128 HUMAN FACTORS IN COTTON CULTURE 



of commodity depression during industrial prosperity is 1 

 the stupendous crop of 1926, 17,977,000 bales, possibly 

 the largest ever grown, which sold for 10.2 cents. The 

 result was to plunge the Cotton Belt into a period of 

 depression in spite of the fact that the business cycle 

 for the nation registered prosperity. "The cotton crop 

 of 1926," the President of the Georgia State Agricul- 

 tural College estimated, "will bring the farmers who 

 produce it $1,000,000,000 less than they needed in order 

 to break even or slightly better." l This loss "represents 

 $1,000,000,000 of frozen loans and unpaid bills which 

 cannot be liquidated." 



COMPETING COTTON AREAS 



Not only is production fluctuating, but cotton acreage 

 tends to increase in spite of falling prices. This addi- 

 tional hazard to the cotton producers results from the 

 competition between different cotton areas. It can be 

 shown that the Western Belt can produce cotton at a 

 profit while eastern farmers are growing the crop at a 

 loss. From 1919 to 1924 in a period of falling markets 

 in commodity crops, the wheat area decreased 22.2 mil- 

 lions of acres ; at the same time cotton increased 10.2 

 millions of acres. It is likely that there exists a surplus 

 of 10 million acres of cotton with no way of reducing 

 it except by abandoning farm land. At a time when the 

 cotton grower in the Gulf and Eastern Belts is likely 

 selling cotton under cost of production, acreage is being 

 increased in newly developed regions of western Texas, 

 western Oklahoma, and eastern New Mexico. 



31 Andrew M. Soule, "Problem of the Cotton-Growing Industry," 

 Commerce and Finance, Jan. 12, 1927, p. 109. 



