The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-01-07
THE BURNING OF COTTON
 AND BURNING OF MONEY
A Short Crop the Only Thing Which Will
 Put Up the Price. Says Practical Farmer.

where he would have to sell it. On the same acre. with the same sort of in- 1ustry, he could raise bale of cotton. With cotton at cents. this bale would bring him $30. and if 1t shoull go back to 12 cents. it would bring him $e0. Naturally. the landlord and the advancer does not desire to decrease his chance of getting the negro's in- deotedness by at least one-half.
 When these large land tracts are broken up." continued pr. Rushing, the question of diversified crops will be one of easier solution. If the large plantations were divided into forty and eighty-acre farms 1t would not be so difficult matter to secure diversihca- ton of the crops. Negro labor would not be depended upon on these small farms. The farmer and his family would furnish all the labor needed. The household needs of the family | could be supplied and the farmer would discover that there were a number of things that he could grow and ship and | sell The forty and eighty-acre farms, with white farmers would give this 1 section the sort of farms they have in | the Middle West. and about the larger cities of the South where they have market for small farm products"
 T have no doubt if farmers grew more diverse crops the cotton market would be changed for the better. But the diverse crops in my opinion should be grown in the border States of the West, States whose farms have been | opened in recent years. Their land is | better adapted for growing grain than ours--it Is better adapted to growing many things than ours. These border States have been responsible for the big and the surplus cotton crop. Their | millions of acres of fertile lands have swelled the cotton crop to its present great proportions. Let the farmers in these border States. new States like Oklahoma and the Indian Territory. and Northern Texas. grow the diverse | crops on their new acres. Our agri- cultural system Is and has been based on cotton for years and years and our labor knows no other money crop.'
 What do you consider the most radical change that will be effected by the low price of cotton ? asked pr. Rushing.
 If 1t continues at and cents the negroes will be driven from the farms and plantations. They cannot continue to get advances from their landlords and the merchants. The man who ad- vances to negroes while cotton is sell | ing for cents or even 6 cents is run ming serious financial risk. The chance for the negro to pay both for his supplies is a slender one. The ne- gro has to have something to eat for himself and his family and if he cau- not get 1t on, the farm he will have to go somewhere where he can get"
 Cotton some eight years ago was selling for 4 and 5 cents This very | condition we are talking about exist | ed then. Hundreds of negroes in this section and thousands of negroes in Alabama left the farms and planta- tions. They emigrated to the small towns and the large cities where they picked up poor sort of living doing odd jobs. They went, too, to the coal mines, to the railroad construction camps. to the turpentine and lumber mills. And if these conditions had continued, thousands of others would have followed them from the country. This low priced cotton. continued for two years was one of the most de- moraiizing blows that the farm labor | of the South ever received.
 But the high priced cotton of two and three years back brought many of them back to the country and 10 the farms. The negro Is not the man to look forward and plan. He knows that last year was fine year for him and for the white farmer. He sees no reason why the coming year should not be equally as rich and prosperous. | He does not understand the difference between cent and 12 cent cotton. It Is all the same to him. He is going right ahead with his farming arrange | ments just as he did when cotton was high, and he Is going to spend the same amount of money unless his land lord and his merchant stops him.