The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1894-11-07
TO OUR FARMERS.
AN URGENT APPEAL TO THEM TO
PROTECT THEMSELVES.


Mr.. Roddy, Of New York. Thinks fhs,
the Farmers, to Avert Ruio. Must Or.
Ean,Ee and Flight for Themselves Agsins,
Spectators.
COLUMBIA, S. c.. Nov. 1.-The fol.
lowing article from the pen of Mr..
Roddy, a New York broker, was pub.
lished in the State several days ago:
To the Editor Of The State:
Many of your readers may perhaps
disagree with me, but 1 wish to write
q few words to the thinking people
of the South and West. I verify be.
lieve that If something is not done to
bring about a change. spectators,
capitalists, trusts and cliques will 80
far depress the products Of the farm.
ers and the laboriRg men that anarchy
will be inevitable. When clique of
capitalists, with their power and in
fuence. can combine and 80 depress
the prices of the products of the South
and West as to cost the growers of
these products millions Of dollars each
year, and practically starye the labor
ing class, and cripple the interests of
these sections, it Is high time to stop
and think. Many who have a COM
Portable living are satisfied to quietly
sit and say something is worng. but
We do not know what it Is, and many
do not care, but you had better think
and act too, or your country can
never have any hope Of prosperity and
peace. The capitalists or cliques prac.
tically control the Liverpool, New
York and New Orleans exchanges, as
we'll as the Chicago board Of trade,
and grind the money out Of any who
may oppose them, and yet they talk
of hard times and say poor business
Is the canse of the depression In
prices of the products, whereas the
very fact that they have depressed
these pric,s is the cause Of poor busi.
ness, for as long as the farmer or pro.
ducer receives barely living for his
labor and products how can business
be anything but poor. Some claim
the laborer Is ignorant, has no educa.
tion and receives as much as he should
when In fact these same people 80 far
depress his products as to place him in
actual want and to deprive him of the
advantage Of buying newspapers,
books and literature, and of sending
his children to school for an education.
How can he keep up with the times
I see no hope for you as long as clique
has the right legally to sell more cot
ton, corn or wheat than you may
raise without owning or expecting to
own what they sell. 1t forces you to
sell your products at whatever prices
they may fix. These people depend al.
most entirely upon you for their food
and clothing and yet do not seem to
care how many suffer by their depres5.
ing prices Of products.
Legitimate supply and demand con-
troll prices, but a false supply kills, to
an extent, the demand. For instance,
Mr.. Ellison, who is considered authort-
ty on cotton, estimated the demand for
American cotton at $500, ,0O0-the crop
proved to be Z, SOC, ,O00-but did not the
CLIQUE continue to hammer the price,
and of course check the demand; Sup
pose the price had been higher, would
not the demand have been greater;
Will Liverpool or New England mills
buy cotton freely when they expect
prices to be carried lower, or'what pre-.
vents Liverpool and Nov England
buyers from joining In and helping to
depress prices In order that they may
get your spot cotton cheaper2 The
majority of you sell your crob as soon
as gathered at whatever price the ex-
changes may fix and they know it,
In other words you are absolutely
governed by the exchanges, even II the
price 20 to two cents.
You are blessed by Providence IN
being In the only section that can raise
corn, cotton aad wheat, and should
have something to say regarding the
price and yet you are powerlsss. Sup.
pose spinners had to send buyers to
you with instructions not based on ex-
change prices, you might have some
thing to say as regards prices as tneY
have when you come to make your
purchases, but they compel you to jake
TO so-called established price or thsy
buy from one who Is forced to sell GA
of his poverty. You see oy
the papers Lna5 exchange price are de-
clining, going lower and 10 Wer, and
koowIng that you are In debt, possibly
for supplies and 81 fotCh, you rush
your cotton to market, pslhaps, afGer
Uelng notified or your debt by tae mer.
chants, at Whatever price buyels may
dictate or allow you. Spot buyers an
tlclpate your sales on their purchases
and sell on exchanges thus depressing
prices and helping Gne bears. Tne ex
changes are a great benefit to the spin-
ners, they never give themselves one
minutes anessineSS about getting their
know that as long as the
exchanges fix price, no matter how
low, you will have to take 1t under the
present conditions. There are probably
over q million bales sold and bought
by speculators for every thousand
bales of spot cotton delivered on con-
tract and yet some claim the exchanges
are necessary IN order to get rid of
spot cotton; does it look natural that
more than ten hundred thousand bales
of cotton should De traded in to decide
the price Of thousand bales actual
cotton? When any one with one
thousand dollars can sell the crop of
one hundred planters, probably repre-
senting the interest and affecting
thousand souls, to say the least, 1t is
placing a small valuation on your
labor.
These speculatiors and capitalists
would not sell cotton 80 freely If they
had to risk buying the actual cotton,
but the exchanges establish price and
they know they need not fear of your
not selling at exchange prices. One
advantage the bears have is that If any
one have q contract for certain
month, the bear or person who has
sold has the privilege Of offering to