Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1883-01-28
COMMERCIAL.
GAZETTE OFFICE. january q

The wisdom of experience ought TO
cause the Southern planter and farmer
TO pause and reflect before the work Of
pitching crops for the year 1883 Is
begun. Successive years Of planting
their acreage in cotton TO the neglect
of the cereals and provendcr for do
nestle consumption, has left its results
upon the financial condition of all
classes Of the Southern people, and
those results are anything but satisfac-
tory. In many of the Southern states
the resumption of prosperity i'm differ
ent parts OF the Union a few years ago
was unknown, II we except two notable
instances, Texas and Georgia. There
must be natural rather than artificial
causes why Alabama, with a.
territory as large as England,
and Mississippi, embracing an
area nearly equal in extent, should
not share In the universal advance
ment, both in point of population and
wealth. These last mentioned com
worse condition than the times prior
to the advent of All advanced stage of
prosperity in the country, but, Ii Is
equally true they have not kept pace
with the sisterhood of states in the for
ward march to higher plane of mate
rial progress. Texas might also be
classed i'm the same category, but for
the grand results achieved by her rail-
road system, her immense cattle and
sheep industry, and the natural fertil-
ity of her soil. In seeking for the
causes that have established tho fore
going proposition, II is not difficult to
discover them. The over-production
of cotton at unremunerative prices and
the importation of vast guam
titles of the necessaries of life for man
and beast. at competitive figures, are
first to suggest themselves as. the
prime factors in the sum of this inn
practical condition.. TheSouth is pro-
tected In nothing, with the notewor-
thy exception of the sugar planters of
| Louisiana and the rice growers of
South Carolina, but has impoverished
herself in paying the tribute, in the
I shape of increased prices, levied that
\ manufacturers in'other sections may
ainass wealth at her expense, while
/ she has not enjoyed or experienced to
all appreciable extent a compensating
| or reciprocal benefit. by way OF hy-
! pothesis, let us fancy for a moment that
4 the Southern section Of the Union UNI
! der separate government, had col
lected customs on the estimated
! So, 434 ,000, 900 forwarded TO the North
to strike balances for corn and wheat,
| oats and hay, etc., to say moth
ing of the uncalculable sum expended
for the whole schedules of articles OF
importation, in the similar ratio that
the Federal government imposes a per
cent. duty on the tariff list, and the
consequences would undoubtedly have
been materially different from what
they are. This hypothesis is pre-
scented to illustrate the need of recip
rocity as condition Indispensable Il
the equalizing of benefits accIuin.
from international or Interstate trade
There is question, and one replet'
with doubt and uncertainty, whethe
the Southern planter can produc'
wheat and corn and compete with tn,
Western planter in the markets of TIN
world, but there is no question that h
can raise II suflicency of thes
very necessary commodities 70
home consumption. He can not evad
the plain truth that cotton is unproiii
, able at eight cents, yet the--cxpecta
ton which has invariably proven dc
lusive, that better prices would event
ually prevail, has lured him on in tn
beaten path until ii seems impossibl
, for him to retreat. The Chicago TIM
takes an intelligent view of the stu;
ton agriculturally in the South, an
presents the following figures whic
, should cause our planters to consid,
= of the folly of pursuing a system {
! husbandry that threatens to restrai
J them under the bondage oftheir Yves
;, ern supplymen:
Last year the people of the South
ern states paid to those OF the NORTH
: in round numbers, 10000, 600 it
. wheat, $50 100000 for corn, S12,0W,Ot
J for meats, and some S25, 100000 for ha
u and provisions. II is questionable
the South can afford TO grow cotton
the exclusion of the breadstufls an
meats for the subsistence of her peopl
There is nothing in the cereals, veg
table or fruits that she cannot produ'
in profusion. True economy dictat
that she should grow them
1t is not wonderful VIII,
concentrating the foregoiI
y sums that newspapers an
- magiz,nes TEEN with homilics q
!, the magnitude OF the Great West
=, and the irnpoverishment of the Sout
~ 1t is observed that the last named sc
ton contributes annually $2G2, 0o0,0
Z, to make the West great while 81
" is dissipaiing her energies producing
crop. the price of which falls belo
u the actual cost. There is
section or district in II
80 Southern country, speaking
a general sense, where corn, oal
" wheat, hay, lnilet, aud numero
other cereals and grasses cannot
~ produced proftably, and with the II
VI proved modern implements for ;h'
~ culture and harvest, the time Dug
~ not to he distant when these con
modities are no longer imported fro
90 the North and West,