The Tupelo journal., 1905-10-06
BOND OF UNION SHOULD BE FORMD.
Between Farmers Merchants and Bankers for the
Common Good
The Present Cotton Crop should be made to bring its full
value to the Man who Produces it.
Common Sense Appeal to Those Interested to Stand Together

NASA iuietll, illCiIiOCi VI CIlC CACCu-
tive committee Of the Mississip-
pi division Of the Cotton Growers
Association has issued most
sensible and timely appeal to the
cotton producer which we give
below and urge every one inter-
ested to read it. 1t is full of
good advice ands is intended to
help along a good cause:
| AS a member Of your executive
committee, | desire to report the
action taken at the Ashville
meeting on the 9th of Sept, and
to explain some of the reasons
which resulted in the conclusion
reached. Most of the time of
the meeting and the most mature
deliberations were devoted to the
estimate of the present crop of
cotton. and the determination of
the minimum price at which it
should be sold. Our estimate
based upon the most complete
reports from all sections Of the
cotton belt, was that the crop
would be 9,588,000 bales, and
while at first there was some
difference as to what would be a
reasonable price, yet after
due consideration of all the ele-
ments that enter into the situa-
ton, it was unanimously agreed
that eleven cents per pound was
fair and reasonable, and we now
appeal to the people to see to it
that the determination of their
representatives at Ashville be
not set at naught by spectators
and gamblers.
The action Of the people in
sustaining the determination of
their executive committee invol-
YES vastly more than the present
crop. 1t does not mean simply
that the profits to be derived from
the present crop shall be increas-
ed $50, 000,00 but it means
hundreds of millions of dollars
to the South in the coming years
If the people of the South don't
stand by their Association, it
means that all efforts to organize
and to make the world pay a
profitable price for our cotton
is a failure, and that we must
be content to leave our great
staple to the tender mercies Of
greedy gamblers who have been
robbing us Of our wealth for a
quarter of a century. This means
eternal poverty to the Southern
farmer, and business stagnation
to all classes of our people.
On the other hand, If the
people will unite, cooperate, and
sustain the action Of the commit
tee, as they have the power to
do, they will find that hereafter
the world will accept it as fact
that Southern cotton is the prop
erty Of the Southern people, that
Southern people have the right
to fix the price Of their property
and that when they do fix the
price, the world must pay the
price SO fixed by them.
When the New Orleans conven-
ton fixed the price Of 14,000,-
900 bale crop at 10 cents, the
spectators filled the newspapers
and magazines with ridicule, and
fairly gloated in the expression
of their contempt at the effort Of
our people to say what they
wanted for their property. But
the people rallied to the support
Iof that convention, and though
the crop Of last year exceeded
the demand by two million bales
they forced the price from 6 cents
Ito 10 cents a pound. In the face
of this fact no gambler in Wall
Street has, SO for as | know, been
bold enough to ridicule The ac-
Ition Of the Ashville convention
but speculators came all the way
from New York to North Carolina
Ito influence our action at Ashville