5OO COTTON 



afford the necessary capital outlay, even if it would pay 

 to invest so much capital on a small holding. As a matter 

 of fact, most of the smallholders are only able to make 

 ends meet at all under present conditions, because they 

 are able to have the greater part of the farm work done 

 by themselves or their families. If they were compelled 

 to pay market rates for all the labour the crop requires 

 they would soon be faced with bankruptcy. Last year, 

 for example, the planter from whom the figures above 

 quoted were obtained had a yield of only about one-third 

 of a bale per acre, and, in spite of the high level of prices, 

 a considerable portion of his crop, owing to its bad 

 condition, fetched only 6 cents per Ib. Under such con- 

 ditions the life of the planter is simply economic slavery; 

 he is only making a living out of his family. The idea 

 which is very prevalent in this country, that, at present 

 prices, cotton growing must be a very profitable business, 

 is about as far from the truth as it could be, so far as 

 America, or at least Texas, is concerned. 



Making every possible allowance for the traditional 

 grumbling propensity of the farmer these facts present 

 a situation which calls for serious consideration. It 

 means that under present conditions there must be a large 

 proportion of the small growers who are working below 

 the margin of profitable cultivation. This may be all 

 very well for the negro planter, with his large family of 

 small children, whose cost of subsistence is very low, and 

 may be covered by the equivalent of one man's wage; 

 but it will not do for the smaller white planters of, say, 

 50 to 150 acres, who now form a considerable proportion 

 of the cotton growers in Texas, and who under better 

 conditions might have been the hope of the cotton-grow- 

 ing industry. Something must be done if these men are 

 to remain in the trade or others tempted to join them. It 

 must be remembered that Texas and Oklahoma alone 

 account for 75 per cent, of the net increase of area of the 

 last ten years, and it is to them we must look chiefly for 

 further extension. 



Unfortunately, it is easier to point out the remedy than 

 to secure its enforcement. There is no immediate 

 prospect of any solution of the labour difficulty, for the 

 supply of additional labour by immigration is swallowed 



