The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1921-05-12
LIGHT AHEAD; EDUCATION
WILL ALWAYS KEEP 1T
IN SIGHT

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down, finds solid earth under his
feet. Yet he does not know that
the distance to the shore is free
from pits and quicksands.
What between readjustment,
defation, or whatsoever one
chooses to call it, we can now be-
gin to measure the future in def
mite terms.
Cotton is being disposed Of at
less than it cost us to make it,
Every bale of cotton sold within
the last six months, taking the av-
erage, has been sold at loss on
cost Of production. This is a
tremendous blow which our agri-
cultural forces have received, and
yet we survived.
Our people have lost a tremen-
dous amount of money, relatively
speaking. Here and there is a
wreck. Here and there is sign
over an empty store or an empty
Office. The owners of these have
closed out or been closed out.
They have gone into other things
or they are marking time.
Here and there are other bust
ness enterprises constructed. The
owner, instead of coming down at
IL o'cock in a battle cruiser car,
dropping by the bank and then de-
parting for the golf links, the
bridge room or the hammock in
his front yard, is now coming
down in a Ford or on "Tut" at 8
o'clock in the morning and re-
mains until 5 or 6 in the after
noon. He feels better.
Some men are putting their
hands to the pillow. AS soon as
the first blisters healed over they
felt better. They are not consult
ing a stomach specialist any more.
An appetite gratifed by potatoes,
young onions, lettuce, beans, ba-
con and the like has resulted in a
physical condition which could
not be secured from a Spa or
Health resort"
The cotton crop is selling at a
loss, but it is selling. The acre
age is going to be reduced. It
must be reduced or the swimmer
is again in the quicksands.
By hard work and taking advan-
tage of present prices and by
growing some Of the feedstuffs,
cotton can be produced at a profit
if the future prices of October,
November and January are spot
prices when those months are
reached.
Things are better today gener-
ally than they were 80 days ago.
Money is going to be little
cheaper for those who have collat-
eral, because the demand for
money has been reduced with a
reduction in prices.
We write this editorial for the
purpose of encouraging our people
to hold on, to stick it out. We see
the light. We see the shore. If
every man having property will
hold it during the present sum-
mer, the holding will be easier
this fall. Heaven knows the
farmer has made sufficient sacrifi-
ces. He has been Debated as thor
oughly as the goose is picked in
the springtime; even his pin
feathers have been pulled out.
He has lost everything but his
skin, yet his skin is fairly intact,
and before the winter comes his
outer covering will be renewed.
We mean no offense by compar-
ing farmers to geese Eve are a
farmer ourseves,) but in the last
two years we have exhibited some
of the qualities of geese, refusing
to think ahead.
Now that the worst is over and
things are beginning to right
themselves, we wonder if what
has come to pass could have been
prevented? We believe so.
A few moments ago we were
talking to well-informed cotton
factor, cotton grower, property
owner and well-educated man. He
is patriot. He loves humanity.
He loves his southern neighbors,
and the question that came up was
what lesson we draw from what
has happened or what does the
southern man need that will en-
able him to avoid what happened
in the shank Of 1919 and 1920?
The defation Of 1920 was like
the dehation Of 1902; like the
deflation Of IS; like the deflation
following the war Of 1872, which
swept Andrew Jackson into Office;
like unto the collapse following
the Revolution; like unto the fam
inc that swept over Europe after
the Thirty Years War; like unto
the terrible suffering that was the
lot of man and women Cor & gene
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