Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-02-19
A COTTON DRAMA
By Frederic j. HaSkin
WASHINGTON, D. c., Feb. 14.--Your
w spring suit of year or two hence,
instead of being a light wooden, may

instead of being a light wooden, may
be made Of the finest long staple cotton IN
the world, with a dull silky finish and wear
ing qualities little short of wonderful.
At least, that is what certain growers of
the said long staple cotton out in the vicinity
of Phoenix, Arizona, earnestly hope that you
will wear, and they intend to do everything
in their power to realize that hope.
This movement to dress us in cotton suits
is the latest act in one of the most spectacu-
lar farming dramas which ever happened in
America. Generally speaking farming has
not been dramatic and spectacular in Amer
lea recently. The sudden and striking have
happened in business rather than on the farm.
But the rise, and the temporary fall, of Pima
long staple cotton is drama if there ever
was one.
That drama began few years ago when
it was discovered that on rich irrigated lands
Of the Salt River Valley staple Egyptian cot
ton would grow just as we'll as it would IN
Egypt. The Importance of that fact was not
at first grasped by all of the Salt River farm
ers, but gradually good deal OF the LAND
was put into cotton. Then came the demand
from the makers of auto tires for all of that
long staple cotton they could get. The price
Of cotton began to rise, and alfalfa crops OF
long standing were plowed under to make
room for more cotton. War stepped in to
thicken the plot Long staple cotton rose to
the unheard-of price of $1.35 a pound and
land in the Salt River Valley sold for as
much as $50. an acre. 1oor farmers sudden
ly became rich men. Fortunes were made by
men who sold at the right time
Then came the let-down. Armistice,
over-production, dull market. Today there
are 60, 900 bales of that fine long staple cot
ton in and around Phoenix, and it would be
hard to sell any considerable quantity of 1t
for 40 cents a pound. The markets that
made the fortuneskare fed-up. And worse
yet, Egyptian cotton is pouring in heavy
and well-nigh ruinous competition.
Bumped But Not Beaten.
But the Salt River folk are not discour-
aged. They know that they have learned
how to produce a rare and valuable COM
modify with certainty which is possible only
on irrigated lands. They know that the
market will come back and that markets can
be made. Just to show that long staple cot
ton can be made for something besides auto
tires, leading citizens of Phoenix are sporting
suits and shirts of long staple cotton. The
present weaving machinery is not adapted to
handling the long staple stuff, but that is a
detail which will be attended to.
The important fact is that this cotton when
woven, will be distinct and valued addition
to dress and suit fabrics and woven goods of
all kinds. 1t will be almost impossible to
wear it out, a thought that suggests good
clothes for the young people. 1t has a
strength when woven, equal to 500 pounds
to the inch of width.
Of course the farmer and those who
are behind his credit are feeling little dis
couraged. They have paid four cents per
pound to pick the cotton and $1.30 per hum
dred for ginning. AS three-fu urths of the
pick is seed and only one-fourth is cotton
this brings up the picking and ginning ex-
pense to over 21s cents per pound for the
market cotton. The thousands of Mexicans
who do this picking and work the land have
gotl theirs in cash and are in Mexico and
on, ron he
Yet all this is but a passing phase and
maybe very healthy one. The farming of
the irrigated lands on the Salt River Valley,
as elsewhere, is an assured and highly sue
cessful industry If they do not figure the cot
ton in at ALL The farmer has absolute con-
troll of all the water that he needs for his
crops. He is not dependent on the weather
in his growing or his harvesting as long as
the sun keeps shining. This water supply
costs him less than four dollars per acre
and it will be practically free to him as
soon as the irrigation system is paid for.
There are 100000 acres under the Roose-
welt Dam system in the Salt River Valley.
The land needs only water and reasonable
crop rotation to produce regularly and
abundantly without fertilizer. Aside from
cotton, which became an obsession, the sue
cessful crops are alfalfa, dairy products,
wheat, barley and citrous fruits. There is
no boil weevil, no pink cotton worm, no
cotton stagnation at the moment, there is
market at once for all that can be raised.
For Arizona is mining state and with few
other consuming industries and neighbors.
Mr.. Dwight B. Heard, who farms about
1900 acres near Phoenix, is not at all dis
couraged.
A/Permanent Industry.
".rhe growing of Pima cotton is a sue
cessful and permanent industry in the val
ley" he says cit cannot be grown so well
anywhere else and it is a staple that will
be highly appreciated by the public at
large as soon as it becomes better known.
Our people have rushed in and grown crop
ahead of the real market for it. We will
create that market Or rather the public will
do so for us.
"Our farmers put so per cent Of our
irrigated lane into Pima cotton last year. If
the automobile tire people had kept on buy
ing at high speed and there had been no
extra importation Of Egyptians we would
perhaps have disposed of the 900 bales
we produced and the lesson would not have
been SO severe on us.
'In the excitement caused by the high
prices offered for cotton, many Inexperienced
adapted or ready for it. We now have their
troubles also which could have been fore
seen. Cotton-growing like all other bust
nesses should be done by those who have
learned it Mn practical way.
'"With the adjustment of world industry
our cotton should be worth at the lowest
figure SO cents per pound Practical in
thorough touch with the local conditions,
and expecting a declining labor cost in pro-
duction and harvesting, are convinced that
the Pima cotton in the Salt River Valley
can be grown at so cents per pound with
a fair profit.
Farming is no longer a game of chance