The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-01-09

we'll as sold. It is one thing to run | a wind campaign of speculation ana IL | is another to produce the actual cot ton. Now, it Is argued, if the cotton can be kept on the farms and in the South this fictitious and artificial con- dition will be exploded and the price O fcotton will rise to it's proper level. l How is this to be done? And how is the acreage to be so reduced that repetition of the condition will be inn possible in the coming year?
 l In seeking the answer to those two question the South is stirred from
 center to circumference. There is ! right now more agitation of the ques- 1 tfons of holding cotton and of reduc-
 ing the acreage than there ever was
 of any other agricultural question du- | ring the history of the South. The columns of the newspapers are filled with plans. suggestions, arguments and discussion. The situation Is threshed over in every country store
 in every beat. The burden of all the | arguments, all the suggestions, all the | plans is to hold cotton and to reduce | the acreage. These two things and
 only these two things. it is contended.
 will prick the inflated bubble of the | stock gamblers success and eliminate the wind tanning and figure juggling | speculator from the situation.
 l But to do either of these two things l is not easy.
 l How to Get Results.
 The farmers are earnestly trying to get together for some sort of organi- zation. Acting under an agreement the Commissioners of Agriculture of the Southern States have called beat or school house meetings for January
 in their respective states to discuss
 the situation.
 The call for the Alabama farmers to
 meet, issued by Commissioner Poole.
 names January 10 as the day on which
 the Alabama cotton raisers are to as- | semble and discuss ways and means for holding cotton and reducing the
 acreage. The important meeting. however, will be- held in New Orleans January 24, the meeting of the Cotton I Growers Protective Association, of
 which Harvie E. Jordan, the well
 known cotton planter of Georgia, is
 President. This meeting, 1t is hoped. ! will do more to secure united action | on the part of the cotton growers than any other one thing. The time for | meeting, the time for discussing, the l time for action Is right upon the farm CT. The crop of 1905 is being planned II and pitched. And whatever is to be l done, it is well that 1t should be done | quickly.
 | SOuth's Financial Strength.
 | The star of hope for the cotton rais-
 CT is the financial stability of the | South. It is that which will point the
 way out of the wilderness of 6 cent cotton. This financial vitality of the
 South Is what is enabling a large per | cent of the Southern planters to keep | part of last years crop locked up II at home and stored in the warehouses. II It has been said that the South will
 this year hold S.O0O,000 bales or more of the years crop during the spring and summer months This cotton will | be kept off the market first by the II farmers who are able to hold 1t with out assistance and secoLd, through as-
 sistance rendered by the strohg and
 virile banks of the South, and third. by the independent farmers helping out
 their weaker neighbors, by lending II them money on the cotton they are
 holding.
 To Carry the Cotton.
 The leading farmers are endeavor- ing to find a plan whereby the banks will lend $25 bale at per ent. They apprehend that there will be no diff cuIty in borrowing $25 on every bale at per cent, but they do not care to pay that much interest when therc is any hope of getting 1t at a cheaper rate The main thing that encourages the movers in this general cotton holding movement, Is the fact that the banks are better able to lend money
 on cotton than ever before. And these
 leaders declare that the Southerh
 banks will lend encouragement to the
 holding of cotton. because the success
 of the movement Is of vital impor- i. tance to them. The banks and their
 officers have cotton which they arc
 holding and they have already loanN outstanding against cotton in gin houses and warehouses.
 | Banker W. s. Witham, of Georgia
 has a scheme for the depositing oi
 cotton receipts in the banks and the
 issuance of certificates which will 5'
 as good as a check for $25 on each
 bale of cotton. MT. Witham has pre-
 sented his plan to all the Commission
 CTS of Agriculture of the Southern
 States and he has corresponded with
 the leading cotton raisers of Georgia
 to get them interested in his plan. Col. E. S. Factors. a well known cot
 ton grower Of Calvert, Texas, while ir
 the city Friday declared that the banks in Texas, Oklahoma and Indian ) Territory would cheerfully take car, of all the cotton that was to be held
 in those States. The banks out west
 he said. would loan $25 on each balt | or cotton at . per cent. AL the dp- preaching meeting of the cotton grow. CTS on JaCuary 25, the bankers would be invited to confer with the cotton growers and submit some genera plans for the carrying of the cottor
 that is now in the warehouses and al
 the gin houses and which is unsold ! Prominent planters have already con ' ferred with the bankers of New Or leans and other cities upon this very |. question and they have been assured that the bankers would gladly assis in the general holding movement. 5 Holding and Reducing.
 If there Is one fact that the farmer: appreciate more than another; 1t ii that the general holding movement
 will be a failure, worse than a fail
 ure, unless the cotton acreage is re
 duced. Suppose. it is argued tha three million bales of the present croI
 are held until the next crop comes 1T , and that the next crop totals 12,000, } 900 bales? Then the farmer would los' not only on his part of the three mil lion bales that were held, but on tho
 part of twelve million bales that were raised. There will be no twelve million bale crop this year if the lead ing farmers can prevent It by any means within their power.
 They have some hopes that a genera
 reduction under an agreement between
 the farmers will mark this year, but many of them fear that the genera , agreement is a faint hope. Tke con