The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1907-09-27
STAND FIRMLY
SAYS BARRETT
President Of Farmers Union Sends
Forth an Urgent Plea.
SOHWS WAY TO VICTORY
Growers of Cotton Called Upon to Uphold
Demand for Minimum Price--Loyalty
Will Bring Success.

Will Bring Success.
National President Charles S. Bar
rett of the Farmers Union has given
out an appeal to the members of the
union throughout the cotton belt to
stand firm for the minimum price of
Is cents, showing that if they do,
victory is sure to be theirs. He says:
Just after the annual convention at
Little Rock has named Is cents a
pound as the minimum price which
the southern farmer should receive
for his cotton during the ensuing yeal,
the SPECTATORS in the cotton ranks
have managed to depress the markets
and to beat down the price.
l address to you this line as a fra
ternal appeal to hold steadfast to the
council of your annual convention,
and with heroic fidelity to abide its
ultimatum to the markets of the
world.
Hold your cotton for IS cents ana
hold it until it brings the price.
The National Union, when it fixed
the minimum, knew more about the
situation than any cotton gambler or
combination of cotton gamblers. It
was not fixed upon an impulse or an
uncertainty, but after deliberate
study and investigation.
With all my heart and with all my
mind, I urge you to the last limit OF
your ability to hold steadfast to this
policy adopted by your National
Union.
The present status make definite
and decisive crisis in the history OF
our great organization.
Up to this date the farmer has
worked opposition and against the
possibility of defeat.
We have won victory after victory
by this splendid policy. We stand
now face to face with a combination
which affords us an opportunity to
show the world that the southern far
mer is resolutely determined to main
tain his rights. The eyes of the
world are upon him as never before
and the history of the organization in
the future will depend in no small
degree upon the courage and fidelity
with which he meets the present sit
uation. For three years you have
won out in every proposition that you
have presented to the business vera.
Win once more in this important
issue and it will be henceforth easier
sailing for us all.
You have the key to the situation.
You have the cotton, you have the
warehouses, and if to these you only
add the courage, the business stamina
and the common sense to hold your
own, you need not fear the future
Do not be scared by the conaiar-
acy which has been begun to make
you part with your cotton for less
than the minimum price.
l do not ask you to hold your cot
ton to the injury of your creditors.
Every farmers duty is to pay his
debts, but this is a period when the
individual farmer and the Farmers
Union can use their influence with
their merchant friends to induce them
to bear for a little while with any
farming debtor whom the local union
may recommend to their confidence
and regard.
Let every farmer face the situation
without fear, and as God has pros
pered him in other years and as his
union has prepared for him in the
storehouse for his crop, let him put
his shoulder to the shoulder OF his
brother and breathing courage, con-
fdence and determination, let him re-
peat to the world the statement that
the man who buys his cotton must
pay him is cents pound!