The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1907-1917, 1912-01-11

day is cotton and debt. They
IL are synonymous terms and
walk hand in hand all over
the South. The more cotton the pro-
Queer has the more debts he must
meet. The high cost of living and
the low price of cotton may force a
crisis upon the South almost as
oppressive as the gloomy days of the
nineties. The situation has become
so critical that the governors met in a
convention at New Orleans. They
advise the creation Of a laOn to assist
the farmers in holding their cot
ton, furthermore, they advise a re-
ductiOn Of rs per cent. in the acreage.
All is we'll and good if carried out,
but will the farmers reduce the acre
age? All my life [ have heard the
cry, 'Next year we must reduce the
acreage" Conventions would meet
and pass resolutions to that effect
and every fellow would go home
thinking that this is the year for me
to plant cotton since every one else
is going to almost cut il out. Every
fellow would plant all he could, con-
sequent1y there has been a two mil
lion-acre increase for the last three
years. Providence is the only cause
of good prices, but short crop from
a partial failure is not SO advantage
Gus after all, yet last years crop cut
by freezes and frost, down to ten
million bale crop, brought the South
more money than this year with a
fourteen or fifteen-million bale yield.
1t is evident that half a crop would
bring us just as much money as if the
whole earth was bursting forth with
the feecy staple. But will the far
mers reduce the acreage? No! They
say, 81 am in debt SO deep | must
plant something that will bring me
money when my debts are due" And
SO it will go on and on. The hills
and valleys are fast wearing out and
washing away; population increasing
and the land becoming less prOduc-
tive. So many millions must be paid
for fertilizers to stimulate these
lands. Some fields look fit for moth
ing except a brick yard. The poor
tenants and many, many land owners
in debt Women and children have
toiled like Trojans early and late
with bent forms and tired hands,
with pain-racked bodies, through
heat and cold. they have picked
large per cent. of the countless mill
lions of the fieacy staple, and yet
many haven't got sufficient clothes to
keep them warm. A gloom hovers
over the entire South with no pros
poets for better another year, nor for
many years. What shall we do?
Something must be done Pledges
and resolutions have failed. Some
say pass laws limiting the acreage,
but they would increase the yield per
acre and yet the supply would not be
cut down. [ can think of but one
solution to the cotton problem. I do
not want to appear egotistic but [
firmly believe the solution of it is
this; Let the South pass compulsory
school laws. Place the children in
school instead Of letting them grow
UP in ignorance with a cotton sack
around their >necks-which has been
a mill stone around Southern prog
ress and prosperity. No time for the
masses Of children to develop their
minds. Nothing to think about-it
is, dig, dig and grab, grab-nothing
about it to develop the mind. A
compulsory school law would take
forty per cent. Of the toilers from the
cotton field, and what the grOwn-up
people would pick would not crowd
tha TVoorlzot II would moan n "