New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-02-09
COTTON OVERPRODUCTlON.
RELIEF FROM IMPROBABLE PLANTING
CONTRAST BETWEEN ARKANSAS AND TENNEs'
SETTLE ECONOMIC CURSE OF SLAVERY
WONDERFUL PROGRESS OF COTTON
MANUFACTURING IN THE SOUTH
-DIvERsIFICATIoN OF IN
DUSTRIES THE WAY
OF SALVATION.
lyRoM STAFF coRREsroSpExr OF THE 1RnuSE.l

There is striking contrast between the tone Of
public discussion in the adjacent States Of Ar
kansas and Tennessee on the absorbing Southern
question of scent cotton. Little Rock is one of
the most picturesque and heathful cities in the
Southwest, and It is the metropolis Of one Of the
most fertile farming States: but 1t is not pros
porous town. and feeling OF Encouragement and
hopelessness pervades its population The aver
ages of cotton and grain production to the acre
in Arkansas are among the highest in the Union.
Anything except sugar cane rice and tropical
fruit can be raised on the soil. It's cotton is Of
the finest quality; grain of all kinds does well:
two crops OF potatoes can be produced Instead of
one; it is great fruit country: and 1t has timber
tracts OF enormous extent With all these
sources the farmers ought to be prosperous and
contented; but they not. Some Of them are
doing we'll especially Germans in the western
counties who diversity their crops and always
have something to se-whetker cotton. pork,
hay grain or fruit but the majority OF the cotton
planters are in debt and talk about the future In
a hopeless way. They assert that they are losing
money In raising cotton. yet they know OF moth
Ing else that Is open to them. They denounce
the merchants their worst enemies for refus-
ing to make advances upon any crop except cot
ton but despair Of emancipating themselves from
conditions or unprOntaDle agriculture WHICH dre
forced upon them by their creditors.
Memphis is reached after an afternoons rail-
way journey through E beautiful country. 1t is
a busy. bustng town. with population OF
s00OO Ten railways pass through it and make It
a great centre Of business as a collecting point
for cotton and a distributing point for mer-
chandise. it is one Of the largest cotton markets
in the South, and has a steadily increasing um-
Der trade 1t is a welI-built city, with excellent
pavements handsome business blocks. and fine
residences. and is pulsating with activity and en-
terprse Its merchants talk about scent cotton
hopefully and philosophically. The price. they
will say, Is very low but the crop is large one
and the planters are not ruined by any means.
The cost Of production has been materially re-
duced by various economies cotton seed Is sold
to the oil factories and brings in offset to the
low price OF the cotton; and the planters are
practical men who are diversifying their crops.
raising their food supplies and adapting
themselves to hard times. Five-cent cotton Is
certainly Encouraging. they will add. but not abb
solutely ruinous. Even II the price never rises,
planters Ill retrench expenses In various ways
and learn how to produce it proftabIy for or
cents.
In order TO explain this difference in tone In
discussing the same problem one must take into
account the general contrast between the indus
tries Of Arkansas and Tennessee One Is farm
ing State, with timber tracts virtually unopened.
with rich mineral resources undeveloped. with
coal veins inadequatey worked. iron unmined.
marble unmarried railways unbuilt and manu-
featuring Industries almost wholly neglected.
The other IL also rich agricultural State. but II
has coordinate series of mining and manu-
featuring industries OF great Importance Coal,
iron and phosphates are mined on a large scale
In Eastern and Central Tennessee there are
stone marble and mining industries in high
state of development. Factories are running by
the hundreds IN Memphis, Nashville, Chatta-
nooga Knoxville and other cities There are d.
versiied industries Offering employment to BUSY
population, and agriculture Is not the sole re-
source. The eggs not all carried in single
basket. SO when cotton falls to level where
there is no profit from raising It, there Is not
general feeling Of hopelessness and despair
The contrast which has been drawn between
two cities and States TO illustrate the gen.
eral condition Of tho cotton belt and the pros
meet Of relief opened by the wonderful develop
ment of Industrial resources during recent years.
II IL were the Old South, scent cotton would be
the sign of agricultural impoverishment and eco
nomc ruin But II Is the New South. self-made.
reorganizeI in resources. and awaiting the COM
ing Of better times and the revival or those Ma
tional policies which have mnistered TO the
prosperity OF the American people; and scent
cotton. while an impressive warning against the
evils OF overproduction. IS not a death -knell to
old time industries.
Slavery prevented diversi1caton Of industries
wherever 1t existed on the American continent.
1t promoted concentration Of effort upon single
agricultural product 1t made coffee the chief
staple of Brazil. left the West Indies mainly de-
pendent upon sugar. snd converted the Southern
States into a cotton belt and the border States
into a tobacco tract. Wh-n emancipation was
decreed in the British West Indies countries
where slavery retained were advantageously
affected. Brazil obtaining an ascendency in
contemplating and the Spanish West Indies In
sugar production. After the planters OF ia
maica. Trinidad and British Guinea had expert
mented unsuccessfully with free colored labor
imported from Africa, they introduced coolies
from the East Indies and were enabled to COM
pete effectively with Cuba In cane sugar; but the
coffee industry in other islands langushed and
their commercial Importance declined. Eman-
cipaton in the Spanish West Indies and Brazil
was deferred until the planters could adapt them
selves TO the altered conditions of labor and
profit by the reverses and experiences or their
rivals in the British West Indies: but the eco
nomic curse OF dependence upon single Industry
remained. Cuba had virtually only one source
of weath-its sugar plantations. tobacco having
fallen to a subordinate and greatly inferior lever;
and the cane industry subjected to the
tremendous pressure OF competition with Euro
pean beet sugar. Brazil also had one principal
agricultural staple, coffee. and overproduction
between 1880 and 1886 sent down the price 10 Z
cents and rendered the industry unremunera-
tive.
The American cotton belt was delivered oy the
Civil War from the immediate effects OF similar
overproducton. 1t was not until 1850 that the
cotton crop exceeded that OF $780, and during
the interval the prices were high; but when the
O halea In 1881. the