Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1904-02-18
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY Is, 1904.
TIlE COTTON SITUATION.

some very sensible advice to the southern farmers
It saws that the present high price OF cotton IS que
to the fact that certain coterle OF seeuld'o'o ''N
seized the most opport,lne moment 1or Squeezing
the men who have been buying cotton ''e "o''
The short crop OF 1908, following short crops.
left a deficit The remedy Tor such coh'n1oil Oh
affairs is AN advance in price. lhls advance acls
IN two dircctons-it stimulates production aoa II
curtails consumption.
The southern states have for years suffered
from ruinos prices for Their great staple. y Sc
res OF short crops failed for the time be'nS TO re-
suit in any adequate advance, and tor tive years 'e
south endured burden that no other aSr1eul''fd'
community could possibly carry. hen came ITS re-
ward For two wears the southern planters had tar
ret1r,,s The crop has sold on the farm tor better
prices than il has sold for during the past thrlN
wears, The recent advance to 5, 10, y cents comes
after the crop has been largely ma1keten: ne
benefit will come to the spectators, not to the larn
ers the penalty to be paid by those who have pene=
fitted heretofore bv the bear spectators, by the spec
u1atorS who have kept down the price OF cotton
Now the southern planter must consider the
whole situation. There cannot be any doubt, we
think that whatever the crop OF 1904 may be prices
will be reasonably satS factory. HE only trouble
is that should the south plant tor an extraordinary
crop Sic bear spectators will take advantage OF
that ae, and force the prices down before the crop
is ready Tor market.
The acreage OF 100, would under normal con
ditions have produced tWelve-nnlll1on bale PROB
ably more We trust, therefore. that the southern
farmer will not increase the cotton acreage instead
of doing that let him cultivate more carefully One
of the great evils threatening cotton production IS
the boil Wcev The government Is do1nS what 1t
can ia check the ravages OF this pest and to erad1=
cate il ultimatelv These efforts are altogether eN-
Deri11ertal and no one can foresee what the result
Il I've. Nv ~ !
wholly successful, but II may be a complete 1a-
Ihe rsmc,lv therefore. is ior the farmer hr'
self to select his seed NTH the utmost care. his
means tf3St he Viii not so on planting wear after
wear his own seed. That is much hke sn=and-n
breeding. Let him select more carefully the seed
frou a more northern sectieu II is believed th2!
the crop from sreh seed is less subject to the evils
conlnlqned oi in various Narts vi the south. that II
has more vitality and can withstand the raNa%es et
the climate and sell
Then let the farmer cultivate the soil With more
care 1,Wichng it where this is necessary, seeking to
aver the evils oi long droush excessive moisture
bv cultivation. He cannot consider too often the
fact that there is more III the man than in the
land more in the method Of cultivation than in the
soil ;or the man himself considers his soil. his
climate his seed and his market. and by combining
all calculations reaches the best results.
We simply repeat that the best thing for the
farmer better cultivation not more cotton acreage
but a better utilization OF the acreage noW deNoe'
TO cotton.
There are some threats from England and Ger
many Of systematic cultivation OF the cotton plan
in Africa and Egypt, but little will come OF tins
Such experiments might be profitable With eotto'
at < cents but with cotton at 10 cents they Woul'
be DISASTROUS The Io-cent cotton IS certain tl
come with an expansion OF the cotton area. 1t |
certain to come anyhow following series OF larg
crops.
We would like to the south raise So
crop OF cotton and get good price for II. lhe de
mand for cotton increases year by year. The pro
duct has increased. and the acreage has not III
creased to amy cons ,Irale extent during the ntVa
lence q low prices. Ii the acreage this cQu,
to the acreage OF last it viii be possible to r&s
100000 bale crop and get 10 or l cents for il
some papers deny that George Bla5llnrn is Il,
reporter friend, but it is easily seen that il tbe
were ,si1 70 quit writing about Smiling George ther
~ w. DC very little dope in their ball column: