. the old system has been tried ior
generations. and the south Is still poor country.
40 country depending Oh a single crop and buying
what il eats can bee other than poor. People who
allow hundreds of Thousand, of ACRE, u productive
land 10 grow nothing but brmbc- and dwarf p'u.-.
while they bring their food from region. "a thousand
miles away, cannot be expected TO prosper