Washington telegraph., 1909-02-26
AD=OPEN LETTER.
To the Cotton Farmers
of Arkansas, Miss.
and La.
andIa.

every cotton producing county within
brief petiea and, with the hope
that our experience and observations
may be Of service to you, I will state
some material facts that impress me.
When we opened the office of the
Farmers Cooperative Demonstration
work in Houston, Texas, IN JAN,
1904, for the purpose of demonstra-
ting to the eotto Il farmers how
cotton crop could be produced IN the
presence of the Weevil, we found the
most demoralized condition that has
ever come under my observation. 1t
was quite general, but some sections
were much worse than othors. |
particularly recall the struggle we
had along the Fl. & T. G. Railway,
especially with the light, sandy loan
soils Of Limestone and Robertson
counties. We found that the cotton
crop had fallen tbs preceding year
to fraction Of the average product
of former years, and that the people
were so demoralizel as a result, it
being almost their sole cash crop,
that they would scarcely listen to
any argument in favor Of producing
more cotton. No language can
clearly depicit the panic that existed.
In a number Of the towns many OF
the stores we're nailed up. In large
section, one half of the cotton farms
had been abandoned and OH the
remaining farms people were trying
to diversity and find something that
would be fairly profitable, without
planting cotton. Over quite section
1t was found necessary to supply
cotton seed and other seeds I r
planting, to save the situation. |
soon learned, however, that the
most disastrous factor in the problem
was the alarm and loss of all conf
dence on the part of the banks and
merchants. The sndden withdrawal
of advances made it impossible to
cultivate larse portion Of the land
in cotton because they could not pay
the labor. The labor left and many
OF the small farmers left for more
prosperous sections. In some way
il had become the current belief that,
while possibly cotton crop might
be made in the dry aud prairie sec
tions, that just as soon as the weevil
struck the wooded sections of Est
Texas where the condulons were
ideal for bihernation, so many Of
tao weevll should survive the winter
hat it would be impossible to make
a crop, especially as East Texas ha;
larger rainfall than the West4u
prairies. 1t was useless to argue tht
matter; they thoroughly believed il
and it required all the influence We
could bring to bear to induce then
to plant and manage their cottor
crop according to our directions. Il
the credit of the merchants a {
bankers, let it be said that they
generally rallRQt our support anc
did extend, at GsR solicitation, con
siderable aid to the farmers. The
farmers were urged to live as mueE
as possible on tEe products of the
farm and to raise Irish potatoes
melons and other early maturing
crops for market to help pay current
expenses. This was done. We Here
also oblldged to Introduce an earlier
and bettar variety of cotton wit
which we could more successfully
combat the weevi]. Our plans WORKED
exceedingly well and by the fall Of
1904 confidence was entirely restored
and farmers found that they had
made more money than usnai in a
single year because they lived on the
products Of their farms and within
their currelt incomes, Thev owed