The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-06-08

E@NR the most important. Fifty years ago 25OO,OOO bales, or less than the present production of Texas alone, were annually converted into clothing. The spindles of the world now use more than 13,O00, 900 bales each year, and the normal annual increase In the demand is not less than 100000 bales. Yet less than half of the people of the world are supplied with cot ton goods made by modern machinery, and 1t would require annually a crop of 100000 bales of 300 pounds each to raise the worlds standard of consumption to that of the principal nations. These figures are important when we consider the fact that the use of cotton follows the flag of every civilized nation into new territory.
 England has recognized the fact that cotton production is not keeping pace with the demand and recently the British Cotton Growing association, with s2. .500 O00 capital stock, was incorporated to pro- mote cotton growing in the colonies. de- pendencies and protectorates of the Brit ish empire. In prospectus issued when the association was formed 1t was stated that no matter how large the American crop might be In the future efforts to promote production In Egypt, India and the West Coast of Africa should not be relaxed No less than 10,000, ,o00 persons in the United States are dependent upon the great cotton manufacturing industry. Cotton production in the United States began during the last quarter of the eighteenth century, but 1t was not until after Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin that the crop assumed large propor- tlons and became an important factor in commerce. When young Whitney came 10 Georgia from Massachusetts, in search of position as school teacher. and failed to secure the place he had in view, d wealthy widow offered him the hospital- ty of her plantation home while he was seeking other employment. At that time cotton planters were having their pro- duct separated by hand, and from one
 bounds day was all "hand'
 Whitney determined to
 would do the wc
 ~ he produ,
 nor
 ls H4H1. F
 for p t. ts " days with .I'Irr #g f put cotton productiS rsiai oasis. Before the inventor se.. 4a ,ent his office was broken Into and his model stolen. He instituted a suit but never reaped the full benefit of his genius.
 After, the invention of the gin the cost of picking cotton still remained a heavy expense and bar to large profits, but recently the many uses found for the seed have made the sale of the bi-product equal to the expense of picking. The average cost of picking the annual Amer ican crop is between s79, ,Oo0,oOO and S74,OOO. .- 600. fortune awaits the genius who can invent cotton picker, for although the dead loss of picking has been obviated substantial profit would result from a labor-saving device
 The gin Is not the only machine that has reduced the cost of production. For merly one man and one horse, with a blow, opened the furrow, a second man strewed the fertilizer a third dropped the seed, and fourth, with another horse and blow, covered them. One machine now does all of this work. and the cost of production is usually no more than half of the selling price. As no crop makes so slight a drain upon the land 1t is pre-eminent among farm crops from an economic standpoint, and 1t Is an axiom of the cotton country that from one to three or four crops will pay for the land that grows 1t.
 It is an interesting fact that the fluc- tuation in the yeld of cotton per acre, taking the cotton area as a whole, is less than that of almost any other pro- duct of the soil. This is due to the greater uniformity of the climate in the cotton belt as compared to that of other sections. With the exception of the Pa cifc coast there Is no portion of the United States where the variation in tenn perature is so small, particularly in sur' mer as in the southern states n-l- Ee gulf coast. The same c''uaia ltiIJ section of the CO 1tIN fa1
 one for diversified II .a.
 ton planter who Is nrHsGst af pendent upon the sta .o average yield per aero .out 1S0 pounds, but improv d -orease in pro- when the average will be 200 pounds. and the standard of the best planters a 500-pound bale to the acre.
 The comparative chapness of southern land, making it easy for thrifty tenants to buy 1t. tends to decrease the number of tenants, the size of the plantations and the number of nonresident owners. There are, however, few plantations in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Texas ranging from 10000 to 30.o00 acres in ex- tent. They are managed as systematical- ly as any great business enterprise, and return excellent profits upon the capital invested Although negroes operate a large proportion of the cotton plantations. only 19 per cent of the negro farmers own the land they work while 5S per cent of the white farmers are owners. As the negro farmer usually has large fam fly, which is economical rather than ex- pensive on cotton plantation where girls and boys are useful. his opportuni- ties for purchase are excellent. Many negroes rent land, mortgage their crops before they are planted to supply stores. and run through their crops before pick ing time. but not all of them are im-