Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-01-25
Miseellaneous Reaaing.
BRITISH COTTON CULTURE.
Experiments Up to This Time No
CompIeteIy Successful.


Completely Successful.
The British government has not been
very successful thus far in its efforts
to promote the cultivation of cotton in
India, Egypt and In its African colo
MES The trouble seems to be lack
of energy on the part of the natives and
the difficulty Of securing other labor.
The Assouan dam on the Nile, which
was intended to develop by irrigation
a vast area Of desert land, has not thus
far been taken up and several compa-
nies have been formed for the coloni-
zation and irrigation Of the surround
ing country, only q small proportion
has been sold to actual settlers and the
cotton crop Of Egypt shows no increase
in volume. Indeed, the total for 1903
Is smaller than for several previous
years, which is accounted for by vari-
GUS local reasons, but Is significant be-
cause 1t shows that the opportunities
offered by the Assouan dam have not
been taken advantage Of to their full
extent. Although the dam cost large
sum Of money, and is monument Of
engineering skill, several of the reclaim
alton projects Of the United States
government in the far west nave been
more expensive and will reclaim larg-
er area.
Although Egypt swarms with power
ty-stricken fellahs, as the peasant
class is called, 1t is very difficult to
make them work, and several enter
prises intended to take advantage Of
the irrigation facilities of the Assouan
dam have failed because of the inability
to secure labor. An American gentle
man VINO purchased a large tract
of land attempted to secure col
ored emigrants in the. United States.
but was only partially successful, and
the people he took over soon abandoned
their American habits and fell into the
indolent ways Of tine natives. This
was not due to the hookworm or any
other internal cause, but to the infiu-
ence OF the climate and environment.
And the same trouble prevails through
out all Africa wherever the British,
French or German authorities have at
tempted to extend the cultivated area
and produce cotton, sugar and other
tropical crops.
On both the east and west coast Of
Africa the cotton experiment has been
tried with the same results. In India
the natives do not produce enough raw
material to supply their own factories,
although they have had the hearty en-
couragement and support Of the gov
ernment and a ready market at the
maximum prices for every pound Of
cotton they were able to produce. The
Germans have made an effort to induce
the natives in their colonies on the
west coast Of Africa to plant cotton,
and have been no more successful.
Both the Germans and English have
taken expert cotton planters, both
white and colored, from the southern
states to superintend their plantations.
and have demonstrated that the soil
and the climate are admirably adapted
to the purpose, but they can not per-
suade the natives to work. That Is the
trouble in Liberia, where repeated at
tempts have been made to introduce
cotton culture ever since the colony
was founded seventy-five years ago.
Life Is too easy, the climate is too en-
ervating and men who can live without
labor are very apt to do so.
The Germans, the French, the Bel
gians and the Portuguese as well as
the English have tried to solve the
problem and have failed. Imported
white labor will not thrive in that cli-
mate, and colored immigrants who have
beca brought in from the southern part
of the United States and other coun-
tries usually abandon the habits Of in
dustry and thrift in which they were
bred, and adopt the indolent customs
Of the natives within short time af-
ter their arrival.-Wm. E. Curtis In the
Chicago Record Herald.