The Greenville enterprise. [volume] (Greenville, S.C.) 1870-1873, 1872-07-24
FARM AND HOME.
shall We Sell at own, Price Of that
,,Bhsa. Of the Buyerf 7 ss.g

roouceu. py the labor OF the tar
mer, "ltsh O. anomaly exists o f
the buyer coming into = market,
and setting his own price for the
commodity he wants.lsiH He is him
self The collector of information
concerning the crops Of the world,
and this information is easily
tinged to suit his purposes ! By a
simple and oft-repeatcd process of
over-estimating crops, prices are
kept low until the products are,
out of the hands Of the farmer,
who then, can reap, no profit from
the rise which so often takes place
just too late to benefit the pro.
ducer." 1t is calculated that tho
cotton planters of the South alone
have lost, in thirty. four years, by
this system of over-estimating
crops, the value of one and, three
fourths of an average crop, and
$375,000,000 in the last six years
alone, by fluctuations in prices
which could not take place were
the seller as we'll informed as the
buyer in regard to the amount of
the crop. a'a. ..~s na .r .rma
Mr.. Pope Barrow, in the South.
ern Farm and Home, has collect
ed statistics of prices from which
he deduces the fact that from
1867 to the present time, enid
ding cotton in Georgia markets
has averaged nearly as follows:
Three winter months 10 Sc
Three Summer months "a $40
Thus, it will be seen that
those gentlemen who have earned
a livelihood by purchasing cotton
from US during the winter, and
selling the same the following
summer, have, upon the whole,
made a very handsome thing of
it. 1t becomes us now, after this
exhibition of comparative prices
of American cotton, to give this
matter a careful consideration
Ono thing is certain-,hat is, the
cotton planters will sell their cot
ton almost entirely in the fal. and
winter. BY the first day of March
in each year the crop of the pre-.
vious one will have passed out of
the hands of those who made it;
and if things are managed in the
future as they have been in the
past, the producer will continue to
lose the three or four cents per
pound. 1tis quite impossible for
us who grow cotton under the
present system in the South ever
to be able as a body to hold our
cotton over until the following
spring or summer, to wait for the
food-tide of prices. We are OBJ.
liged to sell during the winter
1t being impossible, therefore,
for us to go to the high prices,
they must be made to come to us,
after the time honored manner of
Mahomet and his mountain. If
we want those additional three and
a half cents to 60 into our pockets,
we must exercise the same energy,
intelligence, and good sense that
have been displayed by those who
have, heretofore pocketed it. The
key of the whole problem lies in
the superiority Of those aoho an.
nudlly buy tie crop Of american
cotton oVer the planters, IN point
Of statistical svormatioaa In re-
gard to 1t. 1t is they who keep
the books Of the business it
is they who count the bales,
who add up the columns OF rec
ceipts it is they, in short, who
know ali that is known upon the
subject, and we have seen that
they have made their knowledge
pay" aar .t .....-
Were the farmers organized (as
we hope to see them organized)
throughout the, country, and had
we the plan of Commodore Maury
for collecting and diffusing infor-
nation in regard to the crops of
the world, in full operation, we,
like the merchant, the mechanic,
the doctor and the lawyer, should
set our own prices for our own
wares and get them. We should
not 60 to our factor and humbly
beg him to do the best he can for
us, and take what he chooses to
give for our own cotton or our
rice, but we should leave him to
apply to us for the price, and buy
or not, as he might see fit. esd
With a Grange Of Patrons OF
Husbandry in every ncighbor+
hood, a universal system Of crop
reports and intelligent, united &C.
ton on the part Of the farmers,
we shall make our own prices, and
the buyer will have no choice but
to pay them. RatraL Caroliniaas
The Devcreux Brothers, assisted
by Mr.-W. Russell, Of the sash
and blind factory, completed, OH