The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1900-06-13

i''' 'NN' So hiuNii SbSIOSScu III pro-
ducing that we have not given as much
thought TO selling as we should have
done. There are so many sharp traders
IN every line, ready to manage that for
Us, thai we have quietly submitted to
their management. Of course they
looked after their own interest.
The result is that all we make IS
consumed and yet we remain poor.
More than this, every class is max
ing more money out Of our produce
than we make.
SELLING COTTON.
Take this, the most important money
producing crop we grow. We haze
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 ginncr gets good pay
for ginning. The bagging aud tie
men get immense profits furnishing
the covering. The warehouse men
get good profits weighing and storing.
Many of them have accumulated !arGc
fortunes in this business. The ins,ir.
ance companies make very large money
from every crop. The sampler and
street or wagon buyer make good
wages The draymen get handsome
pay. The railroad and ship companies
make Larger profits than on any other
class of freight. The compress men
get immensely rich, "squeezlnu" the
badly packed halcs. The larger buyers
start i'll business with little or no
money and get to be milhonaircs.
Bankers get handsome profits, furnish
ing he cash and paying the bills. The
manufacturers double their capital and
pay large dividends. Lastly, but most
~, the spectators vast army of
sharp traders and schcmcrs, who deal
III cotton III sight and out of sight. and
gamble III options to the ruin and hurt
oi thousands Of honest men often roll
in wealth when they should be toillng
III chains. Thus we see these fifteen
classes OF men all making profits.
sometimes immense fortunes, and
many others incidentally getting a GOOD
living while we often sell at less Than
the cost OF production.
lake the manufactured goods and
follow them back to the consumer.
and the man who grows the COTTON
Is Il very liberal consumer, and find
almost rs many profits attached. We
sell pound of cotton for from six to
| eight cents and sew on our buttons
with thread that we pay dollar per
| pound for. None of these people are
to blame for making what they can and
do. They are only looking out for
sell interest. But we are to blame for
selling them our cotton without first
getting Il profit for ourselves.
HOW CAN tbs BE DONE.
First we must own the cotton. We
can never control the sale of mort.
gagged crop, o" crop made upon
provisions bought on time. We mus,
raise our own supplies, and own the
cotton. This has been often said
But we have not yet learned what i,
really means.
Then we must distribute the sale
through the twelve months. By do,no
this We will avoid the numerous rc
Detwccns and get nearer to The manu-.
factories. In this way we can oct
what our cotton is worth TO the mann
facturcr. We can thus stop the forced
sale we have been making. We can
aroid The annual "lut of warehouses
railroads and money markets.
When we have done this we can
have voice in the price. We have .
practical monopoly of growing this
great and essential crop of American
cotton. We lose all tho immense ad
vantage for want Of business methods
IN selling.
when we get in this shape many OF
us, when we found a cotton cron on
hand Tor which we could not uct Il
satisfactory price, we could hold it ano
quit making cotton, and rive our at
tentlon to something else until thc
pncc was satisfactory. OF course this
means a great revolution in our meth
DDS. But that is just what we necC
ana must have If we are ever to uct
ialr prices for farm products.
OTHER CROPS
What we have SAID about cotton i,
equally true of many other crops. Th,
seed OF the cotton is another lllustro
llon. Most of us sold our seed tbi,
past season FOR about fourteen cent,
per Dushcl or less. a few who held
on got twenty five cents TO thirty
live. All could just as well have cot
ten twenty-five cents if we had waited
Cotton seed are worth twcntv-liv,
cents to us. They are worth ovcI thot
TO the oil mill men. Why should We
sell them at fourteen cents &?
we sell the seed at less than ono
nan cent per pound, and the. buy the
oil back IN lard at eight cents pc,
pound, the meal ut over one cent ne,
pound for feed and manure, and The
hulls at nearly one cent, and me lint
brings from three to four cents.
1t Is time we studied the mercantile
side OF farming more. We have no
night to make upon any honorable
| business or any honest business man.
But we have a great fight on hand for
scii-defense and better methods in
selling our farm produce.
We might extend tins article in
definitely, but we hope this will helm
TO awaken farmers to its imporiancr
We must continue the line of invcs,i-
CATION, begun at La Grange and en-.
larScd and emphasized at the conycn-
lion at Macon, Georgia. We must
Tree ourselves from The domination of
the compress men, the roundlap bale
trust; the baggIng and tie trus,: tbc
option market gambling trust; the cot
ton seed oil trust, the fertilizer trust
and every other trust.
o'"uJ markets and marketing. Cease