Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1907-11-01

already sent committees TO tell tneil
legislatures the needs Of the farmers In
matters Of legislation. The death OF
bucket shops and gambling in futures
for instance. They have been uniformly
successful. Many good and wholesome
laws in the interest Of the farmers
and therefore Of all the people, have
been placed on the. statute books by
and through the advice and influence
of the Farmers Union.
At our late meeting in Little Rock
Ark, held September 3-6. Of the Ma
tional Union, we elected legislative
committee Of three to attend the ses-
sions of the national congress, where
1t Is thought we will be successful as
we have been in the state. The names
of these three gentlemen are as fol-
lows:
Ben L. Griffin, Conway, Ark; Camp
bell Russell of Hereford, Okla, and
r. F.. Duckworth Of Barnesville, Ga.
The officers. with their postoffices OF
the national union are as follows:
President, Charles s. Barrett, Atwater
Ca: vice president, J. E. Montgomery
Gleason, Tenn: secretary and treasur-
er, r. H. McCullock. Bebe. Ark. Ma
tional board directors: w. A. Morris
Sulligent. Ala: T. M. Jeffords, Elgin
Okla; w. s. Miller, Lake Creek, Tex.
+. N. McCollister. Many. La; and L
IS. Wilson. Eden, Miss.
Gambling In Crops Must Go.
The system Of pricing. marketing
and handling crops generally, that have
prevailed during the long, weary
shastly years OF the past, system OF
nlunder and profit by and for the ex-
changes. bucket shops, gamblers in fu-
lures and street spectators, must and
shall go. We have driven them from
most of the southern states through
the legislatures, and will put them all
out bv national legislation, especially
the New York cotton exchange and the
Chicago grain exchange. the chief dens
If all the infamies that have so long
robbed the farmers. These roots OF
evil from which have sprung the little
branches must be destroyed. They are
a disgrace to the nation, a stigma
upon the good name. a stencil in the
nostrils Of all honest people.
This system Of these exchanges and
gamblers pricing the farm products OF
this land and preying upon and de-
spelling the farmers Of this country Is
being and will be utterly destroyed
and a new one, and an honest and just
one will take its place. There Is
change coming over the spirit Of the
dream of the great toiling masses. the
farming classes of this country, whose
labor feeds and clothes half the people
Of the earth. and justice and honesty
shall sway the scepter henceforth.
We will build new systems Of mar
keting our farm products by means OF
warehouses, grain elevators and cold
storages, system Of our own. This
Is the mission Of the Farmers Union
It's flag Is the flag Of the nation. Its
aims and its hopes are the aims and
the hopes Of the nation, and honor and
honesty at home, as well as abroad
that characterized 1t in the olden days
before trusts, combines, conspiracies
and gambling dens brought shame and
infamy upon 1t.
The Farmers Union has set the price
of cotton four times and we have beer
successful In obtaining that price three
times, and we will win the fourth time
The union price Of cotton Is row Ii
cents a pound with sliding scale up
ward of one-fourth cent a month tc
cover warehouse and other expenses Of
holding. For wheat the price is 81 pei
bushel; for corn so cents bushel; fol
cotton seed, $50 per ton. These art
minimum prices.
The basic principles Of the Farmers
Union are justice, equity and the gold
en- rule. The spirit Of its motto Is tc
'Iive and let live" It has no enmity
for nor antagonism toward any legiti'
mate or honest business under the sun
proposing to simply pursue the ever
tenor Of its way. letting all other class
es, business and undertakings that dc
not clash with or antagonize its inter
ests-that is the farming interests-dc
the same. AS stated, an imperiou:
necessity brought 1t into existence ane
It has come solely by mutual effort anc
co-operation to enable its membership
to control the prices Of the commoditie:
they may have to sell, to price thei1
own property. and not permit othel
people any longer to do this for them
Controlled Marketing.
The plan they have adopted to ac'
complish their ends. the new trade
system, IL you please, is by controlled
marketing" The means by which tn'
union proposes to control the market!
is through warehouses in which Il
store and hold their cotton for th'
agreed minimum price. Elevators t'
hold their grain, cold storage to pre-
serve their perishable products. Th'
farmers in the northwest, especially II
Iowa, are demonstrating the practica'
bility and feasibility Of the elevator
plan, for by building and owning CO.
operative elevators, they have driver
the grain dealers associations tina
have so long robbed them, to cover
In the south, the warehouse system To-
holding cotton is no longer an expert
ment. There are more than 1900 II
the different southern states, over 3o'
here in Texas, and they are full OF un
ion cotton. There are local ware
houses, owned by union members. II
addition there are thousands Of bales
in cotton yards and stored under cove
on the farms. Every bale Of this cot
ton is being held for the minimum
price and will be- sold for that price.
The bugaboo cry Of supply and de-
mand" has ceased to frighten cottol
raisers. They know there Is not cot
ton land enough in cultivation to NEE
the needs Of the world-needs that ar
continually increasing-and further
more they are preparing TO hold, them
selves, the surplus. II there should ac
cidentally be one.