The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1914-12-04
SOUTHERN CROP CONDITIONS.

Secretary of the Treasury McAdoo heartily indorses the plans
diversifcauon of crops. In fact he Declares emphatically that the
re- eont1ouSa 1 poo ot s5 5'o 10000 . r1 nse[sp ~ r IN p o+PSfS ,cl'
compish the desired result if some such programme IS not adopted
temporary character Of this adjustment to the conditions 50 suddenly
precipitated by the European war which has demorahzed the cotton
market.
That these conditions will continue for at least two o three
a close before the next crops are harvested. The interim before a
norma state of affairs can be established is too long for the planter
of opportunity for the planter to become a stock raiser or a grain
producer, thus making new markets for himself and relieving an
agricultural strngency which the consumer at east hnds increasing
ly expensive Remunerative prices for his products are absolutely
Prices can be- too b}ob for the velLbe;np Of the consuner and theyv
can easily be 100 low for that of the farmer. The continuing econo-
mic problem is how to adjust the several factors in such a manner
Alfalfa is a crop which, the Southern farmer is learning, is
even more remunerative than cotton. Stock raising has also made
most valuable lesson that the Southern planter could learn is that
conditions have m2rveIously changed since the Civil wal. He has
which has brongbt him shar,iy 70 rtaT7rr that he rann6t 90 o n n
dehnately raising cotton, year after year, and not be prepared TO
Cotton may still be king, but at best it is only a constitutional
and nominal cost of labor passed long ago; New competition has
the Southern planter has found himself vainly erecting barbados
The logic of til: situation is to produce crops, at least for the
time being that are salable. This cannot be done by industrial Ku
sense ss, of Of Il con "a se a and this Ir q is y what is b appeAI done ~ "T The nipbt
riders NJ must st be repudiate d AMI o|s flat or" cr"ps 3 re leg iI to- the leg ;
tive junk heap The only successful appeal will be to the inteli-
gence, and not to the passions and preJudices' OF the the South.
There is a danger point in the situation, however. Cotton is
by no means a dethrOned king. 1t is still absolutely necessary to
this country and to the world. No calamity would be more disas-
trous than the permanent conversion OF most of the cotton planta-
tons INTO live stock and gram farms. New cotton areas in other
lem viii have have TO be attocIrSl 'y when the c Ir%g d" Channels n ' Of trade
are reopened, with something of the same energy and wisdom to
which the appeal is now made against heaping up stores of cotton
that cannot be sold. When the war ends there will be an unprece-
denied demand for cotton and the planter must be prepared to meet
it. Prices must not be- ruinousy nigh, for his prosperity will be
haHnpered by imitation Just as certainly as 1t is by the temporary col
lapse OF the market for his great and hitherto an-sufcient staple
The problem has many angles and il cannot be solved by ante-be-
lum measures nor by the latest eXpcdlent-lhat of passing the hat
The above, which is clipped brom the Kansas City Journal of
Nov. ., one of the greatest daily news papers in the great west
shows how the problem which confronts our people is viewed in
that section. The article i, a sensible discussion of the cotton
farmers problems and is worth a careful study.