The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-04-09
|COUNTY COTTON GROWERS
 EXPLAIN FERTILIZER SALES

i speech Dr. Frank McLain, chairman oI
 the committee on acreage and fertil-
 izers. made a brief verbal report, say
 ing that he found it almost an impos- | sibility at this time of the year to | gather any approximate statistics. He | urged the acreage and fertilizer com
 mittees of the various beats to begin sending to Secretary Gay an estimate | of the acreage for this and for last year and he would compile report from this.
 This was represented as about the only method of formulating a report l with any color of accuracy about 1t.
 Asked if he thought the sale of fer tilizer tags being an increase for the past month over those of the same month last year represents the actual use of fertilizers, Dr. McLain replied that he did not believe the tags indi- | cate genuine sales.
 | Chairman M. B. Houghton of the | committee on membership in Mont- somery, reported through Secretary | Gay that without working half the l city about 125 members have been en- | rolled and some $450 in subscriptions | to pay the expenses of the organization have been paid in. The intention was Lexpressed to enroll as many as 500 | members in the city beats. I Condition of Treasury.
 Treasurer A. J. Jones made the re- | port that there is a balance now in the | treasury of $202.42. The compensa- tion of the organizer. by agreement | with Mir. williams, is $5 per day with | his expenses paid by himself.
 The president next called for brief | report from each of the beats that 1 were represented. The average report was to the effect that healthy organi- zations exist in all of the beats and | the members are in thorough accord | with the cardinal necessities as out lined in the New Orleans convention. Beat T is well organized with officers | elected. There is only temporary or | ganization in Beat S. In Beat there
 are thirty-seven members enrolled, al- | though the organization Is young In
 Beat 10 the planters organized with | eight members to start with. The | same was said of Beats II and 12,
 while in Beat 13 organization was started two weeks ago amid great en- 1 thusiasm with a membership of twen- | ty-one. Most of the beats have com | mittees on acreage and fertilizers. Beat IA has an organization of twenty | members and the average of reduction | is between 25 and 50 per cent.
 ] The delegation from Beat 15 made l the proud showing of an organization | of l46 members with all of them 1 pledged to a reduction of acreage by l one- fourth. Beat IS has membership l of twenty.
 1 Elected an Organiser.
 The next order of business was the | election of a county organizer to suo- | ceed J. R. McLendon, who resigned soon | after his election at the last meeting | of the association. Nominated by John | Carter, N. B. Williams. who had been
 temporarily retained by the Executive l Committee, was elected unanimously He will continue his work of perfect 1 ing organizations in the beats.
 | State Organizer H. Y. Brooke ad- | dressed the meeting with a series of | arguments why the sincerity of the
 people behind the Southern Cotton As-
 sociation should not be discounted as | A few are prone to do. He said he had | not much to say in defense of 1t as the
 things already achieved spoke for
 themselves. He expressed the beiiei
 that had not the New Orleans conven- | tion been held cotton would today be 1 selling for cents ana that by virtue | of the organ ization, which was born Of l the convention, the South has had De- | tween S25,000,000 and $3b,OOO'OOO' | added to her wealth.
 l He declared that the statement from
 the Commissioners of Agriculture
 which are tending to create the im- | DFGgSt0n tnaU LUd bdACS OL | this year are increasing, are correct as | regards the issuance of tags. He I stout1y denied that the issuance of
 tags indicates actual sales and charged
 that agents of the bears on the cotton
 market have been engaged in the past | month in buying tags for the purpose
 of deceiving the people about the
 sales of fertilizers. not using the tags on separate sacks of fertilizer, but
 punching them
 Tags Bought by Bears.
 Tt is an easy matter, gentlemen said MT. Brooke, for the representa-
 tives of the bears to invest, say $15,0OO
 or S20, 0,00O, in these tags throughout | the South and when the market tum- 1 bles about a cent they will reap a
 profit of about S25,OOO,O0o. It's easy l enough to see through and has been | done to create false impressions" The speaker rebuked the farmer for
 sitting supinely aside and allowing
 men who do not know what cotton | boil looks like to hold them up on | prices they offer for cotton. He asked | his hearers if they were to go to a | hardware store and ask for some cable
 and offered to pay about two-thirds | what 1t sold at a ticket would soon
 be provided for him to Tuscaloosa a | At subject for the insane hospital. | He said the bears are now challenging | in blatant tones the Southern planters
 to stick by any pledges that they
 make. He said they do not believe the l farmers have the ability to organize. | The speaker appealed to the land
 lords to be reasonable in their con tracts with their tenants and allow
 some of the rental price to be paid In | products other than cotton. This was
 strongly urged in the State Convention in Montgomery over a month ago and
 is one of the great essentials for sue | cess in the cotton belt
 Mir. Brooke presented figures which
 nroved that one year spent in the pro- | duction of cotton at cents per pound
 would wreck the farmers of the South. He then told of how cotton should
 never sell for less than 10 cents and | that the south's monopoly of the staple
 can crush at that price all the pos
 Sihle competition of silk, flax and wool
 The sneaker concluded by expressing his encouragement over the prospects
 of reducing acreage throughout the state, He has covered practically all inc State and has made scores or
 sneeches in behalf of the State Asso-
 citation.
 CAKES.
 l nice assortment of Fresh Cakes, | Ia n