University of South Carolina Libraries
NO FUTURE FOR K1 Y ??? The State, Monday. The following: analysis of the cotton situation has been received by The State from the Coker Cotton company of Hartsville: ? . As the staple situation has shown very little change since our letter of December 1, we thought that our j customers might like to have us discuss the cost of the pi-oduction of cotton and its relation to the present i and future situation. We believe that few outside of the South, and by no means all in the South, realize the ? distressing: features of the present situation or are able to diagnose their ; effect upon the civilization of! the South and the future of the cotton industry. A brief consideraiion of facts, however, will promptly convince every one interested in the in dustry, whether in the North or the South, that there is no future for it at present prices and that a contin- | uation of present conditions would 1 threaten the' civilization of the South. 1 Government statistics show that the average production of lint cotton in < the South is between one-third aud four-tenths bales per acre, but in or- ! der to show how impossible the pres- j ent situation is we are going to first I discuss production figures under the j ideal conditions of a bale per acre producing at IS cents?a price above the present market. * The bulk of the crop of the South ; is produced on a share crop system, the most popular share contract in this section being one under which the landowner furnished the land, , building's, planting seed and fertilizer and the tenant furnishes the live stock, tools and labor. Ginning and baling expenses are divided. Land lord and tenant divide the cotton j equally, but the landlord receives all I of the seed. Under this plan let us j see what would be the returns to landlord and tenant on a 20 acre crop of cotton producing one bale per acre. As to One Horse Farm. The farm will contain about 30 acres including a little woodland and a few acres of corn antfc?other minor crops. If the land is good enough to ^produce a bale per acre of fair valuation for the .farm, including] 4 "Felt Like ;' k Man and Wife, All RunWere Greatly H WIFE and I, after a hard jyj spring on the farm, were tired and run-down," says Mr. E. B. Mulkey, of Route 1, Acworth, Ga. "We neither felt well. I knew my blood was bad, as 1 had little boils on the back of my neck. "We felt ws needed a builder. We had heard of Ziron and thought it must he what we needed. It certainly j "was. "We took It faithfully, and after a week or such a matter we began to feel better. My wife felt like cooking.! DOUBLE YOUR DOLI Two crops a year and always a market meats. Raise your own and some to sel Let us help you start. No charge. All ir AMERICAN DUROC-J Exchange and Jexter Park Aveiiu l&dlr Continued ON COOK STOVlS, RAIN Furnaces, and Oii Heaters duced prices. Lorain o: burner at ?15 50; four bui All enameled ware, tin wa utensils and household fi be sold until February 1st Send us your orders. LORICK E 1533 Main Street, Col AHEAD | [NG COTTON! buildings will be between $6,000 and j $10,000. A minimum charge for rent ; on the cotton land, therefore, to cover i interest, repairs and taxes would be : not less than ?25 per acre. The land- j lord expecting a bale of cotton per I acre would buy not less than $20 ! i worth of fertilizer per acre for the ! i cotton, and, as he must exercise su- j pervision over his croppers, a charge j of $5 per acre for supervision should j be made. The total of these expenses j is $50 per acre. His returns will be j one-half bale of cotton at 15 cents?| $37.50; seed, $10; total. $47.50. less , one-half ginning?$3; net income, I $44.50. These figures show a net loss j a- sr?.r.o ner acre, i IU U1C lrtlluvu U\.i . Some may object to the charging: of rent and supervision to crop ex- i penses. To this we answer that these i are necessary preliminary expenses for crop production without which capital can not be secured. To make this crop the tenant furnished a mule and feed costing per ; year $125: depreciation on implements, taxes, etc., $25; hire for pick- . ing ten bales of cotton, $150: one 1 half ginning. $G0; total $360, besides ! the labor of himself, wife and three j children. Receipts from ten bales of cotton at 15 cents per pound ..$750 Expenses besides labor of family 3GO J I Balance $390 Divide this amount by 365 and you i get the magnificent sum of $1.07 per ; day with which the tenant must pur- j chase clothing, shoes, and household equipment and must supply a large part of the food for the family and ; besides must pay the doctor and the i u +V,iv,r o i-Q noifl It t J'l 10 prt'dunci 11. lucj ai ^ J/C+AV*. -? v that the tenant raises some corn, a few vegetables and sometimes has a pig or a few chickens. The pitiful poverty under which most of them ! live, however, keeps them moving j from place to place, the average term | of farm tenancy being about two j years, and it is the exception rather i than the rule for the tenant to have any live stock besides his mule or any poultry. j Has 1*00? t ha nee. Please note that with cotton at ; * i ,1 Eating" !: Down from Farm Work, 1 elped by Ziron. i and I sure felt like eating. "Ziron sure did us good. It made us both feel stronger and better for the fall work, which everyone knows is 'some work' on a farm. My boils , began to dry up, though just at first they seemed worse. "We are much better and can highly | J <rl?wUv c\ en fnr ! recomuiciiu miuu, 6iu-aV ? ? ? ! It sure did us good." Ziron is a safe, reliable, tonic medicine, good for men, women ar.d chilc? ren, when an iron tonic is indicated. It is easy to take and contains no habit-forming drugs. Ask your druggist or dealer. LARS WITH DUROCS Ham and bacon are the world's greatest 1. Pure-breds give quick returns for feed, tformation free, a postal gets it. ERSEY ASSOCIATION e :: CHICAGO, ILLINOIS p?.l for 30 Days IGES, HEATING STOVES, Ali at greatly reil cook ctove, three rner at $19 50. re, aiuminurn kitchen irnishing goods will at reduced price s. iROTMESS umbia, S. C. Phone 4PS BBaHBHDHnB! K? cents per pound. $1.07 is the max-I i Imum amount that a tenant can' re- j ceive for the labor of himselt. his ; wife and three children in producing ! the ideal yield of one bale of coirop. ] per acre on 20 acres and this is a ! larger acreage than the average omhorse crop in this section and must be further curtailed this year. The item for picking ten bales is absolutely necessary for the tenant and his family can not gather more than half the crop in time to prveent serious deterioration of the grade. Please remember that rlu* average production in the South is less the-i four-tenths bales per acre. Tin- production in this state, however. for the past year has slightly exceeded one-half bale per acre. Based mi one-half bale production, the tenant farmer's expenses would be reduced by the item of picking?$1">0 arid half of the ginning?$30. making his ex1/enses $1S0 instead of $300. He would receive for his half share of ten bales, $375, leaving $185 or 51. cents per day for the sustenance ?>f his family. But. at least half the tenant farmers make less than onehalf bale per acre in South Carolina or less than one-third per bale in the 'rest of the cotton belt except in North Carolina. How can these people keep 'body and soul together much loss maintain a decent standard ot citizenship if cotton does not auvame materially? During the years 1017. If IS and If 10 we had a period of comparative prosperity in the South during which both the landowner and tenant classes made more money than they ever dreamed of. Many, however, never having seen a $100 Dill before had r.<> training in thrift and spent their money without thought of th<* morrow. Many are poorer citizens ukiay than they would have been if we had not had this period of prosperity lo.r having had a glimpse ol linanciai heaven and being again plunged into the hell of abject poverty, they ;uv uaturally bitter and discouraged. Acreage Reduction. The only remedy for the present situation upon which all seem to be 'agreed is acreage reduction. Most {cotton sections know "o money crop except cotton. How can the landowner or tenant figure to keep body and soul together on a greatly reduced acreage of cotton even if the present price is doubled. Yet they must somehow do this if better prices are to be hoped for. j What the South needs is a steady i price for cotton which will allow a fair return to the landowner and de- j cent wages to the tenant. At the j present costs of the commodities they j must buy for crop making purposes, j 30 cents is, we believe, the lowest! price which the industry should eon- ! i I 8 Hi YA Mit vu m | "I was weak and run-down," Kj M relates Mrs. Eula Burnett, of A A Dalton, Ga. "I was thin and K just felt tired, all the time. V It I didn't rest well. I wasn't M jA ever hungry. I knew, by K A this, I needed a tonic, and A || as there is none better than? R jCARDUIj SThe Woman's Tonic E 1 I began using Cardui," jjfj | ?J8[ continues Mrs. Burnett. V ^ "After my first bottle, I slept Wi better and ate better. I took M A four bottles. Now I'm well, A feel just fine, eat and sleep, K W my skin is clear and I have 'A ^ gained and sure feel that ^ Cardui is the best tonic ever jm 1 made." |J5 Thousands cf other women a have found uarciui just as ? Mrs. Burnett did. It should K help you. Jg At all druggists. jJJ CONTRACTORS SUPPLIESMachinery Castings and Repairs. Steel Beams, Rods, Ropes Tackle, Wheelbarrows, Trucks. ? Wire Cable, Boilers Tanks, Stacks, Etc. Ventilators, Grating, Etc. Lombard Iron Works & Supply Co y GEORGIA Ford Supplies and Repai '? in Slock. sider. Thirty cents will not pay the in landowner or tenant on the very re- j strieted acreage that must be planted jn this year. It will give the tenant jt( , farmer producing a bale t<? the acre js jon ten. acres only a little over 81.50 >n per dav for the support of his family L i jor about half of this if ne makes a ^ 1 normal yield of one-half bale pel* , j, 'acre. ii, ! A few weeks ago the writer was :s talking with a banker from West j, ; Virginia who told him that he had 1 'just o. k'd. a payroll for a small coal I mine and that the average daily pay : of the laborers was over ."517.40 per ; juay, remarking that these laborers ; - - ' I were working six Hours per u ay out; thai they were only employed 60 per; I cent, of their time on account ol car ; shortage. 1 have other evidence to j show that the coal miners are receiv- J ing at least ten times as much as the j ! t cotton laborers who are also paid far I i i i less than the laborers in the West- ! jern wheat farms or in the mills of any section of the country. i i i l"nfairness to Farmer. / Every interest i/i the cotton trade ; should recognize the terrible unfairness of this situation and should re-! .fuse to consent to its continuance. ! Every Southern interest is bending j its energies to restore and maintain!; II a price basis for our money crop ; which will allow something besides a dreary and miserable existence? i j that will allow us to build and main- i I tain schools, churches, roads and oth- | er facilities necessary to the main- ! ! tenance of a decent civilization. Hank- ; crs. merchants, and professional men j are cooperating heartily with the j farmers to protect the be.sic industry | of the South. This is not enough, j "however. The whole country is af- \ fected by* the condition of every sec- ! ! 11" t1w? SJonrh is: stvifkf'n with ! po\ erty its laborers will flock to the j * % I ,-ities of the North and West and in tensify their race and labor prob- J lems. if the Southern larm can not j meet expanses for a Ions period the I resulting: financial chaos will affect \ all the money and trade centers of j .the country. If we do not receive i sufficient money returns to support j 'a decent civilization, the eiviliza- j tion of all sections will be affected. j ! Large classes in the South have j except for brief periods, struggled j !along ever since the Confederate war j Jin poverty so abject that decent food i and clothes could not be obtained, j During the periods when cotton sold J for 4 1-2 cents to 8 cents many fami- j lies had to live on 25 cents per day or i less and right now the prospect for I C I r ' I We have in s II eryFORDTc I and Roadster! while there is Our Repair ped to handle I large or how I onl> genuine I Every! I 1 I DuPRE AUTO CO., Colom - - !1 ianv is no better than then. i The understanding sympathy of the at ion can not prevent terrific losses ! i? the South nor remove the neccs- ! ity for acreage reduction and other j iensures necessary to equalize the } upply of the staple with the d? maud. ] . nationwide and understanding sym- I athy. however, can and will make j : easier for us to get the financial 1 upport necessary t?. tide over the j resent emergency and will protect1 KaIIpv. Amiy We are agents in the famous Kellej Come in and let us points to you. T ones. Our repair department handle any size job on d make that old car run like Acce.' Full line of Accessories ROAD 2 Bouknigl PROMPT Telephone 160 oTd nediate D itock for imm curing Cars, Sei s. Give us yoi ; no waiting. Department is 5 your work, n< small the job i Ford parts are hing for fori -exmgton, S. C bia, S. C. CALHOUN AUTO SALES 1AFFNEY MOTOR CO., Gaffney, S. C lis from the reerection of barriers to 5.^?foreign trade without which the cot-:?W;0:{ ton farm can never thrive. Don't court trouble. Court 'yourp.^4'4 wife instead.? Sjirinjrdale (\Vash.^rV^f^ Reformer. _ Sr '* : Love comes like :t cobweb floating: in the breeze?and leaves like a piano mover falling: down stairs.?Wellington (Kans.) News. . gfield res V this territory for ^-Springfield tires. 5 explain the good here are no bad M is ready at ail times to iny make of car. Let us new. rs| isones m >, Tubes, Oils, Greases SERVICE l8 lit Bros., 1 SERVICE IP Lexington, S. C. fl ____________ ' - -.Mi 'elivery ediate delivdans, Coupes nr order now . ; fully equip3 matter how may be, and used. d Cars o Co. CO., St. Matthews, S. C. i