The Brandon news., 1908-11-19
COTTON.

will be greater than the world
needs, but owing to the general
depression in business every
where, here and abroad, the full
worth OF the staple crop of the
south cannot be realized unless
the crop is marketed gradually.
This has been an exceptionally
good fall for gathering and the
distressed cotton hurled on the
market has given the bears an
opportunity to cry overproduct-
ion, when such is not the fact.
The south has suffered for years
from spectators forcing prices
down and the federal govern
ment has not given the aid to the
cotton splanter in securing and
opening up new territory for cot
ton consumption. that it ex-
tended to growers of corn and
other agricultural products raised
in the United States. Govern
ment assistance in opening new
fields for selling, and cotton con-
ventions will produce good re-
suits by endeavoring to show the
producer the folly of following in
the old beaten paths which have
kept this section poor, but the
only solution of the problem of
universal prosperity in the south
is individual independence, which
happy condition can only be
realized by raising all necessary
food crops at home, with live
stock sufficient for farm needs,
and surplus to sell, and cotton
as money crop that can be sold
as prices and your wants make
advisable. Most of the cotton
sold up to now was because the
farmer owed the merchant, or
banker, for means to produce it;
and as those men were clearly
entitled to their pay when it was
due, the cotton had to go at what
ever price it would bring. It
was the fault, or misfortune, of
the man who raised it and not
the party who held the claim. If
the Legislature will wipe out the
agricultural lien law, giving the
farmer control of the labor,
thereby enabling him to better
manage his affairs, the solution
w Il be easier, but whether that
is done or not, The News is right
in the assertion that each tiller of
the soil cannot permanently
prosper until supplies are made
at home. One of the most APP
plauded speakers at the New
Orleans convention wound up his
splendid speech as follows:
mo other agricultural product
is as abused as cotton. It is i'm
properly covered, improperly
cared for, and there is not train
out of New Orleans from whose
car windows you cannot see
picked cotton lying out over
night exposed to the weather,
bales of cotton lying on the
ground, or under a tree, or in a
puddle of water, with cheap bag
ging rotting and cotton daily
being damaged. Such planters
don't deserve the name of cotton
farmer. They are merely cotton
producers.
Most business men or pro-
fessional men will average at
least 275 working days a year.
On the properties under my con-
troll last season the greatest time
any tenant actually worked in
the fields was 146 days, the least
time 112 days, and the average
1873 days, or less than one half
the time put in by the merchant
or professional man. 1t was
either too hot or to cold, too wet
or too dry, or any old excr1e to
keep out Of the field.
'The northern farmer works
twice as hard as we do and under
great disadvantages, and he fully
appreciates the old motto, The
Lord helps those who help them
selves.
"Quit resolving and resoluting.
Get to work. Diversity your
crops. Raise good stock. Get
your congressman to send you
the latest Government bulletins.
Get the best seed. Raise what
you can at home. Above all get
out of debt. Stay out of debt,
and then hold your products un-
til you get value for them, and
the whole world, instead of<con-
demnino will annla,1d vo11r