Okolona messenger. (Okolona, Miss.) 1900-current, 1905-03-08

invites your attention tc the neces-
sity and method OF organized ei-
forts on the part Of those affected
by cotton production
The South, il its opportunities
are properly utilized, will become
the most favored and prosperous
agricultural part Of the earth. Gil
mate, soil and seasons give it a
practical monopoly Of one Of the
worlds most needed products,
cotton. During the four years Of
our civil war, when the price Of
cotton reached about a dollar a
pound, and ever since, especially
when prices we're high, all other
parts Of the earth endeavOred to
deprive us Of supremacy; but only
about a fifth Of the total yield,
which does not a%ppreciably affect
the price, is their utmost attain
ment. By proper regulations,
limiting the amount of cotton
raised to what will command a re-
munerative price, by increasing
consumption, by cutting off all
avOidable expenses Of inteTmedia-
~ handling, and by judiciOus mar
keting, the land and labor I'M
ployed in cotton production can
be made the most profitable of the
world. All of this can be certain
y accomplished by sensible and
we'll organized effort. The cotton
manufacturers of all countries are
combining into one association
which will act through one set Of
buyers and utterly destroy cOmpe-
tition. By organizing, the cotton
producers can treat directly with
this organized body, discussing
conditions, agreeing on prices that
would be permanently remunera-
tive to both, ending gambling in
futures and artificial fluctuations
Of values,
A crop of ten or eleven million
bales is worth, now, 800, 600, 900
more than a crop of IA, 900, 900
bales. Had one.sixth of the time
employed in producing this crop
been spent in idleness, cotton pro-
ducers would have been more than
500, 600, 900 the gamers. Indus
try should never be punished, nor
is it, when properly directed, nor
should idleness be encouraged. If
instead of spending one.sixth of
the time in idleness the producers
Of the south had devoted that por-
ton Of their energy, labor. and
capital to other and diversified
crops, corn, forage, trucking, live
stock, ETC., our section would have
been more than 5000, 600, 900 the
net gamer. This proposition is
manifest to all we'll informed peo-
pie who give the subject thought.
Some contend that five cent cot
ton is better than ten cent value,
bat this is a delusion, unless pow
erty for cotton producers and a
starvation scale of wages and liv-
ing constitutes a public good.
Mississippi's present crop is esti-
mated at one and one-half million
bales. An advance Of one cent
per pound, five dollars per bale,
means seven and one,hali million
Dollars brought into our borders
chiefly from England, a larger
mount than is needed. to pay all
state, county and other taxations.
An advance OF four cents per
pound on a million bale crop means
500, 600, 600 brought to us from the
outside world, and SO evenly
distributed that not a man, woman
So child in our borders would not
BE- immensely the gamer. With
Just prices for cotton the wealth Of
our state could be soon doubled
and its prosperity become unsur-
passed.
Organization will certainly at
tain all Of this; and is no more
dimcult than we're the formation
81 the coal miners, locomotive en-.