The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-03-24
The Real Cotton Problem And It's Solution
BY ,. T. sIATTER.

The great Cotton Convention which irecently cenvened in Birmingham was a representative body, easily consti- tuting theNbrains and intelligence of the Southern planter. It accomplish ed much in the way of thrashing out some of the complex commercial diffi- culties surrounding the heecy staple. The pernicious evils of the bucket shops were ventilated; the greed, col- fusion and illegal manipulation of crop reports, market prices and sharp practices of brokers and exchange houses, were exploited and fittingly condemned; and the wisdom of intel ligent and uniform methods of hand ling, illustrated and recommended with rare eloquence and timeliness. But the most vital feature of this whole question was overlooked. The eleva- ted sights absolutely failed to take it in the range of vision; and so, no matter how praiseWorthy the results were, the fact cannot me refuted that the real object, or what should have been the real object of the conven- ton. was not even touched upon. In the present condition of labor in the South and, particularly, that relating to farm labor, is it not of paramount importance that consideration be first given to the question of who will make the cotton before we devise ways and means of marketing it? The ante beilum negro laborer in the cot ton fields will soon become extinct.
 
 Der of his type, from natural causes; and as his brawn and muscle decreas- es his dependence on his family, or second generation. increases. If is often the case that this entire progeny is held to the tilling of the soil. after his usefulness has departed; and so soon as he passes away, the young bucks, formerly working by and un- and drift away to follow their inborn instincts of responsibility and im- providence. Once away from the cot ton field, and after a taste of town or city life has been indulgel in. they never return to the plantation, And as there Is no provision for H substi- ute. when such assertions occur, the vacancy remains unified. If the ne- gro cotton maker of the second gen eration has been thrifty and prosper ous enough to secure a competency, his one great ambition and piide is to send his children from the cotton field to the school. Year after year he manages to keep them there until their education is competed or his means of sending them exhausted. But whether they graduate at the schools, or quit before graduation, they never return to the cotton field; menace to cotton production. There Is no such thing as an educated ne- gro cotton laborer. He feels that his education entities him to something higher than working side by side with the uneducated members of lis race in the cotton field, because It affords no opportunity of demonstrating his superior attachments. Even in cases where their usual improvidepce has followed them year in and year out, many are now seeking the towns and cities to find employment. as unskill- ed laborers, at double the wages earn- ed on the farm, and these, too, never return to the cotton field. Every new railroad constructed in the South; every mine opened factory built, or l industry operated in the cotton belt, to the extent of the unskilled labor they employ. And the worst part of | 1t Is, this depletion remains. There | is no other source of supply; no one to step in and cultivate. the land left l idle bX the negro. He has made cot ton so long and exclusively; before the war, as a slave whe nhis chattel value was determined by his skill as after the war, when the same qualif- cations rendered him desirable az a tenant or hireling. that he may be said to have a monopoly on thls pFahch of agriculture. But the conditions the past few years from that of pro. duction alone, to both production and manufacture. We no longer produce raw cotton for the Eastern spinner and let it go at that: we also spin 1t and weave 1t into cloth, thereby ere atlng another drain upon our own la bor resources. The seed, which few years ago were deemed worthless have become a valuable by-product' The mills, utilizing the seed and weav- | ing the cotton. draw thelr unskllled labor from the cotton held, ana; put | for the improved methods or cultiVe- tion adopted by the progressive plant | CT within the late years. this drain on | the cotton field would have shown l remarkable decrease dn production