The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1895-08-28
COMMERCIAL MOUNTEBANKS.
Numbering Material Prosperity and Pau
perizing the People.

ton Growers Protective Association,
cognizant of the great wrongs that has
been perpetrated upon the masses of
my fellow farmers, the cotton growers
of the South, it becomes my duty, as
far as my limited ability extends, to
warn you of the dangers that environ
you and the devices and plans that are
being laid by cunning and unscrupu
lous men to rob you Of your honest
toll to further impoverish you and to
enhance the discord and dissatisfaction
that is now dominant in the heart Of
the fact that there is something radio
ally wrong in your systems. No long
er is the product Of honest toll ade-
quate TO our subsistence, and no long
er is the production of an article any
standard of its valuation; and the law
of supply and demand has been dis
placed and in its stead intervenes the
results attained by the Commercial
mountebank," )" the most insidious and
merciless of which is he that with a
tongue of an Ananias and the heart Of
a malta is numbering the material
prosperity of our country and making
paupers of our people, | refer to that
man who wears deservedly the name
of ''Bear"-he that of false prophecy
and wilful misrepresentation robs US
of our substance, imperils our posteri-
ty and leaves us nothing but poverty
in our homes and hatred in our hearts.
The warning note has been sounded;
let forewarned be forewarned. That
there is a Systematized movement to
depress the value of our staple this
season is patent to all intelligent men,
and it rests with the planter of the
South, individually, as to whether he
will submit to thus be sheared again
like sheep, as he was last season. The
time has arrived for heroic action.
The alternative is to either renounce
the growing of cotton entirely as
profitable crop or to take up arms
against a sea Of troubles, and by op-
posing end them. 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 price
before a decline. This action upon the
part of the farmers will accomplish
the intention of manipulators of the
market, and is to be deprecated as sui
cidal to their interests.
The crop ought to bring fair values,
should be judicicusly distributed over
the selling season without allowing
the deliveries to be too great at any
time. And I advise that all farmers
that can do so, without violating a
contract, should market their crop as
slowly as they can, or at ratio of
one-third less than last season; the
equilibrium will be thus fairly retain
ed and we will come much nearer re-
ceiving the commercial value of our
product.
It will be remembered by many that
previous to our civil war, on account
of the lack of transportation facilities,
it required from seven to nine months
to market the cotton crop We now
sell the bulk of it within three or four
months, thus congesting the market,
making competitors Of ourselves in
the mad rush to get rid of our pro-
duct; while, upon the other hand, a
judicious and gradual distribution of
the same over greater period of
months would be conducive to compe-
tition between the manufacturers, who
are obliged to have our material, and
they running after us to buy our pro-
duct, instead Of our having to run af-
ter them to sell it to them.
And l desire to impress upon the
cotton growers the imperative necessi-
ty of organization for the accomplish
ment of this purpose, and all instru-
nentalities should be engaged in the
achievement of this consummation de-
voutly to be wished. Doubtless this
endeavor will meet with strenuous op-
position at the hand of those who
reckless]y speculate upon the labor OF
the farmer of the South. He would
be offered little more than the mark
ct price to bring in his crop. The ar
gument of risk of fire, loss in weights,
etc. would follow, with the usual de-
nunciation of advice; but implore
you, for the sake of your families rem
Gered destitute by these despoilers and
for the love you bear for our Sunny
Southland for all that is sacred to
our hearts and to our homes, to resist
this current that is insidiously, day by
Gay, drawing us into a vortex Of pow
erty and shame and depraving our
manhood and increasing crime.
There never was a more cruel and
relentless war waged upon the people
than upon the South by England and
her emissaries and Tory allies, reduc-
ing her people from aitluance to the
pittance of ten cents a day for their
labor, which cotton at five cents per
pound means.
Mr.. H. NJ. Neill, in his statement a
few days since, reports decrease IN
the Texas crop of only five per cent.
and an entire crop Of between eight
and nine million. I challenge Mr.
Neill to substantiate his statement IN
any legitimate evidence. he can never
w u d1O VII 81 ooN IL III iiio'otJ 90
wilder guesser and reckless statlstl-
clan. have made tour Of the cotton
belt of Texas, and after careful lnves-
tigation am prepared to raise my
former estimate of sixteen per cent. to
twenty-five per cent. decrease in acre
age.
/ find about two and a half per cent.
of cotton land abandoned. worms IN
some sections doing considerable dam,
age, and great injury in a large and
most productive portion by rain. The
crop is three weeks late and drought
still continues. l advise farmers to
move their crops to market just as
slowly as possible, and not allow
themselves to Le terroriZed to hurried
ly rushing their cotton to market in
few months, but to hold back what
there is and thereby realize handsome
results by a judicious distribution.
HECTOR d. LANE.