The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1909-03-26
Third ~seIf-deniAl

'VbtiN - W. ''NF' 1900
intensive cultivation a, q reduced scre-
Third, seIf-deniAl.
Holding the population. This mnst
be done At whatever cost, IT we find at
the end Of this season tina the weevii
mas been very destructive in Warren
county and adjacent counties and par
isnes and witt probably he more dc,
structiye in 1910, what will our people
Of means do? viii they SAY to il" me-
gre, as wass. said ta at'u-"s""ently in an
N gone, agance you
Arse q widow that hnd =, n ,at sf,r,f
v dozen offers ns r. earrv q
You / HTHn Aver Re-" or will they say.
I'VE are all up against it. We cannot
advance you for ~luxuries, but we will
advance such necessities of life Hs Eou
cannot produce. You mast live hard,
as we are going to do, for d while. We
do not want you x plant much GOTTEN
Raise all the food that you and your
stock will need, that will cost nothing
but work. Cultivate the cotton you do
plant under the advice of re2l experts
and hang over it and sleep with il like a
woman with a siekly child
will our merchants and planters then
see that the tenant does work ms cot
ton, that does not pillow it on Monday
and neglect it the rest Of the week,
that he does not leave his own crop to
work as a day laborer for another far
mer, in order to get cash for c0eoa-nu
cake and red soda-pop on Saturday?
1t will require some money to hold
labor. The land owning planters and
the merchants may not have enough; but
il they can convince the banks of theii
disposition and ability TO economic
they can get help. 1t is best for the
large planter, for the small white far
mer and for the colored tenant to stay
right here. Moving east or north
would be only a temporary escape, they
must make q stand, and it is better to
make it now on the banks OF the Mis-.
sissippi river than to make it later on
the shore OF the Atlantic ocean,.
DIvERSIFICATION.
There is an old story Of a horse who
drank all his life from a certain pond
and who, having been moved from his
native farm and becoming thirsty, swan
three rivers of pure water to drink at
the old place. We are so In the habit
OF planting cotton only that we forget
there are other crops. II we cannot
raise food products for sale, we can at
least raise what is needed for home
consumption.
Many have considered that some food
products could be bought cheaper than
they could be raised. 1t will certainly
be c~heaper-te produce them II there is
no assurance Of making a cotton crop
with which to buy them. Later the
situation may be: Raise them or do
Without til .tn. At the moment Warren
county is not only importing its heavy
foodstufs from the west, bat is buying
chickens from Tennessee aud Irish po-
tatoes from Europe.
sELF-DENiAL.
1t has been so easy to make a living
here that it has been too easy to borrow
money. We have drifted into spending
the cotton crop In advance, counting ii
AZ certain NJ the coupon on a govern
ment bond. Our system Ia entirely
different from that OF the west. We
have not only made our crops on Dor.
roWed money, bat we have bought on
credit pianos and ummer trips and
college Quotations instead OF paying
for such luxuriss out Of accumulated
f1nds. The system has been an ire
sistihIe temptation to ~extravagance.
The prosperous farmer OF the west owns
bank stock and railroad shares and
notes Of hand. Few OF our prosperous
farmers have one dollar invested out
side the fences OF their respective plan
tations- There are exceptions, Of
course, but ~ a class they are borrow
ers.
The landowner can practice self.
denial by giving more time 70 his plan
tation. The absentee landlord knows|
that tho typical negro tenant cannot
accomplish much without the encou
agement, advice and example u the
white man. The large landowner haa .
white manager 10 represent him, and
this nas may be q better farmer
than the owner; bat be cannot alto
getber take the owners place. There
are some fne Estates here. IL In I'M
fortunate that W. are not AZ proud OF
our land a. the English country gentle
msn are of theirs.
PLANTING.
The question Of immediate Importance
Ia planting. 10 mach contradictory ad-
vice has been given aboa. when and
how 70 plant that those who have read
u All mast be- sadly rsnfn..d. The
weight of authority il with tho govern