CHAPTER V. 
A 25,000,000 BALE CROP: WILL THE SOUTH BE 
READY WHEN THE WORLD DEMANDS IT? 
Thirty years ago the South grew only 4,000,000 
bales of cotton; twenty years ago 6,000,000 bales; 
ten years ago, 8,000,000 bales; the last three crops 
have averaged more than 11,000,000. 
And the end is not yet. Cotton is not only sup- 
planting other fabrics (we have seen how rapidly 
wool production is decreasing), but the demand for 
the great Southern staple is increasing as a result 
of the constant raising of our standards of living 
and of comfort, and as a result of the advance of 
civilization among peoples heretofore barbarous. 
The time will soon have passed when “the lady in 
middle Africa may cavalierly inform the agent of 
the American cotton mill that clothes are of doubt- 
ful propriety amongst the aristocracy of the Con- 
go Valley anyhow.” 
THE WORLD WILL DEMAND 42,000,000 BALES 
“It is estimated,” says the United States Depart- 
ment of Agriculture, “ that of the world’s popula- 
tion of 1,500,000,000, about 500,000,000 regularly 
wear clothes, about 750,000,000 are partially 
(42) 
