The times and democrat. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1881-current, 1908-12-01
THE: Way v OUT
, --------.-- -
And the Duly Way Out For the
..FarmsF.
SOME PLAIN TRUTHS M

SUAvlG T9A9HV HNUd1dO
III 81. Il .a43".
Corn, Wheat and took Farmers of
the West Regulate Prices by Liv.
ing at Home, and Southern Farm
ers Can Do the Same Thing If
They Will Try to Do 1t.
Hon. John NJ. Parker, Of New
Orleans, discussed the methods Of
cotton farmers in plain, hard words
that evoked much applause during
the forenoon of the last day of the
Farmers Union Convention at New
Orleans. He spoke as follows:
"It is much more pleasant and
safe to hand bouquets than 1t is to
throw brick, and, for that reason,
most speakers at farmers gatherings
adopt the former course, and give
the hardy sons Of toll such a sur
felt Of fatterly as to make a blunt
statement Of existing conditions
most unwelcome.
"a number of personal experiences
have satisfied me the majority are
like children, and prefer a sugar
coated pill to quinine. Sometimes 1t
is necessary to give your medicine
straight. Due to low prices and the
boil weevil, already over a large sec
tion and certain to spread further,
the time has come for the farmer to
take his dose like man.
my excuse for this preface is hav-
ing addressed number Of farmers
gatherings and having been hooted
and hlssed at, too, I now ask as
personal favor that you hold up any
demonstrations until my short talk
is finished, as it is decidedly unpleas-
ant fer speaker to be interrupted
with the shout Throw him out and
then again, it Is apt to interfere with
this argument.
"There Is no more improvidenr.
man on earth than the average cot
ton planter. In those good old days.
before the war, of which the orator
tells US, history says every farmer
had his smohe-house packed with
bacon, his crib filled with corn, the
grtst mill hummed regularly, and
the farmers waxed fat and prosp-'
erous.
To-day not one cotton farmer in
ten raises meat. Not one in FIVE
raises corn enough to last him, and,
shameful to say, thousands actually
buy the hay necessary to sustain
their stock.
ANNUALLY now for some years the
cotton farmers meet in convention,
listen to some good political speech
es, and occasionally new joke, then
vigorously applaud the fervid oratory
denouncing all trusts, and finally or
ganlze the biggest kind of trust T.
regulate prices, agree to decrease
acreage and diversity their crops, to
raise, what they need at home, AMI
be Independent of bank, cotton fac
tors or merchants.
"Their final resolutions are en-
Enthusiastically carried a. the conve1-
ton hall, and all conveniently for
gotten, for by the time they return
home, they decide to plant little
bit more cotton, and they keep Oh
in the same old way.
do you ever hear the wheat
grower, or the corn grower, or the
oat grower, or the mule raiser cal
conventions to regulate prices?' Not
on your life. He goes ahead,
skimps close until he gets out of
debt, then asks the value of his pro-
duct and holds it until he gets it.
He don't sit on the fence and. cry
for either moral or financial sympa-
thy.
''The curse Of our cotton planter
is debt, and until he gets out of debt
he will never realize his dreams CT
independence.
Have you ever thought that in
the great chain of the credit system
the cotton planter forms one of the
important links? How the tenant
borrows from the planter, who bor-
rows from the merchant or factor,
who, in turn, borrows from the local
bank, which borrows in one Of the
great financial centers, which, in
turn, borrows from the financial CEN
ters of Europe, and how in return
both from the picking of the cotton
tc, the final sending Of the bill Of
exchange to reimburse the European
center completes the chain?
Credit is the whole system, with
the high prices and excessive charges
which must be made to cover the
risk involved.
Have you ever been through
Chic, Illinois, Indiana, or Iowa, and
seen the farmers of those sections?
Great, splendid barns filled with hay
and corn and oats and silage. The
pasture with sleek cattle and sheep
and hogs, the tool-house filled with
well-kept implements, everything
neat and orderly, and some profit on
every article raised. They rotate
crops in those sections, and keep