The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1904-11-05
FARMER PLANTER.
FIGHTING FIRE WITH FIRE.
The Cotton Grower of the south Has
Fire to Fight, which He Must
DO Intelligently.

Here IN w~ire-grass Georgia, when
ire gets ont and endangers our fences
and out-buildings, as sometimes hap
pens through sparks from passing
trains, or from a carelessly thrown
match, we have two methods of fight
ing the fire. One Is to cut down u
small pine sapling, and beat out the
line of fire, each nan his own section;
the other, to back fire, to fight fire with
fire. The last is the only safe way, as
by the fire some smonldering log or
stump will often set ablaze again the
unburnt border of the dry grass.
We cotton growers have a fire to
fight, n which is spreading each day,
and which will put US in the position
which existed a decade ago, unless
vigorously combated. 1t is almost
needless to state that the trusts are
meant; the spinners' combinations. The
cotton buyers associations, the oil-mill
trust, the fertilizer trusts, and the
local association Of ginners, each and
every one of which is a union to cut
down the already p~recarious and small
profits Of the cotton growers.
Here also, there are two ways to
fight the evil; by diversifying crops,
and by controlled marketing.
By the first method, the farmer hay
ing full cribs, granaries and smoke
house, plenty of syrup and potatoes on
hand, can, as 1t were, live at home.
ANY surplus, however small, can be
sold in the neighborhood, and will
help enable the grower to hold his cot
ton, to put the producer in the posi-
ton where he can make the price on
his OWE product. Thus the cotton
spectators can be circumvented to
some extent. This plan will, in ad-
dition, enable the farmer to save
larger quantities of manure, through
the increased number of cattle and
hcgs required to proitably consume
the diversified crops, and in some
measure liberate him from the fer
tiIizer trusts. His cottonseed can then
be either fed or put on the land, or ex-
changed for a liberal amount of meal
and hulls as he sees fit. He is not
obliged to sell, having supplies. and so
can fix his own price in reasonable
limits.
This, one might call the pine-brush
method Of fighting the fire, but there
is another and better way, for this
reason; when the price of cotton goes
up about planting time, as II Is SO
prone to do, 1t tempts the farmer to
break through his established plan OF
rotation, by planting a little more cot
ton, and many a nickle makes a
muckle." But if a sufficient number OF
growers will unite and agree to hold
cotton, turning none loose under a GER
tain figure, the buyers would be pow
erless. This same union could force
fertilizer trusts, oil-mill trusts and
ginners' associations to meet any fair
offer by the same means the trusts
have hitherto used to coerce the indi-
vidual grower-by monopoly.
1t is not claimed that such an asso-
citation can abrogate the law of supply
and demand. On the contrary, it takes
advantage Of this very law, for by
feeding a twelve months supply to the
consumers during exactly twelve
months, temporary over-supply would
be prevented, and the bulk of the crop
would no longer get into the hands Of
non-producers and non-consumers, to
the detriment Of both. Neither is 1t
claimed that the price of cotton a be
held at any one figure. The price must
depend upon the supply and demand.
A large crop must be sold for a low
price, and a small crop for a high
price, but the lowest price should be a
profitable price. II there should be any
surplus, 1t a be most economically
held on the farm, but there has never
yet been any actual surplus OF cotton,
exceeding reasonable stocks at the
mills. Certainly there is none in exist
ence now.
The small amount Of cotton remain
ing from the last crop makes this a
peculiarly happy time for cotton grow
ers to test this method of slow market
ing. The present prosperous condition
of the south will enable them to do so,
while at the same time encouragement
is given by the large number of farm
ers' unions and clubs already pledged
to hold for fair prices. Our fate is in
our own hands; shall we grasp the OPP
portunity or let 1t pass?-Agricultural
Epitomist.