The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1905-01-18
Brother BOb's Observations
On the cott6n situat''': a
Ii He Had the Powen; He Has a Plan
Whereby Miffioms Could Be
Saved Annually.

hands of the farmers land that is Theo.
III. Prices fgures) it matters not
whether ono or two millions of these
bales are going to be held indefinitely
or not. They are figured on rs re-
sources OF supply and the price fixed
accordingly. They assume that the
cotton Is for sale and all the cotton pre-
ttctive associations that can be organ.
lied with the watch word Haunting,
"Hold your cotton" doesn't phase
them. They know the cotton is there
end Is owned, not by associations, hut
by individuals, and when the squeeze
comes and the individual feels that it
Is time to sell it, the cotton is forth
coming. But II they burn the stuff it
is dead ca. The ene objection to the
plan Is the impracticability OF having
1t done. There is no way to get each
farmer to sacrifice his pro rata share.
The same difficulty obtains In the ef-
fort to reduce the acreage, Other fra
tcrnities think we are fools but we
amt. We are just q little too smart.
We well know that we are q scgrega-
tion composed of individuals and that
each individual Is gentleman OF his
own. And although he is aware that
to cut the acreage one-third and raise
ten million crop would put more
money in his pocket, and that at two
thirds the cost full crop schedules, yet
he has no assurance, nor can he have,
that his cutting acreage will effect the
price ono io'a. Nothing is effectua in
cutting acreage but low prices. When
cotton gets SO low that fellow believes
and feels that it is to his individual in
terest to cut his individual acreage 10
matter what others do, or whether it ef-
fects the price or not then the acreage
will be cut. The latter priuc,ple does
not apply to the burning theory. Yet,
next to the acreage cnt the creamating
theory is the mcst feasible, But one
million is not enough; let's put in two.
Creamste two million bales Of cltton
aud hold for II cents and we will get it
in less than three months. That will
be One-third OF the farmers holdings
Suppose we make some calculations.
Say man has
GO bales at $50 per bale, $500
Burn ono-third or 20 bales
Remainder 40 bales q. $50 per
bale, 2,4oo
Diffcreace in favor uf bura!ng, 5000
This is clear pref OF ten dollars
per bale on whole amount. Who
wouidn'I burn cotton aud smoke the
bears cut of their holes so as we can
kick them a little. So get up your
wagons, OK carts ard slides, take up q
collection giving each farmer gilt
edged security that two millions b,les
will be barncd, aud | will drop you in
one third of my no dings, ii / don't,
Jonathan twist me-
The other objection | have to this
idea Is the incendiary spirit it might
rngender. Some fool night think il
he were TO burn up my crop Of cotton
the crop would rise. SO let's hush.
The consolation left us in the situation
is that fellow is not going TO be
bothered about taking care of his
money this time. When he gets rea "
to go to bed he won't have to place his
pans under his pillow but just swing
them across chair and glide into the
arms of Morpheus with no apprehen-
sion of being molested or made afraid.
SO, even yet, all things are lively aud
the goose hangs high.
Wishing the same good fortune to
the bears,
BROTHER Bob.