The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1903-08-27
TOBACCO AND LOW PRICES.
Opinions Expressed On the Subject
and Some Remedies Suggested.

and Some Remedies Suggested.
| Raleigh Post
From the Rocky Mount Motor we
take the following views on the
tobacco situation and the prevailing
low prices:
The thing we call human nature
which means what most of us will do is
| a very paradox thing sometimes. When
| the price Of cotton, stocks, tobacco, etc.,
is soaring high in price, every speculator
| will invest in it Let the bottom drop
out and no one will touch it. Take the
price of tobacco for instance at present
| 1t is admitted by every one that what is
being sold is bringing less than the cost
OF producing it. Even the people with
money will not touch it. And yet it does
not take any extensive line of reasoning
to know, Judging by past history and
applying the inexOrable law of supply
and demand, that the price of any staple
product like tobacco, where the cOnsump-
ton is as great now and even increased
over past years, is bound to rise in price
regardless of the trust. The argument
is offered that no one wants tobacco now.
That is apparently true at the present
time, but there being as much cOnsump-
ton of tobacco as ever, when the supply
! falls short OF the demand, the price will
60 soaring again. For this reason it will
pay the farmers who can to hold for
better prices.
Regarding the price of cotton. 1t has
not been but few years past when it
sold below cost of production and con-
ventions were being called to take steps
to attempt to curtail production. When
the supply fell below the demand, the
price has gone higher. And the farmer
can depend upon it that when the supply
catches up with the demand it will go
lower in price. Everything fuctuates
according to this law. Cotton mills a
few years back were making big profits.
Now it is only the very best managed
that make any profit. The raw product
is high and the selling price OF the finish
ed goods has not risen accordingly
In the course of time cotton will go
lower. Things of this kind adjust them
selves in time. Cotton is now at an
abnormal price. Next year in all pro-
liability a tremendous crop will be plant
ed and the price go down. All of which
teaches that farmer to succeed year in
and year out must make his farm pro-
duce, as much as possible, for home con-
sumption and divide his money crops"
We also beg to add some very sensible
views, and as correct as sensible, from
the Wilson Times. We have taken the
liberty OF substituting caps in some SEN
tences by way of special emphasis, and
endorsement:
''We maintain that an organization of
the farmers as perfect as it can be made
will prove of vastly more benefit to the
country at large and to the farmers in
dividually than any other. The truth of
the matter is they more than all others
have the inalienabie and prinreval right
to organize because upon their labOrs
and the result OF their labors depends
the very existence of the country and the
world.
when agriculture languishes all else,
every other industry is affected. When
the farmer thrives the entire country is
prosperous and every industry moves as
merrily as a wedding bell. The farmer
more than any other should know how
many bales of cotton will supply the
world and how much the world can
afford to pay per pound for that cotton.
He should ascertain for himself how
many pounds of tobacco the world can
consume and pitch his crop accordingly
and should demand from the American
Tobacco Trust or any other trust a fair
price for that tobacco, and when he has
made that tobacco and set that price
upon it he should have provided himself
with enough meat, corn and stuff at home
to be able to sit back on his launches
and demand what is justly due him, and
it would take only short while for the
vampires that are living upon the farmer
to understand that the farmer as well as
they, is figuring on cold -blooded bust
ness proposition, calculating to protect
his interests by system of scientific
division of acreage to control the yield
and feeding of the production of his
lands gradually into the channels of
trade SO it can healthfully assimilate
same without depressing prices.
CALL LAST SPRING IN ALMOST
EVERY ISSUE WE WROTE ARTICLE
AFTER ARTICLE TELLING THE
FARMERS TOBACCO WOULD BE LOW
AND THAT A LARGE ACREAGE
WOULD PLACE THEMIN THE HANDS
OF THE TRUST.
effective organization, ascertainment
and proper publication of the require
ments of trade, AND A PROPER DIVI-
SION OF THE ACREAGE AND
MARKETING THE CROP should not
only regulate the price of tobacco but
cotton as well.
Proceed as others do. The merchant
buys his goods, lays in his stock accord
ing to his capital and DEMAND OF
TRADE, if he does not disaster and ruin
follows So it is with the farmer. Pro-
duce more than trade or conditions de-
mand and prices decline and bad times
stare him in the face, and unfortunately
many times he looks for a remedy away
off yOnder when the fault is at his own
door and Of his own making
Follow the example of the trust.
Organize and dictate prices to them in
stead of their debating to you"
And the following equally sensible
extract from an editorial of our friend of
the Kinston Free Press:
I'm this heaven-favOred land of East
ern Carolina it is plainly foolish for our
farmers to risk their all on one or Two
single lines OF production, such as cotton
or tobacco Noup to date farmer should
think of resting until he has produced
enough to carry him through the year
without a cent of expense to his money
crops
when a farmer stakes his all on a to-
bacco crop he necessarily puts himself at
the mercy of the American Tobacco Com
pany that now dominates the market.
If the A. L. Co. does not want the farm-
ers' tobacco the latter is then left fat
with a limited supply OF money from
his money crops and his years sup
plies to buy such supplies as could be
raised on his farm.
There are too many money crops in
this favored section for the farmer to
rest on one or two alone. There are too
many demands for farm produce for the
farmer to be content to buy the necessi-
ties-and that too from a really less
favored section of the Union
We think there is some mighty good
| readin" in the above extracts bearing
directly upon present conditions. As the
Post has said before, we do not expect
snch grades as have composed the greater
part of the offerings to date will be
| worth much if any more later on than
now. 1t is not the first season that