The Brunswick times. [volume] (Brunswick, Ga.) 188?-1900, 1897-04-04
MISUSE OF BIC MONOPOLY.
The Section That Raises Practically All
the Earth's Cotton supply Fails to
Take Advantage of Its Pow
era to Control.

the Earth's Cotton supply Fails to
Take Advantage of Its Pow
| ers to Control.
l have here q few thoughts which l
would like to submit with only the wish
to fix attention on the fact that our mis-
use of monopoly, the most gigantic
and the most unrestricted ever known.
in this world, has come very near ship
Wrecklng our agricultural fortunes.
Only in the last few years are we
learning to ''tack with the wind" and
it is only since we have commenced to
more seriously study the various lnf1u-
ences affecting our great commodity
that we are learning to steer clear OF
the breakers, on which the ''all cotton"
man Is bound to meet disaster.
This is subject which is old, yet al
ways new and full of interest. Since
boy l can remember that this cotton
crop problem has engaged large part
of the attention of farmers, and has oc-
cupied an important place in all agri-
cultural discussions at the conventions,
in the towns, at the cross roads stores
and around the farm fresides. But di-
rectly after the war this subject was
surrounded by false conditions. Ihe
7 StUCk Of uyttrrr TIT nGsd
beyond al precedent and our better
Judgment was obscured by the high
price of cotton-50 cents in gold, equal
to 81 10 in greenbacks
MISUSE OF OUR GREAT MONOPOLY.
The temptation to the Impoverished
farmer to borrow money to invest in
highpriced mules, highpriced fertilizers
| h nh tn high.
priced cotton was too alluring to be re-
sisted. Money was plentiful and easy
to obtain, and many are today strug-
Cling under the burdens imposed by the
mistakes of those first days latter the
war;" followed by years of uncertainty
and doubt. Many have lost all in the
eager race and have awakened too late
to the fact that cotton crop, unsup-
ported by other necessary crops, Is de-
fusion and a snare. Others, more far
seeing and realizing in time the mistake
of putting ''all their eggs in one bas-
ket," have, by system of diversified
i farming and rotation of crops, been
| able to gain a firmer foOthold and today
have the promising prospect of sue
ceSSful and remuneratlve business. They
have worked on the idea that cotton
| crop, although it does not eat like
mules, yet requires all abundant provls-
| ion crop to sustain it in healthy condi-
| ton.
The greatest mistake that we farmers
at the south have made is that we have
presumed on the prestige which our
monopoly has given us in the markets
of the world and have supposed that
our cotton was able, unsupported, to
| lift us over all obSt aoles and out of all
difficulties.
WE HAVE A CORNER IN COTTON.
That we have a monopoly is attested
today by the fact that we produce at
least three-fourths of the worlds cotton
crop All the other cotton growing
countries, many of them with strong
government backing and encourage
ment have so far been able to produce
only one fourth of the general crop. By
using every means at their command,
they have, i'll a period of 81 years, in
creased their crop only 10 per cent,
| while our increase during the same Pc
Rod has been over 200 per cent. From
| 1867 to 1872 our average crop was g. 167-
600 bales of 400 pounds each. During
the same period of five years the foreign
crop average was ?. 337, 900 bales. From
1891 to 1894 our average crop was g. 1884,
900 bales; foreign. 2.5y5. 900. These fig
ures show for the years mentioned: In.
crease in American cotton. 6,3l7, 900;
increase i'll foreign, 25S. 900; increase in
American over foreign cotton, 6,059, 600
bales.
Surely with such a monopoly as that,
we ought to be able to control the mar
kets of the world. Why is it, then,
| that the cotton grower is at the mercy
of the buyer and must accept his ultl-
matum, whether it barely pays him
back the cost of production or leaves
him in debt. Let US examine into the
subject little. We find that Georgia
alone pays out annually over So, 900, 600
for mules; that in the present year
| Georgia farmers will use over $50. 900
| tons of commercial fertilizers; that the
importations of corn and meat, while
greatly reduced i'll the last few years,
are still much too large in section
where the facilities for producing these
items cannot be surpassed.
In 1879 Alabama, Mississippi, Lou
isiana Texas and Arkansas each raised
more cotton than Georgia. Now Geor-
gia makes more cotton than any state,
| except Texas, and more to the acre than
does Texas. We find that Georgia raised
| in the year
Cotton. Corn Oats. Wheat.
Bales. Bushels. Bushels. Bushels
1870. .473000 100000 100000 2,127. 900
1890 IL 1911 900 5000 600 4, zoe, 900 1.O96 900
The crops of hay, sweet potatoes
butter, ETC., were all increased, but the
production is still short of what it
should be, while Georgia's contribution
to the biggest cotton crop ever made is
second only to the largest Here we
behold farmers struggling to force cot
ton crop on the world, for which they
often accept less than cost price, because
they are compelled to have the money
to pay for provisions, which could have
been raised more cheaply at home.
CHANGING over the tables we find that
Georgia had in
Mich COWS. Other cattle. Sheep. Swine
| 1870. go. .231 900 $4,000 $4,000 9SS. 900
1890. 1896, 900 537, 600 10000 1866 900
No material increase in any item ex-
cept hogs. and yet we have a country
whose natural advantages for stock
raising, in climate and feeding crops,
green and dry, cannot be surpassed in
the world. COttonseed hulls and meal,
the former for many years a waste pro.
duct, furnish perhaps the cheapest stock