Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1904-09-23
Ringing Appeal to Tobacco
Planters.
The Meeting at Guthrie Toner.
row rIost Important In
Fight Against trust.


Tanned sweat. The Bible tell.
US that mau must 60 forth anc
''earn his bread by the sweat of his
brow. y and | believe every word Of
this.
Then am prepared to say that
it takes more sweat, and honest
sweat too, TO make tobacco than
any other product on the farm.
Then why should he not be pro.
tected? Self.preservation was the
first law given to man, and will he
sit idly by and see even the laws Of
nature taken from him?
The tobacco magnates who have
combined their interests to destroy
competition, to which the tobacco
growers of the GAINESVILLE district
are justly entitled, by all the laws
OF God. nature and man, are exact
ing from these farmers. annually,
from two to five million of dollars Of
canned sweat
What are we going to do about
1t! Sit supinely still and deliver
this "honest sweat" to these sons
OF greed, who are increasing their
fortunes year by year. from spols
unlawfully and unfairly gotten
from the sons of toll?
There was never an industrial
situation in any country or CLINE
worse than that which confronts us.
Bret Harte's lines to the heather
Chinee may be appropriately APP
piled TO that we call the tobacco
trust"
For ways that are dark
And tricks that are vain,
The tobacco trust is peculiar"
This organization does business
behind closed doors. The secrets
OF its councils are sacred. SO sa
cred, indeed, that am reliably in
formed that recently when a piece
of Information valuable to farmers
leaked out. the trust could not as
certain mich one f ten men was
and the whole ten were
fired.
And yet the organization has its
bred men constantly prying into
he affairs OF the farmer 10 ascer-
ain the situation from their end Of
t. They begin to inspect the to-
oacco while it is growing in the
ields, and to apply the pump" to
he faI mer for information. They
ollow it to the barn and inspect it
here, still applying the pump to
he farmer. The result is, that
when selling time comes, the trust,
through its agents, knows all
ibout the farmers affairs and The
drmer is in the dark. He has to
'eg the agents OF the trust to come
md look at the tobacco with a view
f buying. The truth is, the agents
10 moi need to look at it. The
ecord OF his crop is tucked away
q some pigeon hole. The agent
cts his order from the man who
olds the record. He has no com
etitor in the field, 1t is easy
ailing. The records have been
xamined. The decree has gone
orth that so much canned sweat"
lust come from the sons of toll and
ONE it must.
We are forced into a race with {
ne another to sell our tobacco to
people who have cut out" the race
} buy. The racers in the buying
ave met and agreed on a division
the canned sweat.
They laugh at the race of the
ms of toll to sell, and murmur to I
Iemselves, "poor, ignorant fools, t
lie price of your tobacco is already
xed, now race for your lives.
Fellow farmers we must "cut
1t" this race for ourselves; we
ust meet this one-man power.
very body agrees that organiza-
on is the proper thing, but we are l.
ct on every hand with the state :
ent that farmers haven't the )
snse to organize and cannot or
anize.
Why not? Compare yourselves T
18th those who have organized. a
he miners, who dig wealth from
lie bowels of the earth, have or
lnized; the carpenters, who fash. :
n articles of usefulness from the :
rests of the world. have orUanized. 4