The Bossier banner., 1893-11-23
FARMER AND PLANTER.
THE SOUTHERN FARMER.
Some Unpleasant Truths, with the Remedy
Suggested.

Some Unpleasant Truths, with the Remedy
Suggested.
Mr.. Geo. K. Holmes, the census ex-
pert. tells some unpleasant truths as to
the actual condition of the southern
farmer, in the September number of
the Annals of the American Academy
of Political and Social Science. His
paper which is entitled ''The Poems of
the South" shows that the farmer is
held in a form of bondage by .he mer-
chant. This bondage is one of debt.
How it grew up is explained as follows
by Mr.. Holmes:
''The planters, their sons and their
comrades returned from the camp in
poverty, worn out, dispirited, hopeless
of the future, and dazed with the col
lapse of their dream. Their first con-
Germ was food and the strict necessa-
ries of life, which they must produce,
or borrow from those who had not lost
all of their wealth and credit. Large
plantations could not be cultivated as
OF yore for want of equipment, and
subdivision into tenancies was the only
course.
Farmers who owned the farms that
they cultivated and landlords alike, had
to obtain from merchants the supplies
of food, clothing and farm equipment
that were needed, and those on credit,
giving in return pledges of the crop
to come, out of which the debts must
be paid. The tenants, even less pre-
pared to choose, adopted the same sys-
TEN.
1.-The merchants then took the helm.
Such crops as they could most readily
market must be produced under their
orders, regardless of the fact that they
might not be the ones most advantage
Gus to their debtors. The kind of crop
that best accorded with this require
nent in the cotton regions was cotton,
and it was demanded in quantities pro-
portionate to the indebtedness that
was allowed to accumulate. The sale
of the cotton, too. was taken charge
of by the merchant. His cry for cotton,
and more cotton, to keep pace with
the indebtedness has led to an increase
in the production of this fiber since the
war SO enormous that the north,
ignorant of the real situation, has
pointed to it as an evidence of the
superiority of the free over the slave
labor of the blacks. But the situation
is not misunderstood in the south. The
merchants who advance plantation
supplies have replaced the former mas
terS, and have made poems of them and
of their former slaves.
Every crop of cotton is mostly con-
sumed before it is harvested, and after
IN N CT hn for
has to place a lien on the next years
crop, often before the seed goes into
the ground. These liens bear high
rates of interest, regardless of usury
laws, because the supplies are advanced
at excessive prices. uThe road to wealth
in the south, outside of the cities, and
apart from manufactures, is 'mer-
chandising.'"
Such is the state of affairs. Now for
the remedy. This, according to Mr..
Holmes, as far as the man who owns
his land is concerned, is very plain. It
is to produce his own supplies, to keep
careful watch in order to prevent
waste, to enforce economy, and to con-
stantly guard against outgoes that are
charges against his crops. Let the
farmer do this and he can emancipate
himself from his peonage to the mer-
chant. Once let the farmer reach a DO
sition where he can defy the merchant
and resist his demands for cotton, then
he can check its over-production and
diversity his agriculture.
For the black tenant, however, the
problem is more difficult one, since
his piece of land els usually so very
small.
THE first step in the tenants 'eleva-
ton consists in their producing their
own food and, as far as possible, other
supplies, which are now mostly a charge
against their share of the crop They
may then have margin for saving, if
they are economical, and it is only with
this that they can elevate themselves
to farm ownership and give themselves
the independence that was their vision
at their emancipation. That any con.
siderable number of them will ever do
this is not believed in the south.
''There is no doubt that the planta-
tion owners can work out their own
salvation" says Mr.. Holmes in conclu-
sion. ''The question is whether they
have the will to do so. \"
Now, we suggest that herein is the
remedy: Farmers, as distinguished from
plantation owners are every year im-
proving their methods; the plantation
must be made into farms, then time
will do the rest.