Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1906-12-12

0ic cOGtou uIr6Ct tO bpIuncTb.
The initial capital of this first
company will viii be be $4,000, privileged
to increase capital 80 any amount re-
quired to support the business. In
order to popularize the enterprise
among the growers Of cotton &c
much as possible, it is thought ad-
yisable to place the shares at $1.
Now the cotton growers of the
South produce and place upon the
market each year from six to seven
hundred million dollars worth of cot
ton. Between the producer and
spinner, as the trade now goes, are a
vast and expensive army of men
whose chief occupation has its sup
port in demoralizing the cotton mar
ket and getting the crop out of the
producers' hands as cheap as possible
and selling it to the spinnsrs as high
as possible.
AS we look upon this new proposi-
tion we can see no reason why grow
ers of cotton cannot, with proper
management, place their cotton di-
rectly into the hands Of the spinners
as readily as they now place it into
the hands of the speculative element
that stands between the two. 1t
appears to us that the growers of the
staple would naturally have more
confidence in themselves than they
should have in men who make vast
fortunes by standing between the
producer and spinner of cotton.
Cotton growers must trust some
one and must place confidence in
some one to price and take his cot.
ton to the spinner. Farmers, you
are square up against the PROPOSE
tion-will you continue to trust and
confide the business of pricing and
handling your cotton crops to the
grand wolfish pack that robs you,
year in and year out, of your hard
earned proitsp or will you take hold
of your own affairs by joining hands
with the wFarmers' Cotton Union"
and have something to say about the
pricing of your own products?
Will you continue to trust the
gang that you know have been rob.
bing you, and then take your profits
out in cussing and calamity bowling ?
or will you side up with the "Farm-
ers' Cotton Union" and pocket the
profits for yourselvesp
Lest those that are real friends to
the farmer through ignorance oppose
the plans and movement, it may be
beat to say word as to what the
Farmers Cotton Union is and what
it will do, and what it proposes to do
for the individual cotton grower. 1t
is not necessary to reveal the work.
ings or details, as these are available
to all that have right to know
through regular channels. 1t is first
and always only working EARN" of
the Farmers e. & @. Union, and
under such control and direction,
and proposes to be the medium
through which the individual farmer
can sell his cotton direct to the spin
ner, anywhere located, and through
which the spinner anywhere in the
world can in confidence make known
to the farmer his wants and what he
will pay for it at first hands, and in
any quantity he may need any day
in the year. 1t proposes to perform
this service at actual cost to each
specific bale handled, thereby oblite-
rating all manner of profit and specu-
lation between planter and the mill.
1t proposes to receive all cotton,
whether grown by union farmers or
not, on exactly the same terms. 1t
will receive lots of cotton at any
warehouse or platform that is served
by railroad connection, and have
same sampled by an official sworn to
do his duty honestly and under bond.
These samples will then pass before
a board of experts, whose duty shall
be to place exact and specific grade
classification on each particular bale,
and do 80 without knowing any
other particulars than what they see
in the sample before them, and in
that also individually, 80 that their
Judgment will be beyond any out
side influence or judgment of others,
the object being to fix grades to an
exact standard and nnchangeable,
fixing once and for all the value per
pound for such cotton. Upon this
the district grade Office will issue q
ticket to the farmer containing full
and exact details of these facts, to-
gether with weights and location of
the particular bale, with an assign
ment clause on back of same, 80 that
it becomes warrant for the pro-
ceeds of sale, and can be placed as
collateral security or used to pay a
debt or sold for its face value at any
time, that being easily determined