The Concordia sentinel. (Vidalia, Concordia Parish, La.) 1882-current, 1921-01-22
OLD TIMER

Dear Mr.. Editor:-You may find
this letter dry and embarrassing, but
it is a question of vital Importance
with a great many of us, as to how
we are going to make crop this year
and the writer ventures to submit
to you the result of his figuring, on
the basas of one-third cotton and two
thirds something else. 1t will take
$4,000 per acre to make, gather and
put this crop on the market-$6, 900.
He will have feedstuff to buy, sup
plies for his labor, freight and COM
missions on the cotton, besides his
taxes and the interest on the money.
Seed corn will be quite an item. Al
ready the agricultural papers adver-
tise seed corn at $500 to $3.50 per
busheI. On the one-third basis, the
800 acre farmer puts in 100 acres in
cotton-any cotton planter will say
that sixty 500 pound bales will be a
good crop on the 100 acres. This is
80 900 pounds of lint, at Is cents, or
$4,000. This will not pay his debt,
nor will the labors half-$2,250.00
pay for the supplies they will need.
Say he has 16 families; $4,000 per
family will carry them from March
1st., until the cotton is picked (gin-
ned and shipped).
It may be agreed, the farmer has
other crops; corn and hay and ETC.,
cotton is our only money crop. Corn
and hay are not collateral for a loan
Grant that everyone makes big corn
crop; where could it be sold? The
cost of shocking, shelling and sacking
and above all, the exorbitant freight
rates, would eat it up. Say he only
made enough corn to do him and had
to turn it in on his debt, he would
only come out of the same hole he
went in. 1t may be argued that Is
families are too many-suppose he
lets families go and holds 10, and
pulls out even. Next year when he
wants to reverse and put two-thirds
in cotton and one-third in corn and
hay, he will not have the labor nor
can he get it.
We do not make too much cotton,
Mr.. Editor. The writer has forgotten
exactly how many people there are
in the world, but there are quite a
number, If not more, and without
counting the people who don't wear
clothes, this 100000 bales would
not make everybody a shirt.
As soon as a plan is set on foot to
let Europe have cotton. on some sys-
tenn of credit, we win have better
times. Mr.. Bernard Barnet very
rightly says, the way to feed the
children in Europe is to de-
vice some plan to put the fathers and
bread-winners to work. Cotton is
Just as necessary as wheat, corn, rice
or oats. We must have clothes, as
there is a law against appearing in
public improperly clad.
To go back to the figures on the
one-third basis in cotton the writer
finds:
list. The whole cotton crop will
not pay the cost of production.
End. The laborers part will not
BAY for his necessary. supplies.
Bird, No bank or merchant will.
advance money on a crop that is one
bird cotton and two-thirds corn, hay
md peas. These last are necessary
o the farmer, but are not collateral,
4th. It is a good scheme, but it
will not work.
The idea of march is March 1st. for
he farmers, and we will see how far
he man who has no other collateral
han crop that is one-third cotton
viii go. The writer may be wrong
lopes he is wrong, but he does not
hink he is wrong.
Yours truly,
ON TTMER