Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1922-03-22
LOOK OUT
THE BOIL WEEVlL AND The
COTTON OUTLOOK

The price of cotton in the inter.
national market and the position OF
the United States as the world leau-
ing producer will ultimately DC de-
termined by the cost of production un-
der new conditions necessiatcd LOT
the control of the boil weevll, the
National Bank of Commerce IN New
York believes.
"The destructiveness OF the Doll
weevil and the difficulty and cost OF
combating it make clear the grave
consequences Of the invasion OF TINS
insect on the economic 1uture OF the
cotton states" the bank says in the
February number of its magazine,
Commerce Monthly. "Not only every
farmer but every banker and Dusl,,
ness man in the cotton belt Is oollgeu
to consider the weevil in formulating
his course of action.
"The invasion of the boil weeVii
into the American cotton belt WI nave
an effect on the price of cotton throug-
out the world. This area has nor
mally produced about 65 per cent or
the total cotton supply Any fac
tor which adds greatly to the cost
of production Of bassic commodity
inficts an economic loss. The Amer
lean farmer will continue to produce
cotton. How much he will produce
will depend on the effects or better
methods in the face Of new conditions
Whatever the ultimate effects OF the
weevil on the total American crop
may be that crops will apparently be
produced at considerably higher
cost.
"Such progress has been made III
methods of fighting the insect as
to offer fair assurance that 1t may
vet prove possible to grow as much
cotton per acre under the boil weevil
conditions as before the invasion, but
production under new conditions is
much more costly than under the old.
The labor cost of the methods nee
essary to control is so great that
permanent reduction in the acreage
planted to cotton in the States seems
inevitable.
1.-THE worlds supply of cotton and
the ultimate working out Of the sit
uation in the southern states will
thus depend to an unknown degree
on the effects of this higher product
ion cost on cotton production in other
countries. Higher cost in the IN
tied States, however, will greatly
change competitive conditions OF pro-
duction for the international market.
The world will not lack for an ade-
quate supply of cotton. what the
ultimate effect Of the boil weevil may
be as to the share of the worlds sup
ply coming from the United States
cannot as yet be foreseen.
The depression of the boolweevll, the
bank points out vii tend to further
crop deversiiication III the southern
states.
"Not all of the results Of the de.
structivencss of this insect have been
bad" the National Bank of Com
merce in New York says. There are
ways in which the cotton states have
benefited, but whether the sum oil
effects is good or i'll new system OF
agriculture must be faced. In I'M
portant sections the trasactlon has
already been made. 6efore the com
ing of the boil wevil southern agrl-
culture throughout its history had
been based on the onc-crop system,
and since the invention Of the cotton
gin that crop had been cotton. Where
ever practice one crop system, re-
rardless of what that one crop may be,
results in land imlpverishment and
subjects an agricultural population to
such financial hazards as to make
sound economical conditions lnapossi-
BILE.
an those parts Of the South where
the weevil is we'll established and has
been most destructive, the lesson has
been learned A county seat IN Ala
banla has raised a monument 20 the