The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1907-01-26
KENTUCKY TOBACCO
WAR STILL RACES.

warehouses and stemmeries Temporal
rily brought the tobacco growers un-
ions OF Kentucky into disrepute, the
war against the trust is now proceed
but along lawful lines. Leaders of the
union are outspoken in their condem
nation of terrorist methods n nave
always advocated peaceful means in
attempting to overthrow the tyran-
ical trust regime. In the three years
that the movement has been in opera
ton the price Of tobacco has more
than doubled and a large proportion
of he tobacco growers of Kentucky
and Tennessee have organized.
Ia Trigg county spasmodic attempts
are still being made to t~errorize the
non-members and an organization of
unknown men, calling themselves the.
might riders have distributed warn
ings at the homes of many farmers,
demanding that they cancel contracts
that they have made to sell their to-
bacco outside of the association. eff
o don't put your tobacco in orgali-
cations we are going to give you nell"
the notices read, aid many growers.
fearing the torch or dynamite, have
complied with the demands. Others
have treated the mysterious messages
as a joke. The authorities are now
making strenuous efforts to discover
the identity of the might riders and
are assisted by the officials of the as
ISOLATION. The recent attempts to
blow up barns in Caldwell county
have also bee made and unless the
Indicators are 500 discovered an
other reign of terror may be inaugural
ed. 1t was the latter county, at Pril
ceton. n two stemmeries were de-
stroyed with dynamite some time ago.
The battle between the growers and
the obacco trust began in 1904, when
the first organization of planters was
effected by J.. A. Everett of %Indianap-
oils. president of the American So
ciety of Equity. At that time the av-
erage price paid for tobacco all over
the district was little more tnan 8 cts.
a pound. The growers were compell-
ed to accept any price the trust chose
to offer and it was always little |
enough. barely covering the cost of
production.
The plan suggested by president Ev
erett, and eagerly accepted by the farm
ers, was to pool the tobacco crop and !
hold it in warehouses until al agreed
minimum price was offered. Hoping |
to forestall the farmers. the trust i'm
mediately raised the price to 5 cents |
a pound. Most of the farmers Gag
erly jumped at the bait and but small
proportion Of the crop was pooled the
first year.
The farmers who had been preach.
ing organization were not discouraged
Hundreds of tobacco planters, perceiy
ing what had already been accomplish
ed. Joined the association and in 1905
the minimum price was fixed at 7A
cents. This has since been maintain
ed and little of last years crop has
been sold for less thar z cents.
Although nearly all Of the associat-
ed tobacco growers OF Kentucky arel
allied with the American Society of
Equity. they are divided into several
local organizations for the purpose of
handling the tobacco crop. The Green
River Stemming association operates i
in Hancock, Mcclellan, Daviess and b,
adjacent counties. In Henderson 7
Webster, Hopkins and Union ~counties 1
the growers are members of the Stem
ming District Tobacco Association.
while the Dark Tobacco Growers as {
controls the Hopkinsville h
and GAINESVILLE Tenn, district. 1t is O
n the latter district that Caldwell and 0
rrigg counties are located, where O
Of the trouble has occurred. Ial
he Stemming District associations O
il northern Kentucky no vic IL
ant -nnrh2l-