The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1905-08-23


"at." The farmers are gathering con phdence,
and that their heart Is in II, Ia evidenced oy
the interest man ifested at these meetings
held all over the Stale. Next years polltlcal
was last Fridays meeting. There were not
enough seals in the court house 10 seat tbe
aud ence and great mum berB stood up through
the en- tire meeting.
There were four speakers present: Mesars.
Sherman. Hunnicutt, Hyatt and Smith. The
meeting WAS presided over by Treasurer W.
T. Bradley.
No audience ever gave better atten tion than
was given the speakers on this occasion. No
one cared to lose single Word OF Wnet was
said.
After a few preliminary remarks by the
In introducing Mr. Sherman the chairman
said the name was familiar one In South
Carolina and with II vere associated the raw
ages OF an Invasion more terrloIe tnan Wnlcs
history recounts no instance. The olaokened
lines OF whose trail are still to be seen and felt
after forty years OF time. Mr.. Sher man is the
pe tional lecturer for the America q Society OF
EQUITY, a farmers organization that has Inn
mense mem bership in the west and north.
weat.
tion at the hands OF the chairman was poss :
bly, not his best recon- mendauon ne assured @
bis audience that he carried no matches on
this occasion.
the air az manifested by the large number OF
of the farmers generally and all for the sole
purpose OF m aiptaining profitable prices on
farm garden. and orchard products
He says the only way to escape the clutches
that organ ization is no longer a doubtful
question, He showed that the farmers have
been organized ere this: The Farmers Al
lance which WAS organized with so 0o0 the
Grange which was organized with 5000. .000
the Wheel organized with 100000, which
shows very plainly that organization is a
possibility.
panization extapt today. was organized
sgainst the farmer, that all business organi-
cations were selfish, selfish in the extreme.
looking after their own Interests strictly and
II others suffered, why mo importa:" and yet
If it were not for the farmers and farm pro-
ducts seven out OF Of all Institutions would
go TO the wall!
lesson from the boot-blacks who are organic
ed and Ii oking after the price OF their labor
with q keen eye. With the farmer. the other
fellow fixes the price, and be doesn't fail to
low as be can SesS Gr ea IT, ns
the Nation al Legislature; very little more In
the state Legislature; and the only hope for
tine farmer rested with himself and II he did
MIR. Sherman spoke of the falaoy heard ev.
ery day, that farmers can't price the products
OF their farms. Somebody else can, and
else does suRpy ,ss and bSs and
the bears. What caused cotton to 60 to ak
cen t. and then what caused II to GO from six
to ten cents In the face OF IA OOO OOO bale
crop? when cotton dropped TO six cents 1t
caused the farmers TO organize and ten cent
cotton is the result today.
Mr Sherman drew the pitifnl picture that
we enact every day during the fall months-l
the picture OF the farmer with MS cotton on
price his staple for him, and when the staple
is priced be goea TO the merchant to buy
goods, and does he price the merchants goods
or does the merchant price them The poor
old farmer prices nothing. 1t is his duty to
dig and sweat and go hungry and take Just
what he can get and no more. i
The speaker reierrEd 70 me organzat,66n @ ~ 6Io OF
had fallen below the price Of production and
the farmers organized and demanded cents
for the leaf and got 2 in sl1 week
The speaker illustrated the SAD plight OF
the farmer by an incident that occurred In
North Carolina. An old negro who bad
worke all the year and had made very little
tobacco, carried his product to town end
negro expressed the hope that the buyers
would give him good price. asking each one
Of them TO bid good price as that was aoont
all be had. They told him that they would
the auctioneer had sold the tobacco-tobacco
is not sold like cotton but is sold by paid
auclioneer who Ia under contract TO sell q
certain number Of pile per mlnute-apd after
the fees which were numerous, were deduct
ed the tobacco lacked .25 cts. OF paying for the
selling. The old negro was Informed OF the
fact and his countenance fell, he had expect
ed little and had received less than nothing.
The old darkey told them that be could not
pay it but that he had an old rooster at home
that he would bring them II 1t would answer.
The warehouse men told him to bring the
rooster, 1t would be all right just bring along
key returned with two roosters. one under
each arm. "Well, here is your rooster he
said. "But you don't owe us but one rooster"
replied the man. II Know" sala Ihe oio oar. |
/ want to sell % 1.-THE farmers do not look
for themselve they will have 10 take coop
foil OF roosters each time to market.
MIR. Sherman thought that the warehouse
system was the best that we could adopt,
that 1t was the panacea for all the Ills OF the
farmer. Hold for good pIice aud when you
get your price sell.
Mr.. Hunnicut was the next speaker. He
spoke OF the soil as the farmers bank and
and stated that we do not love the soil as we
ought, that we ought to learn lessons from
the Chlnaman and the Italian. Very few
realize what one acre Of dirt can do. One
acre has produced In South Carolina 252
bushels Of corn. The speaker referred 10 our
follow country man Mr.. Sullivan OF Honea
Path who raised 20l 1-2 bushels OF corn on one
acre. Three bales OF cotton have been
made on one acre, aud some say 1t is possible
to raise five or six bales per acre. Deep
ploughln fertiliza tion and tillage will do
the work.
Hunnicut thought that father could leave
his child no richer heritage than hundred
acres of fertile soil.
The Chairman next introduced Mr.. Hyatt
OF Columbia. who Ia President OF the State
Good Roads Association. and took very |
active part 10 the Cotton Growers Association
this year. He Ia very successful business
man, and proved himself good speaker as
we'll. He spoke OF the past and present con-
dition OF the South, how the south has been been
now. How rapidly the Cotton Growers AS.
is growing.
He also spoke OF the necessity OF raising
supplies at home and not keeping our corn
He dwelt at length also on the necessity OF
raising stock. II we would put back on the
soil the necessary fertilizer TO keep the land
up and build our land up we must raise colts,
cattle, hogs, etc. He believed that thor.
ough bred white man could not be raised on
less than hog and hominy.
He said that the farm should be made 30
attractive that the boys would not want to
leave them. He thought that the South was
tutnlng over q new leaf.
He believed in immigration. The labor
question is such that we will be forced to do
som ethng. The first thing to br done he
thought was to clear our land OF rocks and
sturnps and prepare 1t for better machinery.
and then use better machinery. He STATED
that Memphis man had invented success
ful cotton picker. He thought that by using
suca machinery the amount oil labor could
be curtaiied
He spoke of the South's monopoly OF cotton
and the fact that sixty years ago our fathers
realized that they had monopoly on cotton
when q fter three years Of civil war the staple
was so scarce:that 1t flew up to sl.s7 per
pound! One and one half years ago, he said,
cotton went up to II cents and came down
as fast as 1t went up and when II came down
II woke up seventeen millions OF people! He
said that the farmers are awakened is evi.
ienced by The immense numbers that attend