PROCEEDINGS OF THE BOLL WEEVIL CONVENTION. 79 



reason to belie vfe that we could do so, I would be willing to spend that 

 amount without hesitation. 



I want to say that in the State of Texas, where I have been traveling 

 to a limited extent, I do not care what other people may tell you, but I say 

 that some of the best farmers are leaving their beautiful farms and their 

 homes, and moving on to other sections where the boll weevil does not 

 exist. I am informed, and I want to say that I am a farmer as well as 

 a lawyer, that in the State of Texas these cultural methods can only be 

 adopted by the white people. A man living in the great alluvial section 

 told me about a man with a plantation of five thousand acres, employ- 

 ing some 500 Scandinavians. Now, you can only adopt these methods, 

 when you have white farmers in your State, which I hope we will soon 

 have, to replaqe every one of these negroes, and adopt these modern 

 methods. 



Now, gentlemen, this is not a local question. It is not a question that 

 concerns the State of Louisiana any more than it does the other cotton 

 States of the Union. By virtue of our geographical position, we occupy 

 a position on the border line, I might say, of this pest, at the present time ; 

 but it is only a question of a short time when this pest, if not checked, will 

 have invaded every other cotton State in the Union. It is not only a 

 Southern question, but it is a national question. If ever we should go out 

 of the cultivation of cotton, if we should go into the production of grain, 

 we would have to come into competition with the people of the West and 

 the North ; who now produce grain enough to supply the demands of the 

 whole country and more besides. It is a national question. It has passed 

 beyond all local bounds. We read in the papers that in some of the 

 Northeastern section, the mills are being closed, and thousands of people 

 have gone out of employment. Therefore, it is not only a national ques- 

 tion, but it is an international one, and the whole civilized world have 

 their eyes upon us, to see whether we have the manhood and the intelli- 

 gence to grapple with this proposition. 



I want to say this, in closing. I believe that every man in this Con- 

 vention should put his shoulders to the wheel, and give to the men in this 

 State who have its welfare at heart and to the Chief Executive who re- 

 paired from his home to come here, their active co-operation and support. 

 Not only the prosperity of the planters, but the prosperity of the cities, 

 and the towns, depends upon the action which shall be taken by this Con- 

 vention. If you permit those great alluvial fields of cotton to be destroyed, 

 if you allow all these beautiful homes to be abandoned, and confess to the 

 world your inability, to combat with this problem, there is not a man, 

 woman or child in the State of Louisiana, or in the South, or in the 

 nation, which will not be seriously affected by it. But if you put your 

 shoulders to the wheel, and give to the State authorities your earnest, in- 



