New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1907-03-06

correct the impression, general in TINS country
outside the cotton growing states, that cotton
raising is almost exclusively the business OF the
Negro population. 1T is so picturesque they
write, TO have the Negro in the white cotton
field that in about 90 per cent Of the book.
magazine and tourist pictures it is the son OF
Ham and not the white man who is laboring
with the fleecy staples" II is true that the
Southern Negro has grown up with the in
dustry, that most of his traditions are OF the
cotton plantation. and it is accordingly natural
that the Negro. the mule and the cotton patch
are inseparably linked together in the puphc
mind. None the less, cotton cultivation IS not
exclusively the business of the Negro OF me
I4lSoO cotton farms reported in the last cen
sus, $4,000 were operated by white people. and
in 1900 some 14.616O00 acres under cotton
were in the possession of white people as COM
pared with 100000 acres under cultivation by
Negroes
In any book on cotton written by Southern
ers one locks almost as matter OF course Tor
some expression of opinion on two questions
which in these days are uppermost in the south
the attitude Of the cotton growers toward
schemes for restricting the area under cultiva-
ton so as to secure stability of price for the
staple and the proportion Of cotton which is
likely 10 be taken by the mills in the cotton
growing states As regards the hrst OF uese
questions, schemes for restricting the area I'M
der cultivation come in fer no strong coIhineh-
dation from Messrs. Burzett and Poe. They
take a wide survey of the needs Of the world
They look forward 10 the not far distant ume
when 10000 600 bales will be required TO meet
the worlds demand fer cotton goods ana theE
are confident that when this enlarged demand
exists the South will supply an increased pro
portion of il. They take satisfaction, too in the
Of he
years in the South, growers will be better able
TO hold their cotton than in years gone by, when
cotton AT or cents a pound failed TO give
them decent maintenance and left them IN
debt to the storekeeper or the banks. Organi-
cations among cotton growers such as those
which have come into existence since 1904 ma
favor with Messrs. Burkett and Pee. chiefly be-
cause sucb organizations mean better regu-
lated acreage. better regulated system Of mar
keting and greater stability in prices. As re-
CARDS the quantity Of cotton taken by the
Southern mills. the authors do not take the eN-
IRENE ground of those partisans Of the indus
trial South who insist that the South must go
on adding TO its cotton mills as long as there is
a bale of cotton for export but they do regard
it as uneconomic that co per cent Of the cotton
crop should still be exported 10 England. France
and Germany. They insist that the larger part
Of what they regard leakage should be
stopped by a great extension of the manufactur-
ing industry in the cotton growing states
Although enthusiasm for the South and its
great primary industry pervades all the $50
pages Of the book. in dealing with some phases
Of the cotton growing industry Messrs. Burkett
and Poe cannot be charged with a lack of can
dor or failing 10 talk out in meeting. There is
an instance of this outspokenness when they
are describing the machinery in use for ginning
Nl,oe Vt,ava
has been little improvement in the cotton gin
since it was invented by Whitney, and in COM
menting on the handling of the crop they prac
ticalIy admit that there is ground for the com
plants which have long been made by the
cotton spnners OF New England and Lancashire
the complaints of wasteful methods in pack
ing for export to which kind Of international
utterance was given AT the May meeting in
Boston last year of the American Cotton Manu-
facturers' Association. The Southern States
have paid a stupendous price for the cheap
labor which was theirs up to the War Of the
Rebellion. Slavery and. after thu end of sa-
very. its traditions have stood in the way Of
any large stream of immigration flowing into
the South. Ordinary industrial enterprises have
been retarded by this lack Of labor, and had
there been any large inflow OF trained mechani
cal labor it is almost certain that no Southern
writer would have had to admit that there had
been no improvements in Whitney's gin, and
that as yet the cultivators of cotton are still
looking for moderately costly and universally
serviceable cotton picking machine. But the
South is now we'll in possession Of its king
dom. and the writer's u this book are distinctly
hopeful both for the South and for New Eng
land and Old England. which are so dependent
on the south's great crop
There are fifty-one Illustrations. all good. and
not one which is not helpful to an understand
ing of the economic and social conditions of the
cotton belt The only lack is an index which
surely ought to be present in a volume which
like this. is chiefly intended as a handbook TO
the cotton growing industry.