The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-08-16
Cotton-Its Romantic and Realistic Story
By PERCY CLARK

Montezumas presented him with fiDs robes, coverlets and curtains as fine as | silk Pizaro in his conquest of Peru
 found the plant as tall as small trees
 but the lint brownish in color. Also the art of dyeing was well understood by the first inhabitants or the South American countries
 Early Cultivation In America
 The earliest settlers in this country | cultivated cotton in a small way. 1t took years of experience to show that
 the plant Is the child of the mild cli- mate of the tropics and semi tropics. | And here again we find a difference,
 probably climatic evolution, and the | great law of nature compensatory as- | serting itself, for whereas the seed or the tropics comes forth easily and smooth as a bean. our plants seed are clothed in close fitting coat that has to be pulled off by machinery at the cotton seed oil mills and this gives us crop of "linters" of near 60o,00o bales
 Long before the settlement at James town, England had learned the value or the cotton f1bre From the Dutch of Hol- land had been borrowed the art of mix ing wool with cotton for making cloth. and this was the beginning of the man ufacture of "shoddy" and one of the re- suits is the unlimited cheating and fraud of the present day In shoddy goods. Here, again, we note the law of supply ana demand and of compensation. Time was when cotton was more valuable than silk and many times more than the wool of sheep or the hair of goats. Today, cotton is one-half to one-third the price of the two last, and very much less in price than raw silk.
 Many countries have tried to grow cot tom Spain, Italy, Greece and France, but with poor success. The quality, and the life of the plant all handicapped the attempt.
 The American upiands, the cotton standard of the world, is the product of the evolution of plant life under economic and climatic conditions. conjunctured in that section now known as the cotton states of the south. Finding its new birth along the James in Virginia. in pioneer and colonial days. long before the star of empire took it's way westward. King Cotton marched with fleecy banners to take over a fair and fruitful land, Away down south, in Dixie'
 Black Faces-White Pieces
 The bringing of negro slaves to our shores opened wide the door of the great field of cotton cultivation. It has resulted in two world revolutions: One, the four years war between the states, with so- cial upheavals and readjustment tc changed conditions; the other Is that the cotton states absolutely make the world supply of raw, spinnable cotton relatively as to quantity, and distinctly as tc quality.
 Necessity forced the first cultivation oi cotton in America. Wool was high and clothing an expensive luxury. Prizes and bountes were first offered to stimulate l it's growing by colonists. The first ne. groes brought to this country in 1920 were the forerunners of. the army of slaves | that made possible cheap clothing for the millions of the earth.
 1 As the south developed and became peopled by hardy pioneer class, the | tide of developers moved toward what was known as the Spanish and French possessions, and the Mississippi territory already occupied in isolated sections by small settlements. The slave trade busi- ] ness increased, with rum as its chiefes, | measure of value for New England trad.
 CTS and rebellion as the sequel.
 Favorable Climatic Conditions | The growth of empire" as to our coun- | try, was the result of favored peoples ir a favored land. The growth and develop. | ment of the cotton industry Is equally so And yet, not all of the southern states | can grow cotton profitably This is be- cause of not only climatic conditions, bu | especially thermal conditions in the so
 and in the frost belt. The cultivation oi cotton in Virginia for instance. the frs,
 situs of it commercially Tn this country is nil. In the northern half of Nortf | Carolina. and in the famous western 1 North Carolina section, it is not attempt | ed to any extent. The reason Is self-evi dent, once it Is shown to the intelligent The time between the first frost of fall and the last frost of spring, in the cen.