Rensselaer Union, Volume 6, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 February 1874 — A MEMORIAL. [ARTICLE]

A MEMORIAL.

A. memorial to the Patrons of Husbandry in the Cotton States. was also presented and unanimously adopted. It is an argument in favor of mixed husbandry in the South, instead of expending the energies of the people in raising a single crop. It says: During the past seven years ourcotton fields have added to the wealth of the world $2,000,000,000, and caused prosperity to smile upon every one who has handled our crops, save those who struggled for their production. Annually the energies of the cdtton-planters have been exhausted in attempting to produce a maximum crop of a single staple, whilst quite as frequently he has reduced his means In supplying hlB necessary wants. A system based upon such a policy and producing such results must be radically wrong, and, if persisted in, will lead to bankruptcy and ruin. No people can ever become prosperous who are not self-sustaining. Our fertile soil, exhaustless mineral wealth, abundant water-power, and genial, salubrious climate avail us nothing if annually wc expend millions for subsistence. It is generally considered that home-grown bread is cheaper I than purchased supplies, and the observation of every planter is that those Southern farmers who live within themselves are more indeSendent and less encumbered with debt than lose who have relied solely Upon the cotton crop. Were it otherwise it is hazardous for any people to rely upon others for a supplv of those articles which are necessary for their daily consumption. It then refers to famine, which more than once occurred in India, Owing to the efforts of the people to grow cotton to the exclusion of breadstuff?, and adds: During the past year sections of lowa, Minnesota and Dakota have been invaded by grasshoppers, which destroyed every vestige of vegetation. Imagine your condition should a similar Invasion become general in the Northwest. Coupled with this idea, the total failure of a cotton crop, either from the worm, from drought, or any other unavoidable cause, improbable as such visitation may appear, have we the power to prevent them, and is it wise to subject ourselves to the possibility of becoming the victims of such calamities? Our wisest and safest policy is, as far as practicable, to produce at home our necessary supplies. Is there a farm in the South upon which this cannot be done, and at the same time produce an average cotton crop ? What is the net result of the farmers’ annual labors? We believe there are annually 4,000,000 bales of cotton produced upon Southern soil; but what proportion of this vast amount is returned to indicate our prosperity? One-half of it is expended for necessary supplies, whilst the remainder is divided between labor and taxes. Hence, the cost of production has exceeded the value of the article produced. Shall this policy continue? Extensive cotton crops have evinced our unity of purpose and entailed poverty upon us, and equally unifoim adhesion to mixed husbandry would secure our recuperation. Cotton is a necessity, and the extent of that necessity can be calculated with exactneA If 3,500,000 bales are grown, they will be consumed before another crop can be gathered, and a remunerative market price will be sustained by the consequent demand. If 4,500,000 bales are grown, the large marginal excess will control and depress the market. Alternatives for success are numerous, but we need only rely upon the single one of cooperating in the determination to subsist at hojpe. With this end attained, there is no reason why we should not be the happiest, most independent and prosperous neople on earth. The memorial is signed by the Masters of State Granges of South and North Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Arkansas, Louisiana, Georgia and Tennessee, and was not only heartily approved by the Committee on Resolutions, but indorsed by every member of the National Grange.