The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1907-10-09
COTTON FARMERS
Urged to Stand Together by Pres
ident {. D. Smith.
He Says the Gamblers Give the Lie to
Their Old Excuse of Supply and
Demand.

Hold your cotton
That has ever been the advice of
Mr.. E. D. Smith. Now he adds: keep
on holding.
The State says when he saw We'd
nesday morning how the report to the
department of agriculture had veri-
fed the claims of the Cotton associa-
ton that the crop was short and that
the price was ridiculcusly low, he was
wrought up to the boiling over pitch
when he saw that the gamblers on
Wall street were pushing the price
down and giving the lie to their own
excuse OF the past-"We must yield
to the law of supply and demand"
''It is robbery. 1t is an effort to
take the money out of the pockets of
the people of the South just as a
pickpocket would do," said Mr..
Smith. They know that this is debt
paying time in the South and they
think they have US at their mercy,
but we will give them a fight which
will show them the spirit of the
South is yet too proud t. yield to
them.
"Supply-it is short! Demand
why, am Informed that the mills are
selling their product at price which
would be profitable if cotton were
being Purchased at Is cents per
pound.
Hold your cotton That is all
that I can say to the farmers OF
South Carolina. And all who will
hold are urged to let me know that
they will hold and how much they
will hold 1t will require Just few
lines on postal card addressed to
our Office, room $40, Skyscraper, Col
umbia, S. c.
The government report, both as
to condition and number of bales GIN
ned, was even more bullish than the
friends of higher prices really anti
cipated, 67 on condition and practi-
cally half million bales less ginned
to date than last year, confr ming the
statement that the crop was steadily
deteriorating in condition and that
that there was not and would not be
as much to gin this year as last by
possibly 100000 bales :. This
amount is about correct as the per
cent. of decrease in condition shows
and the ginners report certainly con-
firms this estimate.
'tYet the professionals take it as
a joke and proceed in the face OF
these conditions-that should war
rant from 3 to 4 cents more pei
pound than it is bringing-to deduct
dollar a bale from the cotton now
going on the market. Every argu
ment, all statistics. the law of sup
ply and demand, all in favor now ot
higher priced cotton the South
through her cotton organizations de-
manding a higher price, yet these
gentlemen see fit to taunt them with
this added insult today to a 20 poin
drop in the market.
'Is it possible that the bsines!
men and farmers Of the South ar'
going to have it proven to :ertaint.
that the cotton gamblers can deter
mine what the revenue of the Soutl
shall be and what shall be the per
sonal wages of every individual i,
the South? Or will they take thi
occasion to prove that they are mas
ters Of the situation?
"The situation would be ludicrou
if it did not involve so many inter
ests vital to the South. As said il
nv article of last week, the only pos
sible answer is-to stop selling cot
! ton.
"The bankers and merchants of th
South as we'll as the creditors of tn
South should cooperate now il helI
ing the South to win this fight. Thl
is the first time when conditions Wer
such that we will be in a position
prove our friends ard remeHbe
them.
| "Once more let me urge every ma
who has cotton to report to me on
postal card the number OF bales he
!: making and how many he will hol
from the market Reports are comm
in now. I want them as full as poss
BILE so that I may tabulate them an
; give them to the public for the ben
, ft Of all parties interested.