Rockingham post-dispatch. [volume] (Rockingham, N.C.) 1917-1965, 1919-04-03
EYES Of SOUTH
ARE ON Texas
Reduction in Acreage of Cot
ton in Texas May Represent
as Much as 80 1875.

Dallas, Tex, March 24-(Speciar -
"The eyes OF the South are on Texas
in the campaign to reduce the cotton
acreage" says Judge w. F. Ramsey,
chairman Of the Texas campaign
committee. Whatever Texas does
the other States in the cotton belt
may be expected to do.
"The movement to reduce the acre
age extends to all Of the cotton-gro
ing states, and, from reports receiv-
ed, is meeting with success, but cot
ton growers must fully awaken to the
vital Importance of reducing the acre
age, for the present situation is both
complex and contradictory.
THE world actually needs more cot
ton than we have to sell, but we have
more cotton on hand than we can
sell at present or in the immediate
future. More than 100000 bales Of
last years crop are still unsold; much
Of 1t Is still in the hands of the farm
er, with little or no demand for 1t at
price that will return even the cost
Of production, to say nothing of profit
1.-THE cotton crop last year cost
much more to produce than the av-
erage crop, because of scarcity Of
labor and higher prices for seed, feed,
farm equipment, etc.
"If to the remainder of the present
crop now on hand, normal crop 10
added this year, well-informed cotton
men, bankers, merchants and extern
sive cotton growers believe the price
next fall will go to ten cents or lower.
"The channels of trade at present
can absorb but a limited amount of
cotton, and the demand is not suffi-
cient 20 warrant the production Of
more than limited supply
Russia is not able to take Ameri-
can cotton at any price, and will
probably not be factor in cotton
consumption for year or more
France and Belgium are in like con-
dition. The machinery for manufac-
turing cotton goods in those countries
has been utterly destroyed Germany
and Austria lack financial ability to
paw for the normal amount OF cotton
used by them before the war, and
they will not be permitted to take
more than a limited amount for
months to come, because France and
England are opposed to giving them
any advantage in commercial lines.
"Of the worlds 149,00O,O00 srindles,
at least 30,000,0O0 are idle or have
been destroyed.
with these facts before him, no
intelligent farmer will plant the usual
acreage in cotton this spring expect
ing profitable return from the crop
"The needs of Europe now are for
food, which must come chiefly from
America.
Food cargoes will be given prece.
dence, as there is not enough ship
ping available to carry both food and
the normal amount of cotton to Eu-
rope, even If there were normal de-
mand for cotton.
with much of last years cotton
crop on hand and with but limited
demand for it now, and that at price
below the cost of production, with
many of the mills of this and other
countries idle, the inevitable effect Of
normal crop Of cotton this year will
be to force the price below the cost
of production.
ION the other hand, with an abnor-
NAL demand for food supplies Of all
kinds, with scarcity in this country
Of corn and other feedstuffs, and with
the high price for them now prevail
ing, 1t seems to be much wiser and far
more profitable for the farmer to plant
at least one-third of his usual cotton
acreage in food and feed crops.
"To convince anyone that cotton
acreage reduction is the part of wis
dom for 1918, we need only to recall
tho conditions existing at the begin
ming Of the war. when the business
men Of America were appealed to
buy bale at eight cents in order to
save the farmers OF the South from
financial disaster"