The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-11-15

the field Of brown and green is spotted
or busted with white. Again you see
places where the crop is ripe to burst
ing, and the great tufts hang out ready
TO drop to the ground or into the hands
Of the pickers. Some Of the fields are
alive with men and women gathering
cotton. Negroes and whites walk
through the rows and pick the white
bolls. The darkies sing as they pick
and their rich, soft voices float into the
car windows as we fly by. At many OF
the stations there are bales of cotton
ready for shipping to the factories of
the North and South. Nearly every
Ht$le farm Aouse we pass has one or
more Gales u, it's yard. The roads are
lined with Bagons full of what in the
distance looks like newly washed wool,
but whic$ is freshly picked cotton be-
ing carried to the gin, where the seed
must be taken out before the cotton
can be cold. Other wagons haul bales
OF cotton, bringing the ginned article
back to the farmers homes. The driv-
ers seem happy. Hear that old negro
sing as he hauls his three bales Of
cotton along in that old cart drawn by
an OK. He is rejoicing, for he sits on
his years crop, and he knows 1t will
bring him the money for his winters
supplies.
WHERE COTTON COMES FROM.
The cotton crop is the great money
crop of the South. If it is good, pros
perity shines out Of the faces of both
darkies and whites, and more than 49,
600 900 souls rejoice. If bad, there is a
cry of hard times, and want creeps in
at the cabin door. The extent of the
cotton area of the country is not well
understood at the North. The cotton
belt covers twenty-four degrees of Ion
gitude and about ten degrees of lati-
tude. 1t now measures about 100000
square miles, or, according to the cen
sus of $780, almost one-third of the set
tied parts of the United States. This
area Of cotton growing territory could
be greatly increased, and, as it is, only
about one-tWentieth of it is used for
raising cotton. There are in fact only
about 20,000,000 acres Of cotton planta-
tons, and we have an empire of cotton
soil which has never been titled. The
cotton belt has a population Of about
13,500,0 600, of whom 100000 are ne
groes. These people produce more than
half a bale of cotton per capita each
~ to each family of five, or from sew
en- TO nine million bales of cotton every
year. The cotton we export annually
amounts to more than the output Of
the gold mines Of the world. 1t is al
most double that of the gold and sill
yer mines of the United States. In
1891 it footed up the sum Of $225, 600 GEO.
and in 1894 we had one of the biggest
cotton yields of our history. The cot
ton then raised amounted, in round
numbers, to $500, 900 bales This is
more than half Of all the cotton grown
in the world. We are, i'll fact, the
greatest cotton growers of the uni
verse, and could we sell all the cotton
our lands could produce at high prices,
the South would be the richest part Of
the United States Today cotton is
bringing between and cents a
pound, and at this the planters can
make money. They are making money
now, and the only people down here
who are talking hard times are the
politicians, the Office seekers and the
political agitators. The cotton crop
this year will run over 8,000,000 bales.
We will get more than 5000, 600, 600 in
gold from Europe for our cotton with
In the next few months, and the pres
ent increase in our gold reserve comes
largely from cotton.
OUR COTTON TERRITORY.
But let me tell you where the r2os1
and best cotton is raised During the
past few weeks / have met some Of
the biggest Of cur cotton shippers and
cotton planters, and have collected
matter about the condition OF the wool
~ plant in every part Of the world.
Caly few years ago Mississippi and
Alabama were the leading cotton pre-
ducers of the Union; now Texas is
greater in this respect than all the rest.
Last year, or rather in the cotton year
of 1898 and 1894, Texas produced over
100000 bales, or nearly one-third OF
the entireecro of the United States. 1t
was thought that II could produce a
like amount this year, but the drought
get in, and the result is that that state
has only about one-half lte usual crop.
The cotton territory OK ths country