The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-11-16
FIFTEEN CENT COTTON

Should Not Encourage Farmers to Go
i'm For a Big Cotton Crop Next Year
and Neglect to Raise Home Sup
plies.
Or. J. Redding, in Atlanta Constitu-
tom
presume it is in order to con-
graduate the farmers of Georgia and
Of the South-at least those engaged
in the culture Of cotton-on the at
tainment Of their hopes and expecta-
tons Of Is cen for cotton. At anv
rate, l do SO most heartily, while at
the same time nursing a feeling OF
apprehension that many farmers will
Ego wild" ext year and will seek to
extend the area in cotton to the limit
of labor supply and available land.
Fifteen cents is a very seductive price
for cotton; not that is absolutely high.
but because it looks big and sounds
big to the farmer who has been get
ting around 8 and 8 cents for a
few years past, and who has a feel
ing reflection Of further-back years.
when the ruling prices were between
4 IL and 6 IL cents. I note that
there is a prevailing idea-indeed, it
has been positively asserted, that
there Will be no more 10-cent cotton
and no more wheat for less than a
dollar. On the other hand, it might
just DIS I IL bO p1O pIiSSIcu lIdC nolCn-
er will there be any more 7~5-cents-a-
bushel corn, or 10-cents-a-pound ba-
con, and 50-ceHts-a-day labor. The
farmer has to pay more for his store
bought clothing; more for his plows,
and hoes, and hammers, and nails;
more for his horses and mules. In
shoH, the farmer who has nothing
to sell but cotton gets more for that
one article, but has to pay more for
Voc IL r n mite IVY 4H~A
he buys, to say nothing Of the ad-
vance in the price of labor, which
must come, and certainly is coming. Tt
is true that the price of cotton has
gone up somewhat more rapidly than
have the prices of these other things,
but we may be sure that the latter
will follow In due time and on the
a possibly meet cotton prices COM
ing down. ;
Now this is not the wall OF pessim-
ism, but is the simple note of eau
ton and the warning voice of pru-
dence. History repeats ITSELF is an
old proverb and is just as applicable
to the course of the cotton market
as to other things. 1t is claimed that
prosperity a come at last, but grant
ing and not denying the claim. it may
be urged in reply that as the tide
GIBBS and flows twice in every twenty
IOuI IlOuIS, So iOSpeIIly ana ndTu
times change places every few years.
That has been the history Of the times
as far back as the coolest inhabitant"
can remember. There has been no
radical change in the relation of the
Industries of life to each other. There
has been no fundamental reform that
should work out and maintain a con-
slant, permanent condition of pros
perity, ad probably there will not be
-i, this Upn Grafton ut nonct
The moral of this short discussion
is that the farmer should sit steady
in the boat and not lose his head,
or, as some might express it, turn
DOL" The farmer who may read this
knows Just what I mean and may an
t~icipate what further might be said
in the way of application to details.
In general the cost of making cot
ton has gone up with the market
price of cotton, not quite so las or
to such an extent, but it will catch
up in due time. Why, don't we re-
call the years 1866-67-68-69-70, when
cotton was between 20 and 80 cents
per pound, while at the same time
bacon was - to Is cents. corn $1.25
to $3.50, flour $40 to $12 per bar
rel, n so on?
But granting for the moment that
the next years cotton crop will sell
'arOund'' Is cents, that fact would by
no means justify the farmer in going
in for a big crop next yea and neg
lecting the production of all needed
supplies for the farm. 1t is said that
the limited supply of labor will pre-
vent any considerable increase in the
area to be planted in cotton. But
let farmers &C to bidding against each
other for laborers and we will at
once see a to the demand,
by the balf-occupied and wholly I'M
employed of our towns and cities.
High prices for labor will inevitably
increase the supply Of laborers as they
have always lone and always Will
do.
The safe course is for the farmer
to pursue the even tenor Of his way
and not permit himself to be tempted