Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1898-12-08
SIlM |! !. SQl|N|E!l D 1! AlE!gI ![|g!gg {.
5Sommna senee yt esy es ..a s,otse.assss .
Sitaaslon.--The Only Remedy.
Hinton Times.


5i5S Union Times. iS$3 I
A prominent business man, in Union
received the following letter few days
ago, which we sre permitted TO publish
for the benefit Of our readers: 1: t$$sla
New YORK, November oath, 1903.
DEAR SIR What is the matter}with the
people of your section of tho country
According to the government reports,
they keep on inoreasing the production
of cotton when cotton Is selling at the
lowest price In It's history. Why do. they
not diversity their orops2 Certainly tho
soil will produce almost everything
which they consume, and yet they con-
t's:e raising sitat whioh is u drug ON Gfe
market, and buying that which 5tjey
ought to raise. DO they not realize that
the demand for cotton Is not keeping
pace with tho inoreasod produotionp
Especially in view of the fact that. other
countries are increasing their production
of the raw cotton. Notwithstanding tho
growth of the population, it 10 evidont
enough to anyone who observes; that
other materials are taking tho place in
which cotton onco had an absolute mo-
nopoly. If one Is in 6obt, it is folly to
attempt to pay off tho indebtedness by
doubling tho production of that through
which the debt was originally incurred.
One might as well try to lift ones self
over tho fenco by tugging at one's own
boot-straps. The more you add to tho
production Of cotton, the less chance
there is of the price of that. commodity
advancing in tho markets of tho world.
just so long as this over production con-
tinuea, just so long will tho indebtedness
grow heavier and heavier, and just 80
long will your peoplo, struggling under
an ever-increasing burden of debt, be
dissatisfied.
Tho remedy, however, is entirely
within themselves, and is easy enough to-
apply. That remedy is, as referred to
above, diveraitication of crops. Wo
understand, for instance, that tho people
in your section of the country pay from
90 cents to 81 bushel for wheat, from
60 to IS cents bushed for corn, from
$3.50 to $5 barrel for flour, from u to
8 Cents a pound for bacon, from 40 to 10
CENTS fs 5usiiioi for oats. from 10 10 cents
a pound for lard, from 40 to 80 conts a
gallon for molasscs, 5 cents pound for
hogs on foot, q oents pound for cattle
on foot, so to 90 oonts busE 81 for cow
peas, 81 bushol for Irish potatoes, 81 q
bushel for peanuts, 40 cents u bushel for
sweet potatoes, and from $l2 to Sid ton
for hay. All of these things could easily
DO raised, or obtained from tho natural
products iii your section OF tho country;
yet your pcoplo 60 on raising cotton at
cents n pound ard paying these high
prices for those things which are tho
neccssarie8 of Tito.
We wish they could be brought to 500
this thing in tho right light. Tho South
is not prosporing as tho West is prosper
ing, and tho reason is that they go on in
the same old lines, notwithstanding the
fact that conditions have changed.
Western people are happy to-day. The
writor of this has just returned from a
long trip in the West, extending as far as
Omaha. There the crops havo boon
good; prices havo been higher than thoy
paid off their debts to tho local store
keepers; the interest on their mortgages,
and, in sOme cases, tho principal of tho
mortgage themselves, and have a surplus.
They not only raise surplus of products
for salo to tho East, to tho South and
abroad, but they raise that which they
consume themselves, and are not de-
pendent upon any other section If tho
country for what they need to cat. Your
people raise that which they cannot
wear, for which thoro is,a glnt in tho
market, and apparently absolutely pcr-
sist in refusing to raiso that for which
they have to pay high price, and all of
which they could produce themselves.
Diversity of crops means prosperity, and
prosperity brings happiness. It is bad
plan also to put all Of ones oggs in the
same baskc,; if anything happens tho
eggs are ruined.
Yours worry truly,
THE MERCHANTS ASSOCIATION,
OF NEW YORK.
By VIM. II. CoRwINE.