The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1895-03-19
wARNrNa COTTON anowERs.
A Deceptive Rise I'm the Great Staple
Helping to Increase tile Acreage.


ADecepfive Rise I'm the Great Staple
Helping to Increase tile Acreage.
10 the Cotton Growers OF tho South:
Hon. Hector ID. Lane, president o
the American Cotton Growers Protec
! tive Association, has issued the follow
ing address:
/ wish to call the attention of the
cotton growers to the strategic move
mont being made by cotton manipula
tors to delude them into the suicida
act OF planting again large acreage
In cotton. That uneasiness has beer
felt In Liverpool for some time in re
ference to decreased acreage goes
without saying, and had this menace
not existed, cotton sales would have
been lower than they have been and
now, as the end Of the season is al
hand and the staple Is Substantially out
OF the hands OF the farmers, these gen.
tlemen who have represented the bear
element for 30 many months while cot
ton was moving In large volumes, now
resort to the trick Of running values
up simply as u device to induce the
farmer to plant more cotton than can
possibly be attended to.
| warn the farmers of the South that
the price of the last few days is ficti-
tious, 1t is the product of u conspiracy
to systematically defraud the pro
dncers of their legitimate profits. 1t
is delusiOn and u snare to catch the
unsuspecting farmer. to invoigle him
into the tolls OF another three million
bale surplus SO that they can bear down
values lower than last season with an
increased surplus on hand.
Let the people beware; it is a bait
to catch those who will bite. There
ts no legitimate reason shown for this
rise OF values. The production ex-
ceeded the most sanguine expecta-
tiOn. Russia has placed u virtually
prohibitive duty on American cotton,
80 we can no longer expect to sell her
500, 900 bales. There can be no change
made next season in the financial laws
of the nation. Therefore where is tho
legitimate cause for the rise, if cotton
has boen selling at legitimate figures |?
1t is simply tie old spider and ly"
game, a recurrence of the farmer and
the buncO stoerer,' and | AIN con-
strained to exclaim How long, Oh,
Lord how long ". Is it to DO ever
thus that our people are to be waylaid
and robbed of their meagre subsis
tence?
III deny the proposition and defy the
man who made 1T, that any ,nuny can
produce cotton legitimately for cents
with any reasonable profit, and state
advisedly and emphatically that tho
Southern cotton growor,-I mean lit
orally the man who digs tho ground,
the unfortunate who "pulls the bell
cord over the mortgaged mule, lis
not realizing II cents day for his la
Dor the year around. What 10 to be
the fate of this man, If cotton goes
down or IL cents more this fall, which
Is not at all improbable when we re-
cognize the conditions that confront us
and take into consideration the fact
that we had a most phenomenal season
for picking our crop this last season,
and its classification was higher than
ever known, hardly any grading less
than low middling. Still it averaged
under cents and though wo may
make a smaller crop the ensuing sea-
son Of 1S95-96, If we have rainy or
unpropitious gathering season, cotton
in all probability will grade lower and
may be we will have recurrence of
the season of 1881, when we had SUI
perabundance OF the poorer qualities
We could then expect the same rela-
tive difference in the grades, which
must, of course, result in considerably
reduced returns from the whole crop.
| invoke the most earnest attention of
cotton growers to this nefarious
scheme and address you this letter as
caveat, that you may not be deluded
by this wolf in sleeps clothing," or
in other words this bear in bull cloth
Nng.