The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1907-11-08
PRESIDENT CLARK
URGES ORGANIZATION
Ia IN Address to the cettsa PSeascess
Monday a~ftesnesa.

Mr.. Walter Clark. President at the
Mississippi Division Of the Southern
Cotton Association, addressed the local
association at the court house Monday
Afsernoon at $50 o'clock. The vsec,ins
WAS well attended and Indicates thstthe
work ofthe Southern Cettee Association
- progressing 10 Lssore ceanty.
Mr., CLARK commenced by saying that
il eaghs GOT 10 he necessary TO disnBss
uits Sach az Intelligent ssdiesee the
necssssties or Advantages a organisa-
sBgsn: ~ ihis are ~ the world every in.
tetysi Gas organ sea and that il was i'm
possible to accomplish anything with
vat organization The progressive
'owrss 81 Mississippi had their business
ieN1nes sna All ssw the rrsalt at this
waasE; thSt il had been Bis effort TO get
The farmers Of Mississippi TO organize
sna cooperate ~ith All the business
leagues towards the development al the
towns IS wNell as She development az the
coHatry. All acre m~utuAlly interested
And As c0i7as Vas The earrency Of the
SaEth and The Onlv thing that hroaght
@aEey into Mississippi from the outside
world, it WAS the interest at all 10 work
together IN maintaining the price q
cotton
M Cars said, however. that nu mat q
tcr how Wril organized the farmers
eight ne. that there YRS one thing nec-
essafy t"fore sBy organization would
e7sr spccee.d 10 getting fgn value for
the t,ottoa crop; ana that was, that the
towns @! Mississippi I'D the country.
and 0ntil the farmers reversed this con-
6iijsn and made 'hcir own farms self
sustaining and fed the towns. all Of their
efforts would me4pt with failure. He
ppiHted out that in is93-4-5 nearly every
farm had its own cane mill aud made its
W syFpp. potatoes peas. corn and a
large per cent, ot the necessary meat;
hut wbeR cotton advanced above six
rents per pound, all of these things
were east aside. He said that while
times we're apparently hard in Missis-
sippi at this time, they were not half as
hard as they would be hex spring when
the farmers found it necessary to sup
ply themselves with hay at $500 per
ton and corn at eighty cents per bushel.
he pointed out that much money would
be saved IL the farmers would at once
SOW their corn fields with fall oats.
He said that what the Delta was we
all well knew. bat few OF us realized
what il would be il the farmers culti-
waited their lands more intelligently and
grew their own food crops and organ
lied for the purpose of controlling the
price Of cotton. Ho said that there was
not n acre OF land in the Delta, unless
il was an experimental farm, that was
producing one-half the crop per acre
that the land was capable Of growing,
and one of the chief drawbacks was the
lack Of intelligent drainage; that he had
labored long and without cooperation
to secure for Mississippi adequate
drainage laws; this at last had been ac-
eomplished, and there were evidences
that the farmers In many communities
were taking hold Of this matter more in
diligently and hoped for great results
in the ear future. He spoke Of the
waterways of the Delta and the case
with which freight rates could be con-
trolled by cutting canals which would
answer as well for drainage purposes as
for navigation. The Delta grew a gu
perior grade OF cotton and he thought
the farmers of the Delta should organ
lie an association Of their own.
He suggested the Leflore County AS
ISOLATION take steps to organize a cot
ton company capitalized at S250,000.
He suggested. however, that it would
take five years to bring this about; that
they first organize with a capital stock
of $4,000, increasing each year one dol
lar per bale for the cotton grown in the
county. He pointed out that IL this
were done throughout the cotton belt,
at the end Of Ave years these various
corporations would have $50, 900, 900,
enough money to take from the market
n million bales of cotton at II cents
per pound. Mr.. Clark agreed at an
early date to submit, in writing, his
ideas in detail along these lines.
REPORTER.