Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1904-01-20
!. a. Cook VS.. 3. S. Boaas.


Gle he has gone over the State and county
and over the United States, up and down
the Hudson, in New York, and along the
Rhine, in France, just to tell the people
who Jake Cock is, what he is and where
he lives, but the people know me bett,r
than he does. He speaks of the space
that has been devoted to my pen in The
Courier and then writes communica-
ton for the same paper as long as the
Declaration of Independence, filling up
about one third of "a page of the paper,
and then closes by saying "Yours with
charity" suppose the editors think
this peculiar kind of charity.
Mr.. Boggs, If you want to know whe-
ther my tenants are in debt, or whether
they have any corn, hogs, cattle or
horses-I will say that they have plenty
corn in their cribs, hogs in their pens
and the cattle and mules are fat. AS to
their debts: sec them selling corn for
cash, and suppose by that that their
debts are not pushing them.
Mr.. Boggs seems very anxious for us
to know that the people go to the cotton
mills of their own free will. He made
mention of this in his first article and
again in his last. In his first letter he
gets up something like this: 81 will say,
without fear of successful contradiction,
tn at no mill man has ever gone out in
the country and compelled any one to
come in and work for him. They come
of their own free will" etc. What must
we think of q man who will adduce such
an idea as thatP Here we have great
school teacher, one of Uncle Sans post
masters, boasting of having done moth
ing that was simply impossible for any
man to do Who ever heard of free peo-
ple being compelled to do thingP Go
out in the country among the farmers
and make a roposition that looks IKE
intimidation, and you just as we'll stick
your head in hornets nest. The devil
himself, that great dragon we read
about, darcs not undertake to compel us
to submit to him. If so, we would rebel
against him at once and probably serve
the Lord just for spite. He can catch as
many as he wants with less trouble; he
can catch them on set hooks, baited with
different kinds of temptations. If he
bats with dispcnsary and blind tiger
booze; if he wants gentlemen he bats
with gambling saloons and fallen women;
if he wants cotton mill combinations
and trusts he bats with cotton and
money. But, thank God, he can't catch
old Jake Cook with any of the foregoing
bats.
No, Mr.. Boggs, you did not &C empsl
any one, because it was an impossibllty,
but you have only to get the combina-
tiou together and bear down the price
of cotton, so the farmer can't live, and
he is obliged to go somewhere to support
his family. This is the method by
which you get the farmers to work in
your mills. Let the price of cotton con-
tinue as it is for few years and you
will see where the farm labor goes. 1t
will return to the farm like pigs to
slop trough.
was requested to write something in
regard to the cotton crop, and in our
first article we were drawn a little of
the line by our sentiments, and we hap
pened to strike very sore place, but we
can't help it now, and, Mr.. Boggs, if the
cap fits too tight you are not obliged to
wear it.
We are ready to admit, as we have
done before, that there are some good
m en-. interested in the cutton mills of our
State. We also admit that cotton mills
are good thing to build up country.
They not only furnish mark 1T for our
products, but employment for our labor,
and am as much in favor of cotton
mills as Mr.. Boggs or any other man;
provided they will tote fair with the
farmers. Suppose your cotton mill men
abandon their combinations and trusts
and let supply and demand govern and
control the price of each and every farm
product; then we will be satisfied. But
when we see them build a new cotton
mill and encourage the farmers to take
stock in it we get to thinking. They
subscribe from 800 to $4,000 each, and
then it is managed so as not to make
anything as long as the farmers have an
interest in it. But just as soon as the
farmer can be discouraged, 80 as to get
his stock at half price, the big fish swal-
low the little ones, and the mill begins
to pay from 20 to DO per cent dividends.
Then the promoters have made their
Jackpot half tho farmers money by
their dishonest methods, and they can
build lot of fine houses and improve
ments of all kinds. Mr.. Boggs, do you
expect the farmers to be satisfied under
such conditions as thesep When large
crop of cotton is being made we see the
combination get together, bear down the
price of cotton to about half its value,
and buy in the crop. BY this method
they get half the farmers labor for
nothing. They only have to repeat this
for few years and they have all the
money they need to build the fine houses
Mr. Boggs speaks of, increase the capac-
ity of their mills, employ the farmers
children, work them like slaves, and
boast of giving them three square meals |
per day. But whose money is paying for |
all this? 1t is money that justly belongs |
to the farmers-the fathers of the slav
ing children. Their honest living has |
been taken from them by dishonest
methods. / suppose Mr.. Boggs would |
call this charity, but can we expect the
farmers to be satisfied with such condi- |
tions?
Again, we have cotton seed oil mill |
trust. Agents are placed in each vicinity |
to buy seed. The trust then m Hes ar
rangements with others in the same
locality not to buy seed. Thus the trust
brings the price of seed down to 60 cents |
ner hundred pounds about half the |
value of them. After the seed are out
Of the farmers hands. they at once raise
the price 100 per cent and charge us the |