Fitzgerald leader enterprise and press. (Fitzgerald, Ben Hill County, Ga.) 1921-1964, 1927-01-27
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER

print and the Congressional Record.
Cotton, according to statesmen and
economists, continues to be the stand
by to the Southern farmer. 1t is a
cash crop. Bankers, merchants, and
all others look upon it with friendly
eyes because it is a peculiar agricul-
tural product that can be converted
quickly into legal tender. The prob
lens of cotton concern prices for
crops now on hand and the prospec-
tive price of 1927 cotton.
There is an upset of the traditional
belief that the more land the farmer
places in cotton the more money he
will have at the end of the year. The
agricultural department at Washing
ton has made thorough and exhaus-
tive studies of this question and all of
the statements put out by that branch
of the Federal Government empha-
size the fact that the cost of produc-
ton factor has more to do with prof
its in raising cotton than anything
else. In other words, high yield per
acre is the sure route to a profitable
crop.
In the discussion of the subject it
has been brought out that when the
lands of the Southeastern and South
Central States became deficient in
plant food, due to year after year
cultivation of the same crop, the cot
ton farmer learned to put plant food
back into the soil through commercial
| fertilizers. He found always to mini
mize the damage of wet season, and
of an unusually dry one. When the
boil weevil came along and threaten
ed to stop cotton growing entirely,
there was a general lamentation, ev-
en- despair, but not for long. The
weevil forced the planted into better
methods of production, and in the
opinion of many observers has been
the best friend the cotton farmer
ever had.
A gradually acquired skill together
with great increases in acreages and
abnormally favorable weather condi-
tions, resulted this year in the largest
crop in our history-some 18,618,OOO
bales, according to the latest govern
ment report. This heavy production,
| following the memorable law of sup
ply and demand, has depressed the
price per pound of lint to point
where, but for the success of other
crops, thousands of Southern farm
ers would be facing ruin.
That this condition may signalize
new era in cotton growing with en-
phasis upon higher yields per acre
rather than the acreage planted, is
the belief of men who are in position
! to Judge the situation. A reduced
acreage in cotton may be expected to
bring about a more diversified agri-
culture, with the surplus acres devot-
ed to corn, small grains, hay and
other crops.
The views of nearly one hundred
Southern agricultural leaders obtain
ed by the Chilean Nitrate of Soda
Educational Bureau point unmistaka-
bly in that direction. They indicate
that economical production through
higher yields per acre is the next
big development in cotton raising.
Classy Colors for Cars
There is a tradition in the industry
that Henry Ford once said that Il
don't care what color they paint my
cars, provided it is black" Now we
have with us the automobile shows of
1927, and black no longer rules the
lizzies, or the roost. Automobile fans
in cities like New York and Washing
ton are pulsating with interest over
the latest marvels of rubber tired We
hicles. Those who are reporting the
automobile shows are charmed with
the color schemes prepared for the
new gasoline steeds. One authority
saws that the new trend toward color
has been a stampede, and the re-
nowned artist H. Ledyard Towle, who
has been heading the procession in
searching the world over for beauti-
full colors and specializing in apply
ing them to be used on motor cars,
apparently prophesied correctly when
he wrote from Paris last fall that the
colors being produced were like
voices, they are series of grand pa
geants which depict the history OF
transportation. And added to that
we have heard from no less person
than the Curator of Anthropology OF
the National Museum at Washington
that the artists have been to the
museum during the past year study
ing the color arts of the early Amer
lean Indian in order to apply them
to dress goods, automobiles and other
industries. These bright colors that
enrich the traditions of the past have
been blended with the triumphs of
paint that have produced finishings
little short of marvellous. The new
York Times says that the use OF the
new efficient paints has made posi-
BILE the departure from the one-tone
body finishes, and it adds that il IL con-
sequence the general public has been
able to get cars painted according to