St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1898-11-26
Depose King Cotton.

An industrial revolution is pend
ing in Texas Never before have
the massee Of farmers, either 10 thu |
landlord or tenant classes, wavered
in their devotion to cotton. To-
day the feeling against cotton among
the producers Of it parsakes It the
sentiment or revenge. The stapl.
has disappointed them time and
again. Last year they confidently
believed that the bottom Of the de-
cline had been reached and heavy
acreage was planted in cotton in
anticipation Of rise. A fur,he.
drop which has brought the average
to $z2 so q bale Of 500 pounds IL
the straw that has broken the cam
ols back.
Within sixty days thousands Of
tenant farmers in the central, or
blackwaxy belt OF Texas-the rich
est agricultural section of the State
have deserted their ma.ured c0r-
ton crops because they could earn
more by picking cotton for wages
than by gathering their own crops
and paying rent. This has forced
landlords upon whose hands rented
farms have been thrown back to
import negro labor from south Texas
to pick the deserted crops and th-
cost Of picking. which at the begin
mug of the season, was 81 cents
hundred pounds, has advanced to so
cents. Reports from Arksnsas tell
Of similar condition. The
acute distress caused by Accent cot
ton may easily be appreciated, when
It is stated that the average cash
yield of the staple at this price is
less than 50 an acre, gross. Out Of
this the tenant pays one-fourth To
the landlord and, il be l.ires the cot.
ton picked, about So an acre for
that expense. The net result TO the
farmer is less than 81 an acre and
this pittance is more than exhausted
il he is compelled to hire help t"
plant and cultivate the crop. The
best, authorities agree that the day
when cotton would pay wages Ia
the producer passed when the price
dropped below Z cents q pound.
The supremacy Of the cotton in
dustrv in Texas for seven v.xr.t :.
past has been Entertained by female
and child labor-from the families
of tenant farmers whose members
Ire paid no wages and whose work
) never recorded as an element Of
expense. 1: is no exagsera.ion to say
hat 60 per cent of the total labor b
expended on the cotton crop OF
Texas is rendered by women and /,
;hildren-the wives, daughters and j
IONS Of tenants, who receive for
heir labor only tue barest mainte-
rance, the details OF which, fully
would shock the sensl-
,ilities of the civilized world.
1t was asserted by the contributor
o q recent issue of Texas Farm ana
Ranch that the condition Of the ten
INT farmers who are raising cotton
5 below the industrial level of the I
Russian peasants or the Mexican {
'eons that the family Of the aver
Ige tenant who races cotton re. :
'eives less aud ENJOYS less than did !
he family Of the average slave Z
'manclpated by Lincoln. THIS b
ounds like the language Of exsg-
Grafton, but its accuracy Is attcsted j,
" the fact that tenant cotton grow E
re are running away in droves from =
heir fuli-grown crops. The "hard.
ack" and sow belly" of = sOldicr :
} paralleled IN the ordinary and :,
ontinuous diet of the table Of the t,
enant farmer The only difference =
that in the case Of the farmer the
bareback is wanting much
the time and the ''sow-belly" is
led. instead of boiled, to save the
rease. Il
The writer was in the little vii G,
age Of Kosse recently, Situated in a
le heart of the black-waxy belt. I
i'd was told If . case in which nj
naut who brought a deficit over Il
ON last year was limited by the Is
,l,ler OF the mortgage on his grow G.
2 crop to S25 ,orth Of supplies Of hi
| kinds dry goods, groceries, b,
achipery and repairs-to maintain a,
N and his large family for the en-
re year. It is hardly necessary "
describe the manner OF their ex. I.
tence. This was not an excep. ar
'nal case. In its general outline G
typifies the condition OF she ten "a
It cotton grower. nj
Over $40. 200, 900, it is estimated. ~