HOW THE COTTON FARMER LIVES 211 



The phrase "fantastic ideas" was widely quoted in the 

 South and brought forth a storm of rebuke. 



A report of C. P. Ellis and Company, 11 cotton buyers 

 of New Orleans, Louisiana, issued in the summer of 1919, 

 commented on the high cost of cotton production shown 

 by government surveys as follows : "It is well known 

 that the great bulk of the cotton crop is raised by the 

 small farmer, whose wife and children constitute his only 

 help ; hence, all these ridiculous estimates of cost of pro- 

 duction are unworthy of consideration." 



The lack of economic value implied to the help of the 

 farmer's family, together with the brusqueness of the 

 statement, caused it to meet with strong editorial pro- 

 test. One paper spoke of the "enemies within." In this 

 connection President Bradford Knapp of Oklahoma 

 A. and M. College, made the following comment : "I know 

 the world wants cheap cotton to clothe its nakedness, 

 but may God forgive the man who wants it at the price 

 of the labor of women and children in the field." 



Those closer to the culture are often found prone to 

 indignation over the living conditions of the human fac- 

 tors in cotton. A North Carolina pamphleteer in the 

 1880's views the standard of living in terms of popu- 

 lation renewals : 



Any person starting from Nag's Head the extreme East 

 and traversing the state to Paint Rock, in the West would 

 be constrained at every step as he viewed the farms around 

 him to exclaim: "My God, how do these people live!" 



Nature intended every man to be the father of four or 

 five children, at least; but how is he to support them, at 

 the present price of provisions in North Carolina? Cotton 



11 Loc. cit. 12 Loc. cit. 



