The Monticellonian., 1906-11-22

IS cotton can be grown for five eeats
 pound. 1t is unreasonable for ths
 producer to expect more than ten
 cents for 1t.
 With this bit of unimpeachabie wisdom the newspaper closes the dis cusison, fully conscious in it's own mind, perhaps, that it had called at. 1 tention to a 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
 Tt has long been admitted that the 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 meneed to stand together Wall Street began to rattle Endeaver was made with what degree of success it is not here the purpose to discuss-to get inside one cotton organization It least. whereby it might manipulate the market. But the real cotton grow CTS. 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 pound. Ther know more about the cost of producing a pound of cotton than any New York newspaper can ever know. They know that every item ent ntering into the production of pound of cot ton today is higher than 1t ever was before. It 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 en- tering into the production of a bale Of cotton today is almost double what It 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.
 Tt Is true that the cotten which is sold for ten cents will pay the ex- penses of production and afford the farmer living for his family. but the farmer Is entitled to more than that, and 1t is not just for any newspaper or Wall Street to expect the cotton grower to be satisfied with mere ac- 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 Wal Street broker is entitled to his profits. Yet the broker assumes to secure his own profit and to dictate 10 the farmer also what he shall take for his crop. The brokers would probably DC 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 of their business. and yet that is just the position assumed toward the cot ton producers by people interested .n the trade the world over"
 If there be any class who is pre-emi- nentiy entitled to more than a bare living. it Is the farmer the producer. As for the classes whose usefulness is debatable. it is an open question whether they be entitled even to a bare living. Is any able-bodied person morally entitled to that which h. does not earn by some useful service?