The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-03-17
REDUCE COTTON PRODUCTION

REDUCE COTTON PRODUCTION
Association Urging Planters to Retrench
and to Raise More Home Consump-
| ton Products.
Augusta, GA. March 16.-The Amerl-
| can Cotton Growers Association met
here yesterday to discuss the advnsabillty
of reducing the production of that staple.
| Several prominent planters and cotton
| factors made addresses urging upon the
! farmers the necessity of a reduction and
advising the raising Of supplies for home
consumption The most prominent Of
the speakers were Hon. Hector ID. Lane,
| Of Alabama, President of the Associa-
ton; Mayor w. b. Young, Thomas Bar
rett, president of the Augusta cotton eX-
change and Hon. Patrick Walsh.
AS q result Of the convention the fol-
lowing address was issued:
ITO the. Cotton Growers of America:
THE Cotton Growers Protective AS
ISOLATION of America in convention as
sembled at Augusta, Georgia, on this
| March 10, 1897, again come to you with
| an urgent appeal for cooperative action
! in planting the crop for 1897. 1t is a
matter of extreme congratulation that the
| appeal made to you for 1895 and 1896
was SO generously responded to and that
! the crop of 1895 made upon the dimin-
ished acreage did have the effect of in
| creasing the price of cotton
| The crop of 1895 though estimated to
! be 100000 bales short of the crop of
! 1894, was in the markets of the world
worth more by nearly $30,000OO0. In.
| the face of this result to abandon the
idea of diminished acreage would be to
! sound the retreat in the face of victory.
1t is the consensus of opinion among
! the best thinkers that if by any means
the cotton crop of America could be held
within the limits of 100000 or 100000
bales per annum for five years, the people
of these Southern States would be the
richest and most prosperous in the
| world.
How can this be brought about! The
answer is with you. We appeal to your
self-interest and your patriotism to do
all in your power to keep down the pro
duction of the staple.
Do not abandon the ground you have
! won. Fight upon the grounds laid down;
| make the cotton States self-supporting,
put more land in clover and grasses for
your hogs to run ON; diversity your crops
and when you have done all this the area
devoted to cotton will yield more returns
than if you sought to increase the num-
Der of your bales.
There has never been Il time in the his
| tory of our section of the country that
a movement looking to the increase pro-
duction of corn, hay, oats, hogs and other
food crops was so important and neces-
sary as now.
1t is felt by the most thoughtful men
that we are entering upon year of great
| uncertainties and that even Il small cot
ton crop may fail to give adequate re-
turns for its production.
The mutterings of a storm are dis
turbing values and unsettling all bust
mes calculations. The prudent man will
| trim his sails to meet it, With the COM
merce of the country interrupted by war,
and war may come, cotton would be UNI
sala bic except at nominal prices.
We desire to say to every cotton COVER.
whether his crop is ten bales or 1000
bales see to it that your place is self
sustaining. We mean by this to insure
You who grow on your farms an album
dance of corn. meat, hay, oats, peas,
potatoes for all the people on the place.
If your tenants will not raise these things
sell them to him and put the money in
your pockets instead of sending it out
of the country. When you have done this
grow all the cotton you can.
If every farmer or planter in the cotton
growing district will make this his rule
OF action and live up to it conscieNtiously,
| it will accomplish the result we so much
desire, Will be the means of making all
prosperous and happy and cotton will
sell for higher price.
We would urge you to make sure first
| of a cheap home living for all the people
and all the animals on the place and
| then make what cotton YOU can. We adj
dress our argument to each individual
| farmer. Every farmer may measurably
| control the cost of producing cotton.
Let each individual farmer resolve in
| his own mind and without regard to
what others may do to cut down the
| cost of producing his cotton. By con-
| filming his area to his fields and best Of
| his fields, by concentrating his skill, in
dustry and fertilizer on a smaller area
| he will make cotton cheaper. Every
| farmer knows that the better the land,
| the better preparation and cultivati ton,
| the more liberal the amount of we'll
| balanced fertilizers he applied per acre the
| less will be the cost per pound of cotton.
Plant only the best land in cotton and
| the poor land in rye, peas, etc. This
| will certainly reduce your crop product
| in the aggregate, but will greatly reduce
| the cost so that in any event whatever
others may do, you will be all right.