The farmer and mechanic., 1912-03-12
DON 7 SLAUGHTER
PROSPERITY, MEN!

Grow Bumper Crop of Cot
ton This Year
Farmers Warned by Barrett <ot To
Slaughter Prosperity With Bumper
Cotton CrOp-Onc Sure Barrier
against Hard Times is Moderate
Cotton Acreage and Big Food
Crops.
10 the Officers and Members Of the
Farmers t'nion.-
tpOn whether the farmer har-
neSseS cotton or cotton harnesses the
farmer Will largely depend the pros
perity OF the Southern States for
1872, ana probably several years to
come.
The battle between tie two must
be fought out within the next few
weeks. Planting plans NAV as We'll
| be arranged With cold -blooded facts
IN View. il may be more convenient
ana easy 10 put in your usual cotton
acreage, relying unon the other fel-
low to do the reducing. But as sure
! ly IS the farmer falls before such
/ temptation, just SO surely will the
penalty be exacIed not only of him
/ but of his fellowfarmers, big and
| little, of his wife and children and in
a way Of every commercial interest in
| the Southern States.
It ought not to require long TO de
eide between bank accounts and
| bankruptcy, between freedom and in
Gebtedness and the tyranny Of the
mortgage, between a. full dinner-table
and snort 1ations. between more edu-
cation and better clothes for the ia M
ilv and a hard deal for the wife and
little ones.
The crisis the Southern farmer con-
fronts is Il grave one. but its Soll-
ton is as simple as Z, b. G.. In nor
NAL times, even, the world will con-
sumo only SO much cotton at q fair
price. If We produce IA larger vol
ume than demand will naturally abb
sorb. prices are going tumbling. This
condition is intensified at present, for
for the reason that times are not nor
, NAL. The supply of the staple
brought forth last year has not been
!; takel. up and digested by the regular
agencies Of consumption. Some of it
: is going over into the new season
Even now some Of the American and
European mills are contracting for
price.
, In the face Of such a situation
: there is just one course for the farm
er. and that is TO protect his own in
terestS by holding down the acreage
Do Not be fooled by the present up
word furry into planting for bic
yield next fall. Prices are higher
than they were a month ago and may
90 vet higher. But the coming Of the
new crop on the market will tell the
story, and if it is a record breaking e
crop the producer will get theAho1
, end of the deal as sure as shooting.
) Any business man would be place6
. in the lunatic asylum, by his friend:
\ for pursuing the methods favored by
/ the average farmer. For by raisine
7 a moderate crop. at less expense ant
7 labor. we get a larger price than b,
| raising large crop at higher COS
3 and with more Ia Dor. Yet ] coult
9 name three or four years durins
8 which the farmer has ignored thi
8 simple principle and invited disaste
I by putting in more cotton than h
, cOud even cultivate.
a reduction of the cotton acreag
3 without using the land thus reduced
U to produce feed-stuffs vii, however
+. be suicidal folly The Southern State
8 can produce practically every iten
. needed for the support Of man an'
= beast Yet year after year the ma
= = iori1y of farmers have continue
: single shooting on cotton and DaNtni
. other sections for meat and bread on
Of the profits the white staple
This procedure means starting ou
each wear by giving needless prom
issory note AGAINST the revenues iron
the South's greatest producer of IN
j come.
8 We have had hard times IN tn
9 country and section before ana tner
Q is no guarantee against their return
q THE South can absolutely erect
2 barrier against the effects OF panic
8 by restricting the cotton acreage s
a that it Will produce only what can 3
= sold protitably and then producin
% on its own farms all the food needle
on Southern tables and in Souther
- sta DlaS
We have piled UP prosperity III IN
- past few years and cancelied fare
- part Of the Indebtedness that ono
= sfrareled the development Of III
: farmer Cotton reduction and diNel
- sificat ton in 1912 Will continue thu