Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1903-11-18
lsttsr from Jacob 4. Cook.

p i y .
Fort Madison, Nov mber H. Editors
Keowee Courier: A few weeks ago / read
a communication in your paper. written
by "L," of Tugaloo, in which he said
"If Jake Cook is still In existence he is
urgently requested to como down and
investigate the condition of the public
roads, and give a description Of them In
The Courier, for there Is no other man
in the county that can give the subject
Justice" You can say to my friend "L'
Dutohman was by going to heaven. L am
here by a darned tight squeeze.
/ don't think GOULD hardly give the
road subject Justice without doing the
present county officials an Injustice. We
must not forget the circumstances under
which the present, officials took charge OF
the county affairs. The treasury was
depleted and the county in debt forty
Thousand dollars, and fifteen thousand
away in the June freshet; therefore they
have necessarily had tough time of it.
/ have been sorry for them all the while.
/ think they should have our prayers
instead of our curses. / propose to say
good things OF them until they run the
county in debt still further than It was
when they took charge of the. county
what may say of them probably could
not be found in a Sunday school book.
Anyway, have been feeling good ever
since the last election, got every man
that voted for except one, and have
been rejoicing over the results ever since,
though did think the dear old Courier
would give us the report of the expert
accountant's Investigation, but if they
did we failed to notice it. i suppose he
got taste of the hog and ran away.
The corn crop is very good on the
river, but / want to tell you that the
recent frost certainly put quietus ON
the cotton crop. ] have never seen a
crop SO completely killed before. A
majority of the farmers did not get
more than half crop, and some did not
get that much. Some of my tenants are
into the fields and cracking it-like hull
ing waluuts. This is the only way to get
1t, for it will not open.
We have been told that the cotton mill
men of our county have only been buying
few balDs of ootton-something like
enough to supply them week OF q time;
that they are. waiting for the price Of
this is true, you had just as we'll buy
your cotton now. If you run your mills
next year you will run them on some
thing like 123 cents cotton.
hope the price will 90 to 15 cents per
pound and stay there for the next fifteen
hundred years. 1t seems strange that
the mill men had not just rs soon pay
the farmer as good a price for his cotton
as to pay the Speculation good price for
it. After it gets out of the farmers
hands, if they have to pay good price,
why not let the farmer, who made it,
have the benefit of the higher pricep
There is another thing that seems ont
of reason to me, and that is that tho cot
ton mill men will take half the white
labor out of the country and pen them
up in a lot of little old huts around the
mill; leave us no labor to make cotton
| except few trifiing negroes, and then
expect to get our cotton for less than il
costs us to mako it. Gentlemen, this ie
out of the bounds Of reason. A few
| years ago there was great howl about
building cotton mills. Every town and
community was trying to build mill
They were trying to get every man who
had any money to take stock in q mill.
1t was stated that mill would be q
| try and furnishing market where the
farmers could get a good price for their
| cotton. 1t was not stated that the mills
would 60 into q combination for the pur.
pose of imposing upon the poor, hard
| working farmers in order to beat them
out of their just and honest rights
Unfortunately, a majority of the farm.
ers are in debt and their crops under
mOrtgage-even before it is planted--and
| the mortgages are due about the middle
| of October. The mill men know this
! and they think they have only to wait
and not buy until that time, and the far.
mer will be Obliged to put his cotton or
the market, regardless of price, in order
to pay off the mortgages, and then they
will get it at their own price. They
don't seem to think about the last day
| when at the Bar of Judgment, that they
will have to stand face to face with an
Allwise God and explain the suffering Of
the farmers children.
! have made arrangements with the
merchants in the future to make the
notes, liens and mortgages given by me
and my tenants due the first of January
and not before. think IL the farmers
will do this it will help the cause. VIZ
will not have to put our cotton on tht
market so soon, and probably get tht
benefit of the rise IN prices.
What is the reason that the mill mer
can't pay q good price for cotton ant
then raise the price on their goods 40
cordingly. l can't see how this would
hurt them, and it would put more money
in circulation and the country would bl
more prosperous.
Yours, etc., j. A. Cook.
| The Mormon Hbnrcb hon bonohf kb.