The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-05-04
NO LONGER KING.
op SOUTH TO PLANT PERHAPS
49, oNE-FIFTH LESS COTTON.

rr,1s Of an Interlocking Credit Sys-
IN between Jobbsrs. Retailers,
Taodlords and Tenant Planters. all
D.randant on a Single Crop-Cotton
d. 1899 VIII be Made More Cheaply
Than Ever-Remedy for the Preya-
lat Depression Now at Work.
From Brddstreet's.
somuch has been said and written con-
,,-,iny the financial status Of the planter
- storekeeper in the cotton country, even
- the absence of anything like an ade-
1nste investigation, that BrddStreet's
hos taken something in the nature OF
oansus Of existing business conditions
throughout the south, as bearing upon the
.-,ricnlturist. merchant and manufacturer.
The mass of data received from 2,37S cor
ra,pondents in S26 counties in ten states is
.,is-ge that only the baresS summary of it
can he attempted within the dozen or more
columns of space given over to it. There
were. on the average, fourteen questions re-
,Iied to by each correspondent, so that
what follows is based upon replies received
70 more than SO, 900 inquiries.
Alabama. Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas,
Arkansas and Tennessee together, a refer
ence TO the accompanying tabular exhibit
SHOWS. according to nearly two-thirds of
thA replies, that planters are worse off
financially than one year ago, while only
tlT in excess of one-half say the same for
trestorekeeper. AS the status of the latter
financially depends upon the planters
ability TO consume and to pay for goods,
- AIcnr- k.aE-g
which may be accounted for by greater
ability on the part Of merchants to resist
the prevalent depression, to the fact that
thew have not yet been Obliged to respond
fnliy TO conditions prevalent among plant
ers. or to their having experienced the worst
in many instances and having proceeded
toward recovery. But, it should be added,
there are very few data in our reports
pointng to the truth of the last theory.
The uniformity about 80 per cent? with
which correspondents, scattered from Will
mington. n. G. to, Brownsville. Tex, state
that factors, brokers. storekeepers and
others have cut down advances OF money
or supplies to planters from IS to As per
cent, is striking, and points conclusively to
the fact that the cotton crop of 1892 will be
made more cheaply, for reasons beyond the
control Of the growers, than for many years
past
been largely employed they will be used
much more sparingly than heretofore. On
the Atlantic coast there are IL replies to
each l to the contrary, which state this, and
in the gulf states to every ]. One company
selling fertilizers extensively in Georgia,
Alabama, Mississippi and the Carolinas
writes that its sales this spring have fallen
of 80 per cent. Other manufacturers and
dealers report in some instances decrease
Eight correspondents say the acreage
planted with cotton this year will be
smaller than in 1891 for every l reporting
that the acreage will be the same as last
year, and to every l stating that the
acreage will be either the same or larger
than in 1891. But it should not be over
looked that it is not yet too late for some
planters to change their minds on this point
If their circumstances permit, particularly
if the impression is widespread that re-
stricted cotton acreage will be the rule.
The falling off in area to be planted with
cotton this year, as reported. is from 20 to
25 per cent.
The south has evidently learned the i'm
portance Of diversified crops, as 1871 re-
ports are that a larger acreage will be
planted than ever before to corn and
oats" and other cereals, potatoes, pease,
rice and tobacco, and that hog and cattle
I22 state that the acreage to crops other
than cotton will be the same or smaller than
one year ago.
manufacturing industries. with the ex-
cepaon OF cotton mills, cotton-seed oil mills,
and IN some states lumber mills have been
generally unfavorably affected by prevail
lng con itlons at the south. Labor leaving
plantations because Of reduced wages,
gether with the low price OF cotton,
fha, klAn
Mercantile collections throughout the lead
lug cotton states, as might be expected,
nave not been generally prompt, and do not
appear likely to become so in the near
future
IL Is plainly brought out in Voluminous
reports at hand that raising one crop, cot
Ton, enforced in part by contracts to pay
IelV ana Tor supplies with cotton, raising it
on credit year alter year at high rates OF
interest with rapid shrinkage in prices,
las forced the cotton planter into full view
OF the necessity for rigid economy, reduced
Duylng on credit. diversified crops" and
WI ultimately bring him to a position of
SeIi-Sustenance and shorter credits or cash
payments.
mere are some counties in all the cotton
states where the entire dependence is not
upon That staple, counties where stock
Iaislug, corn planting, rice and sugar
"'tOH' oIC., are carried on, ana, as
may be learned by reference to appended
uSyaNS' from those quarters the word
comes OF relatively less depression.
successive droughts have intensified the
eptesslon In portions Of Texas, and it is
oeCareu money is scarcer there owing to
Tue alien land law. Complaints of I'M
f'G9ad4hess OF negro labor come from
nlaoama and Arkansas. Truck farming
Tb s'I Eo. nKely to be largely developed in
; uo Caronhas and Florida. The southern
iron Industry is not depressed so
slucH from southern trade conditions as
from the general overproduction of iron.
H. uIS4aha sugar planters did not get as
,arge a crop as expected. and oomnlein
ouuIy at the delay In paying the govern
nleAt bounty for sugar The reported de.
sv9o'oh among planters in some of the
'ta'es Is drawn in quite gloomy colors. and
'ne AAe Is true as to small storekeepers in
t .oIIe sections But when all this has been
Uiu IL remains true that the remedy is at
s oi "A, ana that when the south shall have
ICY revised its views as TO how to grant
s,o ST. planters and storekeepers
Fo oah nave paid what they owe, with more
s s az "a fodder raised at home and cotton
T, SUI pIlS crop, one not raised on borro ed
nro.sy 1hen Will the stringency and de-
without benefit oN 0N'ii 0'5
FL lIlohs IN the states of Georgia and
~ ioa are summarized as follows:
GEORGIA..
~ Condltons 10 Georgia closely resemble
sto yoe reported from other Atlantic coast
s. 100 much cotton is the general
ssoI Promises of change are gem