The Rice belt journal. (Welsh, Calcasieu Parish, La.) 1900-19??, 1909-01-08

Supplies and Get On a Cash Basis
Bureau Of Plant Industry, Farmers
Cooperative Demonstration Work;
Washington, D. c.:
For many years it has been the Gus
tom of southern farmers to make their
crop upon the advance system" and
while this has been regarded as an
economic error on the side of the
farmer by many merchants, it has
been thought that it was a very profit
able way of buying cotton.
The farmer realized, that rs a mat
ter OF safety, it was better to make
the food consumed by his family and
his stock upon the farm, rather than
to purchase it, and especially when h
had to promise payment out OF crop
which had not as yet been made. |
have been watching this phase OF
country life in the South for many
years, and have come to the conclu-
sion that the advance SYSTEM is
just as great q mistake on the part of
the merchant as it is on the part OF
the farmer, for the following reasons:
First, the merchant takes great
risks, which, of course, be tries to
cover by increased charges. But even
though these charges are increased,
the staples of life are not such articles
as high percentage of profit will ad-
here to, and the merchant is practic-
ally trading gold for promise to pay.
If the crop fails, he is obliged to carry
and carry and carry and possibly may
ultimately, as in thousands of cases,
be obliged to take the farm, for which
he has no use, and under boil weevil
conditions is difficult to handle profit
ably upon tenant system.
Under a cash system. there will be
a great reduction in the sales of some
staple foods, such as bacan, potatoes,
beans, lard, vegetables, sScanned goods
hay, corn, etc., all articles that carry
low profits. The farmer is rarely a
hoarder of money, and if he saves
two hundred dollars or more by pro-
ducing all his food supplies at home,
he has that much more to spend when
his crop is made, and it is cash.
! Under cash system the farmer will
buy with his surplus, more dry goods,
clothing, shoes, furniture, etc., for his
family, better teams, farm implements,
wagons, buggies, ETC., on which there
is much greater profit for the mer-
chant than on staple articles of food.
The merchant can turn his money In
thirty DAYS, instead of year. Ten
per cent clear profit turned monthly,
is better than 120 per cent gain re-
ceiYed annually. Some of the farui-
er's increased income goes into per-
manent Improvement to, enable the
farmer to produce more and spend
more annually.
Again, there is something about
raising cotton, tobacco, etc., to pay a
debt, that saps the vitality of the
farmer and affects the quality of bis
tillage. 1t really lowers the grade OF
farming. If, upon the other hand, the
merchants will join with us in urging
farmers to raise all their food supplies
and try to produce by better tillage,
double the crop per acre they now
produce, the result as it affects the
merchant will he this:
All business will soon be on cash
basis and the volume will be three or
four times as large from the farmers
alone. The advent of more money
will bring diversified industries among
the farmers and eventually will at
tract manufacturers to the market
towns.
| If there are idfe farms in the count
ry, instead of calling meetings for the
purpose of raising funds to secure
immigration, call meetings to encour-
age the farmers who know the country
and are loyal TO it, to universally
adopt the following plan: First, pro-
vide their own food supplies from the
farm. Second, double the average
product on every acre under cultiya-
ton aud let each worker on the farm,
by the use of better teams and tools,
till three finest as many acres as at
present, not in the one crop, but in a
variety of diversified and profitable