The Rice belt journal. (Welsh, Calcasieu Parish, La.) 1900-19??, 1906-11-23


a pound, il is unreasonable for tho
producer 70 expect more than ten
cents for it,
With this bit OF unimpeachable
wisdom the newspaper closes the dis.
cuSiSon, fully conscious in it's own
mind, perhaps, that It had called at.
tention to fact which the Southern
cotton planter had strangely over.
looked and. having called attention to
the fact, no more was to be said on
the subject
1T has long been admitted that tho
interference of New York interests in
the cotton production of the South,
has been one OF the greatest menaces
TO the prosperity Of the cotton planter,
and not until the farmers combined,
carefully calculated the conditions OF
the crop each year and fixed a mini.
mum price at which the staple was to
be sold, did there appear to be any
way OF escaping the Nominations OF
Wall Street in the marketing of the
crop. But when the farmers com.
menced to stand together Wall Street
began to rattle. EndeavOr was made
with what degree of success it is
not here the purpose to diScuSS-to
get inside one cotton organization at
least, whereby it might manipulate
the market. But the real cotton GROW.
ers, the men who raise the staple and
have 1t to SELL could not be touched,
They, better than anybody else, know
how much it costs to produce a pound
OF cotton. And they know that that
cost is more than five cetns a pound.
They know more about the cost of
producing a pound Of cotton than any
New York newspaper can ever know.
They know that every item entering
into the production Of pound Of cot.
ton today is higher than it ever was
before. 1t costs more to buy land, fer
tilizers, stock, implements, to pay for
labor and to meet living expenses
than it ever did before. The cost Ell
tering into the production OF a bale of
cotton today is almost double what Il
was ten years ago, and the farmer
who bases his calculation on the five
cent cost theory is the farmer who
stands to lose in the final sale trans
action.
1T is true that the cotton which 10
sold for ten cents will pay the ex.
penses Of production and afford the
farmer a living for his family, but the
farmer is entitled to more than that,
and it is not just for any newspaper
or Wall Street to expect the cotton
grower to be satisfied with mere &C.
tual expenses. The cotton grower is
just as much entitled to a reasonable
return On his effort, his time, his en-.
ergy and his investment as the Wall
Street broker is entitled to his profits.
Yet the broker assumes to secure his
OWN profit and to dictate to the farmer
also what he shall take for his crop.
The brokers would probably 30
shocked If the cotton growers should
assume to tell them that brokers and
business men should be entitled to no
more than actual living expenses out
If their business, and yet that Is just
he position assumed toward the cot
on producers by people interested in
he trade the world over"
II there be any class who is preemi-
lently entitled to more than a bare
living, it Is the farmer, the producer.
Is for the classes whose usefulness IS
lebatable, 1t Is an open question
whether they be entitled even to
are living. Is any able-bodied person
morally entitled to that which ha does
iot earn by some useful service?