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.” 
