The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-07-27
HELM SPEAKS TO
AUTAUGA FARMERS
County Cotton Association
Holds Enthusiastic Meeting
RAP AT WALL STREET
Organization of FARMERS Has Been
Greatest Step Ever Taken BY
Them-Other Prominent
Men Are Present.

| gresham ]. Thomas Heflin was the lead
| ing speaker at the barbecue given by the
Cotton Growers association of Autauga
county today. Others were E. D. Smith,
president of the South Carolina assoeia-
ton. and W. II. Seymour, president OF the
Alabama association. among other things
Mr.. Helm said:
| I saw a southern farmer prepare his
| soil and place seed in the ground-mll-
| lions of sunbeams danced on the surface
refreshing showers sought and found their
hiding place and, germination began
saw little plants push the clods away and
smile at the sun. The gentle zephyrs
kissed their tender faces and breathed
into them the message or their mission.
Around them | heard the music OF Scoval
hoe and the song of the happy plowman.
Proud and graceful they stood, manteled
| in leaves and laden with squares
looked again and saw thousands of white
blossoms nodding welcome to the golden
| bolted bees. Gathering strength from the
soil-basking in sunshine, and revealing IN
the showers, they f1ourished until autumn
| winds whispered to every full-grown boil
| open Sesame" Then the cotton stalk
| flung its fleecy fibre to the breeze and
| busy singers plucked it from the bolls
heard the hum of the old cotton gin, ana
the seeds fell down on the floor below
while the lint came out In swirls OF snow.
l saw 1t neatly bound In bagging, and
the farmer smiled as he hauled 1t away
| to market. | saw the local cotton buyer
approach him on the street, and a look OF
surprise and repression came over the
face of the farmer when told that the
market had gone to pieces In wan street.
There he stood with the product OF ms
| toll helpless in the hands of the STOCK
gamblers and market manipulators Oh
New York and Liverpool She Southern
Cotton association had not yet blessed
| the south with its presence. There was
| no organization to help secure ia1r ana
| reasonable price. and no system lor MAJ
keting cotton. So the farmer, unalded,
CROPPED in the dark, selling his cotton at
prices fixed by constituencies men, VINO
| thrived on the misfortunes Of these I'M
supecting men, as the vampire thrives on
/ the life-blood of his helpless victim.
The Cotton Gambler.
| Again the farmer prepares his soil
| pitches his crop and tolls diligently an
| other year. The uncertainty that hovers
/ over the price of cotton makes him de-
| spondent. He hopes for good price, but
hopes in vain. The cotton gamblers nave
marked him for their own. Through their
| specials they tell him land he believes
| it, that the cotton crop is enornous-that
1 the supply Is too great for the wants OF
| the world, and Responding still he drags
| through another season of slavery TO the
/ cotton gamblers of New York. II USED
| to be the custom of the Indians OF this
country. at a certain season of the year
| to have great feast They came to-
| gether in great numbers-painted them
| selves in various colors and decorated
| themselves with feathers and furs. II
| was the occasion of the great corn
| Dance" and when that season came
around they made merry In many ways,
/ playing. dancing and singing. There Is
| a season of the year in this country when
| a certain class of men come together IN
| Wall street. 1t is occasion of the great
| Cotton Feast" They, too, rejoice and
| make merry when this season comes
around and when the feast is ready wild
| excitement prevails in the hall of the ex-
| change. Some gamble that the price OF
| cotton will 'go up and some gamble that
the price will Ego down" Thus the game
goes on, and the price of the south's
principal product is tossed from one
| gambler to another and is determined
finally by chicanery and chance. The
| south awaits the decision of the cotton
| gamblers court and accepts the decree as
| final. Strangely fascinated and charmed
by the voice of the faxir-the people of
the south were lured on and on-year
| after year by the songs of the Sirens of
| the cotton exchange until the very shores
of our industrial existence, groaned be-
| meath the victims of their folly and the
| voice of hunger and distress was heard
| in the land, then opening their eyes and
| no longer looking through a glass darkly,
they saw that something had to be done
and done quickly to save the Industrial
| life of the south from the dangers that
| threatened 1t. Then farmers merchants,
bankers. doctors, lawyers, editors, preach
| ers and teachers came together about the
altar of a common interest and registered
| a VOW that they would demand fair
| and reasonable price for our cotton-that
the price of cotton should no longer de-
pend upon the desire of the gambler or
the uncertainty of speculation.
Scene Changes.
| The scene is changed in Wall street.
The class have gathered and the cotton
fields are white as before. but the peo-
pie of the south are singing a new song.
| In the exchange the gambling begins.
| The prepared specials announcing the
| largest crop of cotton ever grown are
| sent broadcast over the county; but con-
| trary to her custom, the south denounces
the prepared speeials' as false and the
cotton gambler begins ito sit up and take
| notice" Prepared specials say that the
| manufacturers of cotton goods have more
cotton on hand than they can dispose
of in many months, and the south re-
flutes the statement and astounds the
'1eeches'' of the exchange by giving the
actual number of bales in possession of
the manufacturers. The market manr-
ulators are disturbed-aye, they are an
CRY, now, because the south refuses
longer to swallow the bait that they
have prepared for special service dur
ing the cotton season. Then threats are
made, that the milmen will shut down
the Acknowledgements TO convert cotton into
cloth. unless the price of the raw ma
terial 'goes down. The south declines
to be frightened by the threat and in
forms the manufacturer that she knows
of his contracts to deliver cotton goods
| to certain concerns at stipulated times.
| Confusion reigns la the cotton exchange,
| and why? Because you have presented to
| the world new condition of things. The
| rumor so often employed for purpose,
that China can raise cotton and that
| India can grow 1t in great abundance,
has been found 10 be false. The deep
| mystery that hung around the manu-
facturers of cot lon goods keeping from
. 10 frtaf h tn flY4i1r nf