The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-07-30
FARMERS ORGANIZED
HEATH TALKS OF CONDITIONS IN
 ALABAMA.
Says That By Time Unisa Meets In Fall Fifteen Cents Will Be Mini-
 mua Price on Cotton.

Birmingham. July 29-(SpeciaD-J. H. Leath. representing The Farmers Union Guide. the official organ pub lished here in the interest of the Far mers' Union in Alabama. is back from the Georgia State Convention of the union and reports that while no price was set for cotton. it was discussed at fifteen cents
 Said Mir. Leath: The farmers are getting down to business and for once are in real earnest They have final ly awakened to the realization of the fact that they are in 8 position to get prices for their crops that are in pro- portion to the prices of other products for sale in the markets of the world. They expect to handle the cotton prob lem by building additional warehouses and storing the crop.
 At the beginning of the season last year we had only twenty-three ware houses completed in Alabama. Today we have forty-four with fourteen others under process of construction. There Is no doubt but that the mini mum price for cotton will be placed much higher than 1t was last year. ana when the State convention meets at Andalusia the latter part of August l really expect to see a minimum price or fifteen cents established.
 Secretary E. J. Cook, of the State or ganization, has returned to his office here from Auburn where he attended the cotton grading school for few days. He reports great work being done at this school and says much good viii result in a uniform grandipg Of the product.
 Said MT. Cook:
 with forty-four counties represent ed we had fifty-nine matriculates dur L. A1~ roA kxu4 AIC inc school A four-weeks term is being
 taught by Colonel J. N. Thornton. of Talladega. The object of the school is to teach prospective warehousemen how to classify and grade cotton. We allow a representative of from one to three from each county. as we propose to establish from one to three ware houses in each county of the State. These warehouses will be uniform in character and are designed to insure n uniform system of grading cotton. Very few farmers know how to grade their own staple and for this reason have been at the mercy of the buyers With the knowledge acquired at the grading school every county will con- tain cotton graders who are experts and who are not employed by large corporations as buyers"
 The grading school will continue to be taught for two weeks longer and s arousing much interest throughout the State
 The Farmers Union is thinking very seriously of adopting the round bale" said M. W. Abbott state organizer for the union who arrived iH Birmingham Monday morning from Ckera.
 The advantages tf the round bale are numerous and it Is on its merits alone that it Is likely to be adopted. For instance. when the round bale h cut open for compressing 1t does not scatter out like the square bale. It occupies much less space for storing and is baled much more compactly. With the round bale and with auto- matic samplers each bale would remain intact from the time 1t was ginned until it was sold through the warehouse system established by the union. A sample of every bale would be kept and on this sample the bale would be sold, without all the waste of cotton and loss of time. incident to each buyer cutting a large sample from the square bale, leaving a ragged hole to absorb the dirt and taking from each bale several pounds of the staple"
 Mr. Abbott reports that crop condi- tions in South Alabama are good. He estimates a cotton crop of sixty per cent for the entire State. However. he stated that conditions would cause the crop to vary perceptibly. as 1t Is not yet matured.
 The question of a round or square bale will be one of tho more important questions before the State convention of the Farmers Union which meets in August at Andalusia. On account of the fact that the patents for the round bale are said to be owned by syndi- cate this style bale was at one time tabooed by many farmers. Its adop- tion will be a departure from old cus- tom.