TABLE C.

CREDIT AND CASH PRICES COMPARED FOR 2,005 PERSONS. DIFFERENCE 25 PER CENT. GAINS ON A CASH BASIS FOR ONE, TEN, AND TWENTY YEARS.

This calculation is based on an average sale of 10,000 bales of cotton, at an average price of ten cents per pound for a period of twenty years. The figures of this table deserve to be studied by thoughtful men. Calmly, and without bitterness, what lesson does this statement impress upon me, upon you, upon the merchant, upon the farmer, in its bearing upon the duty of to-day as seen by the sad experience of yesterday? Ten thousand bales of cotton at 10 cents a pound are worth $450,000. In these twenty years, cotton ranged in price from 18 to 7 cents. The average 10 cents will hardly be regarded as too large. Two years' selfdenial to the value of one-third of the supplies bought, would have brought the people to a cash

basis. In twenty years, 2,005 persons, farmers, would have saved on this basis $2,105,000. This is a large sum. This is more than the valuation of all the property, real and personal, of many a firstclass county in the Southern States. What more? It is probable that these 2,005 farmers are in debt to the full value of $200,000 to-day. What more? Vast bodies of land have passed out of their possession.

Is this a local representation confined to some one section? Is it not typical of the various communities of the cotton-growing States? If there is any force in evidence, such is the case. Variations there may be, and no doubt there are; but the ruinous credit policy has depressed and burdened the farming people of all the Southern States.

Mr. Joseph Baxendale, of England, placed in his warehouses and places of business various maxims as instructive reminders of valuable truths in practical life. Being a humane and considerate man, he never lost sight of the interest and well-being of those in his employment. Some of these pithy sayings were "Never despair," "Time lost can not be regained," "Let industry, temperance, and economy be the habits of your lives," "He who spends all he gets is on the way to beggary.'

If ever there was a cause urgently demanding the exemplification of the last maxim, it is to be found in the general financial status of the Southern farmers. Take the illustration of the 2,005 men. They have spent 28 cotton crops of 10,000 bales each, valued at $12,600,000. They have lost about

150,000 acres of land, and are pressed with an indebtedness of probably not less than $200,000.

Had the broad-minded, generous-hearted Baxendale been a merchant in our day, he would have advised heroic self-denial to those with whom he had dealings. One of his maxims was "Never to spend more than ninepence out of every shilling." Save one-fourth. There is hope in this plan. Again, he adds: "Upon industry and frugality our well-being depends." The counsel and disinterestedness of such a man would inspire confidence, and would soon bring about an era of good feeling and prosperity.

CHAPTER VII.

AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS.

"Most men work for the present, a few for the future.
The wise work for both."

EN Southern States are in arrears in food crops.

TEN

The ratio of supply between 1860 and 1880, 1860 and 1890, is not equal to the increase of population of these periods. In twenty years the whole population in these States increased 53 per cent.; in thirty years, 87 per cent. In the latter period the whites increased 93 per cent.; the blacks, 77 per cent. The negroes are laborers, and in 1860 they were all agricultural laborers. Skilled workmen are few. Their income comes under the heading of wages. Whether they rent farm land, or work on shares, or engage in other gainful pursuit, they are laborers, and their moneyed income must correspond to the kind of work they perform.

Whatever the grain product of these States was in 1860, the increase in twenty years should be 53 per cent., and, in thirty years, 87 per cent.

Two circumstances only can adjust this arrearage. First, that the excess of other than grain crops balanced the deficiency in moneyed valuation. Second, that a portion of the population of these States were engaged in other gainful industries, and that their

pecuniary income was equivalent to the loss sustained in grain. Another circumstance may be suggested that the consumption of grain was less than in former years.

In regard to the first circumstance, the evidence does not support any such conclusion. As to the second consideration, the manufacturing interests of the South displace but a comparatively small number from the farms. Railroads and sawmills, and industries of this kind may have displaced a few hundred thousand blacks. Whatever the displacement of negro labor from the farm may be from these causes, it has been more than offset by the large increase of white labor.

The inquiry deserving attention is, What are the facts in the arrearage of the grain crop in the South? The comparison is made with reference to Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas. The status of these States will be a fair criterion by which to judge the South. In any event, the aggregate deficiency of these States in grain will not be denied.

The following tables will show this condition. They were compiled from the reports of the Department of Agriculture. The first shows the yield of six grain crops in the ten States in 1860; the second. the yield of similar crops in 1889.