The Farmville herald. [volume] (Farmville, Va.) 1890-1934, 1908-01-17
Riots 10 KeDiuCkyS BLACK Patch
and Their Occasion.

kentucky. The state must suppress
them promptly and punish those gull
ty OF arson and murder, OF we will fin,
ourselves overwhelmed in anarchy
To fail 10 DO so is 10 make the name O
Kentucky a byword and reproach
But the wrong is deep seated. Law
must be enforced in every direction
The law must know no union, no non
union, no labor and no capital. n,
tru-t aud no association, save only [,
see that justice is melted out alike L
one and all. Put down the might
riders with a strong hand and al
once; and arraign the American Tobac-
co Trust aud REGGIE" contractors be-
fore the bar Of justice, and do il at
once. At the bottom Of all the trouble
IS the Black Patch, the black tobac-
co section, is the "Regie" business and
the American Tobacco Trust. When
Hon. John ID. Clardy, Of Christian
county, was IN Congress few year,
ago, he made unceaSing aud heroic ef-
forts 10 get the "Regien system abol-
ished, and succeeded SO far as TO get
an appropriation Of $1,000 TO inyesii-
gate the system with a view TO correct
ing this wrong. Had Congress listen
ed to him and the government acted
in way clearly just, there would
have been no mobs in the "Black
Patch no anarchy TO disgrace the
State.
The facts are these: The countries Of
Europe, with England as almost the
only exception, exclude shipments Of
tobacco from this country, and take in
10 their own hands dealing in tobacco,
as South Carolina did with liquors i'm
its dispensary system. The purchase
OF the tobacco from this part Of Ken
lucky has been put by contract into
the hands Of brokerage firms which
have combined into a trust, which
trust, after cOnspiring with the Ameri-
can Tobacco Trust, virtually dictated
the prices Of tobacco. -Four years ago
this combined trust, in breaking
down the tobacco market, refused 10
fix any prices OF to make any offers
at all, holding back its buyers from
even looking at tobacco. This lasted
Tor some months during the time
when the country's tobacco crop was
offered on the market. Many poor
farmers were compelled TO dispose Of
their crop To speculatOrs for nominal
prices This struggle forced down
prices for the different grades 10 from
- to S6 per hu"dred pounds. The
same tobacco today, under the rule Of
the farmers trust is selling readily at
from - 10 SIG. The former figures
meant bankruptcy.
Washington a lowed the foreign
governments, through their farmed-
out "Regle' buyers, in conspiracy
with the American Tobacco Trust, 10
crush the tobacco farmers Of South
west Kentucky. No crime Of this
sort has been seen in a civilized cOun-
try. Ii reminds US Of the days when
Rome farmed out the taxes in her de-
Tendencies. Then the tax gathers, A.
have these recent oppressors, squeezed !
out Of the people everything posi-
BILE.
or course these farmers could have |
quit raising tobacco, in theory; but |
without organization among them
selves TO that end, without educating |
labor TO other crops, and without
throwing away their machinery and |
tobacco barns, that was impossible |
With an open tobacco market in /
Spain, Germany, Italy and other
countries, the almost exclusive mar
kets for this black tobacco, the whole
matter would have been adjusted,
and, We repeat, no mobs would have |
been brOOded into existence. Ii is
clear case Of lawlessness developing |
into arson and murder resulting from |
the neglect Of enforcing law. But no
one man could rave the day. When
W ashington failed to check the OPP
preston Of the Reggie aud the Amer
can Tobacco Trust, then were sown
The seeds Of mobs all over the "Black
Patch"
This is the way the trouble develop
ed: When the farmers organized,
which accomplishment was something
new in the land and something hereto
fore thought impossible, and pooled
heir tobacco in warehouses of their
)wn choosing, prices quickly doubled.
some farmers feared the organization
would proyea failure would form a
rust, would curtail their liberty.
Aud yet other farmers were selfish
and preferred TO watch the struggle
rom the outside and prize the Trusts
buyers for special prices. The organ
zed farmers classed all the indepen-
lent farmers together and charged
hat they allowed themselves 10 be
lsed by the Trust people TO break up
heir Association; that they got the
,eneft Of the higher prices and con-
pired against their neighbors who
we're at the expense and labor Of the
with the Trust. The indie
lendents denied these charges and in
Iome cases they were undoubtedly
Untrue, but in other cases, too true.
And 80 the lines Of the present
struggle were drawn. This situation
,rought on local conflicts in almost
very neighborhood, until the reckless
md lawless elements among the
armers got in the ascendency, and,
.xcited and drunken, they became
-. ~. l..f 80 a.. foru.ar. all