Birmingham age-herald., 1895-08-13
5: HECTOR LANE ON COTTON, 4sl
 He Reahirms the Views Hereto .sel fore Expressed by Him MORE CONVINCED THAN EVER Says Plot Has Been Laid to Rob the aess sl Southern Planter. 4S. TO MIR. NElL'S PECULIAR METHODS. He Has Made "Millions for Manchester"
 at the Expense of the South-The
 Bibb Judgeship-A Lady's Bereavement.
: MORE CONVINCED THAN EVER
AS. TO MIR. NEIL's PECULIAR METHODS.

Montgomery, Aug 12.-(Special Corre- spondence. )-Hon. Hector D. Lane com- missioner of agriculture of Alabama and 5 president of the American Cotton Crow CTS Protective association. reached here this morning after trip through Texas. He was asked by the Age-Herald repre- sentative if his trip had convinced him of the soundness of the position he had 2 taken of the cotton crops estimates sent out by Statistician Neil.
 - certainly have,' responded MT. !. Lane. My trip has verified my belief in all particulars. There is no doubt now in my mind of the plans that have been laid to rob the southern cotton planter of the fruits of his honest toil There is nothing radically wrong in our system. No longer is the product of our soil ade- quate to our subsistence and no longer is the cost of the production of an article any standard of its valuation; and the law of supply and demand has been dis placed and in it's stead intervenes the re- suits attained by the commercial mountebank' the most insidious and merciless of whom is he, that with tongue of an Annanias and the heart of the Mafia, murdering the material pros perity of our country and making pau pers of our people.
 T refer to that man that wears deserv- edly the name of bear He, by false prophecy and wiful misrepresentation, robs the farmers of their subsistence, im- perils. our posterity and leaves us noth- ing but poverty in our homes and hatred in our hearts.
 ''The warning note has been sounded. Let 'forewarned be forearmed. That there is powerful and systematic move ment to again depress the value of our staple this season is patent to all intelli- gent men, and it rests with the planter of the south, individually, as to whether he will submit to be thus sheared again like a sheep, as he was last season. The time has arrived for heroic action. The alternative is left to either renounce the growing of cotton entirely as a profitable crop or to take up arms against sea of troubles, and, by opposing, thus end them
 a-False rumors of the immensity of the coming crop have already been widely and recklessly circulated to intimidate the farmers into rushing their crops upon the market, hoping to receive better prices before decline. Fhis action upon the part of the farmers will accomplish the intention of the manipulators of the market, and it is to be deprecated as suicidal to their interest The crop ought to bring fair values, and should be judi ciously distributed over the selling sea- son, without allowing the deliveries to be too great at any time. And I would advise that all farmers that can do so without violating contract should mar ket their crop as slowly as they can, or at a ratio of one-third less than last season. The equilibrium of prices will be thus fairly retained, and we will come much nearer receiving the commercial value of our product.
 'It will be remembered that previous 10 our civil war, on account of the lack of transportation facilities, it required from seven to nine months to market the cot ton crop. We now sell the bulk of it, three or four times the size in about three months, thus congesting the mar ket making competitors of ourselves in the mad rush to get rid of our product, while, upon the other hand, judicious, gradual distribution over a greater pc riod of months would be conducive to competition between the manufacturers, who are obliged to have our material, and they would be running after us to buy our product, instead of our having to run after them to sell it. /
 And I desire to impress upon the cot ton growers the imperative necessity of organization for the accomplishment of this purpose. Doubtless this endeavor will meet with strenuous opposition at the hands of those that recklessly specu- late upon the labor of the farmer of the south He would be offered little more than the market price to bring his crop
 
 in weights, would follow with the usual denunciation of advice, but implore the farmers for the sake of their families, rendered destitute by these despoilers, to resist this current that is insidiously drawing them into an impoverished con- dition of shame and depriving them of their manhood and increasing crime.
 ..There never was a more cruel and re- lentless war waged upon the people tnan upon the south by England and her emissaries and allies. reducing her people from affiuence to the pittance of 10 cents a day for their labor, which cotton at 5 cents per pound means.
 "Mr. H. M. Neil. one of her majesty's subjects some days since issued an edict, which has since been characterized by his foreign brothers as an impartial ex- pose of the cotton situation, intimating thus that all others are liars and that he is the pretty boy.
 q faii to see the fairness in this state ment and its implication. impartial ex- pose Why should not MT. Neil be more impartial than others? It is well-known fact that he is a speculative gambler of the bear persuation at present. and that he is fitting the shoe to his own foot; and if his own words go for any thing, and they seem to go Especially with his English confreres), he is quoted by reliable parties as saying, when up- braided for the damage that he was inf1icting upon the south, that he had the satisfactiop of knowing that he had made millions for Manchester thus add ing insult to injury Millions of s1ollars byffacetious methods, making the rich richer and the poor poorer. There are none so blind as those that will not see.'
 Liverpool and Manchester do not in- tend to see any other figures than those fabrications by their own people. MT. Nell reports decrease of acreage in Tex as of only per cent and an entire crop of between S,O00,000 and 9000,000 And in the face of this Is it not little para doxical that Neil Bros. should advise spinners not to be in too great hurry to make large purchases, which would