Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1891-02-26
COTTON is KING.
The "old Man." the Black Patch, Bette
and the Babies.

/ 10 the 'lODuCcO
Since good Mother Eve sewed hel
little fig leaf petticoat with thorns
Of regret and pinned Adams trous
ers together, the necessity Of cover
ing has been self-evidtnt. Whilst
the hardy Northman, per Sc, wrap,
himself in furs and woolens, and
grows az cold and callous in hear
and soul as the frozen icebergs
breaking against his bleak and dis
NAL island home, his more effemi
nate brother, in the far away sunny
Southland, basks in the shade Of the
palmetto, thinly clad in silk, yea, fal
better than silk-bIue cottonadt
trousers, the pride of true South
ron's heart. Musing aside. s. S
Prentiss, with his brilliancy, IS gone
and forever. O. G. Lamar, the logi
clan and lawyer, has superseded the
rhetorican and orator. So with the
Southern methods Of farming. The
chivalrous sire sleeps the sleep thet
knows no awakening. Cold circum'
stances rolled the stone of economy
against the sepulcher OF slavery, and
the angel "push" opened wide the
door Of thrift and prosperity.
Welded to the "Black Patch" and
the culture Of tobacco, it is seeming
ly inconsistent in the "Old Man" tC
sing pean of praise to liking Cot
ton" Us mortaIs strange creatures
be, and surroundings mould the
frail, whilst the strong mould circum-
stances, as the potter works the plas
tic clay.
The true value of any commodity
is measured only by supply and de
mand. Failure of crops, real OF
imaginary, too often initiate prices
above actual values. Excess Of
money seeking better rate Of in,
come than the slow Flooding chan.
nels of legitimate trade is for a time
diverted into speculation. which
verges on gambling; then the reac
ton and crash. Over production is
followed by corresponding depres
sion and low prices. Tobacco more
than all other products suffers, owing
mostly to the accursed methods o.
European purchase. This govern
mental surveillance of purchase does
not extend to cotton. Indeed, we
can call to mind only one other ar.
ticle of export that is "tabOoed" by
Europe-the bOycotting of the
American hog by Bismarck. The
use of tobacco is limited, as well as
TAX ridden. The demand fol
cotton is universal. It's area Of
production is not sufficient tt
overstock the world even with pro.
life overcropping. Barbarian India's
supplying densely populated south.
Cl II i1ulOpS1 WIN lOl CIihEdtIC IOdoOuc
are the largest consumers of cotton
fabrics, is tit-wilow song to be sung
only by English and American man
ufacturers too anxious at all times to
depresS prices. The only cotton field
is Dixie the only cotton hand is thu
eX-slave, the blacker the better. The
finger of destiny has indited the pro
phetic fact: upon the unwritten pages
of Americas history "Cotton's king"
Fair to good middling cotton has a
standard value of ten cents, and with
the big crop of 1890 to counteract an
advance, nothing save an unforeseen
money pressure would have prevent.
ed twelve-cent value. Home con-
sumption takes every bale Of fancy
at full values and the culls alone are
left for export. The competitive ex-
port demand is the prop of good
prices and commission merchants
would do well to protect this trade
from the pin-hook buyers of New
England mills. We are Democratic
to the core, but Jim Blaine's reciproc-
ity hits the cold Man" between the
eyes as the solution of the Reggie mo
nopoly on tobacco and the exporta-
tion of both textile fabrics and emp
tying of our over-iull graneries,
cleaning up of our gins and cotton
houses, our barns and bins at fair
values, exchanging for the cheaper
products of European craftsmanship and
the "Wheel will roll" with no fric-
ton on spoke or gum at axle. Stuff.
Get the star of Dixie is ascendant.
Bette, sing; "the rains over"
"OLD MAN"
Bessie, Tenn, Feb. q, 1891,