Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1904-09-28
now FARmEas vii. sILl corros.
Anderson Farmers VIII Hold Surplus TO Avoid
Depressing Prices

to Charleston this week, and while
in the city told q reporter for the
News and Courier about the plan of
the farmers in Anderson county for
selling cotton this fall. That paper
published the following !:
With the purpose of erecting large
warehouses all over the State of
South Carolina in which to store
surplus cotton, thereby in measure
controlling the price of the staple, a
Farmers Cooperative Union has
been organized in the thriving county
of Anderson, and the organization
now has on its rolls the names of
more than five hundred of the sub
stantial farmers of the county.
Joseph j. Fretwell, President of
the Peoples Bank of Anderson, and
a business man of large experience
in the cotton market, has been en-
ployed by the union as its selling
agent. Mr.. Fretwell was in Charles
ton yesterday and whom seen by a
reporter courteously consented to
outline the plans of the new and
much talked-of organization.
"Suppose, for instance" said Mr..
Fretwell, when asked to make a
plain statement, 'sthe world demands
eleven million bales of cotton for
consumption. This much cotton is
necessary for the filing of contracts,
ETC., and the manufactures are OBJ
liged 10 have it. Now, suppose
thirteen million bales are produced
there is demand for only eleven
million bales, yet thirteen are pro-
duced and sold. 1t is nothing but
natural that the surplus should be
sold at low price, for there is little
active demand for it. Now, the OBJ
ject of the Farmers Cooperative
Union recently organized in Ander-
son county is 70 have warehouses
erected all over the State or maybe
the South, to carry the surplus cot
ton crop, and as each county organ
ICES let the institution be known as
the Farmers Cooperative Union,
for that is what it is. Let ware
houses he erected at all the impor
tant villages, whose cotton receipts
warrant such action, and let the en-
tire crop be handled through these
houses, selling agent being en-
ployed by the union.
"The purpose of the organization
is to place the farmer in an inde-
pendent position, regulating the
amount of cotton to be sold each
month and thereby controlling the
price. Of course it is not intended
to hold the entire crop, but we only
want that part of the crop held for
which there is little demand-in
ether words, we hope to regulate the
price by regulating the amount sold
don't sell merely because you hap
pen to have bale ginned, but wait
till the manufacturer needs it. If o
man is obliged to sell to provide the
necessities of life, of course he is at
perfect liberty to sell at the markst
quotation, but if possible don't sell
too rapidly.
"True it is that our organization is
but in its infancy and it is probable
that we shall meet with some oppo-
sition at the beginning; but we hope
to show what can be done in this di-
rection and trust that other counties
will fall in line, for the more exten-
sive the Union the more effeotual
will be its action in retaining the
surplus crop. We believe Anderson
county alone will be able to carry her
surplus as figured out by the bureau
of agriculture in Washington.
PERSONALLY, do not think there
is farmer in that county who will
not be able to carry his surplus this
year and / believe with others that
should the whole South take this
matter in hand and regulate the
amount of cotton placed on the mar.
ket and force the surplus that the
price can be controlled. United eff.