The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1902-07-17

also mistake about these mills pa,
ing farmers a better price for thei
cotton. On the other hand, nc tic
that the markets of Athens, Elbertol
and other interior Georgia towns ar
several points higher than our mill
pay for cotton delivered at their ware
houses.
But all things considered, il is un
deniably beneficial to any az gricultura
community to have a cotton mill estab
llshed In its midst. ! know OF more
than one falmer in this county, living
near mill, who, on Christmas, max,
it a rule to invest every spare dollar
they save from the sale of cotton, and
start the new year with empty purses
They then sell, during the year enough
wood, vegetables, and other products
from their farms to pay all expense fol
making the next crop.
Spartanburg is one Of the most pro-
grosslvc counties in the South. Our
farmers produce about 10000 bales of
cotton year and our local mills con-
sumo more than three times that num-
ber. We havenow in this county about
80 cotton mills, and now ones are being
constantly built. presume that four
tifths or more of the capital invested
comes from the North, With tho ex-
ccption of one or two small factories,
every mill built in our county has
proven a success, and profitable in
vestment. The result is that when q
new enterprise is projected, there is
no trouble to raise all the outside
money necessary to start ii up.
Without intending any reflection
upon my agricultural friends in Geor-
gla, must assert that, as a general
thing, the farmers of this and other
upper counties in South Carolina are
somewhat leading them in progress
and enterprise. This is attributable
to the fact that tho land.hol,iings III
Georgia are generally too large, and
your people must depend mainly on
the negro for labor. In Spartanburg
County l can drive you for miles and
miles over certain roads and where
you find one man owning over ono
hundred acres l will show you three or
four whose land holdings range from
40 TO 90 acres.
In comparison with middle Georgia,
there are very few negroes in this
county north of the Southern railway.
These small farms are owned and
worked exclusively by white people,
and il would surprise Georgian to
see how nicely man supports his
family from O forty or fifty acre farm.
1t is rare thing to see field thrown
pearing every year. Land is growing
too valuable to let ii go to waste, and
in any desirable community farm,
with even the eruagst improvements,
readily sells for from $15 to $50 per
acre. If there is an acre of land
around Inman that can be boughti as
low as ten dollars, do not know where
1t is. The land here too is naturally
thin, similar to the soil in Gwinnett,
Hall and other Piedmont Georgia coun-
ties.
And another noticeable fact is that
land owners here are generally clear
of debt, and make their farms self.
sustaining. Like unto other sections,
G." we have the poor always with us";
but, as general rule, our farmers are
well.to-do and prosperous. Many of
them have bank account or have no
trouble to borrow money when they
need it. A leading merchant of this
county recently told me that he knew
the financial condition of every farmer
within eight miles of his store, and
with the exception of few young men
who had not as yet finished paying for
their farms, there was not a mortgage
recorded against single farmer.
There are not better or more intelli-
gent farmers in the South than Geor-
gia can boast, but what your State
most needs to roach that high stage of
development she 80 richly merits is
for your large landowners to carve up
their plantations into small farms and
sell them off on easy terms to indus
trlous white men. This policy would
greatly increase the value of the re-
naming land, and add both TO the
wealth and population of your State.
In Spartanburg County land readily
rents for one. third of all the crops pro-
duced, and desirable low grounds being
one-half. | have several farms rented
exclusively to white tenants, end do
not stand responsible even for the
guano that goes under the crops. My
renters keep up terraces and the lands
improved, and they can buy all the
supplies they need on their own ac-
count. One of them, who runs one
horse crop, has several hundred dollars
loaned out ut interest.
In my next lettor l will tell The
Journal readers how easy it is for any
town or community to secure cotton
mill, if they will only 20 to work with
the proper energy and in the right
way.