The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-07-28
APPEALS TO
 COTTON MEN |E. D. Smith Addresses Commercial Club. HOLD CROP FOR HIGH PRICES Speaker Urges United Effort to
 Secure Full Value. Predicts Unprecedented Struggle In Fall and says solution of Problem Is In Hands of southern
 Farmer.

 the bankers and the people of the South must unite this faIi to dereat the great est combination of the world s capital and brain ever known, was the mes sage brought ito the business men of Montgomery in the Commercial Club rooms last night by Hon. E. D. Smith, Financial Agent and General Organizer of the Southern Cotton Association. Many of those who had heard Mir. Smith before expressed the belief that the distinguished speaker probably
 made the greatest oratorical effort of his life.
 Stimulated by the cause which he has at heart. and gifted with an unusual flow of language, he made a brilliant appeal. urging the combined efforts of
 every loyal southerner to bend his the South with held from the market. especially during the
 months of September. October and No- The crowd that heard Organizer Smith was not as large as he had ex- pected from a city the size of Mont gomery, but those listening to his hours speech were enthusiastic and Il by him toward creating renewed and an increased interest in the work of the Southern Cotton Association.
 Fair Price For Cotton.
 The speaker was introduced by w
 H. Seymour. President of the Alabama Division of the Southern Cotton As- sociation. Mir. Seymour dwelt briefly
 on the principles of the Associatlon T.
 convention. He argued for falr l rrice of cotton, one that would give the farmer profit on his labor and capital invested. He introaneea , MT
 who has devoted unlimited thought and time to the work.
 MT Smith said 1t was with surprise
 and pain he noticed the indifference q \ e Ars "A an AnnnFtnMitV which | if offered to any other Angle Saxon people, would make them the wealth lest and greatest on earth.
 In Montgomery they wanted 10 De but in this proposition he was iayine before the people. without committees without advertisements to secure an in.
 flux of capital and people, was @ afforded 1s an opportunity that would Iloou thf
 'ou'" south Pays Dividends.
 |. Raw cotton. he said. Is sent away
 from the South to come back 10 us m 1 the way of a loan on which we pay q
 The speaker referred to conditions after the war. The Northern banker | loaned to the Southern banker tns | Southern banker to the merchant, md | the merchant to the farmer Ths Northern banker pulled the string and 1 the Southern farmer danced. The crof
 for a season was sold before the seee | g a | ''We have passed through serie: | of years" he exclaimed, "that hay. | been absolutely cruel in their econ
 Tn the. proceedings of the convention | of British Cotton Growers. which hl l had received, he had read the speecl | of Sir William Hutton, saying Una
 England is dependent upon one conn | try. the South. and it's weather, for q | per cent of its cotton. This he con | strued to mean that they were not de | pendent on the fool that makes tn. | crop :" 'The south's cotton is theirs:
 he, said. little or big. and at thei'
 Scores Theodore Price.
 1 His opinion of Theodore Price, th' | speculator. was not hatterinE Th' ! speaker said he stood corrected wher | some one told him that Price does no
 speculate in cotton, but in "southerr | fools"
 South raised s5 per cent. of the cot i ton of the world, and the situation ii | absolutely In our hands. He wanted l to talk 10 his hearers as business men
 to see if he could interest them. Int | every element of civilization tn th' | South. All is dependent directly oi | indirectly on the proceeds of the crop
 What does the Southern financiel
 say If you meet him on the streetY
 asked Mir. Smith. He says 1t Is too l hIe a question to handle. Let 1t alone | and 1t will regulate itself"
 | Everyone. he forcefully said, Is cring. | ing and trembling under the lash or half dozen gamblers on Wall Street. | He spoke of cotton and It's substi' | tutes and showed that if 1t was nol | for the South's product, two-thirds ol the inhabitants of the world would go
 No man in the South. he contended has the right to criticise the price ol cotton. unless he has exhausted every means for a price of Is cents. l The crop for this year, he said, F coming on hand and the solution to thu | entire problem Is for the South to pro
 vide means for holding its crop. The nroposition, he maintained, ti | simple. He advocated the inauguratioi | of a propaganda for keeping your cotton off the market In Septemper | October and November. He urged tht importance of not letting the distres' niy of those who wish to keep the price
 Now is the time. he said. for thu Southern farmer. banker and merchan to show the grit and the falth tna | see the greatest fight on the part ol 1he canifal ana brain of the world tC l defeat the Southern cotton raiser. | eve are the sons of heroes, ne fald we should not be vassals am tlIee | of doing business on Northern capita and Northern brains, ~
 The speaker closed with a stronl apneal for a helping hand In the grea | struCgle he predicts this fall He wal | warmly congratulated upon his aol' 1 address and a number or Montgonl i erys business men Noiuhtarliy ohei ~ him their support
 | <..,o ra4,uee today S p. M. ChIldreI