The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1889-11-21
Our Farmers Column.
THE AGRICULTURAL AND
FINANCIAL ITUATION.
Contributed 10 The CArcAsIAN.l
BY A COIIARD.


requiring II " solutions to meet |
ever changing conditions. The |
papers are full of the political
Situation" and the farmer in the |
backwOods is told over and over
again how he may save the
country by throwing mp his hat
and shouting himself hoarse
for this or that politician. What
the poor fellow really needs is
d good healthy meal for him
self and family 1t is both a
condition" and a "theory" that
confronts him. The condition
is the fix he is in and the theory |
is how 20 get out OF it. When
our people fully realize their
condition" and it's causes we
may hope that some "theory"
will be found which will serve
as road from the deserts of
poverty to the oasis of rrosperi-
ty. Our farmers are poor and
for the past five or six years
instead of making progress i
climbing up the hill-their
movements have been towards
the foot. The per capita wealth
Of the agricultural classes is less
now than it has been for several
years. This is an ugly fact and
il takes courage to look it in
the face but as the ostrich can
not escape danger by hiding its
head i'll the sand so that it can
not see its pursuers, neither can
We. But you say we know al
this, we know we are poor
wretchedly so-we need no
ghost to tell us that. We know
we are sick, what we want is a
doctor. Very we'll my lam bike
agriculturist, let us feel your
pulse and look at your tongue
and perhaps we can tell what is
the II after with you. You Ger
tainly hav'nt got The hay fever.
The indications are that you
are suffering from a bad case OF
the cotton itch. Before the
war the planters road to fur
tune was plain. The plan was
"raise more negzoes with which
TO buy more land on which to
raise more negroes" This sys-
tenn in time would have broken
off itself hut the war came and
to meet the new condition of
things a new system Was de-
vised. Cotton and turpentiue
in this section, became the
sources Of wea It'll. For many
years after the war the price
Of cotton was high and the sea-
sons favorable to it's production.
A little guanO materially i'll
creased the yield and it was
easy to pay for with cotton at
20 cents. The fertile soil of the
Mississippi vally and Texas
helped to swell the quote and
the result has been an over pro-
duct1ou of the staple and a con-
sequent decline in price. In
1866 the cotton crop Of the Uni
ted States was 2,193,9S7 bales
and gradually Increased until
in 1876 it amounted to 4, 1853, 2SS
bales and in 1886 to nearly seven
million bales. Statistics indi-
cate that the crop this year will
be one Of the largest if not the
very largest ever produced. As
the production has increased
the price has decreased. From
IS to rs the price varied from
20 to Is cents Der pound, but
from rs to the present it has
been from 10 to 8 c"nts. The
greatest increase in the PR,
ducti2n has occurred during the
past four Or five years notwith-
standing the very unfavorabI
season and it is not All exag9er-
alton to say that With good sea-
sons the annual product of
southern cotton fields would now
be not far from ten million
bales and in that case the price
would be about Z cents per
pound. Such a condition would
mean great suffering to the cot
ton planter. Production ruin
Ously excessive in a constantly
increasing danger from which
there seems no escape. The
present enormous crop of seven
million bales allowing all aver
age of half bale to tie acre can
be glt wn upon an area less t].ail
half of North Carolina, as any
a school boy can see by making
a simple calculation. In fact it
would be a very easy matter to
grow the worlds supply of cot
ton in the rich bottom lands
along the Mississippi river
alone. How then, with all the
rapidly developing south and
south west bending its energies
to the almost exclusive produc-
ton of cotton, can production be
kept within such limits as to
secure a renumerative price?
We shall not attempt to answer
theis question just now. We
will try something easier. What
is there before the farmer in
L. North Carolina who devotes
himself to the cultivation of
: cotton, making a bale to three
or four acres, selling it at 8 cts,
taking large portion of the
nrnnnn1C ~ far