The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1898-01-15
FIVE CENT COTTON.
Some Pertinent Observations by an
Experienced Mississippi Planter.

The principal object Of all ami
NAL effort is to procure the mean'
of subsistence-''to got a living.
| This is true as to every creature
| from the worm in the dust to the
monarch under the crown.
| An essential difference between
| the man and the brute is thai
man seeks superhuity, something
beyond mere safety of appetite
and sustenance of the physical be-
ing. The desire to accumulate, tc
lay mp store against "a rainy day, "
and the feebleness of advancing
years; to provide for the we'll be-
ing of himself and his; the desire
and effort to achieve Ultimate in
dependence of daily toll and wor-
| ry has grown apace with the
growth of human civilization.
The two have moved through the
ages upon even parallel lines. The
ambition to accumulate abundance,
and even more, has been nourish-
ed by the facilities afforded by ad-
vancing civilization and its con
comitant, intellectual development,
leading and promoting the way to
numberless fields from which are
gathered harvests of wealth: This
ambition pervades the whole race
in greater or less degree, proper
toned to enlightenment and men
tai and social culture, and is felt
by all, from the hodcarrier at the
foot of the ladder to the multi
millionaire" or potentate who will
occupy the palace he is helping to
erect.
But it is not my duty to homil
ize.
The great question is what to do
and how to do it; how to laboLI
and contrive to the esllSS. eeslS. Of plenty |
and ultimate fortune. Men choose
avocations and ply them to one
common end. The great majority |
from choice or necessity invoke
the aid of Mother Earth, which
furnishes limitless scope for labor
and achievement, when judiciously
treated.
How shall we use her to best
advantage that the desired prpft
may be reapeds Here the cotton
grower or "planter" comes in. We
Gndi End him in a dilemma today He
is racking his brain TO determine
',how to do it,; raise five cent
cotton at q profit. 1t is not my pur-
pose to try to solve the riddle for
him in this paper. may have
some views" on the subject, but
should | assume to give them, IN
The minds of millions | would be
an ass; and | might be
f not for my views, yet for pre-
;uming to utter them, as a rule,
Tor others to guide by.
1t is confessed that there is no
more, if as much, cultivated intel
ect employed in tilling the soil in
my line of production as is to be
'ound controlling the cotton fields
If the South.
We cotton planters are self ,
conscious set. No one comedies
wisdom to the other. We
ire theorists and experimenters in
he field, yet intensely practical.
There is no certain or fixed condi-
ion environing pll, Surround j
ngs and circumstances vary with
ocality and longitude.
We feel the personal necessity s
f individual economy and prate !
f general economics as applied or {
pplicable to our class. Yst we
ct as cutsthrosts to our neigh t
ors and open our own veins un- J
onsciously to bleeding nigh unto q
cath. 1
A people with the same end in
lew have no concert of action. t
hey refuse to come together to
eason. Each works out his saliva {
ion in his own way. We all an '
icipate a certain condition of poll '
y, which il adhered to, will in 7
vitsbly produce certain result.
thus we work out the result our {
elves, and find fault with others /
or distress of our own erection. /
No independent intelligent peo- L
lie on earth are today as dissatis- s
led as the cotton grower. None '
o fault finding with others.