The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1903-09-07
CONCERNING COTTON CROP
AND THE LABOR QUESTION
SUGGESTION OF A FARMER

Editor Constitution: Permit one who
has long been a close reader of your
admira BILE newspaper to say that, in my
Judgment. one of the most interesting
articles you have had. in many a day
was that of Mr.. Ulrich B. Phillips upon
the practical lity of a return to the old
plantation system in the development of
southern agriculture. Mr. Phillips adj
mirably expressed what must for a long
time have been in the minds of thinking
men who have personal knowledge of
agricultural and particularly labor con-
ditions ir Georgia and the other cotton
growing states of the south. While we
have heard a good deal at times about
the value of small farms. and while we
concede that it is better for the country
to have land cultivated in small tracts
rather than that it should not be cult
waited al all, it must nevertheless be ap-
parent that the only way for the south
as a whole to get out of its cotton crop
the profits which are in it is by what
Mr.. Phillips calls the application of mod
ern business to the growing of this great
staple crop after the manner of the
methods employed successfully by the
producers of the great staple crops of
the west and northwest.
But the application of such methods,
the return to the ''old plantation sys-
tenn which your correspondent advo-
Gates. is not an easy matter even to
man who has ample land, sufficient
money with which to operate, and a
reasonable amount of business sense.
here in Georgia he IS faced by labor
conditions which present a most serious
problem. There IS neither the quality of
labor that is essential to success nor the
quantity. TO the natural tendency of
the laboring classes to drift to the cities
has of late years been added
the depicting influence of the exodus
OF white agricultural labor from
the fields to the cotton mills. How
sreat this has been in Georgia l do not
pretend TO be able to say, but with the
large increase in the number of cotton
mills and other Industrial enterprises dur
ing the past decade il must have run
up to the tens if not the hundreds OF
thousands. The result has been felt all
through the cotton belt. for there has
come nobody to take the place Of him
who has gone.
This factor in the labor situation seems
generally to be lost sight of. In con-
ciderins the question of labor, observers
not familiar Nth the real facts see only
that there is tficient labor to cultivate
and pick the amount of cotton that is
eted, but take no account of the vast
amount of land which is uncultivated be
ause of this lack Of labor Take my
)wn experience. This year | will market
ibout 300 bales of cotton. have land
.nourh ana ram command f,qnitaI euoilerb
to have made a crop of 1000 bales just
as easily as ! have made the lesser
amount, but it is absolutely impossible
to command either the quantity or the
quality of labor to make that crop. WhaS
would be the use in my planting a Loco
bale crop If l could not get ii picked?
1t would be absolutely folly to do SO.
1 venture to say that my experience is
that Of most Of the progressive cotton
planters of the south. The same trouble
obtains also with It gard to the fruit and
melon crops both of which present the
possibilities of development right here
III Georgia far beyond the point now
reached
I do not suppose that under the pres
ent political conditions such a thing is
possible. but l have long been convinced
that if IL were possible for us in the
south to secure Chinese labor for our
fields we would, through our cotton and
other money crops. bring into the south
at least $40 for every one that comes
TO us under the present conditions. The
experience OF those resident in t
parts of t5is country and of other coun-
tries where Chinese labor is available
has shown that the Chinese are the most
tireless laborers on the face of the globe
and the best. In California the China
men have been found 10 be the very
best fruiterers in the world; while in all
parts OF the tropics they have proven
that They can work and do work just as
We'll under the heat of the tropical sun
as in the temperate climates of their
native land There is, in my opinion no
doubt that if | were able to secure under
contract a hundred or more of these
Chinese coolies, | could cultivate at least
three times as much land as | now have
under cultivation and could conduct my
farming operations On an absolute bust
ness basis that would cut off the thou
sand and one petty annoyances OF the
present system and a vast deal OF need