Plenty of good labor is an absolute necessity in growing cotton under boll weevil conditions. The tendency of newly infested districts is to neglect the laborer at the time when he needs support and encouragement. Thousands of families have moved out of a single county in one season to other cotton sections, while if they had been given a little encouragement to grow corn, grain, cowpeas, hogs, vegetables in his own garden, etc., he would have remained in the community where he is much needed.
The farmers, planters, merchants and bankers must unite and see to it that the laborers have the actual necessities of life. He should be encouraged to grow his home supplies, a little cotton, a few chickens and his own pork. This method would put farming on a basis which will eliminate and do away with the necessity of sending to the north and west for bacon, lard, mules, corn, hay and other supplies. By working together and keeping our laborers satisfied we will keep them in the community where they are needed to till the soil and help build up our farms.
The Debt Problem
When traveling in weevil territory, we meet farmers almost daily who are anxious to sell their farms at from one-third to one-fifth of their real value. The farmers tell us that they are in debt and will never be able to pay out. They say that the boll weevil has come to destroy their cotton—their sole cash crop.
Now these farmers are mistaken on two counts. First, cotton is not the only surplus money crop; second, the boll weevil does not prevent the growing of profitable crops of cotton in normal seasons. The cotton money is now used to pay for corn, bacon, lard, mules and hay. When the tenants and farmers all live at home and practice the most rigid economy, the cotton money will soon pay all debts.
Life on the farm is robbed of practically all of its pleasures as long as we pay fifty per cent credit profits and the creditor constantly knocks at the door. The only people who really suffer in periods of hard times are the men who are in debt; men who owe money and are often compelled to sacrifice their property to meet the imperative demands of their creditors. The farmer who is out of debt when the boll weevil comes and has an abundance of high class food supplies on his farm is not materially affected. Many of the cotton farmers who are in debt when the boll weevil comes lose their homes.
Labor Saving Implements
The following is an extract from an address delivered at Greenville, Miss., in the boll weevil territory, by Dr. S. A. Knapp, a man who did more for real genuine progress in the South than any other one man has ever done. “The farmer who uses modern machinery in planting and cultivating his crop will succeed, and the one who does not will make a failure. The old way of making a crop by hand by the use of the hoe and plow must soon be a thing of the past. We must come to use the modern implements and the sooner we let the negro understand that he must work his crop in this way, the better off we shall be.”
