Evening star., 1936-09-14

kets. The American public consumed
pounds less per capita in 1895 than
1t did In the period between 1910 and
1914. and this In spite Of the growth
Of industrial uses for cotton.
These facts suggest that there will
have to be during the coming year
drastic readjustments made in the
cotton economy. And those readjust-
ments will have to be made regardless
OF whether o liberal conservative or
radical Government is In power.
If they are not made for lofty
humanitarian reasons, they will have
to be made from motives of the cras-
sest self-interest and self-preservation.
The whole country Is gradually
awakening to the danger and waste
fulness Of single-crop agriculture. de-
pendent upon o world market, and. in
times Of economic depression, upon
Government aid. There are good sys-
TENS Of agriculture and bad systems,
and the best system is the one which
assures the farmer his own living
from his own land, with q cash crop
on the side. One needs only to COM
pare the farm economy Of Vermont
with that Of the Mississippi Delta. The
white population Of Vermont is from
exactly the same Anglo-Saxon stock
as that Of the delta. But in the
Northern Mountain States, where the
land Is relatively poor, and all up and
down, where there is a short season
and terrific Winter climate, where
everything has to be wrested from an
unwilling soil, the independent small
farmer with the tiny and well-painted
house, a capacious barn and a
prodigious self respect and inde-
pendence, Is the rule. In the delta,
where the soil is the richest on earth,
the precipitation favorable, the sea-
son almost continual, the average
person on the land lives under con-
ditions which would horrify the Ver-
monters.
Group Attacks Problem.
But cotton will remain under what
ever paying conditions, the chief cash
crop Of the South. And to find a
stable and expanding market for that
crop is matter Of the greatest public
importance. A group Of planters,
business men and cotton farmers in
Memphis, headed by Mr.. Vance j.
Alexander, are attacking the prob
lem from a new angle. They propose
that cotton shall step out of its
agricultural mentality and apply to
ifS nrnhlor1 tho hri ,fo1
has made other industries prosperous.
They propose to found a cotton re-
search foundation, for the purpose Of
engaging practical science to find new
uses for cotton.
The interesting thing about the
proposed cotton research foundation
Is that it will be, II it succeeds, a
cooperative adventure in scientific
research, undertaken and financed,
not by business men or great corpo-
rations. but by farmers. It is pro-
posed that the permanent fund be
created by universal tax, which cot
ton farmers put upon themselves. The
tax would be very small-probably
cents bale on cotton, and 5 cents
q ton on cotton seed. Since the greater
part Of the crop is grown by farmers
who produce only two to five bales,
the average contribution would be
only 20 cents to 81 a year. But it
has been estimated that in a very few
years time a permanent fund would
be established, the interest from which
would finance large and important
laboratories.
There are many cooperative agri-
cultural organizations amongst the
farmers Of this country, but most of
them promise the farmer an i'm
mediate and visible return in the
form Of better prices and more eff
cient marketing. If the farmers OF
the South are actually willing to tax
themselves for q more distant goal,
to pay scientific brains to concentrate
on their problems. they will have dis |
played amazing enlightenment.
(Copyright. 1861