The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-10-06
Consumption

III Dt 'aI $3.50 WV
a..kIy and monthly farm papers are
III .hing very important truths at
-. time. and farmers houid care
an. read most Of the printed matter
t,ttng To the agriculture Of the
tn There is no tendency on the
.,r, II any Of the papers To mislead
,ba farmers. The time has come
whrr misleading pays no one, and 1t
likely to be costly in the extreme
oil II is impossible to expect to
.t If the real truth of the present
o,tu.tion through agricultural meet
MS ar by listening to discussions.
Many of the meetings are helpful. and
,,.. discussions are certain to help in
h.. main. but farmers must seek to
rrnw the situation, and there a be
~, better way to get information than
hy reading in the papers what stu
dents have to say.
Recently it was my pleasure t.
rad in The Ruralist. n semi-weekly
f,rro ia per published in Atlanta. and
,h,ut which most of the readers of
TN. constitution already know. the
iowin statement in a letter: 1T is
crime to mislead the farmers into
the fallacy that the government can
legisIate values and reverse the law
Of supply and demand" Now is the
time for farmers to get at the truth
pf the SITUATION. we nave DccH du-
vnrating high price for cotton, but
farmers ought to know that if the
Eurnpean mills do not take any cot
ton within the next year somebody in
America will have to carry over for
4 year at least 5000. 600 bales Of cot
ton. They ought to know, too, that
il would he false for the
business men of the country to try
To carry owe this great bulk of cot
ton unless the farmers themselves are
willing to cut down the acreage in
the same proportion. If the Euro
pean mills take wen as much as the
most optimistic can hope that they
will take, there will be at least 5000
900 bales for somebody to carry
over.
1t will become evident then that
Congress cannot legislate high values
on any raw commodity produced in
quantity greater than the demand.
Any raw material is made valuable
when the demand is equal to or great
or than the supply, and. Of course, if
farmers plan to increase the supply
before there is a demand for the
cotton already grown in the year
1914. the markets will be CongeSted
and somebody will lose money. Oul
best method is to agree on about
what amount Of cotton the world will
demand from the United States il
1915. and plan to supply this amOun'
and no more.
Normally the Demand Will be fol
5000. 900 in 1915.
If the European mills use Onl,
about 1000, 900 or 5000. 900 bales il
19l4-1915 season, which seems nov
to be the general estimate, n e.
back to a normal condition in tn
season of 1915-1916. the Unite.
States should plan to raise exactf
5000 900 bales in the year 1915. w
are expecting to gather about IA,
OOO. 900 bales in the year 1914, an
OF this the world will not be able, un
der the present condition, to consum
more than 5000, 900 or 9,00O,0 90
bales. This. then will leave unspu-
OF this years crop about 1000, O00 o
5000 900 bales. But cotton, unlik
most other crops will keep for an in
DEFINITE length OF time, and. therefore
can easily be carried over till tn
next season. Add this to a 10000
pale crop in 1915. and we have fo
ohat year our normal crop of Is
100000 to $4,000, 900 bales. But SUP
pose the farmers should raise $4,000
ooo bales in 1915. There would the
De IN the open market the enormou
crop of 1S.000,0 900 to $4,000, 90
bales.
How Shall This Be Precented?
y is a matter of the greatest in
p'rtance that this double crop
avoided at any cost. for the reasc
.nat cotton would be at 5 cents p'
pound in 1915 instead of 10 cent
WIN this large crop. The questic
naturally arises, then. how are v
sung 10 keep down this double edo
1919! Farmers must begin
pldnt winter crops now, so the cottC
,'"1S VIII be taken up with promIsiI
i"ou crops. Now is the time for g
W us to strike the telling blow +
prosperity. Now is the time VIII,
~ are unquestionably almost pc
raued mat We must change our sy
~" ot agriculture in the cotton be
n'oony denies hat cotton is o
E'pa' money crop in the South al
~ we can easily pay our debts wi
~" t 'rop when it brings a high pri
M we nave not tried the other XII
iarhalng. Other sections of I
'hn'rF pay their debts by selli1