The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1905-10-18
pie will go bounding upward.

pound on the Sleeps back; today it
brings % cents, an increase Of 400
per cent The difference between tho
wool and the cotton market lies in the
fact that cotton has future market,
wool has not, therefore, the price Of
cotton is regulated by futures.
The farmers of the South have a
product without which the world in
it's physical and industrial life could
not move. Do not think that by hold
ing cotton you are alone, by your
seves-the whole South is with you.
every bale received on your market
is wired around the world. Upon
these receipts depends the price of
cotton. If the South withholds its
cotton from the market the spinners
and spectators will soon find that the
value of cotton is the price demand
ed by the producers.
President Smith.
Senator r. l. Manning next intro
duced Hon. E. D. Smith, president of
the State Cotton Growers Associa-
ton. No one, he said, felt more
keenly or unseifshly the condition in
which our people find themselves to-
day.
It appeared to him that cotton was
being held better everywhere than it
is in Sumter. If commercial prosper
ity for the South is desired, cotton
must be held The name of Sully will
always be synonymous with the day
Of the commencement Of the prosper
ity of the South. When we were un-
able to strike, he, though Of the
North, struck a blow for US that cost
him his fortune, but which brought
millions to the South.
Theodore Price is a shrewd specula-
tor; he speculated principally in
Southern fools, and he had fertile
field in which to ply his trade. Price
and his associates act along simple
lines, and have amassed their for
tunes by getting cheap raw material
and receiving a high price for the
manufactured article The cheaper
the cotton, the greater the profit on
the cloth.
Where could the world get its sup
ply of cotton if not fron~as. 1t has
been said that when Theodore Price
sells, the world sells, and when Price
buys the world buys, and that the
destiny OF the South is wrapped up
South is wrapped up only in the si!ken
fiber of cotton, the commodity of the
South-the currency Of the South.
High price of cotton is indicative OF
prosperity, low price, OF commercial
tagnation.
We challenge foreign competition.
In 1855, when our land was devasta-
ted, the price went to S1.S9 per pound
in New York. Six years from that day
it brought 65 cents per pound. Why
not competition then? The other
nations of the world could not COM
pete with the South in the production
of cotton when cotton was selling at
that high price. What of today?
Why were we unable to make a
fight before? After the devastation Of
the South the Northern banks loaned
to the Southern banks, the Southern
banks to the Southern merchant and
the Southern merchant to the South
| ern farmer, so when the notes became
due the Northern bank would pull by
this chain of papers the cotton from
the field to the market, and it was
sold at price fixed by the North.
The time has come for the farmers
to stick, and they will stick. I was
laughed at when I preached the doc
trim of "1O-cept-cotton," but the re.
suits speak for themselves. There is
only one question involved; you have
the cotton and you can fix the price.
The only problem is the manhood to
hold it.
The spectators boast of their mil
lions with which to fight. Hold your
cotton until their contracts become
due; then let them spin their cotton
cloth out Of greenbacks: Hold it un-
til you get your price and then make
them pay 1-2 cents extra for wor
rying you. The reason that the farm
er cannot stick is that the merchant
and banks force the cotton out of his
grasp. Ask for time from your credi-
tors, but stick. Beg, borrow or steal,
but don't sell, The only way to ac-
complish the desired end is to hold.
The man that makes one bale is just
aS reSnOnSible as the man that mako.