The Tupelo journal., 1907-12-13
BIZ II. K. BLAKEsLEE. JACKSON.

is worth approximately sixty million
dollars in English, German Or any other
kind of gold. Reference is, of course,
made to the cotton that is being hell
for a fair price. This cotton is being
held for fifteen cents per pound, what it
as actually worth, so acknowledged by
all who are in a position to know the
real conditions as they exist. The two
powerful organizations, the Farmers
Union and Cotton Association, are be-
hind the movement and success seems to
be theirs, although u people We're not
sufficiently supplied with warehouses
and the necessities of life at home to
make the fight they went into. 1t has
been a great battle, the first of its kind
where the cotton planter determined to
fix the price on his product, and has
been hard fought.
Those who had been in the habit for
years of saying what the planter should
receive for his cotton of course gave up
that dictation only when forced to do
so. The big banks in New York sent
out letters to the smaller banks through
out the South, urging them to get the
cotton on the market. Theodore Price
and other cotton gamblers have tried
every means at their command to force
the holders to sell. The big wholesale
merchants in New York, st. Louis and
other commercial centers have brought
to bear all the influence in their power
to force the cotton on the market, but
in the face of all this the loyal mem
bers of the two organizations, as well
as many who are not members, have
stood as firm as a stone wall and held
for the price determined upon.
This means a great deal to the pepole
of Mississippi. 1t is an agricultural
State and will so remain. Then if the
planters will get together and cooper
ate with those from other States for a
fair price for their product, it will
mean millions annually to us. Our
present prosperity will be only the be-
ginning of a period beyond the expecta-
tions of the most optimistic. 1t means
a "Greater Mississippi" in every sense of
the word, croakers and sore toes to the
contrary Notwithstanding.
There is a farmer up in Lafayette
county who is well fixed to hold his cot
ton an indefinite length of time if neces-
sary to get the price demanded. The
Lafayette County Press tells the story
thus:
"A few miles from Oxford lives 4
quiet, modest young man, who answers
to the name of W. NJ. Rogers. Banks
may break, financiers may commit mi
eide, merchants may run over their ac-
counts with blanched faces, but Rogers
is not concerned, save as one man sym
pathizes with another who is in dis
tress. Listen: On less than three-fourths
of an acre of land he raised and sold
for money salad $2S, turnips $40, pota-
toes SIS. Besides this, which he did
mostly for experiment, he raised corn,
meat, oats, hay, potatoes and five bales
of cotton on his place. On being ques-
toned about not being able to get money
for his cotton he answered with a con-
tented smile that he didn't have to sell
it. Next year he proposes to go into
the trucking business on a somewhat
larger scale, and is already putting out
raspberry and strawberry plants. Yet
some people say that cotton is the only
money crop"
How is this for fertilization against
the schemes of Theodore Price and his
cohorts? The man who is fixed as is
Mr.. Rogers can hold cotton as long as
he wants to and it is a pity that more
people are not in the same condition.
But we are coming to this every day.
Mississippi in ten more years will raise
Just as much at home as Mr.. Rogers is
raising now
Well, what about that Homecoming
week that has been proposed for next
year? Let's get busy and arrange the
plans for carrying it out properly and
giving the glad hand to our one-time
~neighbors and friends when they come
for a visit to Mississippi. Times are 80
much better here now that it is possible
that some of them will decide to move
back to the old home, and, of course,
we would be glad to have them.
Mississippi killed approximately sew
enty million pounds of pork last year,
and probably considerable more this
year. That is the next best thing to a
warehouse in aiding the farmers to hold
their cotton for a fair price.
Let the editor of this department have
the result of your experiments with the
various crops you have experimental
on or the success you have attained with
live stock or other matters of interst
to the farm. Give the public at large
the result of your work.
g =
The night rate on telephones has been
done way with and the rate made the
anne as during the day, no reduction
being made in that. The farmers rate
has been raised from So per year to
something like S12 to $40, the rate at a
large number of local exchanges raised
considerably and the end is not yet.
There is nothing in which the people
should be more interested than tele-
phones, yet the concern that has a
monopoly of the business in Mississippi
is fast putting the service out of their
reach.