The Dillon herald. [volume] (Dillon, S.C.) 1894-????, 1920-04-08
COST OF MAKING COTTON.
(By w, w. Morrison. }

Inc department Oh Agriculture udS
just issued a report on the cost of the
cotton crop grown in 1918.
1t cannot be said that the report is
very Illuminating. 1t is involved. 1t
is generally inconclusive. 1t will be
difficult for the public to understand
1t can be easily misconstrued by those
who are honest and just as easily
misused by those who are dishonest.
What it reveals as to the relation OF
labor and other fundamentals to the
cost of production important as they
are, is obscure and somewhat mysti-
flying
The report goes on to state that the
bulk line cost" was found to be
twenty-eight cents per pound. This
term, "bulk line COST" seems to have
been used as a kind of economic
barometer to denmark the range OF
prices above which production is sup
posed to increase and below which
production is supposed to decrease. On
this basis it is stated that 66 per cent
of the farmers made a profit. No ex-
PLANTATION is given, however, OF why,
in spite of this fact and this theory,
production has continued to decrease
and labor has continued to abandon
the cotton farms. Nor is anything Of
fered important as it Is, as to what
would become Of the supply should
the "a per cent who did not make
profit, abandon the production. of cot
ton.
Vital as every practical student
knows it to be, the report is silent as
to the living conditions of the laborer
that made this bulk line cost pos
sible. 1t would have been most val
liable to have had some sort OF an es-
innate as to how much it would have
been necessary to advance the bulk
line cost" had the expense of growing
the crop been taxed with what
would have cost to provide the cotton
laborer with a decent home. decent
clothing, decent food and decent
outlook for his family, and, also, If
he, instead of working fourteen hours
a day and more, had only worked
eight hours a day as the labor in
practically all other fundamental in
dustries were doing.
The report divided the S42 farms
covered in the investigation into
groups. The average yield of lint, per
acre an dthe average cost per pound
for each group is given. This fig
ures for the total number an average
yield of 225 pounds and an average
cost of twenty-five and one-half
cents. This applied to $50 pounds, the
average for the crop grown in 1918 as
per official records, makes the actual
cost of the crop in 1918 thirty-five
and one half cents per pound. 1t is
interesting to note that on this basis
the cost of growing the crop of 1919
was from forty-seven to fifty cents
per pound, which is confirmed by the
advance in the commodities consum-
ed in production since 1918.
Now, there is an urgent call in
world conditions for a great increase
in the output of American cotton.
There is an imperious demand On the
pant of the American cotton laborer
for better living conditions. There is
sufficient labor in the South to pro-
duce all the cotton the world requir-
es of this country. The independence
of the laborer makes meeting his de-
mands an inexorable condition to Sc
curing a supply sufficient to meet
what is most urgent in the worlds
needs.
Such is the problem that must be
solved. 1t is not at all obscure. The
history of recent years, especially the
history of the last five years makes it
plain that when this demand of the
cotton laborer has been adequately
met the problem of producing an ad-
equate, supply will have been solved
so far as human agencies can do so.
The history of these years makes it
just as plain also, that there is no
hope of solution, either in the near
or distant future on the basis of this
bulk line cost report by the gov
ernment.
This report is the work of theor-
lists. While they are no doubt quite
capable in their particular line, they
are clearly not equipped to deal with
the practical problem of securing an
increase in the output Of cotton in
this country, whose solution, obvious
ly. dominates in its urgency every
other problem connected with the
cotton trade.
On the whole, it is safer to assume
in all calculations, that the imperious
needs Of the world and the imperious
demands of the cotton laborer for
greater share of what he is produc-
ing will be the basis On which prices
will be determined and the crops liC-