Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1922-09-13
Weevils and Prices.

The proposal of Senator E. D.
Smith that the planting of cotton be
suspended one year in the United
States, with the object of elimina-
ting the boil weevil, is to be consider
ed in the first place from the point
of view of effectiveness. Were the
suspension compelled and, subse-
quently, it were proved thu. the bell
weevil had not been eliminated by it,
the South would have endured ire
mendous sacrifice to no profit.
The representations of scientists
are not invariably accurate. 1t will
occur to persons not versed in these
matters that suspension of planting
in small areas, say n county in
each cotton state, for a year or two,
before undertaking the grand exper-
iment, might be wise.
Interesting to observe is that Ser-
ator Smith approaches this proposal
from the point of view of the worlds
need of cotton and the maintenance
of the American balance of trade
and not from that of cotton prices.
A crop of e9O, OOO,O 900 bales selling
at % cents a pound, or S11O a bale,
would fetch $99O,OO0,O 600. Were e.
Elimination of boil weevils to make
possible a crop of 100000 bales
and it should sell at II cents. q pound
or $55 a bale, exactly the same sum
of money would be produced from
its sale. Two and two equal four and
things equal to same things are equal
to each other. The principal result,
therefore, of doubling of the crop
would be the immense Improvement
in the condition of the people of all
lands who are in dire need of cloth
ing and covering. Indisputably, the
destruction of the boil weevil in the
cotton belt would be a blessing to the
world but whether it would be a fl
nancial blessing to the Southern cot
ton farmers is another and different
question.
A phase of the problem that
should not be lost sight of is that,
or late, if the South fail to pro-
vide the cotton that the world re-
quires, it will be produced in other
parts of the world or substitutes for
cotton will, be invented that might
reduce its market price. If the South
could permanently maintain its con-
troll of the supply of cotton and the
production in the cotton belt could
be distributed in the same proportion
among states and individuals that
obtained before boil weevil in
festation, it would be of little import
to Southern farmers whether they
produced 100000 or 18,000,O 900
bales.
Glow are you coming out this
year with your cotton crop?" a re-
asked of a progressive farmer
of Lexington county a few days ago.
81 shall do as we'll this year as I
would have done before the war
when cotton was selling at II cents
shall make a half crop and the
price is 20 cents"
That farmer has, it should be re-
membered, more land, more time and
more labor to raise hogs, forage
crops, fruits, vegetables and all the
other crops that may be produced on
South Carolina soil and with the
help of a beneficent South Carolina
eliminate.
1t may be that Senator Smith is
looking forward to the danger that
boil weevils in the South will force
cotton production on a large scale in
other parts of the world. The cotton
growing world outside of the South
is susceptible of enlargement.-The
State.
What Co cooperation Means