The Atlanta constitution., 1903-09-14

slant danger Of the overproduction OF
cotton. A historical Illustration Is in
point.
From 1915 to 1896 cotton prices were
very high. There were flush times" in
the cotton belt. 1t seemed that the only
limit to the wealth to be made from
cotton lay in the limit to the labor sup
ply and the land supply. The Georgia
and Carolina planters bought all the
slaves that the people of Virginia and
Maryland would sell They secured the
opening of Alabama and Mississippi and
western Georgia to settlement, and, rush
ing into the new grounds. they raised
cotton on a scale heretofore unknown.
ne result was an oversupply. The price
declined until profits vanished. 1t con-
tinued to fall until in 1S41 the level of
1-2 cents was reached. Then there was
trouble in the land Planters were
ruined. Merchants were bankrupted and
debtors in hundreds fed to Texas to save
what little property ley could carry
out of reach OF their creditors. In their
distress the people held farmers conven-
ions. and the leading thinkers debated
the cause and the remedy for the hard
times. The depression lasted for nearly
a decade until every one was convinced
ruinous. A successful remedy was found
when all the planters fell to raising their
own supplies, as far as possible, OF corn.
wheat, hogs cattle and horses. Thus ny
diversitIcation of products the cotton
belt struggled out OF the depression and
advanced through the prosperous decade
of 1870 10 1860, when cotton ranged about
L cents pound.
IN the closing decade of the nineteenth
century, again from overproduction, the
price OF cotton fell below the cost
of production. Hard times, of course,
again prevailed. The surplus labor was
driven TO find an outlet from its Distress
ing situation The chief recourse in this
case was in the rapid development of
cotton manufacturing in the south. The
factories drew away the laborers because
the cotton fields could not hold them
against the competition. and because
there had been no development in agri-
culture in supplementary crops to bolster
up the cotton producers.
The introduction of a hundred thou
sand Chinanen into Georgia would not
greatly increase the cotton crop. II we
have row of tanks connected by pipes,
can We fill one to the brim by pouring
in water without raising the level in the
others? If the hundred thousand China
men went into the cotton fields corre-
spending number of present laborers
would leave them for other occupations
which would then be more attractive. II
cotton raising is organized in an efficient
system ii will stand in no danger OF
having too few. aborers Ii is the pres
ent haphazard arrangement and the lack
of individual enterprise that are respon-
sible for the backWardness Of the south.
The Houston gentleman has no real
grievance. Were his labor force treble
its present strength he would do wrong
TO devote it all to cotton. He should
not try to raise greater quantities of
cotton for the present. Let him raise
ca tile Wot scrub cattle) and hav and
other things that require less labor than
cotton to a given acreage. The modern
plantation system does not mean eXclu-
siVe devotion to cotton. 1t involves the
GlYersitcation Of products as well as the
division OF labor The cause Of progress
in the south demands more efficient nan
ayers o. labor and the improvement or
agricultural methods II does not de-
mand an immediate increase in the num-
Der OF laborers. Our agricultural "
le$es and experiment stations ana our
common sense and individual enterprise
ought to show us some way 10 make
use of our Idle acres without converting
greatest OF these resources which will
enable us TO conc with the difficulty arc
common sense. individual initiative and
neighborly helpfulness.
UIRICH B PHILLIPS
MillcdgeVille, Ga