Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1906-04-11
The Way We Size II Up.


fall is juot what cotton producers
make it. Your work now is about
all directed, indirectly or directly
towards making the conditions that
are to rule or control the prices of
your cotton for this crop and to some
extent the next crop, too.
If yo,, help do thing yourself
r,xhen don't 60 about blaming some
9ther fellow for doing it.
If you can buy your grain, hay
and other farm products cheaper
than you can raise these produ cts,
then you are not as good a farmer as
the other man that does this for you,
and you can also buy your cotton
cheaper than you can grow it, too.
Few people can realize how sick
they have been until they begin to
get over it; few farmers realize what
fool they are about cotton until
they begin to buy high-priced farm
products with low.priced cotton.
If it it takes wise man to act
wise, and fool to act a fool, then it
is a natural thing to expect none but
good business men to succeed in buy
ing many farm products with which
to grow the one product, cotton.
How many of these SO. called 'sbasi-
ness" farmers do you know of that
have been up against business
proposition like this Tor many years
that now have nothing to show up
their business qualifications in any
form of accumulations excepting,
perhaps, family of ragged and
ignorant children and a mortgaged
mule or twop
No doubt you've heard of the
"'business woman" that borrowed a
setting of eggs from one neighbor
and brooding hen from another
she said she had the nest. Well,
now, we are betting on this woman
coming out ahead of the man that
buys everything on credit that he
uses in growing his crop of cotton.
Now, this is the class of cotton
producers that control the early cot
Son market. These are the real
bumpers, and the men that furnish
the supplies of all sorts to such un-
business-like, incompetent managers
of such an important industry as cot
ton growing, are the real responsible
parties. These never.do- wells could
never rule the cotton business unless
the supply men and the landowners
put this important business in the
hands of such incompetent parties.
These business men and the land
owners are now coming together to
control this matter; they are requir-
ing each of this class of cotton pro-
ducers to diversity his crops, which
is the only way to enforce the neces-
sary fundamental principal OF system
upon which the South can ever make
her prices for her cotton and main.
tain profitable prices.
Now is the time to prepare for har
vesting the small grain crop. Of all
the busy months in the cotton States
the harvest times are the times of
the most work and the shortest time
to do it in. Cotton and corn crops
and small grain all need attention
about the same time.
Farmers Unions can aid each
other through these extremely busy
weeks by clubbing together and buy
ing binders, threshing machinery and
other costly farm machinery, that
perhaps may be too much outlay for
one farmer to foot up; and if the
Union does not see fit tot buy this
machinery they can combine and
contract with some member that
will do all this harvesting machine
work for them at the proper time,
and thus make it possible to guaran-
tee sufficient work to justify pro-
gressive young man to invest in an
up-to-date outfit. This kind of
work is right along the straight road
with the true principles of the Farm
ers' Union. Farm labor is now too
high to use only behind the best
farm machinery, tools, teams and
implements. If one farmer cannot
afford to get the best of all these. the
farmers must combine their efforts
and help each other, 80 as to obtain
this important help just at the time