Birmingham age-herald., 1894-11-22
COMMISSIONER |. D. LANE Issues His Address to Southern
 Cotton Growers. AN EXHAUSTIVE PAPER In Which Sound Judgment Is ShoWn-Of Vast Importa nee
 to Farmers and Others.
EXHAUSTIVE PAPER

MONTGOMERY, Nov. 21.-Commissione
 Lane of Alabama has issued his address
 to the cotton growers of the south which
 was authorized by the late meeting of cot
 ton growers held in Montgomery. He says:
 "This convention was called by myself
 for the purpose of considering and devsng
 means through which southern cotton
 growers mighD protect themselves from tn @
 many and unfair devices used to depress
 the values of our chief staple, the present
 most prominent one being fictitious re-
 ports fabricated in the main cotton markets,
 sent out by cotton exchanges, and emanat- ing from the minds of men who make precarious living as the bears of the cotton market.''
 He then quotes largely from printed es- inmates sent out by interested parties as to
 the size of the present crop and shows by figures that it will not amount to anything like what Is claimed. He shows by the following statement the benefits to be de- rived from the producers coming together and acting in harmony:
 "Consequent upon the enormous crop produced Tn the season of 1891 92 a cotton convention was held in Memphis, under the auspices of the Mississippi Valley Cot ton Growers association, and its result, as was the result of the recent convention at Montgomery, was eminently satisfactory
  pose of this meeting was to take action towards the reduction of the cotton acreage. How well 1t succeeded In this effect history of cotton will bear us out. Decrease in acreage followed the ensuing
 seasons of '92 and '93 of 3,4j6, 439, an acreage that is larger than is planted In any one state, with the exception of Texas. HPursuaot to the Memphis cotton con-
 yention cotton advanced IF points in three days. Pursuant to the Montgomery meet ing cotton values advanced 27 points. Whether these two occurrences were CO., incidental, or whether they were caus seq directly or indirectly by these farmers ip 1 con wen ton assembled, it is for the counEy | to judge, but to my mind it is prac1R demonstration of a fact that the vlorat of the cotton market are as sensitive | responsive to the touch of a convention o~ practical farmers as they are to manlpuia' lions of metropolitan faklrs.
 'sThe dominating questions confronting l the farmers, first, is to refuse the 1niqul- l tous reports being sent out by unscrupu. ! lous persons and bearing down present , endeavor to again decrease the acreage by planting the same in and producing more nome consumption crops.
 ssOyer- production encourages and fosters manipulation, and 1t should De the enort l of every intelligent and patriotic citizen of | the south to enlist all the instrumentai1tles | available to resist this current that is in- sdiously day by day drifting us into this vortex of poverty and destltution, ana l | respectfully solicit the power of the press 1 and the kind cooperation of all those in | arrested in the material welfare of the south | for their assistance in the accomplishment | of this contamination so devoutly to be l wished.
 tThat the present low prices of cotton l are abnormal is plain to all thinking men l and certainly so if the well accepted rule of political economists applies, that the cost of I the production of an article Is fair stand- | erd of it's value.'
 UThere is less visible supply on hand | than for years. Mills have less on hand. | People have less clothes on account of the enforced economy Of hard times. Hrhe total visible supply of cotton fo the l world is 222, ,205 bales less than in 1893 and | 6o5, ,414 less than 1892.
 s'The currency and tariff questions are | virtually settled and all the indications at | present point to speedy return of general l prosperity, and cotton prices must naLur-
 five are of the opinion that after all this | matter can only be accomplished by inde-
 pendent individual action, stimulated by l intelligent argument, and shall under | take to prove that to a great extent It is the | over production of cotton in excess of it's l consumption that Is causing the falling oil | in values until it has reached that point
 which makes it less . than possible sa ,s to pc | He concludes his address by saying; ssThe convention at Montgomery adjourned | to meet at Jackson, Miss. on the second Wednesday in January, 1895, when and where we will endeavor to go into perma- 1 nent organization, under the name of the | Southern Cotton Growers Protective asso- | ciation. "The various governors of the states will | be requested to appoint four delegates from each congressional district and three from | the state at large. The commissioners of | agriculture were elected vice. presidents for l their respective states. l urge upon all | ment to attend the meeting at Jackson, as l it is question of the greatest importance