The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1921-01-05
cotton which the ten acres of the
more fortunate farmer produce.

cotton which the ten acres of the
more fortunate farmer produce.
Then there is another considera-
ton. Most of the cotton produced in
this section is produced by negro la
borers. These negroes either rent
land, or work it on shares. They are
not successful as producers of food
crops, though some of them are i'm
proving in this respect. If these ne
groes plant only ten acres of cotton
on some of the poorer lands of this
county, and then are not able to OBJ
tain fertilizers (and many of them
will not be) they will not make
enough cotton to pay the rent. These
people must be fed while they work.
No banker nor merchant will make
advances to a negro farmer under
these circumstances. The result will
be that farming with him will be Ell
ther a process of starvation, or the
landlord will contribute to the sup
port of these negro farmers with no
promise of repayment.
And to be perfectly frank, we do
not believe that this will be confined
to the negroes. There are many
white men in the county who are not
prepared to do fancy farming like
some of the large landowners. The
present crop with its low price will
reduce them to the danger line of
poverty. They must have advances on
which to live and support their fami-
lies, but they will not be able to Sc
cure these advances unless the crop
planted holds out promise to the
merchant or banker that the ad-
vances will be repaid. These people
cannot be made to suffer in order that
some farmers who are holding cot
ton, and who will continue to hold
for better prices, may profit. There
must be a different remedy for all
these.
We believe, as we have stated, that
every man engaged in farming should
undertake to reduce as far as practi-
cable the acreage in cotton, planting
only enough to insure the payment of
necessary advances, and planting at
the same time food crops sufficient
to care for the demands of the farm.
Twice as much corn as is usually
planted may be proftably planted,
and this much less in cotton, and we
do not believe anybody will suffer.
The larger farmers of more means,
who are holding a crop of cotton,
should not plant any cotton at all,
or practically none. They are better
able to do the reducing than the man
whose daily bread depends on what
he plants and makes. Then again the
better farmer, who own their own
farms and who are out of debt know
how to grow other crops and avoid
loss in so doing. They should plant
largely of food crops and demon
strate to the less fortunate what can
be done along the Line suggested.
Another thing to be taken into
consideration when people begin to
sign pledges is that a great many
people sign them and then measure
their own acres to be planted in cot
ton. Most people who sign pledges to
reduce the acreage do not reduce it
much, according to our experience.
At the same time a great many peo-
pie who sign pledges feel bound by
them. The man who feels bound,
and who is bound, by the signing of
pledges is generally the man who
suffers. A man who expects to reduce
his acreage in cotton and who be-
lieves that the acreage should be
reduced does not need to sign
pledge. :, IL -..- -~.--.- -. .--' ~---
We, think the hard times through
which we are now passing and which
will be with US some months still will
keep good many people away from
the farms who might otherwise 60
there. A good many people are going
to find themselves unable to finance
farming operations. Still more will
not be able to secure commercial fer
tiliZers, and in this state another