Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1907-09-06

No man in Mississippi is better
posted upon conditions pertaining 10
our great money crop, cotton, than
Hon. Walter Clarke, president Of the
Mississippi division Of the Southern
Cotton Association. In company with
a, number of gentlemen representing
the Cotton Association and the Farm
ers' Union, several weeks were spent
during the summer in foreign fields
studying the situation with reference
to an improvement that would place
American cotton on an equal foot
ing with that from other sections of
the world. Mr.. Clarke now proposes
to visit points in the state that de-.
sire to know the result of his inves-
LEGATIONS and give a series Of talks
upon the need of improvement in our
methods of handling. 1t is an edu-
cational campaign that will bring
splendid results. Last week Mr..
Clarke gave the following letter to
the press of. the state:
After leaving the conference at
Vienna, / visited the ports of Venice.
Bremen, Liverpool and Manchester.
| saw bales of cotton from many coun
tries. All of these bales except your
own, were beautiful and symetrical
in form and perfect in packages.
Yours was the most detestible, con-
temptible and despisable package i'm
Imaginable, held in contempt by every
one who was forced to use it. At
every place found many bales COW
cred with mud, dirt and slime, and
thousands of bales in the pickeries
| visited one pickery in Manchester
where found, after being picked, the
damaged cotton removed varied from
10 to So per cent and the remainder
OF good cotton contained moisture
from Is to 80 per cent.
"The bales of Egyptian and Indian
cotton are sampled, one bale out Of
every ten. Each and every one Of
your bales are sampled from two to
SIX times. Several manufacturers
told me that mad quit using American
cotton and were using only Egyp-
tan. When asked the reason, they
said that for the past three years
they had so much trouble on account
OF water-soaked packages, mixed
grades, mixed staples and false pack
ing, that they had discontinued the
use of American cotton until these
elements Of uncertainty were re-
moved.
i founstha the Manufacturers
Association of Great Britain, Ger
many and Italy had Organized cot
ton-growing associations in their coll
onies and were spending thousands
of dollars on this work. This work
OF gToFssg cotton in their colonies
had succeeded far beyond their Wild
est expectations. conclude from
my observations that your monopoly
is threatened possibly not in the i'm
mediate future, but eventually, unless
you take steps to correct the many
abuses to which your cotton has SO
long been subjected.
:" A large number of European
manufacturers will meet the repre-
sentatiyes of the Cotton Association
and the Farmers Union at Atlanta
Ca, on October z, s and 9. I have
been requested by President Jordan
to appoint delegates from the differ.
ent counties of Mississippi to this
convention. / would very much pre-
fer that you meet in your own coun.
ties and appoint your delegates. II
trust that you will do this immed-
lately and send one of the very best
men you have to this convention
The live little city of Baldwin, half
in Lee and the other half in Prentiss
counties, he'd a preliminary fair last
fall and made a splendid success of
the effort. Again this year the event
will be duplicated but on a much lar
ger scale, resolving itself into three
big days time, October %, 26 and 81
The people of Lee, Itawamba, Prem
tiss, Pontotoc, Union and Tippah
counties are invited to participate.
John Dulaney has been elected presi- |
dent and Forest Prather as secretary
Charley Newman seems to be head
psuher and is making a canvass Of the
territory for cooperation and ex=
hibits. A good list of cash and other
premiums to cover a wide range Of
exhibits has been offered and there
Is little doubt of the success of the
undertaking. The writer is pretty
we'll acquainted with the territory
surrounding Baldwin, and is confident
that display can be made that will
reflect great credit upon the territory
represented. The promoters of the
enterprise are deserving of the well
wishes and active help of all who are
interested in the development of the
state. Make it big event this year
and bigger one next.