The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1895-08-11
A WARNING SOUNDED
A THOUGHTFUL ADDRESS TO
THE COTTON GROWERS OF
THE SOUTH.
A PLEA FOR ORGANIZATION.

A PLEA FOR ORGANIZATION
The President of the American Cotton
Growers Association Thinks that
The Time Has Come for ActiOn--The
Alternative is Either to RenOunce
Cotton Growing Altogether or to Take
UP Arms Against Sea of Troubles
Advises Farm ers to Market Slowly.
GALVESTON, Tex, Aug. TO- The foi-
lowing was issued to-day.
''To the cotton growers of the South:
GAS President of the American Cotton
Growers Protective Association, cogniz
ant of the great wrong that has bee per
petrated 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 dan
gers that environ you and the devices
and plans that are being laid by
cunning and unscrupulous men to rob
you Eof your honest toll; to further
impoverish you and to enhance the dis
cord and dissatisfaction that's now dom
inant in the heart of agricultural classes
in a knowledge of the fact that there is
something radically wrong in our sys-
TENS. No longer is the product of hon
est toll adequate to our subsistence and
no longer is the cost of the production of
an article any standard of its valua-
ton; and the law of supply and demand
has been displaced and in its
stead, intervenes the results attained
by the commercial mountebank'
the most insidious and merciless of which
is he that with tongue of an Ananias
and the heart of the 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 subsistence, imperils our
prosperity and leaves us nothing 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 syste-
matized movement to again depress the
value of our staple this season is patent
to all intelligent men, and it rests with
the planter of the South, individually IS
to whether he will submit to thus he
sheared again like sheep as he was last
season. The time has arrived for heroic
action. The alternative is to
either renounce growing of cot
ton entirely as profitable crop
or to take up arms againsta sea of trou
bles and by opposing end them From
these, rumors of the immensity of the
coming C. op have already been widely
and reeklessly circulated to intimidate
the farmers iato rushing their crops
upon the market hoping to receive better
prices before decline. This action upon
the part of the farmers will accom-
plish the Intention of the manipulators
of the market and is to be deprecated
as suicidal to their interest. The
crop ought to bring tair values,
should be jadiciously distributed over
the selling season without allowing the
deliveries to be too great at any time.
And 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-thi d less
than last sea- on; the equilibrium of
prices will be thus ia r,y retained, and
we will come much nearer receiving the
commercial value of our prcd1ct.
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 N 1nths to
market the common cotton crop We
now sell the bulk of it, which is three CT
four times the size, in about three months,
thus congesting the market, making com
petitors of ourselves in the mad rush to
get rid of our product, while upon the
other hand jadicious gradual distribu
tion 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
their running after US to buy our pro-
duct instead of our having to run after
them to sell il to them.
''And / desire TO npress upon the
cotton growers the imperative necessity
of organization for the accomplishment
of this purpose, and all instrumentalities
should be engaged in the achievement of
this contamination devoutly to be wished
Doubtless this endeavor will meet with
strenuous opposition at the hands Of
those who recklessly speculate upon the
labor of the farmer of the South. He
would be offered a little more
than the market price to bring in
his crop. The argument Of risk of
fire, loss in weights, would follow with
the usual denunciation of advice, but
implore you for the sake of your families
rendered destitute by these despoiEers
and for the love you bear for our Sunny
Southland for all that is sacred to our
hearts aid to our homes to resist this
current that is insidiously, day by day,
drawing us into vortex OF poverty and
shame and depaving our manhood and
increasing crime.
There never was more cruel and
relentless war waged upon the people
than upon the South by England and
her emissaries and tory allies, reducing
her people from affiuence TO the pittance
of ten cents a day for their labor, whicn
cotton at fi7e cents per pound means.
HECTOR ID. LANE, Presidept t.