34 COTTON 



out by the British Government to investigate the 

 cotton-growing possibilities of East Africa; and 

 with this parting shot we shall drop the question of 

 possible foreign _ competition with the Southern 

 States: 



"All efforts to raise cotton successfully elsewhere 

 than in the Southern part of the United States have 

 failed. This is the home of the cotton plant, and if 

 it will grow and fruit elsewhere to the extent that 

 the staple have a substantial commercial value, the 

 fact is yet to be demonstrated. It was experi- 

 mented with under different suns during and after 

 the American Civil War, and all the experiments 

 failed. Providence has given the Southern farmer a 

 monopoly of the indispensable cotton crop, and he 

 need not take fright when the price soars and there 

 are heard threats of turning Africa, Egypt or other 

 countries into cotton fields and making them furnish 

 the world's supply," 



