The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1897-12-08
70 Solve the Cotton Problem.

keen interest in eyerything relating to
cotton. At the present price Of that
staple and the prices Of everything
that goes toward making cotton
crop, it really seems foolhardy for
any one to plant cotton another year.
But what are we going TO do? Cot
ton is the basis of credit in the South.
BY it the wheels of Southern COM
merce turn. Capital of the North
and East is obtained upon the papers
of cotton planters. This capital is
put into the hands Of farmers for the
sole purpose Of planting cotton. The
contracts between the borrower and
the lender stipulate this fact,
Now, that being the method by
which the major portion Of the cotton
crop is produced do we wonder that
the price of cotton is down to zero,
and that plethora of that staple has
glutted the marts Of the world? We
cannot; and until the final crisis
comes, which sooner or later will
come, without Providential interyen-
ton, We may expect to grow poorer
each succeeding year until we have
reached the end of the tether which
binds us with Plutonic chains of ada
mant.
Nearly every man you meet or hear
from has panacea for the cotton
planters, or scheme more visionary
than the fabulous Shekinah, by which
the price Of cotton can be made to go
up with leaps and bounds to the high
water mark.
OF these free silver is tie most
popular and threadbare cry. Then
there is talk Of Southern Cotton
Association, corner in cotton, a
trust, pure and simple. There also is
the cry Of reduction Of acreage. |
have also seen it suggested that the
farmers borrow all the money possi-
! BE, invess it in cotton, plant none
next season, and sell the cotton thus
purchased and held when the market
warrants it. The plans are all as Wis
ionary as the works Of Dean Swift,
Rider Haggard,' Edgar Poe or any
any other dreamer only vision
ary, but Impractical, and while the
impossibility is easily demonstrated,
IWill give each only passing notice.
First. Free silver was an issue in
the last national campaign, and the
result is Too well known to mention
here.
Second. Trusts are abominable, to
say the least, and the temper Of the
American people is not going to toler-
ate long any gigantic trust, be it in
cotton, corn, wheat or any other
product. fl mistake not, Congress
has passed an anti trust measure. So
q cotton association is neither right or
legal.
Third. The reduction of acreage or
the mere talk Of reduction greatly in
cites the aoreagss,aand production, It
is'oae Of the surest ways to over-pro-
ducsion.
Last. The buying and storing Of
actual cotton by the farmers is too
foolish to notice. Farmers never buy
cotton; they sell cotton.
Let us now come down to the prob
lem, and let US undertake a solution
of it. Every problem has correct
solution. Though it may be ever SO
intricate, wrapt in darkest mystery,
yelled in deepest doubt, yet to it is
key and when found the mystery is
made plain, the intricacies disappear.
70 the vexed cotton problem there is
a key, and if you will pardon mysvsni-
ty I hereby place it in your hands,
and when you get it you can eliminate
the ad7srb from the Scriptursl phrase
and write it: sTell it in Gath and
publish it in Askalon.'
Under the present system Of cotton
planting, with no legal restrictions
upon the acreage, the volume Of cot
ton is sure to grow larger each sue
ceeding year, until the final crisis
comes. How long under present con-
ditions the farmers can stay the ire
sistible hour is hard to say, but un-
less there comes sudden and perma-
nent change for the better, in a few
years few farmers will own the lands
upon which they live. The system of
Europe, the peasant system, is knock
ing loudly at our doors, and it is only
a question of time ere it is irrevoca-
bly, established here. Take up the
County papers of South Carolina and