Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1905-05-05

4 MI AGAA VAt u ~ - 80 $50 W
that OF a presidential e "A III Indiana.
There is q general organization for the
control of which a desperate parlia-
mentsry battle was waged. There are
ten state organizations. County ma
chimes are forming having for their
function the task of bringing every
precinct, beat" and scSool district into
line with the big league, and to place
every citizen under the observation of
lynx-eyed workers. There is a plan OF
Tammanylike thoroughneSs; a cam
paign fund estimated at $3.50, 900 per
year from memberships alone: there is
intense public interest and strong feel
ing. In all these states this campaign
engrosses the attention of press and
people, The states are the Cafolin3s,
Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama. Missis,
sippi. Louisiana. Arkansas. Florida and
Texas, and the territory Is Oklahoma.
The campaign slogan Is: Restricted
Production and 10-Cent Cotton or No
Sales,''
In the last week OF January of this
year OF 1905 was held IN New Orleans
the great southern interstate cotton
convention. which took up the task of
making the first great agricultural
rust. Three thousand delegates as
sembied in a large armory, and de-
bated, strove. pulled wires, threatened
splits and bolts. and finally. under the
mastery of strong leaders, agreed upon
a plan of campaign.
Cotton was at the very bottom of
the matter, and the thought of every
man was: How shall we OF the south
play our part in the life of this nation.
in which the game is, always and
everywhere. business"
And the result spoke the very shib-
boleth OF Notwithstanding America
tie making of q trust.
Now, when 1900 OF these soft-spoken.
languid II conservative cotton grow
ers are impelled to come together like
this, each with the blood of Industrial
revolution i'm his eye. the wise man win
not look for anything small as the in-
citing cause. The cause was not a
slight one. 1t was nothing less than
the fact that the price OF Americas
greatest staple-cotton--had fallen be-
loTy the cost of production. And the
fall was from the dizzy n d%ebt-pay-
ing pinnacle and flush times OF last
years cotton corner TO the heart-break-
ing depth of ) cents q poundl
At first the uprising manifested itself
Ia the burning of cotton in a Louisiana
town-a very foolish thing; but so is
ck-burning foolish, yet some very sue
cessful revolts seem to have prospered
by that sort of thing. In this case the
illumined skies drew the attention of
iiDH W hG tdAA Aiet Il
psychological moment had arrived. The
south was now known to be smother
ing in her own productiyeness. True,
three-fourths of the world was ragged,
and all of ii full OF vanity, hui for all
the sakes OF decoration, warmth and
modesty, the tattered world could not
buy our cotton. And so the 1900 came
together.
"A Dominant Industry.
They were not Wifhnut a fDlI knuwl-
edge of the magnitude of their problem.
1t was a p-oduct of 1900, 900 bales per
year which was declared king before
the war: but this new cotton war con-
Germs itself with a prospective crop for
1905 of Il, 900, 900 bales. All rhe rest of
the world grows not more than 5000, 600
bales per year-only a trile more than
the annual crop of Texas. The south
may Well become a little graDdiloquent
on The subject OF cotton, which one
speaker in the convention called "the
dominant industry of the world" 1t
leads iron and steel in value by $780,
OOO,0G0 a year; and our exports of cot
ton products exceed in value by $780,
600, 900 yearly the combined values Of
all u exported grain and grain prod
ucts, fruits. vegetables, liquors, to-
bacco, wines, live stock and live stock
products. including meats and all the
products of our forests. Unless the
yield falls below expectations, next
years crop will weigh 5000, 900, 0C0
pounds, and with the seed. ought to be
worth 500, coo. 900. The cotton growers
trust, whether good" or bad is GER
tainly a giant among giants.
The convention was called by Colonel
Harvie jordan, of Georgia, president
OF the Southern Cotton Growers Pro-
tective association. Meeting with
Colonel Jordan's organization was the
National Cotton association, born at
Shreveport last December in the
paroxysm which set the bales aare-
Tie TWO associations at once locked
horns. One of them was rather OF the
silk-stocking. dignitied order; the 9TH
er fuller of the spirit which. west of
the Missouri, is so well known under
the adjective populistic. 1t was freely
predicted that they could neither fuse
nor agree. The name adopted for the
convention, however, was q happy COM
promise, and augured well for final har-
mony. Colonel Jordan's eloquence took
with the delegates. and "A fusion organ
ization vas adopted, with the ~coionel's
chief rival. Cololel H.. s.. Peters. Of
Texas, as vice president; so that Col
onel Jordan went back TO his Georgia
plantation with the presidency as his
trophy-and found himself obliged to
begin having his mail hauled home in
wagons
Several momentous things this cotton
combine purposes to do. Mentioning
the remote things first. 1t intends TO
carry on an educational movement for
better agricultural methods, and espe-
! cially for diversified farming. The, one
crop country sometime has to learn
that It's policy viii not do; the south is
learning 1t a little late. that Is all. Cot
ton nursed on commercial fertilizers.
and growa on credit as the sole crop.
will pay well only occasionally. The
planter must deign TO become a farm-
err; must keep live stock. must grow
fodder for il; must produce his fertil-
izers on the place; must not despise
fruits, butter and eggs. This spells the
be inning of a regime similar to that
of the north today: more people to the
square mile; smaller holdings: more eff
cient labor--white labor-in the fields
and about the barnyards. Probably il
means the most populous states Ia the
union along the gulf-for the forty
acre farm Is a large one for the owner
to work in the south--with streams OF
foreign immigration greater than ever
New York received, landing at New
Orleans, Galveston and Mobile.
But this is far in the future. What
are the purposes OF the cotton COM
inc for 1862 Its nag have no
doubts as TO the answer TO this. They
propose, first, that the acreage OF cot
ton shall be decreased one-fourth. sec
ond. that on the area planted twenty
five per cent. less fertilizers shall be
used; and. third. that the cotton on
hand shall be held back until the price
reaches ten cents per pound. Whether
this can be done or not is a debatable
question; but the audacity with which
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