The Forrest City times., 1894-11-30

grown in 1852 and the average of the gold de-
 cade, ending 1860, was 3.3940 600 bales.
 l From 1871 to 1880 the crops more than | doubled averaging 4.535,0O0 bales. Notwith-
 standing this enormous increase. our crops for
 the decate of 1900 show a further increase the | average being 6,0s0O00 bales. reaching in that year s,50O,o00 bales, an increase since the war
 Of PSF per cent, and since 1872, when the first
 full records are given, of 22OO per cent. The aggregate sum of which this raw ma- terlal has sold is placed at something over 12,- 5O0,0OlOO0 gold dollars over eight times the as- sessed valuation of all property real and per- sonal, In the cotton states in 1880. Hither- | to, consumption has barely kept pace
 with the cotton supply. The cotton mills
 have drummed every quarter of the earth for | consumers. As wide as are the markets the | production of the raw material has more than | Kept up. large stock of cotton holds over | from year to year, and in consequence thereof
 buyers occupy vantage ground from which | they can regulate the market and dictate | prices. AS l stated above, our crop has in- creased 2S2 per cent. since the war.
 During this period the total actual consump-
 ton Of the world has only increased IF per
 cent or at a rate less than half that at which | our production has increased.
 | SOUTHERN PROSPERITY MYTH The boomers who figure out in glowing ar- | ticles the rapid increase of southern wealth
 may doubt that we are poor-they might be | right so far as mines and factories and railroads and towns are concerned
 but everyone knows that the farming com | munities-those engaged in cotton growing | are getting poorer and poorer year by year. | There are fewer carriages before church doors | on sunday than there was quarter of a cen- | tury ago. Old homesteads are falling into de- | cay, and stand as gloomy monuments to our | lmprovldence. Our gallant southern boys are | leaving the old plantation homes to the ne- | groes, while they seek to mend this broken | fortunes in more promising field The coun- | try gentleman of ante-bellum days is a figure | or the past, and to-day bears restively the | eritique applied to Don Caesar de Bazan IT | who, though brave, loyal and magnanimous, is | living under the cloud of poverty and what was once the nearest approach to an aristoc-
 racy that ever existed in a republican form of | government can not now deny the imputation | cast at them of shabby genteel." | How could 1t be otherwise? Since 1921 for | five out of seven decades. together with the | constant increase of our cotton crop, prices | have steadily decreased; the exceptions were | the decades from 1851 to ls60 when California
 and Australia poured out their streams of gold | and raised a hoodtide of prosperity the world | over. Then cotton obeying the upward ten- | dency rose in common with other things | nThe other was the war decade, when our pro- l auction was cut of over one-half, and prices | rose as high as sl.50 per pound. In 1870 the | average price of cotton for the decade then 1 was AS cents per pound; for the ensuing twenty | years the prices averaged 12h cents. This col-
 lapse can be attributed to but one cause. It is | this: In 1871 we had 5000 900 acres in cotton, which produced on an average 209 pounds of | lint per acre, s354s; steadily, year by year we | Increased our acreage until in 1890 planted | l9,0o0OO acres, yielding an average of R411 | pounds of lint per acre. worth Sl9.11.
 | Here is more than double work done the cost l material fbn nd | the value of the gross product $16.31 less per | acre. For the last thirty years our crops have
 sold for S305 100000. The 2,260 OO0- bale crop of
 1866 sold for SIP PA 0OO The Sl3 0OO- bale crop
 of 1889 brought only 1872 l6l ,00O and the cost of | production was about the same
 It is evident that the world has about s4OO- | 0Oo,0oO to spend annually with us for the mate- | rial for their clothing
 | If WIG send out a 4,000 000- bale crop they will | pay about the same for it and they will com- | pete among themselves for the products | If we send out an 5000, ,000-bale crop they | among ourselves for the cash. The average | price in the eight cotton states to produce | a pound of lint cotton is 7Is cents at the gin | house; to transport and sell it at the near
 est market town .62: the difference between | the price there and the New York quotation | will not average less than .63: sa1 cents New | York prices is the cost of producing pound Of | Int cotton.
 | It will be remembered by all that only few
 years ago, coffee was being sold at eight pounds
 for the dollar. Now. you will do we'll to get | four pounds for the same money. We are ad. | vised by one who made study of this subject | and is in position to know that the downward | tendency of coffee vas produced by overpro- | duction. So great was the crop that the mar
 ket was glutted and the purchase price did not | pay for the cultivation and handling; as re- | suit, many became so poor that they were | forced to give 1t up and many quit on account | of annually losing money; thereupon the pro- | duction of coffee fell suddenly of and the pur- | chase price doubled in an incredibly short | time.
 1 The convention at Montgomery adjourned to | meet at Jackson, Miss, on the second Wednes- | day in January, 1895. when ard where we will | endeavor to go into permanent organization | under the name of the Southern Cotton Crow | CTS Protective association.
 The various governors of the states will be 1 requested to appoint four delegates from each congressional district and three from each state at large. The commissioners of agri- culture were elected vice-preSidepts for their respective states urge upon all farmers and
 others interested in this movement to attend
 the meeting at Jackson, as it is a question of the gravest importance to the common country. Most respectfully yours, HECTOR D. LANE, President.