The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1897-10-27
TsE COTTON RAISING INDUSTRY.
Why is D.bsthe NoTmsl Cordttto1 OF the
Cotton Farmer"

f; Cotton Farmer?
The political Science Qiar.erly for
ISap:emoe contained au Interesting
sketch ofthe cotton raising industry in
, this country, under the Old regime, as
:qeil as under the new. The borrow
| ing habits Of the cotton raiser are ex-
plained, eut the causeis not. Why IS
debt tie formal condition of the cot
ION raiser and not of the Northern far
mer who raises wheat and corn2 Mr..
Hammond, the writer Of the article,
explains the Southern farmers pre-
dileclion for cotton. so far as his career
can now be forecast, to raise cotton
and Guy his supplies from the North
west. But the country has been as
sured in the last three years by several
Southern men that the farmers OF their
section are raising much more OF their
own supplies, and, therefore, spend
! less money than formerly for hog
and honiny" from the West. Cotton
will always bring money; 1t IS the
only crop on which the farmer can
borrow money, and the merchant to
whom he owes money insists on his
planting cotton, and the crop is one
taat Hegro labor is peculiarly quail,
Fed to cultivate. L. does not suffer,
as other crops do, from occasional
neglect, and in the picking the chill
Gren can be utilized more effectively
thar in most varieties of farm work.
It's culture has been learned by the
negroes, and it is a slow and laborlous
process to enlarge their kno oWledge by
teacling them 10 raise anything else.
The large crops OF cotton raised IL
later wears have led to the inference
Itlat free labor was more efficient than
slave labor. Mr. Hammond does
not think so. He says the general
testimony is that the most effective
workers are the older men and women
who learned to labor IN slavery. Inc
extension Of cotton raising west OF the
Mis- .issippi River, msinly into Texas,
he regar. as the reason for the in
crease 0: the crops. Texas not only
has d vast area of new soil, which
yields well without fertiliz!ng, bur II
has larger percentage Of white labor
than the older Gulf States, and with
this more efficient labor the produc-
ton is more economical. Cultivation
By negro tenants on shares has become
common because the planters after the
war lacked money to pay wages with,
and, Of course, the negro had 10
money to pay rent with. Where the
negro tenant farmers works under
mite su upsr7ision he is fairly efficient,
sad if be is working in the Immediate
vicinity o; the owacr OF tae pian:a,
lion he IS apt to receive IS Imperative
instructions IS thou n he were work
i1a for the planter, and to obey him
as docilely. Where heiS remots from
white direction Or example, Mr. Ham
mond in!inates that his cultivation
reaches aboot the lowest grades Of
shiftlessness. The two great evils o.
cotton culture Mr.. Hammond believes
are this cropping" as it is called,
the cultivation By negro tenants on
shares, and tae crop liens, or the
mortgaging CT the cotton crop to the
merchant to secure him for advance
OF supplies. The only remedy for the
farmer is the hiring Of the negroes ioc
money wages, as they become land
owners very slowly. Mr.. Hammond
says that wherever cropping" and
cultivation by hired labor are carried
or side by side, the superiority OF the
latter is apparent and the causes that
forcsd the cropping" system on the
South nave mainly passed away, SO
that there is a prospect that evolution
may finally relegate cropping" to
oblivion and cotton be cultivated main
ly by hired negroes, but, OF course, 10
some extent oy negro proprietors.