New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-12-20
SILVER AND COTTON.
WHY PLANTERS WANT FREE COINAGE.

hard words which are constantly cracking be-
tween the teeth Of Southern farmers in these
days Those words are decentralization and re-
monetzation. Few Of them know what the words
mean but when cotton Is selling at . cents the
times are bad that poysyllabes offer relief for
overcharged emotion The Southern planter is
not deep studert of economic questions He
knows what he wants and that Is good price
for his cotton. If he gets cents for 1t when he
had II or IL cents dozen or fifteen years ago.
and when he has known the halcyon days Of
25-cent cotton ne is convinced that the President
and the legislators at Washington do not under
stand their business He will not admit that the
law Of supply and demand has anything to do
with it. Five-cent cotton, in his judgment. is
convincing proof that whatever is is wrong. II
silver has been demonetized then II ought to be
remonetzed on the same terms on which gold is
coined at ratio .; 16 to !. If 80 cents worth OF
silver can be made to go for dollar. the South
ern farmer, with cotton at cents. wants all the
money ne can get. and jusiifies his greed by the
reflection that this has been the doctrine of the
Democracy since the days Of jefferson.
When the more intelligent planters are asked
10 explain the strength and popularity OF free
coinage in the South they invariably answer that
cotton has always followed the price OF silver
When one drops in price, they will say. the other
goes down also. England. Germany and France
are interested in having their imported cotton
and food as cheap as possible and consequently
they favor gold at the expense OF silver. Ihey
discriminate against silver because the United
States. India and Spanish America. from which
they draw their supplies of food. cotton and WOOL
are naturally silver countries. The gold countries
Of Europe profit by the decentralization Of silver
In the United States. 1t cheapens what they
want to buy Since silver was demonetized wheat
and cotton have steadily fallen in price Remone-
tization will raise the price of both wheat ana
cotton. and consequently the farmers of the West
and the planters of the South stand together IN
favor of free silver. An ounce Of silver would
buy a bushe of wheat in London fifteen or
twenty years ago. and it will do the same to-day
The producer if he live in the Argentine or in
India is as well off now as he was then. for there
is as much profit in the transaction. Tine Amerl-
can producer Of wheat or cotton gets the gold
equivalent OF an ounce Of silver and he sells it al
a loss That is because the gold conspirators
at home and abroad have reduced the price OF Sill
yer by demonetZing 1t and carried wheat ana
cotton down with it. This IS fair summary q
free-silver arguments which have heard in the
South from educated men. including some OF the
highest officials in this state.
The everyday farmer does not go so fan afeld
as India in explaining his interest in free coinage
He reasons In a narrow circle somewhat IN thls
way:
Cotton is the only crop for which / can get
ready money as soon as have raised II. can
not give it I'D but 1t now costs me as much as
get for It, There is no profit in scent cotton. l
must have more money for It, snail nave more
money for it with free silver"
But 1t will be cheap money. II gold be
cir,cv 60llQ
so cents worth OF silver in it, everything you buy
will cost you more
THAT does not trouble me, stranger. l am a
one.horse farmer. and buy nothing ! wear my
old clothes and do my own work with the heip
OF the boys / raise my own pork. poultry. corn.
potatoes and fodder ! live off my farm, ana AT
the end of the season have my cotton TO SELL
At cents that crop worth only $3.50 That Is
all have to show for a years hard work and the
merchants lien has to come out OF 1t. want
more for my cotton
But two-thrds Of the cotton crop goes 10
Europe, and will be paid for on the gold OASIS
whatever may be done DIT Washington with Sill
yer. How you expect to get more none! ioi
your cotton with free coinage?
"I shall get more silver dollars for it. am
heavily in debt, like everybody else IN North
Carolina What you call the dishonest dollar
with 80 cents worth Of silver in II, VIII be gooa
enough to pay my debts. don't you See
There Is the philosophy Of free silver from the
point OF view of a poor Southern farmer He
believes that the cheaper the money the easier
It will be for him to pay his debts. 1t is because
free coinage is essentially movement in the in
terest of the debtor against the creditor class
that 1t appeals strongly 20 the small planters and
tenant farmers Of the cotton belt.
The continuance of low rates for cotton has
deepened the feeling Of depression. which was
expressed in one form or another In the NoVem-
Der elections throughout the South. The imme-
date cause of the decline in cotton was an est-
mate Of the seasons crop by one Of the experts
in New-Orleans. 1t was one mans guess ana
might he half million bales out OF the way Dut
It started bear raid In New YORK, whcn carrier
the price down to the lowest figure ever reached
Reckless gambling this great staple ai1ected
trading In the European and Southern exchanges
and brought on something like panic among
cotton planters. Every one who had cotton 10
sell was frightened and there was general as
position on the part OF planters to market thtlr
crops as early possible For this reason the
receipts cotton ports have been largely in ex-
cess OF those OF previous years and have tended
10 confirm the original estimates OF the greatest
crop ever known. But 1t is not yet practicable
FOR any one 10 determine with any approach TO
accuracy what the crop VIII be- The bears are
still! gambling on statisticans guesses, ana my rhey
have wrought ruin and misery In the South. That
IL the Southern view Of the question. az repeated
iy expressed to me by members of cotton ex-
changes. ,.,
Overproduction rather than underconsumpton.
has caused the decline in price, and IT has been
confined mainly 70 Texas Louisiana and the fer
stIe bottoms lands Of Mississippi. East cf he MIS-
sissippi there has been no marked Increase 1t Is
the Industry and superior fertility Of the South
west that threaten the remainder OF the cotton
belt with ruinous competition. Added 10 th:s Is
a new source of competition in Europe which Is
heeinnfng to cause alarm. few years ago the
Russian Government sent out companies OF work
ers 10 Alabama and South Carolina to learn no"
20 raise cotton Subsequently the industry was
Introduced I'm the provinces bordering upon the
Black Sea. and protected by duty OF cent a
mound on raw cotton This crop already amounts
r. COO 600 bales astonishing progress having been
made during five years. Russian cotton Is IN
Ser,or 10 American in fbies but 1t has n better