The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1906-06-30
ORGANIZATION OF FARMERS
Find Protection Worthless and Rebel
Against Tarif-Fostered
Trusts.

and planters, known as the Equity
society and the Farmers union. have
the avowed purpose of increasing the
price for which agricultural products
snail ce sold. That Is a very natural
Undertaking of the farmers to try and
benefit themselves by cooperating to-
gether. They see others combining and
plundering them, why should not they
emulate the trusts and corporations
and put their W price on their own
products like the trusts do? Instead Of
selling their wheat, corn and cotton
at the price the buyers offer, why not
hold 1t until the buyers GENE around
and are willing to pay a profitable
price?
Why it looks just as easy as fall
ing Off a log or gliding down the cellar
door hat a little grease has made
SICK L slippery. All you have to
40, say the leaders, is t O refuse to
sell until o get your price. One dol
lar a bushel for wheat and Is cents q
pound for cotton and the price of 9TH
err products in proportion. Eureka!
the world is ours, if we only hang to-
getha-. Everything we buy is on the
boom, from agricultural machinery to
zine PAINT. Why can't the farmers do
the same?
lhe trouble Is, the farmer, unlike
the tariff protected trusts and COM
bines, has no monopoly. His wheat
Is sold at the price Of the worlds
market, according to supply and de-
mani. All the surplus wheat of all
the countries goes to the markets of
other countries that do not produce |
enough to supply their own wants. II
there is a scarcity the price rules
high; If there are bumper crops the
world over, the price is low. If all
the surplus we raise in the United
States was kept at home, when other
countries had good crops, there would
probably be still enough to supply the
Liverpool market, which rules the
worlds price. In that case. with
nearly 4O0, 900, 900 bushels of wheat on
our hands more than we could con.
sumo, what would we do with it?
What would the price at Chicago be
then? Instead of one dollar a bushel
1t would be cheaper than corn. To
store all that surplus wheat and await
advance in price, through poor
crops elsewhere, is an expensive proc
ess. Il costs money to store wheat,
besides, it will only keep a couple of
years without damaging.
1t does not look encouraging for the
society members as far as the
price OF wheat is concerned, and SIM
lar obstacles will be met with in
to fix the price of corn, oats and
cattle.
With the cotton planter the outlook
S more promising. This country raises
nearly all the surplus cotton, and the
)rice is greatly Influenced, if not en-
lrely fixed in this country. Cotton
viii keep, merely requiring a good '
oOf ever 1t. The greatest danger is c
rom fire, and insurance of such an I
nfammable substance is expensive. a
Both the southern planter and the a
farmer can, however, pro- c
themselves from the trust high Q
rices by uniting for the abolition of q
he protective tariff, which has fos-
cred these combines. With reason c
Bile prices for what they buy they can s
ford tc take reasonable prices for what &
hey sell, and still come out ahead II
place of very high tariff rates, as at n
resent, there should be a tariff for "
is, enough tariff tax on O.
nports to provide the necessary rev. ~
hue for the government, and not high III
lOugh to protect the trusts in charg- a.
g their p%lundering prices. te
1t will pay the organized farmers to I
Tx that important matter of tariff
their homes. The Republican party n
is tried to prevent this, by declaring liz
at al organizations of farmers must m
nOnpartisan, and as far as the Ma ar
)nal Grange is concerned, the Re- d1
lblic2ns control it, which has doubt Sc
SIS driven the Independent farmers lit
join the Equity society and Farm ha
$ unions, where mOre latitude is al N;
we'd for political discussion. There sn
no political issue that is so impor- ne
Mt 10 the farmers as the tariff, as 20
fosters trusts and combines which
lnder them. The pretended protec-
n of rs cents a bushel on wheat, Is III
ats on corn and Is cents on oats d
divided in the tariff law has been De
M by the farmer to be entirely SCI
rtnless, because the surplus of those =
Fps sold abroad fixes the price at
me, and the price would be just as
ID if there was a tariff duty of Is
It's q pound, it would not add to or
luce the price. 4
Roosevelt has decided