The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1922-01-03
GREATEST ECONOMIC AGRI-
CULTURAL PROBLEM IN U. S.
A Second Statement Regarding the
Plan to Eradicate the Cotton Boil
Weevil From America
By W. Dwight Pierce, Ph. D.


Unquest;onably we have in Amerl-
ca today many great economic prob
lens in agriculture, but to my mind
the greatest of these is to solve the
problem of clothing our nation and
the world; of solving, in other words,
the problem of cotton culture in our
southern states. Many able econom-
ic writers have recently attempted to
show what a grave crisis faces the
people of the cotton-groWlEg states
today. With the ever increasing prlc-
es of commodties and in spite Of in
creases in the value of the cotton pro-
duct, the time has not yet come when
the cotton farmer may receive his just
dues for his labor. When we figure,
as we must, the value of the labor of
the cotton planter and his family in
the cotton fields, and the overhead eX-
penses, we find that the production
of cotton under modern methods is an
economic failure.
All who have travelled or worked in
the South are familiar with the bent
backs of the toiling women and chill
dren in the cotton fields; women who
should have the home work only to do
instead of having to toll all day in
the fields and tend to the household
duties later, if at all; women who
have tiny babies, which they must
carry into the field and deposit on the
ground in the shade of some tree, IN
stead of having the blessed privilege
of rearing and nurturing these chill
dren in the sanctuary of home of
comfort; children tottering down the
blistering rows in tattered clothes,
and barefooted, chcpping, hoeing,
wedding, picking, when they should
be in school, learning to De future
citizens of our great country. 1t is
orly by the unceasing toll of these
women and children, little fitted foc
such labors, that the Southern cotton
grower is able to produce enough cot
ton to insure his keeping his family
alive another year.
1t is quite true that in the last dec
ade we have seen great improvements
in Southern agriculture, but never
theless we are face to face with the
facts that the cotton situation is Sc
rious, not only for the Southern peo-
Pile, but for every citizen Of America,
and for every person in this round
earth of ours who wears cotton cloth
ing, or who uses any of the other
products of this remarkable plant.
We may justly inquire as to the
reason for such a situation in these
days of civilization. There are many
reasons, some dating back to ante
benum days, and we will leave the
discussion of these many reasons to
other men, for we are concerned with
the one cause which makes cotton
growing so usproftable today, and
the solution of which is the greatest
task before the Southern people. Cot
ton growing is improbable because
of the ravages of insect pests, princl-
pal among which is the Mexican cot
ton boil weevil. The increased raw
ages of these pests have been gradual
ly, but perceptibly, lowering the
yield per acre of cotton lands until
now almost every state has felt the
pressure, and in most CT our states
the present average yield IS 50 low
as to make the growth Of cotton very
improbable.
Figures furnished the writer b. the
bureau of crop estimates show the
following losses, due to the boil wee
vii alone, in pounds lint on the whole
acreage in cotton during the year
1918 to be as follows:
South Carolina, 100000.
Georgia, 1S2,S22,000.
Florida, 8,325,000.
Alabama, S5,787, 900.
Mississippi, 104,213,000.
Louisiana, 52,560,000.
Texas, 139,2S9,00.
Arkansas, 29,97O,000.
Oklahoma, II, 1,572,000.
Total U. S., pounds lint cotton de-
stroyed by boil weevil in the year
1918, 715,288, 900.
This loss appalling, but f l were to
quote the figures before me for the
six preceding years, it would be seen
that IN several years this loss was
greatly exceeded. The average loss
per acre for the years 1903 to 1918
from insect pests was 29.3 pounds of
cotton. The toll Of the weevils IS