The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1895-01-08

LAURENS. s. c.. Jan. 8, 1896.
Cotton has become a problem since
Its price has fallen to the figure OF five
cents per pound. Conventions have as
sembled 10 The South West, where the
bulk OF the crop is raised and resolu-
tions have been adopted by planters
and others looking to the solution of
the financial troubles incident to this
serious condition OF things at the
South. Not alone the cotton producer,
but every other Southern industry
and business is affected vitality by the
terrible depression in the price OF cot
ton. Cotton spinning is q large indus
try; cotton seed mills, the phosphate
output largely consumed in and de-
pendent on the production and culti-
vation OF the cotton plant, come into
prominence in connection with the
cotton problem now exciting so much
attention throughout all the country.
It Is clear that an immense amount of
capital, In phosphates, oil and cloth
manGfacturi2gSis concerned in the so,
luton OF the cotton problem. If the
price OF cotton is reduced below the
cost of production it is clear that the
remedy of reduction In production
must affect all these named dependent
industries. The question is most vital
to the South in view of the fact that
thes@ industries comprehend almost
the entire field of Southern Industrial
enterprise. We only now propose to
notice the apparently accepted sugges-
tion of reducing the acreage in cotton
and incidentally Increasing the pro-
duction of what Is commonly denomi-
mated food crops. Should the cotton
product be reduced one-third in vol
s12e the fact must largely revolution
the Industries named as largely de-
fdent for their growth and de-
|opment upon q vast acreage and
bduction of the staple. If this course,
build have the effect of bringing tb@
bols and spindles to the South u
}uld be O contamination devoutly }b
wished and be a happy solution 3f
o question Evidently, however, u
rge reduction of aes ENtnfow
ft OF emplexa great volume of
MT SMck 1aborers, now engaged
ditivating, gathering and manipu-
lating cotton. Corn, oats and the
grasses could employ but a small frac-
ton of the labor required to give cot
ton to the world-an article requiring
the entire year to grow and put upon
the market. Already it appears that
in the cotton belt some attention is
being given to the production of meat
and bread. Upon investigation we be-
lteve, however, that it will be found
that it is the thrifty white man and
small farmer who is trending in the
direction Of the self-supporting system
of farming. The serious side of the
question grows out of the presence Of
the negro, an expert producer of cotton
and nothing but cotton. 1t may be
argued that the negro being a mere
.laborer, it does not matter; this may be
Asranted, but there is q vast horde of
= white people also at the South, who
will with difficulty emerge from the
condition of laborers and are now in
the cotton fields. Unless the condition
OF this laboring class is revolutionized
the South cannot prosper. They must
absorb at least one-half the crops
raised at the South as the price of
their labor. Not one in a hundred at
Christmas-tide can show a dollar, or a
pound of bacon or a blade of grass.
Thus one-half the proceeds OF the en-
tire crop goes to the great West for
flour, corn, lard, bacon and molasses.
to the Impeachment of u section
and the building up of the West. How
to keep this money at home to find
profitable employment, is the ques-
tion3 VIZ have only space to make q
uggestlon. On the river lands IN this
SState, which are boundless, great crops
of hay and corn might be raised, and
horses, mules, cattle, hogs and sheep
produced as cheaply as in the West,
60 supply the immense demand now
going put from our cotton fields to the
impoverishment of the country. Again,
q system of long tenure leases would
give to the tenantry a quasi interest
in the soil, which would in a few years
with q concurrent system OF home
manufactured u develop the
nplands to double their present grain
and grass capacity and in five years in
Piedmont or hill region of the
the country would be self-sus-
independent and rich. The
too, being mor congenial and
10 the cotton fields would largely
siard the richer soil and more
ate farther South, and the
of II section develop
with . cSinpact white population of
happy farmers, whose homes and lands
would soon be double in value the alluv-
fal cotton lands along the great Gulf.
Eftnha ,,nal % 400 t. o,., aoaftDp fc