The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1900-03-13
t.Atlanta Journal. }

tAtlanta Journal)
There has been set in motion. within
| the past few days, scheme TO increase
! the cotton acreage of the South. which
| If successful. Will result under favorable
crop conditions in an enormous yield of
| the product next 1all, and consequent
! loss of money 10 the producer. We no.
| tice q two column article on the editorial
| page of the Constitutions in its Sundays
| issue, giving full particulars OF the new
| modus operandi, and advising the farm
erS all over the country TO accept the
| proposition. They quote from a promi
| nent cotton raiser in the State TO show
| that the farmers selling their crop now al
| ~ cents per pound for future delivery
| next October will net them S12.50 per
| bale clear profit. The Constitution
| states further that the big export cotton
buyers, who are evidently behind this
| scheme, admit that the present price Of
| fered for September and October cotton
| is the minimum and that even for a
| larger crop the price will surely be more
| WILL DO GREAT HARM
| Messrs. Inman, Swami & Co, perhaps
| the largest and most responsible cotton
| buyers throughout this section of the
! South, the prime movers in the inau
guration OF this new proposition to secure
| the planting of an enormous cotton crop
| the present year The Virginia and
Carolina Guano Trust Co. will be enabled
| to dispose of all the cotton received
| through their agents for sales of guano
| TO farmers. for October delivery at S
| cents per pound. They know exactly
what their guano will cost per ton de-
| liyered to the farmer and, in selling for
| a stipulated number of pounds of lint
cotton per ton, they also know that, hav-
| ing sold the cotton for future delivery.
their profit is absolutely assured when
the debt is paid by the farmer in the
| fall For instance, ii farmer buys a
ton Of guano for $50 pounds Of middlng
lint cotton, the seller will receive $2S0O
| for the goods, which has already been
| assured by a contract between the guanO
| manufacturer and large cotton buyer
for the future delivery of said cotton
| next fall Now for that class of people
| who handle cotton in larger lots and by
| this method of dealing secure fixed
| profit which is eminently satisfactory to
them, the plan is doubtless a good one,
| no matter what the price of cotton may
be. Contracts OF this character have been
| going on for wears but this is the first
instance in which effort has been
made to put the plan before the public
and thereby excite the minds Of the cot
ton producers into planting larger
crop, with the expectation of selling the
staple at a big price next fall Hardly
a tenth of the cotton producers can or
will take advantage of such a proposition.
While the offer may eb good one, yet. in
the same breath he is told that the
price is minimum one, and he will
most probabl lose money by the trans
action. The contracts will not be gen
orally taken up by the farmers, but the
object sought by the scheme will be at
tanned, and big crop the result.
COST OF RAISING CROPS.
1t is a we'll established fact. that the
| cost OF raising bale Of cotton by the
average farmer under favorable condi-
tions is about six cents per pound For
the present year with the heavy advance
in price of guano iron and steel, and all
| things needed by the farmer the cost
will be doubtless more. In addition to
this thousan nds of farmers in the cotton
| belt will be necessitated to buy corn at
time prices which will figure as an addi-
tionaI price to the actual cost of produc
| ton.
TO make an open assertion that the
cost of producing bale of cotton this
year Will be only five cents per pound by
|
and herald the news TO the world with
out giving the methods by which the
staple can be grown cheaply will do
. | infinite injury to the great mass OF cot
. | ton raisers. 1t gives the big cotton buy
ers of the country a better opportunity 70
combine and hammer prices down IN the
, fall far below the actual value OF the
cotton If cotton should sell at ~ cents
next fall there will be but little clear
money in it for the farmer. yet he VIII
| be told that he has profit in each bale
| of $500 because one prominent cotton
| producer has said that the staple could
be raised by him at a cost OF hFe cents
per pound The publication and endorse
ment OF such proposition, embracing
the plans of the big cotton buyers Of the
/ country to excite our people into plant
ing another big crop is just simply put
ting an instrument into the hand of the
enemy to grind down the farmers and
control the acreage and production Of the
| next cotton crop.
BEARS FIRST, THEN BULLS.
Every effort was made last year to IN
duce the farmers of Georgia to plan
, grain last fall and to restrict their cot
ton acreage this year, thereby giving
more time and land to the planting ant
harvesting of home supplies 1t was gen
| orally understood until quite recently
| that the cotton acreage would De Gu
for 1900, and that more land would p'
o planted in corn. If other States follow
: ed this example and only medium crol
n | was raised, the early demand for tn
q staple by cotton factories would insure
Y good prices in September and October
q the TWO months in which the mortgage'
: | crops are forced on the market and sold
e This would necessarily upset the calcu
d | ations of those large cotton buyers who
: by facts and figures, predict a large cro
t and are found annually on the bear sid
of the market in the early season