Natchitoches populist., 1898-11-25
Tine Crop of tile Slave,
f, G. SENTER, Dallas, Texas.


servative plans and calculations
merely fitting and delusivo ina
ges of fancy. 1t sweeps away in
q single season the accumulations
of years Of toll and self-sacri6cc
without any fault on the part OF
the loser save devotion to his bu-
siness. 1t adds largely to the
maintenance cost of the farmer
without increasing the profit of
the merchant. The bankruptcy
courts which have just begun OPP
erations are holding inquests on
many Texas estate that twenty
years ago gave promise of growth
to fortune. In most cases the un-
fortunate one will testify that the
credit system brought HIM to
grief. His leger shows abundance
of assets but they are not CONVEX
tible into cash.
The tenant borrows from the
landlord; the landlord from the
merchant; the merchant from the
banker, who in turn discounts the
paper in the East. The banker
bases the transaction upon the
prospective crop; the merchant
STIMULATES for cotton in his crop
mortgage; the landlord in his lease
contract provides that the tenant
shall grow little else than cotton.
In that brief statement, which
epitomizes the industrial situation
from the Gulf to the Rio Grande,
there is a full explanation of all
the woes of the Texas farmer. He
is indeed a slave who cannot choose
his own occupation. 1t is NO ex-
aggeration to say that two thirds
of the cotton raised in Texas is
planted upon compulsion. To be
sure, the habit is becoming fixed,
and the unfortunate victim may
not desire to change it, but that
does not in any degree alter his
real situation. Neither did most
of the slaves desire to be free.
The cotton industry is the au-
thor of the credit system as we
have it. Neither could exist with
ont the other. Both are widely
at variance with correct methods
of economy and finance. The !
money lender calls for an exclu-
sive cotton crop because he thinks
it will, at any price, enable him to
make prompt collection of his |
oan. The ultimate effect upon
he borrower and upon the coun-
ry at large are matters that do not
inter into his calculations. SINH
lar considerations induce the land
ord to require the tenant to make
cotton his only market crop. The
ystem contemplates eight months
# borrowing upon expectancy and
our months of liquidation. AT
ne best, it pits eight months of
osing business against four months
# profit for all commercial enter
'rises. The merchant attempts to
'royide against possible losses by
barking up the prices of his goods.
he cotton grower, whether a ten
Mt or a land owner, pays from
wenty 10 fifty per cent extra for
is supplies because Of the hazard ,
onnected with the credit extended
i'm. Experience has proved that
ne system is ruinous to both buy /
r and seller. The margin for
'ss is large enough to Cypress ONE,
ut not sufficient to protect the s
Their. In u certain large Texas 1
,wn, that | could name, only one /
,tail firm whose businessi is Of any ,
Importance, has survived the I
orms OF one decade. The wrecks \
I've been numerous. Again / re- {
r to the bankruptcy courts for i
'rther light on this phase of the
'bject. t
1t would be a work of superero- \
ltiOn to tell Of the many evils 9
at flow from the credit system. j,
II desire to escape from it, but O
W realize the irrenediable nature
the paralysis that it imposes o
ION human energy and ambition. O.
cannot be doubted that much of
e apathy and listlessness that are O
attributed to climatic OIL
uses are really the offspring of 8,
Hen acceptance OF u hopeless P
Even the bird that once
IS free loses the boIdness and
eerfnlness Of bis song when im-
isoned, though tho bars of his
ya may ha CiIdad h.