INTRODUCTION: HAIL, THE KING! 
“Cotton—what a royal plant it is!” Henry 
Grady once exclaimed: “The world waits in at- 
tendance on its growth; the shower that falls whis- 
pering on its leaves is heard around the earth; the 
sun that shines on it is tempered by the prayers of 
all the people; the frost that chills it and the dew 
that descends from the stars are noted, and the tres- 
pass of a little worm upon its green leaf is more to 
England than the advance of the Russian army on 
her Asian outposts. It is gold from the instant it 
puts forth its tiny shoot. Its fibre is current in 
every bank and when, loosing its fleeces to the sun, 
it floats a sunny banner that glorifies the fields of 
the humble farmer, that man is marshaled under a 
flag that will compel the allegiance of the world and 
wring a subsidy from every nation on earth.” 
THE ONE CROP FOR WHICH NATURE HAS NO 
SUBSTITUTE 
And in this flight of eloquence the Georgia ora- 
tor did not overestimate the importance of the 
South’s great staple crop. We do not exaggerate 
when we claim that no other plant in all the vege- 
table kingdom is of so much importance to the hu- 
man race. Destroy any fruit plant in the world, 
and men would grow other fruits. Let any lumber 
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