The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-01-01
ROGERS ANALYZES
 CAUSE OF COTTON . GROWERS TROUBLE
Gainesville Man Says Only Remedy for Situation Is for the South to Grow
 Less Cotton
O the Editor of The Age-Herald.

To the Editor of The Age-Herald.
 The limit outside the United states of
 America was reached in the growing of
 cotton 90 years ago. The English spiu-
 ners formed an organization to grow cot
 ton, This organization was backed by
 the English government. Men were sent
 all over the world to look for coltcn
 lands. This search for lands went on for
 three years. Enough and more than
 enough land suitable for growing cotton
 was reported to have been obtained to
 grow all the cotton needed by England
 and the continent of Europe. Cotton
 growing was gone into on q large scale.
 Experienced cotton growers from tho
 southern states of America were em-
 ployed at princely salaries to take chargs
 of these farms Every one of these farms
 have been abandoned. The millions of
 dollars put into this enterprise, both by
 the British government by corporations
 and private indivtduass were lost The
 organization of British Cotton Growers
 was dissolved and the attempt to in- crease the size of the cotton crop outside
 the United States was long since aban- doned.
 The American cottoh grower HAS @iV
 competition to fear, except from his neighbors an1 his own foolishness He and his neignbors, by working together, and standing together, can put cotton to
 s1 a pound, and keep it there. At this Iprice, cotton will not be too high. Every pound of it has to be handled by human fingers Every attempt to perfect ma chinery to hoe and pick cotton has been a failure. In the very nature of the case, this will always be so. If then there was oven a man on the globe who could say and say with truth, T am master or my fate; 1 am the captain of my soul, that man is the cotton grower of the southern states of America Instead of this happy state we have been, we are and will con tinue to be among the poorest of men. Poor because we are dependent. Our corn cribs are in Nebraska; our oat pms ID Iowa; our smokehouses in Swift and AT mour's packing plants
 We are growing more cotton than We can sell at a price that will pay us to grow it. Yet, when anything IS sato about growing less cotton, we in Ala hama reply, We have already reduced. We have not It is true that we are planting much less cotton in Alabama m proportion than is planted in other ol l inc cotton growing states. We did no' | cut down our acreage voluntarily, tae | boil weevil did it for us We should now cut right in half the acreage planted l last year in cotton. For 20 years l made an average of 1000 bales of cotton per | year. In 1920, l made TOO bales, The pol weevil made me cut my cotton crol down. I did not do it for myself. o' l this 100 bales, I have 90 bales on hand | l am willing to enter into oond not eo grow over 50 bales of cotton i'll 1921. am willing to make bond not to sell the D hales of cotton | have below 50 cents per pound. I know, and my sympathy goes out to my unfortunate neighpors that all who grow cotton cannot hoid It. And by my neighbor, l mean not only the man who lives in my beat, in my coul- ty or in my state, but every man who needs help in time of trouble,
 The place for the farmer cotton tnas he intends to hold is on his own farm and under his own shelter To put i' | in warehouses is to pile up expenses anu to acknowledge his dependence.
 We make cotton to sell. We do no' make it to give it away. Just so long as we do give it away, just so long we VIII have to do SC.
 If we cotton growers want to guaran- tee low-priced cotton for the future, all we have to do is to sell this crop of cot ton at present prices and raise cotton again in 1921.
 There are those who blame our trou- b,es on the speculator and the spinner The speculator has always gone broke,
 He who is Il bear this week is pul
 the next. When I am told that the low
 price of cotton is brought about by the
 machination of the spinner and the spec uIator. wonder who brought down .he price of my cows, my COW hides, my pigS' my horses, my mules, my goats, my sheer and my wool. Everyone of these F cheaper now than in many years, ana not a single one of them is traded in oy the exchanges. No futures are poush' or sold in any of these things The cause of their low price is the cause "' the low price of cotton. Forty millions of men were killing each other and TOT four years destroying the accunuiatel wealth of the ages. All or nearly all tue governments of Europe were torn doWh The peoples of that great teeming hNe
 of workers and consumers can no longer buy Americas supplies of farm products though they need and need badly every thing the American farmer has to sell. Theifirst step to be taken toward a re- yival of trade and money making py us