Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1921-01-28
CULTURE OF COTTON
Continued From Page One.)
did not start out to make a politica

|
speech.
Let US look for minute at the cos
of this thing. told you that the aver.
age price in South Carolina was S2(
an acre for fertilizer. l put down las
year about S25 to the acre. and I shall
thank my stars if I ever get it back
I hope to, by holding my cotton. The
best way to make cotton is by the
share-crop proposition. That is, yol
get half the crop and the man who
makes it gets half. For instance,
furnish the land and the fertilizer and
he furnishes the stock and the labor
He does all of the work and I furnish
the land and the fertilizer. lie gets
half the crop and get half. Let US see
how that works out. The cotton crop
for 1920 amounts to 12,S43,000 bales
Picking this last year cost $1.50 a
hundred pounds. We used to get it
picked for so cents hundred, but we
got so rich that we could not get it
picked for less than s1.50 the hundred
pounds. Fourteen hundred pounds to
the bale means s21 bale that it costs
to pick the cotton out of the field.
Then the price Of the ginning went up.
1t costs now Sc bale to gin in my
country, in some places more, but I
think that sc bale is q good, fair
average. 1t costs half Of the yield Tor
labor. Take the states where they
fertilize the land, put in your fertilizer
bill, and figure your cotton crop, and
you have the following:
For labor-and that is half the value
of the cotton at the time you sell it
was s699,943,5O0, figuring cotton at an
average of 20 cents. Fertilizers
that is only in limited territory
s24S,93O,O 900. Ginning, s77O5s,ooO; pick
ing, s269,733,OoO, making the cotton
crop cost 1,295,G43,65O.
Mr. Hudspeth. Will the gentleman
yield?
: Mr.. Stevenson. I will.
Mr.. Hudspeth. Has the gentleman
the actual cost per bale of producing
cotton in his state?
Mr.. Stevenson. have not got it
here, but can give it to the gentleman
very readily by little calculation.
Now, the proceeds, if sold at 20 cents
pound, would amount to S1,399 100000.
That means YOU have got $104, ,243,4SO
= 1,a 1or II
see how many acres of land we had in.
We had 33,960,0O0 acres Of land under
cultivation, at So all acre---and YOU can
not rent any good land in that country
for less: you have got to pay SO per
acre generally-but putting it at S. per
acre, you have got $1G9, $4,000 on the
value Of your land, and you have slo4.-
100000 for the use Of it. That Is all.
That makes a deficit, il VIC sold our
cotton at 90 cents-I am figuring at 20
that would make a deficit Of S65.556,-
600 that goes to hit the landowner anu
the man who furnished the toll and
made the cotton. If we figure the price
of spot cotton today on an average OF
Is cents you will have n deficit Of $751;
945,56O actual loss.
Now, that is the outcome Of making
q crop Of cotton in a year like The past
year. II is due to two or three things.
In the first place, when the crop was
being made it was at an enormously
high price OF everything. Fertilizer
that used to cost $40 per acre went up
to $25. Labor, of course, had gone up
everything else had gone up, and when
the time came to sell the cotton, OF
course, a whole lot Of men put skates
under il and it went down, and people
were slow TO sell, hoping for reac-
ton; but it has not reacted much yet.
Now, let US see how many people are
engaged in the making Of Il crop.
There are in the cotton states rural
population amounting to lG,S99,o00 peo-
pie, and an entire population which de-
Dends on the cotton crop Of 22,4 o,O0o
people Now, that shows you the enor-
NOUS interest that depends upon the
crop which starts in the spring, goes
through one season, is liable to DE
DESTROYED by storm. attacked by Doll
wecvil, and everything else, and after
it is made, if the weather is bad in the
fall, as it has been this past fall, you
will find great difficulty in getting
good harvest. If it stays in the field
and many rains have fallen on it the
fiber becomes rotten, and it does not
make n good sample, and will sell Tor
not more than half price; and, IN fact'
i, does not sell for half price now. The
average produced per acre in the ferti-
liZcr-using states iii 1913 was il
pounds pcr acre, and the whole belt
averaged 1G0 pounds of lint per acre.
North Carolina m;plc tho highest aver
age that year, oGS pounds, and South
Carolina next, at $50 pounds per acre.
The world production in the year
1918 was as follows:
cnlnc