The true Democrat. [volume] (Bayou Sara [La.]) 1892-1928, 1898-12-03
COTTON BELT CHANGING.
MoMENToUS DEVELOPMENT OF THE
GREAT SOUTHERN INDUSTRY.

] hOWu COEclSA SOHipctttAOH'
North Carolina has already enough
mills within her borders to spin ever.
bale of cotton raised In the State AM
a little to spare, and ina few year
the same will be true Of Georgia
South Carolina and few other At
lantic States. But now it is predicted
that within ten years these grea
Southern mills will be as far from thu
centre Of cotton production as tht
New England mills, whom the distance
is measured by freight rates. The
reason for this is not far to seek. The
cotton belt has been changing anG
shifting year by year. The great
bulk OF our cotton came from the
States east Of the Mississippi twenty
years ago, but to-day about seven
tenths Of the crop is raised beyond
that river. The cotton belt was sup.
posed originally to run only through
the best lands Of Virginia, Georgia
and the two Carolinas, with the edges
overlapping parts Of the contiguous
States. Texas was not thought Of.
Arkansas was too far west, and
Missouri and Kansas were supposed
to be good only for corn and cattle.
The map Of the cotton belt is en-
tirely altered, and each successive
year it must be enlarged to include
new territory where cotton fourishes
abundantly. Texas has forged ahead
in cotton-raising so rapidly that grow
ers wonder where it will stop;
Arkansas has more recently started
upon q similar career, while the
farmers of Kansas and Missouri are
beginning to raise cotton on q large
scale. At the present rate CT increase
this great belt west of the Mississippi
will soon be raising three-fourths of
all our cotton. Then the mills Of the
South, around which so much interest
centres to-day, will have as great o
problem to solve as the New England
mills are struggling with.
lis estimated by the Department
Of Agriculture that cotton can be
raised successfully in nearly one-third
Of the territory Of the United States.
At present the cotton belt covers
twenty-four degrees of longitude and
about ten degrees of latitude, but only
about one-twentieth Of the land is &C.
tually used for cotton growing. Thus
the 2O,0O0,00O acres Of cotton planta-
tions represent only fraction of the
vast empire Of cotton soil that has
never been tillel.
The fear that cotton growing has
reached its zenith, and that it must
soon decline, in view of the low prices
received for it, looms up every season
when the new crop begins to come in,
but like similar Nightmares, it fails to
produce any permanent results. The
world has Just begun to use cotton. |
Our invasion of the japanese markets
with this product is but a promise of
what we may expect on larger scale
in other quarters.
There are over 1900, 100000 human
beings existing on this globe, and of
this number about half are imperfectly
Glad. They live in climates we're IT.
lie protection is need, but that protec-
lion must come in the form of cotton
clothes. The vast hordes of the
Orient, Of the islands of the Pacific,
md Of the great African continent, re-
luire cotton goods for clothing. To-
lay they go without them only be-
cause they are not obtainabIe OF prices
Vithin their means.
The worlds yield OF cotton has
rebled in twenty-five years, and 1t
las nearly doubled itself in the last
en- years. Our own product has rep
esented large percentage of this in
rease. India, China and Egypt can
aise cotton on large scale, too, but,
With all their cheap labor, the South
IN planter can raise and the Ameri-
an manufacturer can work up into
aable goods our cotton and place it
n Eastern markets at prices lower
han the natives can ever hope to &C.
omplish.
Cotton has steadily declined in price
lnce tina acreage has been increasing.
'lanters have fought this downward
endenoy, Individually and collectively,
ut without avail. No one is sure
nat the bottom has been reached yet.
here are plenty who predict f. '
ent cotton within another decade.
his seems utterly inconceivable to =
10 growers, especially in many of the :
lder cotton districts, but so did s. +
ont and Scent cotton years ago. The 1.
5tempts to restrict the acreage of cot ~
IN havo foilod repeatedly. II our +
'op falls below certain point in the 1
orld's supply there will be CORE
increase in the acreage in
her countries. English capital and 8
rains are working hard in Egypt to f
'ntrol the cotton trade of the Far II
asst, and any tendency to loosen our h
I'D upon the great cotton industry 9
Guild be the signal for the rapid ex- !
nSIon of Un1 UUuuU1r hufrrS- or -rss5Jr =,
ida and even China and Japan. The -