The times and democrat. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1881-current, 1886-11-18
SEED COTTON THIEVES.
AN EVIL WHICH THE LAW SEEMS
.S UNABLE TO CURE.

a Question for the Lcgislature-Thc Seed
Cotton Thief no Worse than the Man
who Buys the Stolen Cotton-Prompt
and Vigorous Measures Needed.
Acorrespondent writing to the News
and Courier, from St. Matthews, ). e.,
under date Of November 9th, 1856,
writes as follows concerning the traffic
in seed cotton:
Ever since Farmer Tillman' declar-
ed himself to be the agricultural
Moses" and assumed the task Of lead
ing the over-burdened tillers of the soil
out Of the land of Pharaoh and his bur
densome task-masters, the agricultural
question has been especially prominent
before the public. Reduction in taxa
tion, the establishment of an agricul-
turaI college, the prices of fertilizers,
the oppressive system of the cotton
faet0rage business, &C., have been, from
time ito time, very forcibly brought 20
the attention of the public all going to
PROVE that the farmers Of our State are
beginning to awake to their interests
and are willing to embark in any enter
prise which promises to better their
Impoverished condition.
m:yiew Of the fact, I beg to bring to
the attention, not only Of the farmer,
butzof every citizen Interested in the
material welfare and prosperity OF this
State, matter beside which all others.
previously discussed, pale into insig-
nificance. | refer to the growing evil
ofsthe seed cotton traffic; it is essential
" acurse to the cotton planter. l think
itsafe to assert that ut least per cent.
of the cotton made by the honest far
mer is stolen and goes to fill the cot
ferst of these seed cotton buyers, who
open their shops at every road crossing
in the country about the 1st Of Sep
tenlber and offer Inducements to the
negroes on the surrounding plantations
to- steal all the cotton that they can.
This, plainly, is an enormous drain on
theindustry Of the country. Five per
cent. of the gross cotton production of
any planter will pay his taxes for at
least: two years, or buy 4 ton OF acid
phosphate for every plough ne runs.
But this is not the only loss incurred.
This seed cotton traffic increases the
priceS and heightenS the independence
Of The laborer. When the cotton field
begins to array itself in its robe of
snowy whiteness, the darlley draws the
robe of idle dignity about his shoulders
and says, give me fifty cents per hunred
Or,your cotton will remain unharTcst-
ed.y The farmer is forced to conccde to
this unreasonable demand, and then
tile probability is that he will lose Il
large percentage from waste, for What
negro will hurry himself to gather cot
ton. at fifty cents per hundred in the
daywhen he can gather it at night just
as easy, and by carrying it a half mile
to the nearest shop realize $3.50 per
MS IS not only ;aagrcat evil, but
growing evil. During the days Of
Radical rule in the State there was Il
great deal Of cotton stolen, but even then
it was confined to sections very near to
a town or village. Dating from 1876,
however, it had steadily increased, until
now it begins to assume alarming pro-
portions. Even the negroes are begin
ming to open shops. \ negro will com
mence with a capital of so, with which
he will purchase a meagre supply of
groceries, which he takes to the planta-
ton OH which he lives, and while the
planter sleeps and Sweetly dreams OF
brighter days that he will never see,
unless he stirs himself from the lethar-
gy into which he has fallen, these gro
ceries are exchanged for 500 or 600
pounds of his cotton.
Now, what the people Of this COM
munity wish to know is why is this
condition Of affairs allowed to exist:
Is the laWmaking power of the land
important to protect us from this SyS-
tenn Of plunder? Is the midnight cot
ton thief and his accessory, the mid
night cotton buyer, entitled to more
consideration at the hands of the law
than the honest, Woodworking farmer?
The people Of this community say en-
phatically no And unless some StrlE-
gent law is enacted ut the next session
of the Legislature to put down this
iniquitous traffic, our representatives
will not carry into effect the wishes OF
their constituents.
On the Sth OF last September the citi-
Zens of this place and the surrounding
country held Il meeting for the purpose
of considering some plan to abatc this
evil. They formed an organization.
and went earnestly to work. The as
sociation now numbers nearly two hun
dred men. Every merchant in the
place stands pledged not to buy Il
pound of seed cotton, and there are ut
least two hundred square miles Of ter
ritory surrounding, on which there IS
not IL Seed-cOtt0n shop.
We feel highly gratilicd ut the result
attained, but are not fully satisfied. We
do not think it just that we should be
called upon to spend our time Ald
money to protect ourselves from rob-
berry when We pay taxes to support Il
Government for that purpose.
Preferred Burning to Hanging.
ST. LOUIS, November PA special
from Scdalia. Mo-, says: Charles llud-
son, colorcd. who plead guilty OF incest
at the Criminal Court on Wednesday.
attempted to commit suicide Yesterday
morning. He saturated his clothing,
and the bed upon which he was lying