302 HUMAN FACTORS IN COTTON CULTURE 



The subject, now dead, was by profession a doctor, but 

 having lost one leg during the Civil War at Fort Sumter at 

 that time just out of medical college never again practised. 

 Heir to a large estate, he thereafter devoted himself to farm- 

 ing. Being a student, theory came easy and economic specu- 

 lation resulted. Year by year he calculated the number of 

 bolls to the stalk, the number of stalks to the row, the num- 

 ber of rows to the field; the number of pounds to the acre, 

 dollars to the plow, and notes to the bank. And year by year 

 the bank curtailed his labors. Though his energies never 

 flagged, he was little by little transformed from a man of 

 large holdings to a man of encyclopaedic knowledge in all 

 branches of the cotton industry. He could tell at a glance 

 how many hands high a horse was or the number of pounds 

 of fertilizer that produced a given basket of iurnips. An 

 optimist to the end, he died a few years ago an object of 

 charity and derision. 



A rising market in cotton, such as prevailed during the 

 World War, enables cotton dealers to extend their opera- 

 tions to other fields and thus tends to spread the specula- 

 tive risks of cotton over wider areas of business. The 

 following case shows speculative attitudes in the dealings 

 of a combined cotton merchant, farmer, banker, and Ford 

 dealer : 



The subject for many years was content to operate as a 

 station buyer of cotton in a small town. The ebb and flow of 

 luck was satisfactory and furnished a living for himself and 

 family. Finally, in middle life, he came upon the scene of 

 inflation caused by the World War and in a bull market, ex- 

 panded with astounding favorable results. He established 

 branch offices for his cotton firm, and then took on a small- 

 town bank. Money flowed in. He bought farms. Cotton sold 

 for 40 cents. He associated himself with Mr. Ford and shared 

 the prosperity of that King of the Road. Finally, he ex- 



