The Colfax chronicle., 1900-07-28
FARMER AND PLANTER.
THE MERCANTILE SIDE OF IT.
The Selling of the Crop by the Pro-
ducer of as MucE Importance
az the Raising.

have been so much engrossed in pro-
ducing that we have not given az
much thought to selling as we might
have done. There are SO many sharp
traders in every line, ready to manage
that for us, that we have quietly sub
mitted to their management. OF course
they have looked after their own in
terest.
The result is that all we make is
consumed, and yet we remain poor.
More than this, every class is making
more money out OF cur produce than
We make. fsF
Take cotton. the most important
money-producing crop we know. We
have given more thought to this than
any other. And how does this stand?
Everybody gets better pay than the
producer.
The picker gets good wages for
picking. The ginner gets good pay for
ginning. The bagging and tie men get
immense profits furnishing the cover
ing. The warehouse men get good rrof-
its weighing and storing. Many of
them have accumulated large fortunes
in this business. The insurance COM
panies make large money from every
crop. The sampler and street, or wag-
on buyer make good wages. The rail-
road and ship companies make larger
profits than on any other class of
freight. The compress men get inn
mensely rich, squeezing the badly
packed bales. The larger buyers, start
in business with little of no money,
and get to be millionaires. Bankers
get handsome profits, furnishing the
cash and paying the bills. The man.
ufacturers double their capital, and
pay large dividends. Lastly, hut most
ly the speculators-a- vast army of
sharp traders and schemers, who deal
III cotton in sight and out of sight,
and gamble in options to the ruin and
hurt of thousands of honest men, often
roll in wealth, when they should be
toiIing in chains. Thus we see these
Is classes of men all making profits,
sometimes immense fortunes, and
many others incidentally getting
good living, while we often sell at less
than the cost of production.
Take the manufactured goods and
follow them back to the consumer,
and the man who grows the cotton is
a very liberal consumer, aud find al
mcst as many profits attached. We
sell pound of cotton for from six to
eight cents, and sew on our buttons
with thread that we pay a dollar per
pound for.
None of these people are to blame for
what they can and do. They
are only looking out for self interest.
But we are TO blame for selling thep
our cotton, without first getting a pref
ii for ourselves.
How can this be done? First we
must control the sale of mortgaged
crop, or crop made upon provisions
bought on time. We must raise our
own supplies; and own the cotton.
This has been often said. But we have
not yet learned what it really means.
Then we must distribute the sale
the twelve months. By doing
this we will avoid the numerous go be-
tweens and get nearer to the manu-
In this way we can get |
what our cotton is worth to the manu-
facturer. We can thus stop the forced |
sale we have been making. We can
avoid the annual glut of warehouses, |
railroads and money markets.
When we have done this we can
have a voice in the price. We have
: practical monopoly of growing this
great and essential crop of American
,otton. We lose all the immense ad-
,antage for want of business methods
n selling.
When we get in this shape many of
rs, when we found cotton crop on
hand for which we could not get a
price, we would hold it
md quit making cotton, and give our
attention to something else, until the
price was satisfactory.
OF course this means great revo-
ution in our methods. But that is
ust what we need and must have If
We are ever to get fair prices for farm
products.
What we have said about cotton is
squally true of many other crops. The
seed of the cotton is another illustr;-
ion. Most of us sold our seed this
past season for about fourteen cents
Der bushel or less. A few who held on
rot twenty-five cents to thirty-five.
All could just as well have gotten
cents if we had waited.
cotton seed are worth twenty-five
.ents to US. They are worth over that
o the oil mill men. Why should we
'ell them at fourteen cents?
We sell the seed at less than one