St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1909-02-27

THE ST. LA
the withdrawal of loans, the removal
Of many small farmers, and the gen
eral exodus Of labor are sufficient to
account for greatly reduced crops
and damage to the cotton interests
even If there mad been no weevil pre-
sent. Just as great fluctuations IN
the cotton product occurred prior to
the advent Of the weeEil as have oc-
Cured since the weeyiI covered the
whole Of Texas. It is frequently
pointed out Took at the enormous
decline Of cotton in Texas in 1907"
But they forget to point Us to the
restoration Of the crop in 1908.
Take the following: In 1904 a good
crop was produced in Arkansas,
Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas.
1905 was a bad crop year but GER
tainly it could not be charged to any
weevil in Arkansas or Mississippi,
and in Louisiana the weeyil had just
invaded the border of the State,
really had scarcely any effect on the
general crop that year, while it had
covered more than half the cotton
producing section Of Texas. And
yet the decline in cotton production
from 1904 to 1905 was 80 per cent
in Arkansas, 80 per Mississippi, So
per in Louisiana, and only 20 per
where the boil weevil prevailed the
most, in the state of Texas. 1t is
possible for parties to take a few
counties and prove almost anything
by statistics, but if a great body Of
contiguous counties be taken it will
be found in studying the history of
this crop in Texas that it is not true
that the cotton industry has suffered
any more in the timber or wetter
sections of Eastern Texas than in the
dryer cotton-producing counties, if
we exclude the counties where there
are no weevils. tt is not true that
the maintenance Of the large product
of cotton in Texas in the last few
years is due to the extention Of cot
ton into the dryer portions where
there is no weevil orWhere the wee
vii does very little damage. The
eastern and central portion Of the
State, which have produced the great
est part Of the cotton Of the State
for many years are st5ll producing
more cotton than ever upOn al aver
age, and the yield Of cotton per acre
in Texas in the last FIVE years, where
the boll weevil has covered a large.
portion of the State, has increased
BY a number of points over the aver
age yield for the proceeding five
years when only about one-half Of
the cotton areas Of the States was
covered BY the WeeviI
It is my firm belief that the most
important work to be done IN all the
communities where the weevil has
lately invaded, or is liable TO invade.
a section, is TO maintain confidence
1t is quite likely that it IS better tc
reduce the crop a little and raise
more home supplies; this would have
been good advice ten years ago. Il
is also important that better variety
Of cotton, more prolific and Of early
maturity should be planted, Thu
people should make an effort to rails,
all home supplies and avoid advance.
as much as possible. The peopl,
should hold meeting to this efec
and encourage each other in goo,
Wook. Tie most disastrous thinI
chat could occur is for the people t
attempt, the midst Of this panic
to abandd cotton entirely and resor
to othe, crops and industries.
civilization can not be changed 5
suddenly without tremendous loss,
loss, in my judgement, entirely unne
cessary. Wherever our Demonstra
ton work has been given a fair tris
and the people have cooperated wit
our agents, we have been able
!