Louisiana capitolian. (Baton Rouge, La.) 1879-1881, 1880-11-13
RAISE LESS COTTON.

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election and the causes which brought
about the defeat Of Hancock ought to
open the eyes of the Southern people
to the necessity Of turning their at
tention towards the advancement OF
their material interests.
The question is not how to produce
wealth, but how to retain it. The
products of the South bring fabu-
lous sum annually, that no sooner
than it is realized, finds its way
abroad. That is an undeniabie fact.
1t is useless to talk of immigration
for the purpose Of cheapening the
cost Of raising cotton, for the reason
that the more laborers are put in the
cotton field, the more cotton will be
produced and the lower will its price
be reduced, till it won't pay enough
to feed and clothe the laborer.
Too much cotton is being raised
now at the price that the overpro-
duction is bringing.
In our humble opinion, the reme-
dy lies in having less cotton,
that would thereby command a higher
price, and in raising corn, pork, po-
tatoes, poultry, stock, butter, and
everything that is necessary, not only
to feed the farmer or planter, but the
consumers living in the towns and
cities.
The emigrant can easily be brought
to our country to manufacture furni-
ture, wagons, plows, agricultural i'm
plements, steamboats,, ships, ETC.,
from the magnificent wood that
abounds in our forests. He will come
to tan the hides that are sent North to
be manufactured into leather, then
into shoes, which are all sold back to
us for portion of the small price
that is obtained for our cotton. 20
Why not have tan yards, wagon
and carriage factories; and why not
employ the thousands Of idle men
and women in our towns and cities to
manufacture the clothing that we buy
from those who do the same thing in
the East? 4..ts.
Why not have paper mills that
will furnish us the printing, writ
ing and wrapping paper, that we
have to pay SO much for to the mo-
nopolies Of the North ? Do we lack
the material? No! 1t is in waste.
Can't every intelligent man see,
that every dollar that is sent away
for all these articles is lost to circula-
ton in our midst. Every mechanic
or artisan who comes to our country,
must buy provisions from the farmer
who in turn buys the articles which
the former has manufactured.
Will not every dollar thus inter-
changed remain at home to add to
our wealth, enliven business and in
crease our populations
Then our agriculturists who will
produce but a certain proportion of
cotton bringing a good price, as a
surplus at the end of theyear, would
find consumers to whom they would
sell all the year round, the vegetables,
the meats, the butter, the fruits, the
poultry that they could spare, or
produce. d
isn't it shame that the Southern
people have to purchase everything
abroad, from a box of matches to a
pair of shoes ?
We have nothing in our towns
scarcely but store keepers, who sell
us what they bring here from abroad.
There are none hardly of the indus
tries we have mentioned, to be found
in our midst.
Aside from the blacksmiths, the
wheelwrights, the carpenters, the
masons, and a few painters here and
there, a few shoe makers, there is a
total absence almost of the artisan,
and the industrial classes who are
found in every we'll regulated country.
Drummers come here to take Or
ders to make a man a suit of clothes,
and others take orders to have print
ing done at Cincinnati and Chicago