Shiner gazette. [volume] (Shiner, Tex.) 1893-current, 1906-11-21
Farmers Co-Operative Union
y Of America -
OF America

as cotton can be grown for five cents
a pound 1t is unreasonable for the
producer to expect more than ten
cents for 1t.
with this bit OF unlmpeachable
wisdom the newspaper closes the dis
cusison, fully conscious in its own
mind perhaps, that it had called at
tention to a fact which the Southern
cotton planter had strangely over !
looked, and, having called attention to
the fact, no more was to be said on
the subject.
"It has long been admitted that tho
interference Of New York interests in
the cotton production of the South,
has been one of the greatest menaces
to the prosperity of the cotton planter,
and not until the farmers combined,
carefully calculated the conditions of
the crop each year and fixed a mini
mum price at which the staple was to
be sold, did there appear to be any
way of escaping the Nominations of
Wall Street in the marketing Of the
crop. But when the farmers COM
menced to stand together Wall Street
began to rattle Endeayor was made
with what degree of success 1t is
not here the purpose to discussc-to
get inside one cotton organization at
least, whereby 1t might manipulate
the market. But the real cotton grow
ers, the men who raise the staple and
have 1t to SELL could not be touched.
They, better than anybody else, know
how much it costs to produce pound
Of cotton. And they know that that
cost is more than five cetns pound.
They know more about the cost OF
producing pound OF cotton than any
New York newspaper can ever know.
They know that every item entering
J into the production OF pound Of cot
: ton today is higher than it ever was
before. 1t costs more to buy land, fer
ti1lzers, stock, implements. to pay for
labor and to meet living expenses
: than It ever did before. The cost en-
Z tering into the production of bale OF
I cotton today is almost double what 1t
; was ten years ago, and the farmer
who bases his calculation on the FIVE.
( cent cost theory Is the farmer who
: stands to lose in the final sale trans
ol action. effs
5 ut is true that the cotton which Is
q sold for ten cents will pay the ex
: penses of production and afford the
farmer living for his family, but the
farmer is entitled to more than that
and it is not just for any newspaper
t or Wall Street to expect the cotton
l. grower to be satisfied with mere &C
Il tual expenses. The cotton grower 1:
g just as much entitled to a reasonable
d return on his effort, his time, his en-
). ergy and his investment as the Wal
2 Street broker is entitled to his profits
r Yet the broker assumes to secure his
s. own profit and to dictate to the farmer
It also what he shall take for his crop
L The brokers would probably BIZ
e shocked if the cotton growers should
n assume to tell them that brokers ant
business men should be entitled to NJ
more than actual living expenses our
of their business, and yet that is JUS
n the position assumed toward the cot
l. ton producers by people interested II
l. the trade the world over"
If there be any class who is pre-emi
D. nently entitled to more than bare
h living, it is the farmer the producer
h, AS for the classes whose usefulness Il
It debatable, it is an open question
n whether they be entitled even to {
d bare living. Is any able-bodied persol
s. morally entitled to that which he doe
1t not earn by some useful seryice2