6i] THE INFLUENCE OF THE CREDIT SYSTEM 6 1 



The third great influence that has worked for the bet- 

 terment of the farmers has come through the higher 

 prices that have obtained in the cotton market since 

 1898. It was inevitable that this change should come 

 unless far-reaching economies had been devised in the 

 production of the staple. For there can be no doubt but 

 that for several years in the nineties much of the cotton 

 was sold for less than the cost of production. It does 

 not require any very acute analysis to show that this 

 condition could not last long, nor is it any more difficult 

 to see that it was necessary for the change to be wrought 

 out through the action of self-interest in the individual 

 farmer. The world did not have too much cotton, it 

 cannot have too much, but the farmer had produced too 

 much, and he may do so again too. 



During the past half-dozen years cotton has brought 

 over twenty-five per cent more per pound than in the 

 preceding half-dozen years. This has enabled most of 

 the farmers in the state to cancel all debts. These higher 

 prices have redounded to the benefit of the tenants and 

 croppers, as well as to the independence of the land- 

 lords. It is perhaps true that these farmers are now 

 (1904) at or near the top of a peak of prosperity, and 

 that just ahead is a valley, but one not so dark and 

 gloomy as that out of which they have come in recent 

 years. The sixth chapter undertakes to point out the 

 highways along which fundamental economic law is 

 destined to lead the farmers of the state. 



whether white or black, would rise any hour in the night and go 

 through any sort of weather to the nearest town (seven miles away) in 

 order to serve the man who thus plans so unselfishly for his well-being; 

 and he would do this without expecting any specific reward for the par- 

 ticular errand. 



