The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1892-09-10
SIX CENTS.


feet upon the sale Of our COTTON crop
may be disastrous. It will be impossi-
pie 70 market 1t, and new disappoint-
ment may await those whose hopes
are anchored upon this most disap-
pointing OF all crops. The latest quo
tatlons show from 8 7.16 to 7 3-4 as the
market value Of this staple, and
tnlsPrice, taking into consideration
tne Impoverished and debt-burdened
condition Of the planters, the failures
OF the lew past years, and the constant
~ decreasing Of the value Of the pro-
duct, point to the abandonment Of cot
ton as an exclusive crop, or the doom
OF the planter. Cotton is the cash crop
OF the country, the crop that is sold or
%3ortgaged before it is planted; and we
always mortgage a good crop-never a
snort one. To keep even the planter
must raise q full crop and get good
prices. Upon this expectation he
predicates his loan; and the experience
OF recent years shows the ruinous folly
OF the proceeding. A planter mort
cages a hundred bales. He expects 10
cents. He binds himself to pay a
heavy commission for every bale less
than 100 that he does not ship. The
year goes by. Rain, drought, worms,
shedding, rotting-one or more of the
numberless ills that cotton is heir to
cuts his crop short, and at the end of
the season he finds himself with a crop
OF thirty or forty bales, worth 6 cents a
pound, and obligations hanging over
him tor crop of 100 bales at 10 cents.
Possibly, as has happened often in the
past three or four years, an overflow
has occurred, and he has no cotton at
all. No wonder he is discouraged.
He sends his short crop to his mer-
chant, who sells it at 6 cents, pockets
the entire proceeds, carries over the
tremendous balance of Indebtedness to
next year, makes a new and exactly
similar contract with the unfortunate
planter, with probably the same result
at the end of the second year, and SO on
until the fly is completely wound up in
the SPIDERS net, his substance sucked
from him and his dry carcass cast to
the winds. 1t looks like madness to
raise crop for which there is no de-
mand. It would seem almost as reas-
enable to raise coclile.burs, as cotton
at price which is less than the cost of
production. Why, after the expe-
rience OF years, will the planter blindly
cling to the belief that cotton is worth
10 cents q pound? If it is only worth 6
cents the sooner we realize the fact the
better. Even at 6 cents, cotton can be
made profitable if planted as a surplus
crop by planter who has not been
adding new story to his mortgage
for four or five years; but not when he
is required to raise it on the expecta-
tion Of 10 cents, and is forced to pay a
heavy yearly fine for what he doesn't
land can't) raise.
We support champaign appetite on
q beer income. How Is it possible to
keep your head above water when your
income is 81, 900 and your expense S5,-
600? The commission merchant kind
ly allows you one more chance year
after year. Perhaps you wonder lit
tie at his generosity. You know ho
can sell you out whenever he chooses.
Are you blind, or q fool? The COM
mission merchant doesn't want to take
possession Of your land while he can
keep you on 1t as his willing slave and
tool. You groan through sleepless
nights from January to January, with
the dread of foreclosure and ruin hang
ing constantly over your head, while
he sits at ease, unvexed by labor prob
lens, debts, bad crops, or taxes, know
ing that his unpaid managers are serv-
ing him with pathetic fidelity which
he could never obtain from any hire
ling. Such writing as this, coming
from one whose experience is small,
and whose knowledge is drawn only
from thought and observation, may be |
criticised as presumptuous; but if any
planter entereains contrary views, or
questions the correctness of these as
sertions, the writer will be grateful for
expressions of opinion and enlighten-
ment upon condition Of things which
he earnestly wishes was different from
his conception.-Gwenrillc Times.