Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1898-10-05
WHAT SHALL FARMERS DO?
Timely and Thoughtful Advice
from State Treasurer TIM
norman.

EDITOR ADVERTISER. [ notice in
the last issue of your paper, that
YOU ask that Hon. w. J. Talbert or
1, or both of us, be heard from rela-
tive to the Cotton Growers Conven-
tion recently held at Columbia.
We were only individual members
of that convention by courtesy, as
neither of US assumed to act in a
representative capacity.
We all realize or ought to realize
the necessity of concert of action
on the part of cotton raisers in the
cotton States of the South, to lessen
the product of that material. Unity
of action can only be effected, if
at all, by organization as is recon-
mended by the Cotton Growers
Address, recently put forth by j..
C. Wilborn, Pres. G. G. A., and L..
w. Youmans, Vice-Pres. G. G. A.
And just here I would like to say
that if the speech of Col. Youmans,
delivered on that occasion, if pub
lished, would not stimulate farm
ers and planters to unity of action,
nothing which I could say would
be of any avail.
I am thoroughly satisfied that
there is no hope OF reaplng a re-
munerative price for cotton for sew
eral years to come with the in
creasing yield year by year of that
product under the present fnan-
cial policy of the National Gov
ernment. There is already a sur
plus not only of the raw material
but of cotton goods. The world
cannot purchase these goods with
out the money. the money can
not be obtained at law prices of
labor and the still lower prices of
the products OF labor. With the
completion of the Nicarauguan
Canal new avenues of trade may
be opened up with corresponding
increase of consumption in cotton
goods, and thus an advance of the
raw material obtain for time, but
that is all in the future. In the
meanwhile, taxes must be met and
there is no prospect of reducing
them to an appreciable extent.
The interest on private debts must
be paid or the debtor must become
homeless, sooner or later. How
are we to meet these objections?
Can it be done by concentrating
our efforts on crop with SO mar
row profits as that of the cotton
crop? On q crop over which the
producer hasabsolntely no control?
He is at the mercy of the cotton
manipulators, dealers in futures,
combinations, and trusts, and must
continue so unless all men could
free themselves from debt and con-
tinue so, by making a living at
home where it is possible to do So.
Let us all curtail expenses, f, EGO
luxuries and be content with the
real necessities of life, in other
words, follow the practice of our
forefathers IN matters of economy.
can but hope that some good
will come of the agitation of this
question of reduction of cotton
acreage. Let it be continually
sounded in the ears of the tillers of
the soil in the cotton belt that
there is no hope for the farmer or
planter who may depend upon a
cotton crop except as a Surplus
crop. He must raise corn and oats
and peas and grass for stock, and;
in addition, wheat and rye and
sorghum, for syrup, and fruits and
vegetables for man, if be would be-
come prosperous or even self-sua-
taining on the farm.
I have thus, Mr.. Editor, at your
request, hurriedly expressed my
self, and in a crude and unsystem-
attic manner. I repeat, in conclu-
sion, agitate the question of living
at home, and of organization by
neighborhoods, townships, coun-
ties as a means of emphasi izing, if
for no other reason, the situation
which confronts US.
w. II. ZIMMERMAN.