The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1896-08-12
MINNEAPOLIS PAUL WEDNESDAY, AUG. 12 1896
THE LAND OF COTTON
FARMING IN THE SUNNY SOUTH
The Farmer Must Raise Cotton In
Order to Obtain Either Cash
or Credit.

or Credit.
Chicago Times-Herald.
The western colonists who are trying
to build up the new town Of Fitzgerald,
in Georgia, are in hard luck.
Last winter the town had 5000 inhabi-
tants and about $50 business houses, but
the hot weather has driven more than
half of the settlers back to their old
homes, where many of them will remain
permanently. Disease and death have
thinned out the rankgSsf thes colonIsts,
and they dread what @shs ftitats nas IN
store for them. - *
Y It was a mistake for these people to set
tie in region where summer begins In
April and ends with October. They cam
not endure the climate, and they are too
far from the markets to make truck
farming profitable. The natural con-
dit.ons of the place ssdGtAebads enough,
but the colonists have made. them worse
by hnflding houses suited to a cold climate.
Then they have their stables and coWsheds
near their cottages and In warm weather
these .conveniences seEf very disasreeable
But some Of the plucky citizens are
determined to hold out, and many of
those who have left are expected to re-
turn IN the fall and make another effort
to overcome the adverse forces of nature
The Georgians are anxious to see the new
comers succeed, but they regret that
they did not locate their town on the
Piedmont slope in northern Georgia,
where the climate enables people to work
out doors all the year round, and where
malaria is unknown. The failure Of
Fitzgerald will be regarded as calam-
ity by the progressive southerners, who
desire to see an influx Of white imm:-
grants.
Northern settlers will find very little
sectional prejudices in the south these
days. They are divided into three classes.
If they are well-to-do, upright and in
clined to be neighborly they are generally
spoken of as ''northernes' When
they are shiftless and ignorant they are
called yankees" If they are agitators,
stirring up, strife, and associating from
choice with the negroes they are known
s. Since the war the soltfitrn people have
centered their thoughts upon material
progress. They want more factories,
more furnaces and more railways They
want their mines. developed, and they
want to improve. their agricultural
system. Naturally they welcome new
blood and new capital, and they are
trying to initiate northern methods.
One great drawback of the south is the
scarcity of markets. There are very
few large cities, and the masses are en-
gagged in agricultural pursuits. Cotton IS
the leading product because it is about
the only thing that will sell for cash.
Corn, wheat, cats and other field crops
may be bartered at the stores, but they
will not bring ready money. The fruit
crop is not profitable. At one time big
stories were told about the profits made
by shipping peaches and melons to the
eastern and western cities, but it is d fact
that the producers and shippers lose
money in many instances and rarely ever
make enough to pay them for their
trouble.
So the southern farmer has to look to
cotton for all the cash that comes into
his pocket, unless he. happens to live in
the tobacco states or in Tennessee or
Kentucky, where diversified agriculture
pays. s.fss
When cotton gets down to s or Z cents
there is trouble in the cottoh belt. In
some localities it cos@ from at0 t12 cents
pound to raise cotton But the hes4armers
are compelled to produce 1t, because
they cannot buy supplies on time witA-
out mortgaging their cotton crops. No
merchant will credit farmer on any
other crop. -
How does the average southern farmer
come out at the END sofnhe year = ,z.s as.s-
In debt, as rule A few make
comfortable living and come out even,
and very few make money by hard
work, grinding economy and exceptional
good fortune.
The other day a planter In middle
Georgia pointed out one Of his white ten
ants to me and said:
"That man has a wife and six children,
and their bill tor supplies never runs over
$16O year."
Clothing included?''
eyes. They are very scantily clothed.
the man works for half Of the crops. He
gets a cabin rent free and garden. My
commisary supplies him with clothing,
dry goods, and groceries, and at the end
of the year, when he has settled his ac-
count, he generally has $40 or $50 in
cash coming to him.
'Is the man sober and industrious?"
Eyes; he is good man in every way.
He is making the best Of hard conditions.
In some counties in Georgia you can get
good farm hands for 81 a month and his
rations of meal pork and molasses. OF
course, theirs is no hope for these people
until we have an era Of general prosperity
again"
As the southern farmers grow poorer
and more discontented they drift to the
towns Many counties formerly. inhab-
tied by wealthy and cultured families are
now almost abandoned to the blacks The
truth is, white planter with women to
protect Is afraid to live in country where
his nearest white neighbof IL perhaps
| I'VE miles away.
The real. secret Of the prohibitory liq-
NOR laws which are In force in so many
southern counties will be readily UNDER
Gfood when the statement is made that
they are ! mainly designed to promote
peace. and order among tho blacks by
/ Keeping them sober.
The Fitzgerald colonists cannot solve
E1he new problems now vexing them in
n day. and they will be fortunate Il they
1naster them in q generation. The chances
a1e; that those who remain in Georgia
1ljll 60 to raising cotton, and ten years
Hence they will live = their neighbors do
~ viii make debts = order to raise
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