Oxford eagle. (Oxford, Lafayette Co., Miss.) 1876-current, 1907-12-12
Bv n T. BLAKEsLEE. JAcusou

The farmers Of Mississippi hold in
their possession today product that
Il worth approximately sixtv miilio,
dollars in English. German sr any other
kind Of gud Reference i. Of eour.,.
made to the cotton that is being hell
for fair price. This cotton i. being
i-id for fifteen cents per pound. what il
- actually worth. - Acknowledged BY
all who are in position to know the
real conditions az they exist. The two
powerful organizations, the Farmers
Union and Cotton Association. are BE-
hind the movemen. and surcess seems to
BE theirs. although our people were not
sufficiently supplied with warehouses
and the necessities Of life at home to
make the fight they went into. II has
been a great battle, the first Of its Kind
where the cotton planter determined to
fix the Prise on his Pro.iuct, 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 dietation only when forced 10 10
50. The big banks in New York sens
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 haze tried
every means at their command to force
the holders to sell The big wholesale
merchants in New York. IT. Louis and
other commercial ecnters have brought
TO bear all the influence in their power
20 force the cotton on the market. but
IN the face of all this the loyal mem
bers of the two organizations, a. well
ss many who are not members, have
stood as firm NJ a stone wall and held
for the price determined upon
This means a great deal to the pepole
of Mississippi. IL Is an agricultural
State and will 50 remain. Then If the
planters will get together and cooper
ate with those from other States for
fair price for their product. it will
mean millions annually to US. Our
present prosperity will he only the BE-
ginning Of period beyond the expectI-
tious of the most optimistic II means
Greater Mississippi in every sense Of
the word, eruakers and sore toes 10 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 ii news
sary to get the price demanded. The
Lafayette County Press tells the story
thus:
a few miles from Oxford lives 4
q1iet, modest Young man, who answers
to the name Of ". W. Rogers Banks
may break, fnaneiers may commit u.i-
eide. merchants may run over their se-
counts with blanched faces. but Rogers
is not concerned, save a one man syn
pathizes with another who i in dis
tress. Listen: TIN less than three fourths
of an acre of Land he raised and sold
for money salad SIS. turnips $40. pota-
toes SIS. Besides this, which he did
mostly for experiment, he raised corn.
meat, cats. hay. potatoes ard 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
Il. Next year he proposes to 90 into
the trucking business on a somewhat
larger scale. and is already putting out
raspberry and strawberry plants. Yet
scme people say that cotton is the only
money crop
Eow i this for forti6catiOn against
the schemes of Theodore Price and his
eohortst The man who is fixed as j.
Mr.. Rogers can hold cotton as long a.
he wants to and it i 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 i
raising now.
Well, what about that home coming
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 visit to Mississippi. Times are 50
much better here now that il 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 -ev-
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 ut large
the result of your work
The night rate on telephones has been
done away with and the rate made the
same as during the day, no reduction
being made in that. The farmers rate
has been raised from So per year to
something like s1e to $50, the rate at
large number of local exchanges raisc'i
considerably and the end is not yet.
There is nothing in which the people