The Mena weekly star., 1897-11-10
OUR GREAT COTTON CROP.
Better Than Klondike and tine Dan-
 ger Left Out.
7rom me scisntinic American

While the few lucky miners who
 have reached the Klondike are dig
 uing for the gold in the frozen ground
 of their Arctic home, and stories of
 the wonderful richness of the mines
 are published to agitate world of
 readers. a different kind of gold
 mine is being worked in fairer and
 warmer part Of our country, where
 the sun shines eternally and the con
 d;tions of life are all that one could
 desire for comfort and pleasure The
 great cotton crop of the southern
 states is worth several Klondikes it
 yields profits to hundreds of thousands
 of to1lers and enriches our country by
 many millions of dollars. Our exports
 of cottons alone amount to more than
 the output of all the gold mines of the
 world. We get on the average more
 than s20o, oo0 900 annually for the cot ton we ship abroad after deducting enough for our own use. The lauded wealth of gold and silver mines sink into insignifcance in comparison.
 Early in October the new cotton crop begins to come to market and during the pleasant autumn months the white fields of the South are alive with pickers. Simultaneous with the advent of the first large shipment ot the new crop, great industry that gives employment to thousands of men throughout the country awakens into activity. The cotton is picked and baled on the farms scattered through out the cotton belt, and an army of buyers appear there to solicit trade for their houses. Fully five thousand of these buyers are often in the fields at once. trying to secure trade for their respective houses. The advance conriers receive twenty-five cents per bale commission, a good buyer viii sometimes secure ten thousand or more bales for his house. making for himself handsome salary of S2, 800 for few months labor.
 The cotton is marked and shipped to New Orleans, Galveston, Mobile, or Charleston, the five lead ing cotton-receiving cities of the Un- ion. The European tramp steamers visit these cotton ports and load up iirect for Europe Many of them DOW carry ten and twelve thousand bales of cotton year, and their size and capacity are increasing year by year But the great bulk of the crop comes from the southern ports to New York in the steamers of regular coast lines, which make most of their annual profits in handling the inn mense cotton crop. In recent years New Orleans has tried to send most of it's cotton direct to Europe in regular steamers plying between that city and Liverpool; but New York will control most of the trade for many years yet, Most of the transatlantic lines touch at New York. and they carry cotton abroad at rates that are hard to out bid
 Besides the army of pickers the new crop gives employme to thousands of sailors, captains of steamers and trading vessels, merchants and thelr clerks, truckmen in the city. and lightermen and longshoremen and many others. It is estimated that, before the cotton reaches the cotton
 factories. it has given employment to nearly 3o0, 900 people in Europe and in this country. In the south good part of the cotton handling is done by negroes, who, picturesquely attired, load the ships with fieecy bales to the sound of music and song. But when 1t reaches New York this picturesque scene vanishes. Large able bodied longshoremen assemble at the ships side in response to whistle, and be- gin to transfer the cotton from wharf to wharf or from steamer to lighter. These men recieve from fifty to seven ty-five per cent higher wages than the ordinary freight railway handlers and they earn from twenty to twenty five cents an hour.
 As most of the cotton received in New York is in transit for Europe or New England, and very little is con sume here there is of necessity a great deal of transferring from wharf to wharf and from vessel to vessel.