The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1897-12-06

Stiii' that is not the whole trouble. wa
| nave TO buy ON credit ct an enormous per
seht ana pay railroad companies 70 haul II
from the North for us. when We have lana
,nat VIII grow as much corn as apy State
III the Union. II it is not worth 20 cent.
per bushel We can raise our meat at home.
Mhicn nlne-senths of the farmers now buy
IRON the North, thereby paying the rail
IS W hAui IL 10
sun that is not all the trouble vet. We
raise cotton at prices below the cost of pro-
uuc"oh-prices Ringing from l-2 to &
| oen's per pound. BY raising 60 much cot :
.vn IL gives the overproduction howlers q
on"nce TO rob usr---l don't believe II is
| oVerps oducuon so much, but IL gives then,
an excuse to rob u.s. Now what the farmer
should do is to stop and ask himself how
much OF the things he uses could be raised
NJ nome, thereby doing away with the
| necessity c. raising cotton TO buy with.
Now let me enumerate some Of the things
1--WE buy that we could raise: | will COM
mence with corn, oats wheat or flour molas-
ses' peas, beans. Irish potatoes fruits Of
all KIND, kraut and pickles. These things
are daily bought by farmers, and the great
est surprise to me is We will raise cotton
at price below that for which we can
produce 1t to buy these things and last.
but not least. we will raise cotton To buy
our bacon where hogs can be raised in
this country az easily and with as little
cost as any country in the world. Still IT
| is cotton, cotton.
1t takes thirteen months in the year to
raise and gather a cotton crop, and after
IL is over somebody else gets 1t all at
| last we want to raise something for
home use and save the necessity Of raising
| n W. rails. irf
at home 1t will do away with the necessity
| OF The mort gage system, which has ruined
| more men than anything else on earth to-
| day
| Dear brother farmer. stop and think what
cotton Is doing for us.
| Now, want 20 make some figures on the
| CROPS. The statistics OF the United States
give for Texas less than one third OF a
bale to the acre Counting that alt 6
cents or s25 per bale, which is $50 Ia per
acre; the cost of gathering is S2.75 which
leaves s5.5s Ia per acre for the use of the
land aid making the crop. This is all YOU
| get for land, feed, tools aud labor. Suppose
he is renter and pays $500 per acre, how
much has he LETT? Only SOS. Corn in
this country will make thirty-five bushels
per acre, at 80 cents per bushel. which is
| $1,000, are $l.00 per acre for gathering
leaves $3.50 Difference in corn and co..
| U'ht *o''-' OdtS VAL luuhc lOrly puSuels
| per acre, at 20 cents, which amounts to
| $40. Count OFF $3.50 for expense OF gather
ing. and We have S75S Sweet potatoes
this year made about seventy bushels pai
| 5cre, at 40 cents, sos. Cost of gathering
and sowing IS. which leaves S23. Water
melons $35 per acre. So you can see at
| once anything beats cotton this year. Yes,
there is more money in chickens than cot
| ton. My Wife has one old white hen that
has raised three broods OF chickens this
year-thirty chickens at u 1-2 cents,
"a 40-ths beats cotton.
| Now what the farmers ought TO do is
to organize all over the South in every
precinct. county and State. in order that
we may know what all are doing. and
como 10 some understanding how we shall
| plant our next years crop. This year the
cotton crop has hurt the doctor, merchant,
| and in fact. nearly everybody.
| / will now suggest that the farmers in
every precinct county and State organ
| lie. Insist that every man that tills the
soil come In the organization. Let us by
cooperative move try to improve our
condition. Further, insist that every man
plant just as little cotton as he can, and
| plant everything he needs for home use.
In this way it may be we can raise the
| price of cotton. Ask the bankers and mer-
chants to work with us, and that we make
no notes, accounts or anything due before
the last Of the year. BY SO doing, our cot
| ton will not be forced on the market at any
price ] hope there will be general move
along this line. NJ. l.. Ussery.