The daily commonwealth. (Greenwood, Leflore Co., Miss.) 1916-1919, 1919-03-26
SAFETY FIRST
A GOOD SLOGAN
An Article From Bradford Knapp
Which Should Be of Much In
terest to All Cotton Planters.


situation up to the farmers and bus
f ness men. 1t is entitled, "Safe Farm
t ing in the Southern States in 1919.
;, Ask your county agent for a copy.
I The present situation is the mos
dangerous which the cotton state
2 have faced in recent years. You hav
I had four years of comparative pros
, perity, partly because of four shor
. crops of cotton with resultant goo,
prices, and partly because you pro
duced so much of your own food ant
feed. During the last four, year.
there have been short crops in Texa.
mainly due to drought In 1911, 1912
1913 and 1914 the Texas crop aver.
aged 4,418,250 bales, while durine
1915, 1916, 1917 and 1918 it aver.
aged only 3,164,5OO bales, or 1853
l5o bales less per annum Texas has
had good rains this winter. From
1911 to 1914, inclusive, Oklahoma
:veraged 036,25O bales per annum
From 1915 to 1918, inclusive, the av-
erage was only TAP, 2,25O bales or 2e4.-
900 bales less per annum, mainly due
to drought. Oklahoma has had splen-
did rains this winter. A big crop in
! Texas and Oklahoma has always
meant big crop in the whole coun-
y. Think that over before YOU de-
eide to increase your acreage in cot
ton.
Will tn mills of Northern France
and Belgium be restored to full work.
ing capacity at once? Certainly not!
VIII the poor people of Europe seek
food or cotton first? Food, of course!
People can and will wear patched
clothing and sleep without pillow cas-
es and sheets if need be, but the hum
CRY stomach must be fed. Think
about that.
The last four years have been a
period of gradually increasing prices
Farmers an dbusiness men have 6rof-i
tied out Of, this constant increase.
Cotton just about kept pace with 9TH
er things. A pound or an acre of it
would buy about the same quantity
or other commodities in 1918 at 30
cents pound as it did in 1914 at IL
cents pound. But during this time
the farmers had the advantage of
purchasing supplies in the spring and
summer at one level of prices and !
then selling cotton in the fall at the !
top price of the year and paying the
debts contracted at the lower prices,
BE On Your Guard Now, for when !;
prices begin to settle down the sit |
uation becomes more difficult. We /
may be in the position of making a !
crop of cotton with high-prieed sup
plies and settling our debts out of |
cotton at lower price Especially
will this be true if we produce very
large crop and thereby do all in our
power to lower the market price of
cotton. Has not a large crop always
meant lower prices? Think that
over. |
What about acreage? Let us look
at the acreage figures in the bulletin.
The total for 1913 was $500. 900.
okiahoma had more acres planted in
1918 than in either 1911, 1913 or 1914.
Texas had more acres in 1918 than
IN 1911 and only about 100000 acres
less than in 1914. The years 1911.
1913 and 1914 were good years with
Dig crops and generally low prices. y
With only 100000 acres more in the
whole country in 1911 than we had in
the whole country in 1918, we pro- !,
1uced 15,693,OO bales, and the farm
price December l, 1911, averaged So
,ents per pound. In 1918 we had st.
)S9,OOO acres and reduced 14.156.OOO
oales, and the farm price averaged
l2.2 cents per pound December l,
1913. In 1914 we had $685., 900 ac- ,
'es, or only $4,000 acres more than Il
n 1918, and yet the production was +,
,6,1S5,O00 bales and the farm price f.,
December 1. 1914 was 68 cents per !
'ound on the average, due in part, no j
loubt, to the war in Europe. Think
his over. !,
With less acres than last year and
good season we can easily make !
J very large crop, especially with
'ood production in Texas and Okla 5
'orna- In 1912 with only 34,2ss 900 |
'cres we made 13,703.OO0 bales Of $
otton. With good season ahead Of G
IS, would you increase the acreage? Z
Which would you rather do, pro- I
luce more cotton and take a loss price )
or it after working larger number t
t acres at greater expense, or limit S
our production to smaller number ! !
t acres, better tended, permitting the Q
ull production of your food and feed S
nd better chance for good price /? | /
1t is absolutely folly to upset the /
Prosperity of the cotton states by Z
lanting = large acreage which can j
My mean . large crop and lower
rice. ! hear rumors Of farmers SELL
II their LIVESTOCK TO put their land