The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-01-06
Crisis is Reached in Tur- bulent Kentucky. FIGHT OF GROWER AND
 BUYER BASIS OF TROUBLE Trust Has Been Least of the
 Sufferers. Over s1oo,o0O Worth of Property De- stroyed--Contentions of Both Sides in This Burning and
 PilIssing In Kentucky.

ing by Night Riders" which resulted m the destruction of nearly s10O GOO worth of property and the woundiux or three persons; the refusal Of tha Iooacco growers to accept the propost- tion of the American Tobacco Conl- pany for the purchase of tobacco and the announced intention of the grow CTS to proceed against the American Iooacco Company dn the courts fol- lowing Governor willson's statement that the lawIess element will be se- vereiy dealt with. have brought to an acute stage a condition which has ex- isted in Kentucky and Tennessee for two years.
 Conferences the past two dayx af Frankfort between a representative If the American Tobacco Comuanv and the tobacco growers have resulted onIv In transferring the matter to the head oi the company in New York for con- sideration. The situation Is the result of fight of the growers of tobacra against the American Tobacco Com pany and other purchasers and ina complications are best explained hv the Following recounted sequence of events In chronological order:
 First-The apparent passage of the lear tobacco market in Kentucky and Tennessee Into the control of fha American Tobacco Company with fha consequent elimination of nearly atI K. n1iddlemen or independent tohaec,. buyers and rehandlers
 Farmers Organizations.
 eeeohd-rhe awakening of the far mers to the situation and the fornla- tton by them of the American sociefp or Equity and the two subsidiary or. ganizattons. the Burley (1ight colorsA ieafl Tobacco Association, ana the Dark Tobacco Association, with ths purpose of pooling and holding their srops until they could obtain what they claimed would be a fair price from the American, Tobacco Comtsarv and affiliated concerns
 = Tnird-The failure Of the aftenfpt hr the farmers societies to win over a sufficient majority of the growers nf tooaeco to their pooling plan to en- able them to immediately compeI tba company to pay the price demanded. Fourth--ostracism and petty peree- l cution directed against so-caIled atn dependents"--the farmers who are m. willing or unable tp pool and hold their crops of tobacco and who sold to the | trust ."
 Five-whipping of tobacco buvers and farmers who sold their crops; de- struction of beds of young tobacco l plants: burning of tobacco barns con taining the harvested crops of inde- | pendents. shooting into homes and the wounding of innocent persons, among
 
 | fractory independents to leave the | country.
 Sixth--The continuation of the mob | spirit in bold attacks on Princeton Hopkinsvflle and Russeilville towns of | from 4.000 to 10000 inhabitants which raids resulted in the dynamiting and burning of tobacco warehouses con- trolled by the American Tobacco Corn- l pany; the killing of several of the raid- CTS: the wounding of a number of cff- izens and the destruction of property owned by innocent neutrals because the raiders refused to allow the fire ds- psrtments to work
 Trust suffers Least. As to the tobacco trust, so-calied, ie has suffered less than the men who have sold their leaf tobacco to it and if the antitrust society's claims be true. less monetary loss than the men who have pooled their crops. Officers of the American Tobacco Company have during the past few days declared. un- der oath at New York hearing, thah the company and its allied and subsi- diary concerns do not control the to- bacco trade of America.
 When. two years ago. the company put buyers into the Kentucky and Tennessee fields to deal direct with the producers after 1t had made arrange ments dispensing with the system of buying from rehandlers and Independ- ent middlemen. It also denied that fk controlled the raw leaf markets of Ken- lucky and Tennessee. The anti-trust growers vehemently deny this and claim that 1t does control the market in the two States
 As to the claim that the trust forces the grower to accept an unfair price. neither side has produced any igurea as to the cost of production and farm values m the tobacco district which would bear out the statements, pro or con. The trust has suffered the loss of a number of warehouses and their contents. the estimates on. the direct gross loss running from $125.o00 to $250, 900. Fourteen of their warehouses have been closed.
 This loss. however. undoubtedly faIls below the aggregate damage sustained by the men who have refused to join the farmers associations or pool their crops. Some of them were too fnde~ unable to hold their crops had they so desired. On this latter class of "inde- pendents" the pooling movement has had a most disastrous effect. A large number of them are renting farmers and are compelled to market each crop promptly In order to provide susta- nance until the following one is raised. Some of them often find it necessary ta mortgage a crop before 1t Is cut and cured.
 4 TwO-ThIrds Advance.
 The societies have. during the past five months. made arrangements to advance two-thirds of the values of the crops to growers who need the money, hut there is doubt as to whether they would be able to finance all the in- | dependents, even if the latter could accept the arrangement and escape ruin. But there Is. as stated. numer- ous class of independents who must market their crop immediately after | cutting and curing.
 These men. therefore, must accept a society loan on their crop and in case the trust" wins. drop so far behind | that in three years they will be ruined | or else they must sell to the ~trustg and run a strong risk of having their | barns burned or their next years crop