El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1917-09-08

4
a today OF King Cotton. For
4 \ months ] have been travelling
over this realm. and I am now i'm one
OF the brightest spots Of his place
in the sun" King Cotton is the rich
est. the most beneficent and just now
the most terrible monarch on the Ia
Of the globe. His domiuions encircle
the world. His annual income Is
twice that Of all the gold, silver and
diamond mines upon earth He clothes
the most Of mankind. and. now that
we are at war. this wrath VIII sow
death and destruction beyond compu-
tation. Gun cotton apd Other eXplo-
SiVes are but the breath Of this king
We used more than 100000, 900 pounds
OF mis- product IN max ing munitions
TWO years ago, and last year We in
creased that amount by $50 percent
This is in addition to the cotton en-
ployed in making explosives in Ell
rope, where II has its part in every
graf battle
L. =. Owns MOEt of Cotton Area.
Cotton can be grown here and there
I'm a strip round the globe wider than
the distance between New York and
Rio de Janeiro, but the total area
where il can be prOfitably cultivated
is only q small part Of that belt As
com GdEeQ Win the ll4ltQ states Alle
other cotIOn fields are petty colonies
We own the main kingdom and often
produce more than rhree-fourths Of
the worlds crop.
In fact, all Of the best cotton lands
upon earth belong TO us and our al
lies The cotton raised last year
amounted 10 little more than H.
coo. 900 bales. OF this a bout l2,QOu,Ou0
bales were grown upon United states
soil Thirty-five hundred thousand
n-ar# aaH1n a
10000 bales came from Egypt and
other British dependencies Russia,
which is also one Of our allies, made
about million and a half bales while
Germany, Bulgaria and Austria Hun
gary grew no cotton whatever
have Travelled over most OF the
cotton fields Of the world outside the
United States They are mere patches
beside our mighty farm known as the
cotton belt South America has lit
tie valley in the desert of northern
Peru where she raises a kind Of tree
cotton Of a reddish-brown color. and
in Brazil there are larger patches
which produce a low grade staple OF
several hundred thousand bales I
frica. outside Egypt, makes not
enough to supply breech cloths for the
negroes along the equator, and the
production of Asia is confined TO Rus
sian Turkestan, India, China and a
small area il Turkey and Persia
And now let US look at King Coz
tons dOminiOns on the North Amerl- I
can continent They lie IN the United .
states and cover almost one-third Of I
the southern part Of our country. I
Their area is more than 100000 square I
Hungary, Turkey. Bulgaria and the I
whole German empire
II YOU will drawn a line from Nor I
folk. at the mouth OF Chesapeake -baE- !
westward through southern virginia 4
on west along the northern boundary Z
Of Tennessee. then north TO Cairo Ill Z
and west again through southern Mis- Z
souri, and on across Oklahoma, you I
viii have the northern boundary All F
Of the land south OF that viii produce 4
more or less cotton The staple IS
grown in IS different states. II is I
made in great quantities in North Z
and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida I
Alabama. Mississippi, Louisiana, Ar
kansas, Tennessee Oklahoma ana
Texas leads.
OF these states Texas leads II +.
makes about one-fOurth of all the cot
ton grown in the union In 1872 II pro
duced almost 5000. 0OG bales. and the I
crop sold for enough to equal $500 for I
every family in the state Georgia
stands next to Texas as cotton pro
ducer. and then come Alabama. Mis-
Sissippi and South Carolina. Okla
homa mas now and then crop OF
more than = million bales. and the
same Is true of Arkansas. The other /
states produce less California made
about $4,000 bales in 1914.
The cotton crop of the United States
is so great that 1 despair Of making
YOU appreciate its size or its value
In 1914 we made over l6,Oe0,OUO bales
and in. in the year before that the /
crop brought in more than S1,0OO,000.-
600 of clean. cold. hard cash
rnrH Ia nm r.# g. @ IS
three years ago. and get a picture Of 1
r. IN the eye OF our mind A bale.
ready for shipment. is about two feet 1
square and five feet in length Laid I
from New York to Chicago, and 10
600. 600 the crop Of that year would /
extend 5000 miles farther. The whole
would reach twice as far as the dis
lance through the center Of the earth 4
from one side to the other. and If the
bales were piled in a tier Of is, II
would make a wall Of cotton two feet
wide and as high as a three story
the Hudson river to the southern end
of Lake Michigan If loaded upon
cars at 40 bales to the car. it would
fill a solid train reaching from Boston
TO Puget SoCnd and long way
toward Alaska Built up As wall
slonE the trenches Of Europe II
would divide the belligerents on the
western front hv fertilization
rsmparts behind which our soldiers
under Andrew Jackson fought the
British in the battle of New Orleans. I
Cotton Value Enormous
So much for the size Of that crop
Vow for its value. This depends upon
the price Of cotton per pound The
crop that brought in $1,000, 100000
was less by one eighth than the one I
have estimated in giving the size
Last year cotton went sky high. Il
sold for as much as 20 cents 4 pound /
or 800 per bale; 50 much that thou
sands Of the small farmers are now
riding about in their own automobiles
At 81 O0O. GOO. 900 the crop was equal to
$50 for every family in the United
States or $50 for every man. woman
and child south OF Mason and Dixons
line.
Ii was more than two and half
times the cost OF the Panama canal
and more than twice as much as all
the gold that has ever come out Of the
earth in any one year But gold mines
play out and the worlds treasure
vault Of precious metals viii eventu-
a lly be exhausted The cotton crop is
Ike the cruise Of oil Of the widow who
fed the prophet Elijah It keeps on
yielding sums like this year after year
and as the world increases in popula-
tion the supply viii be greater by the
bringing Of more OF our land under
cultivation. and cotton viii be worth
more and more
As IL is now. less than one tenth of
the lands Of the cotton belt are in cot
ton. The total area of the plantations
this year is somewhere between IS
and 0.000. 900 acres, and the average
WELD will be from one third 10 one