Oxford eagle. (Oxford, Lafayette Co., Miss.) 1876-current, 1905-04-06
TIE COTTON


this association for the urotee-
,e1 Of tte farmer.
Inc f1cl OF the business =. the
sensible thing t. do IS to
study this question thoroughly
and act upon it at once. Act
it0rr. cut down the acreage and ut
tie sane time begin in earnest
Preparations to live more inde-
pendently at hDlne. Look first at
every item You buy and see if
YOU cannot supply yourself with
TINS commodity. One thing that
We farmers do that i foolish and
our folly - costing Us tens Of.
thousand per year. i the enor-
nous quantity Of meat we buy.
There are very few uen in the
county. and in fact in the whole
country. that by 4 little effort can
raise every pound of this neces-
sIty- M county i better adapt-
ed to raising a reasonable amount.
Vi stock than ours. then let Us
raise all the stock we ar use and
sell 4 few % Others. Every day
almost We see our neighbors CO.
ing 70 Tennessee or some other
place u buy mules and horses.
why not raise them here? What
= the cost to 4 farmer to raise 4
GOOD mule worth $50: I here saw
It viii not take over $3.50 this
leaves S125IOO clear. Now let's
ngure on this on the basis OF cot
ton How much Will it cost to
raise. that l. TO make clear. this
auonnt IN cOttOn2 Grant that
the figures are not exact il IS easy
70 9 that the cotton raiser Is the
loser even % follow each voca-
ton Is 4 business.
But look a Little further. how
much time aEd expense i the
farmer put 70 in ra sim 4 few
nice stock each year. 1t costs
niI practically nothing ga vii
not interfere Wit his orfiaarv
business Ot farming. YOU sa-
We wOCld s0lu have too much
stock: ny answer l.. that IL the
history NJ this section tne- Aas
Ecvce De- IN a fIre when good
stock Gil not bring n il pr
and We are not limited 70 our own
people, We have railroads. we
nave a. much right to ship ard
sell stock a other people. and
then why not DO 80?
The fact Of tha whole business
= We sit idly by and see other
meu get all the profits of every
commodity that's sold and We
pay them compound interest.
We would get extremely angry
II these parties who are pruitinc
Il our expense were u tell u Il
: al because OF our ignorance.
and, It would be righs perhaps if
We should. but. the fac. - aims
an the only thing | know how
to evade that proposition IS To
eaA L pure hard down cusseI-
ness. Now. 10 ne, we are gull
y Of tina. charge and we know
now to 10 better.
one pointer let me give YOU a.
4 practical farmer who as such
has had 4 reasonable amount OF
success; the man VINO every dav
IN the year, each year, mas corn
IN his CRIB never owes n man a
a dollar that he could not nav.
II 4 fact you can't dispute. and
II : not because OF the intrinsic
value Of the corn altogether but
because this man uses this corn
IN raising stock, he has al his
meat and some TO sell, plenty Of
cattle and well fed horses. When
you have IL this you don't need
any money especially, fer YOU
nave nothing costly to buy.
What Is your clothes bill each
year? very little With most OF US.
men where goes all the money
we 90 have, simply squaadered
N paying the merchant for what
We should have raised at home
% let get this matter of BOOKING
out for No. One at home first
and then raise cotton as a pas
time Ii We raise cotton as usu-
al and depend upon it for all we
buy we snail inevitably meet with
the same results that We have in
the past, but there IS not 4 per-
son who reads these lines but
knows that the man who raises
all he uses at home IS the most
prosperous Then why not act
upon this idea, there il no poss-
Die way TO fail; bit to mise cot
tn as We have done means fail
Ure certain.
Any man knows that a small
crop OF cotton. say eight million
bales at L cents = far less ex-
penslve t. raise than sixteen mil
lion bales at . cents. So whats
the : 20 keep going at the same
Old rate AMI then at TIE end Of
life ind we've only played the
part Of a great fool. Let : not 10
that any .Juger. let's organize.
IJIE this association; it the onIv
way 70 succeed.
Another pointer: there never
was a time IN this country when
the people were as well able to
speak Independently on a matter
ike th.a. Besides the fact that
all the farmers ara better able
financially TO do as they please.
they have the bankers, merchants
business leagues, doctors. law
yers, IN fact everybody behind
them to assist them in every pos
slole way The only possible
chance for Us % lose Is for the
farmer 70 attempt TO play smart
AIegxf ARD think h. yUSTI -