The Port Gibson reveille. [volume] (Port Gibson, Miss.) 1890-current, 1908-09-10

history of past products, and moi
lump at conclusions without FIRST
considering results. Corn cannot
be relied upon as money crop,
neither can hay, nor potatoes, nor
cabbage, nor other vegetables,
for there are sections of the United
States whose every energy is given
to the special production of these
articles, and should these COM
munities come to the highest per-
fection under our culture, what
would be the result? The answer
would be echoed from every Sec
tion, "over-production p and we
all know what that means-no de-
mand, no sale, no money. Our
truckers right here at home had
just such a thing to befall them last
season, and it is not wisdom for
the farmers of this country to lis
ten to such counsel. A wise man
was he who once said, "The basis
of all self-reliance is knowledge,
and the ONLY WAY in which we can
acquire ABSOLUTE knowledge is
through EXPERIENCE. We've had
it, and let us not repeat the folly.
Then let us plant something which
we can dispose of, something not
perishable, something which has
merchantable value, something
which we can sell in every city
and town, or country store in the
south, a something which we can
hypothecate for money or mer-
chandise, and that something, Mr..
Editor, is cotton, and my advice
to every farmer is to plant and make
it, make all he can IN spite of the
boil weevil We have met even
worse calamities, and have con-
quered them, and we can destroy
and conquer this pest. We've got
to do it, for cotton is the one
staple product of the south, the
one, and the ONLY one which at
ANY and ALL seasons of the year
possesses a money value, a prod
uct from the sale of which we can
pay our debts, buy our necessaries
and our comforts, our luxuries and
our pleasures.
Mr.. Evans, in his address at the
farmers institute meeting at Match
ez a few days since, said "the
credit system will have to CO."
Right here he is mistaken, for
neither the landlord, the negro
tenant, nor the merchant either de-
sires the establishment of a cash
basis, for such would surely entail
losses and suffering. There is a
mutual interest between creditor
and debtor which seems insepara-
bic, and it will take something
more than the boil weevil to wipe
put these conditions. Unabused
credit is the basis of all individual
prosperity, as well as the motor
power which successfully operates
The financial machinery of this
great Republic.
l agree with Mr.. Evans when he
says we should raise our corn, our
meat and stock feed at home. This
The majority of our white farmers
will do, but with the negro tenant
t is impossible. He hasn't the
facilities. He hasn't the pastures
and fences, etc. He can and does
IN many instances raise enough
corn and meat to carry him through
the winter until spring when his
landlord or merchant extends him
credit upon the faith of his cotton
crop und for the prosperity of the
country these conditions will have
to continue, at least for the pres
emf, varying only in the extent of
such accommodations.
In speaking of hay crop for
Mississippi and Louisiana, Mr..
Evans referred to the COW pea as
"the despised COW pea. l won
der who gave it this appellation.
Whoever did knew nothing of its
value, for surely there
S nothing which we can put upon
our soil that imparts such fertiliz-
ng properties as our common COW
oea. 1t vitalizes by giving life
md nitrogen to the soil, while the
oea, as well as the vines, possesses
nutrition for stock not excelled h
~ any other food, and for a mum