Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1914-09-02
b (By Fred w. Hermann ,

+ the southern part OF Iowa is yer
sEshorti in only one or two. instance
ibid y see trees that were loaded wit
IL apples. 4. Z. IL & WE az lf
II The farmers OF i Delaware Count,
;Iare exceedingly fortunate this yeal
Ieyen's though some may think the
We're, fhit hard by the drought. Tht
Y poorest looking corn fields In tn
''Fvlcinity OF Manchester are no Wors,
II than the average Of the southern hal
Of the state. By the time corn pick
ing will commence In this seotion
many OF the farmers in the southern
\ bait ct Iowa will have used tn,
j EgFeater, part OF their cern fodder
tor feed long before q severe winter
Aas:set' in. II any one thinks Della
ware county is not in the most II,
fyQFed sp0t In IoWR,let that man, take
a day OFF and make q trip south OF
DesH Moines. 5After seeing the corr
fields and pastures ], In that part OF
the state he will be CONVINCED. OF. one
hingT-that Delaware county farmers
have little to complain OF. .HsE Z, $s:s$
:, The Oklahoma farmer, however, N
little; concerned about the dfOugh }, bt
cause cotton, is his staple crop. & Cot
tor can endure more drought than
tnys known hplant, and In fact Yields
tss best quality Of & Cotton In q; dry
ysar. Many OF the COTTON fields
which II ,sawssWiA; average better than
s9-bas he ssaGne, What little. corn
~ raisada dae:Kasr az ] staiFF 3quaiity. even
,thoughsthe drought during Il e month
bf JMy-ripened 1t too hurriedly & ftS;; y;
1 The question ;:whi ichl 4 concernss the
Oklahoma farmer Is the cotton mar
ket.. Cotton " has = seldom ever
brought less than 81: 90 per hundred
in the seed, and on Saturday Of last
week a load. Of fine grade cotton was
sold for 1886. u Some Of fSthe. best
cotton growers In the /. vicinity OF
.Bristow say that II costs In the neigh
borhood OF $500 to produce a hum
,dred pounds sof cotton, Bristow, q
city of about 5000 people. has nine
cotton. gins and has under, construc-
tion a mill for the handling Of cotton
seed. With these facilities one would
naturally h suppose that the cotton
grower would find no difficulty in
disposing of his sole product. Those
familiar with the cond ditions, cay that
the price Of cotton was brought be
low cost Of production by the war!
in Europe. Il sf, "a n. \ 23 22l
y Because Of the shiftless manner in
which many Of the cotton growers
manage financial matters, they are,
facing q most serious situation this
fall: Y For years the cotton growers
have been urged to not wholly de-,
pend upon cotton for their living. The
warning in nine-tenths or the cases
has fallen on deaf ears, and now they
are face-to-face with situation which
but ruin many q farmer in
northern Oklahoma. Several OF the
more progressive farmers near Bris-;
low are breaking away from the old
idea Of raising only cotton, and are,
branching out into diversified farm
ing and cattle raising. These farm
ars will have a source Of revenue this
all and wont be forced to sell their
cotton at a sacrifice. Many Of the
,otton growers actually live from
land to mouth. Late In the winter
heir money is spent, and then they
Will go to their grocer and buy q,
coupon book for groceries for the
est Of the year To, procue these
coupon books they give a note, which
i've times the face of the note, In
many cases everything that the farm
r. has is included IN the chattle mort
,age. The note draws interest. at
he rate of two per cent, per month, I
q many cases. .:..t :,
! In cases where the farmer has not |
ufficient personal property with
Which to secure small loan. he
Mortgages his. cotton crop long be
ore the crop Is grown. 4 Under. this
roWers, are sold out OF everything
hey have. and are left destitute.
he farmers who pursue this system
{ financing usually have every foot
ground III cotton, and hope to re-
ltze enough from their crop 10 be
bio to buy food for man and beast.
With price Of cotton below cost OF
reduction this will be an tmposstbilr
y, and when the notes become due