The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1907-10-02
Hold Your Cotton.
Laurens, s. G., Sept. 2Srd, 1907.
Earmars Linton Men:

stop ana L0lQR DeIOre you Tusu youl
on the market at the present
price. At the first glance it looks like
or twelve cents per pound for
cotton is a fair price. But when you
consider the advance of prices In every
line of business, affecting directly the
farming interests of our State, you will
readily see that fifteen cents, the min
imum price fixed by the Union, Is as
little as we can afford to sell u cot
ton for this season.
The outlook, from the best authority
we can gather in this and other states,
is that there will be a small crop OF
cotton this year. There is considera-
BILE falling off from last years crop In
Texas, and some of the other large cot
ton growing states. Texas did not get
a good stand, after planting as many as
three times in places and then to add
to her misfortune, she is sorely dis
tressed by the boil weevil, which has
destroyed thousands of bales. Louis
lana had to plant and replant her crop
of cotton, and she is not only short In
her crop Of cotton but In point of stand
also. And, if I had space and time, l
could show you state after state is
short, or will he short In the present
crop of cotton. I have been through
nineteen counties of this State, and
find, with few exceptions, only a nor
NAL crop of cotton, with no top crop al
all. And in several counties the crop
il being injured by the rust.
DON'T be deceived or misled by the
cotton SPECTATORS old and often re.
peated cry of theirs a 4':bumper CROP
in sight. This has been their slogan
in the past, and will be In the future IL
you will only believe It,. They do this
In order to scare us into dumping our
cotton On the market, thus causing q
never failing slump in prices. To sell
our cotton at the present prices IL MOI
only financial suicide, but it Is striking
hands with the greatest aud deadliest
foes known to the South, and directly
playing in to the hands of your worst
enemy, and turning your back on your
own friends, and running the Union
which you have sworn to protect.
Let all the members of the Union
come to the front and stand up like
men of brains, "a we'll as men of cour-
age. Let no member of your Sub
Union sell till the minimum price ls
reached. If you have some distress
cotton in your Subs, let your business
agent make arrangements with the
banker, with whom you deal, to fur
nish eighty per cent. of the worth of
the cotton, and the bank hold the cot.
ton az collateral until the cotton is sold
and the note paid, and thus hold your
cotton, and pay your debts too. If you
have given a lien to a merchant, have
your cotton weighed, and present him
with the certificate Of weights. and ask
him to credit your account with eighty
dollars on the hundred dollars worth,
and he viii not refuse to accommodate
you. But. I submit in all candor that
it ia the best, If you can do 30, to ar
range with each member, where he is
forced to have money, to borrow the
money on the cotton, and hold the cot.
ton for the minimum price.
If YOU have built Union warehouses,
put your cotton in them, If not, use
til best and nearest warehouse facili-
ties you can get. 1t will most certain
ly pay you to pay warehouse aud in
surance charges and hold your cotton.
We have about one million " hun
dred thousand members In the cotton
belt, and all in the world we need is
self-confidence, and confidence in each
other, and then cooperate with other
Unions, and other States, if necessary,
to make u selling in bulks a success.
Our Safe Business Agent, w. e..
Moore, Greenyille, S. c.. who is in d.
rect communication with one hundred
cotton factors and spinners, will be
glad to confer with you about selling
your cotton for you in bulk, and can
save you money by selling your cotton
through him. Brother, let me beg Of
you not to let the spirit of unrest and
distrust, that usually gets abroad N
our land during the cotton selling sea!
SOD, influence you in the least. Be a
man and stand to your guns, and we
are sure of success.
Last season with q thirteen and q
half million bale crop, and minimum
of eleven cents, we not only whipped
the fight and got eleven cents, but
where our mel had the nerve to hold
they got as high as thirteen cents and
three-fourths to fourteen cents per
pound -
This is an individual fight, as well
as q collective one; and the question Is
not what are they going to do, but rs
10 what are you going TO do? The diff
ference, to the formers of this State,
between eleven and fifteen cent cotton
(based on a million bale crop Is TWEEN
ty million dollars, aud all you have to
10 is to be loyal to the U ion, and 1t it
yours.
There never has been a time in the
history of the South, till now, when
the cotton spinners OF the world have
in yited the cotton producers Of the
South to meet them in a three days
convention. They, the spinners, say
to get closer relations between The
manufacturer and the PRODUCER
brother, can't you read the handwrit-
ing on the wall? DON'T he deceived
by the cry that the Union is not &C.
complishing anything in this State,
for we have, or will o.. ganize five coun-
ties in the near future. We also have
an organizer. in our, county now at
work and 1.-The State >is Row: being Or
xanized as never before in its history.
1t is a thing of the past in the South
that farmers can afford to sell cotton
from the wagon, for the simple reason
that not one in fifty knows anything
about the different grades Of cotton,
and it leaves him entirely at the mer-
cy Of the buyer who may be, or may
not be, honest. Now, in order to be
fairly dealt with in the matter of grad
ing cotton, / would suggest that each
County Union in the State elect, or ap-
point, q man whose business it shall be
TO grade the farmers cotton, 30 that we
will know what grade of cotton we are
selling, and what that particular grade
of cotton is worth on the market any
day in the year.