Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1904-02-10
the money you say they have .'robbet
the farmers of.o

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the farmers off,
Henceit is that the poorest man in
this country 10 not fully satisfied, for
no doubt he has desires for something.
more than enough to eat. So you
see, Mr.. Cook, from this reasoning
there are very few of US who are
fully satisfied, even with cotton sell
ing at 15 cents, in spite of the scot.
ton mill com bines," aud cotton seed
selling even at 60 cents per hundred,
when, before there was no cotton
seed oil trust, as you well know, they
had no commercial value at all. You
remember well when cotton seed
were considered worthless except a
few to plant. Yes, we'll do we
know as late as 1870 to 1875, if they
sold for anything at all, it was not
over 10 cents per bushel. To-day,
even under the "infernal little old
cotton seed oil trust" we find them
selling at about 81 cents per bushel,
which means in value to the farmers
at least $75, 100000. And even at 60
cents per hundred, the trusts price,
it means to them $52,000,000-for
something that few years ago had
no commercial value at all. In the
name of common sense, we ask, who
is it but the cotton seed trust that
has done thisp Yet, in the face of
these unvarnished facts, you will
kick against them. We will admit,
Mr.. Cook, that the trusts no doubt
have done things that they ought
not to have done, and so have
M Messrs. Cook and Boggs. But right
here we desire to say it is not our
purpose to defend them in anything
that they have done that is the least
tinctured with oppression or that
was not legitimate. But there is one
thing that stands out in bold relief,
trust or no trust--farm products of
every kind all over this country are
much higher to-day than they were
ten years ago, when perhaps there
was not as much cotton and other
products per capita in the world as
to-day, when trusts and combines,
such as Mr.. Cook speaks of and we
hear of to- day, were either unheard of
or yet unborn.
So it appears to me, Mr.. Cook, it
is not the trusts and combines that
you speak of that are hurting the
farmers Of the South so much, but
rather trust and combine the
farmers of the South have formed to
trust in Western corn cribs, wheat
bins, smoke houses and stock yards
for their corn, flour, bacon, horses,
mules, etc. Yes, sir, Mr.. Cook, this
is the trust that is hurting the
Southern farmer so much, and has
driven them away from their homes,
some of them to the poor house and
penitentiary, and burdened them
down with liens and mortgages, some
Of which will never be satisfied. All
of this, perhaps, most of the farmers
will admit.
Again, Mr.. Cook, you say "cotton
mills are good thing to build up
the country and markets for all
the farmers products" But you
have qualified this declaration by
saying, "provided the mill men
would tote fair with the farmers"
After the mill men, by your own
confession, have built up the country
and market for everything produced
on the farms, and given employment
to the farmers and their children,
and at better wages, we say, than
they could get on the farm, and re-
quired them to work only eleven
hours per day, now we ask in the
name of truth, is this not toting fair
with them?
Again, you ask, whose money is
paying for the nice houses around
the cotton mills and for the many
nice things the mill people have to
eat that l have spoken about. This
question you have answered by say
ing it is money that jnstly belongs
to the farmers, fathers of the shaving
children. Oh, Mr.. Cook, what a
nice object lesson of justice and
charity you have drawn of the cop
pressive mill men" after seeing them
by their different plans taking from
the "farmers what justly belongs to
them" and giving it all back, and
m ore, too, to them and their children
in the way of plenty of nice things
to eat and wear and nice houses, at a
small rent, to live in, and good
sch ool building and one of the most
co mplete church buildings in the
county, in which to pray and thank
God for his blessings, and the kind
ness shown them by the Courtenay
Manufacturing Company.
Mr.. Cook, you spoke about my
going all over the country and to
France "just to tell the people who
Jake Cook is." Brother Cook, I bad
this to do to find one that had done
the wonderful things you had done
or were likely to do. But in this