Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1908-04-15
Cotton as Basis for Currency.


fight it out.
Cotton as Basis for CURRENCY.
No doubt the truth OF the state
ment that "No subject in the world
Is less generally understood than
that Of money" Statistics show
hat there is more gold and silver in
the world to-day than ever before.
But 80 per cent of this money Is
being locked up in safety deposit
vaults by the money kings, who will
trust neither banks or the people.
This vast wealth Is literally heaped
Up IN few places for the purpose Of
controlling the politics of the coun-
try in order to down the uprising of
the people Of our commonwealth
against such combinations of wealth
oy syndicates. corporations ard
trusts. About the only remedy the
FARMER of the South has left to pro-
teCt f's interest Is to make cotton
certificates his currency; then these
disciples of greed and graft will find
their gold and silver trusting and
tankering In their vaults" whilst
trade and business moves on. They
can no longer lock up their millions
and make"the wheels of our indus
tries stop moving and the poor starve
AS "all wealth comes originally
from the SOIL" then 1t Is most rea-
sonable that the class of people who
literally dig down into the bowels or
skin OF the earth and cause mother
earth to yield up her treasures of
tangible necessaries of life, should
have the privilege Of placing these
tangible necesaries of life as collate-
raj for currency. When Danics strike.
the poor are the first to suffer. Over
production Of both farm and factory
is the complaint, and yet millions OF
our people are driven into the in
creasing army of tramps, that are
hard pressed for plain living in
the country, and great gangs throng
the cities crying for bread.
Nature is not to blame for this
perilous state Of affairs! who is?
The men Of Gotham! The bosses of
Wall street, who hauve caused gold
to be so dear and sweat and flesh to
be so cheap! No one doubts that
there Is plenty money in the country
already to do the business of the
country but for the withdrawal of it
from circulation by combines of mil
liOnaireS.
The objects Of the Farmers Edu-
cational and Cooperative Union may
that 1t means to promote the very
principles that the name implies. AS
the wealth Of all who Cypress the
farmer feeds upon ignorance and
poverty, must first educate the far
mer up to where he can understand
the advantage Of cooperation, and
then he is ready to cooperate with
his fellow farmer for their mutual
benefit. When this stage or degree
has been reached the common far
mer will un6 stand that in order to
cooperate s. business and have in
telligent concert of action for the
promotion Of their general welfare,
morally, socially and financially, they
must organize themselves into a COM
pact body and submit themselves to
be governed by one law or reconstruction
One of the first changes in our
stayed and moss-grown habits Of the
all-cotton farmer Of the South is to
change our prayers to our CONNER
cial gods to sell us this day our daily
bread, that we may rob the Southern
soil Of its fertility, that goes to make
the rich speculator richer, while the
cotton grower grows poorer. In our
change we must ask the God OF ma
ture to give us the knowledge of how
to gather our daily bread from the
bosom or mother earth, that lays be-
meath our very feet in the greatest
abundance all over the South.
In these days Of bought LEGISLATION.
1t is not unlawful to build up collos-
sal fortunes by grinding the faces of
the helpless, ignorant poor The
trend Of the times Is deepening
and widening the chasm between or
gan1Zed capitalists and the unorgan-
lied farmer, which, If not checked by
organized farmers, will divide our
population into the two classes of
prince and pauper.
The nope of the nations future
welfare Is in the home building and
ownership Of small farms by an in
telligent, educated farm population.
The balance OF power to prevent or
choke this weaving away and deep
ening Of this chasm between the rich
and poor is the dividing up of our
lands into smaller farms, encourage
farmers to own small farms and be-
come diversified farmers and improve
their lands.
The drift of our exclusive cotton
farming and its tendencies in some
sections already begin to show alarm.
and Is being written out on the land
in the palaces Of large estates and
novels Of their tenantries. Wealth
and pleasure of the business man and
large estate owner, and the rags and
wretchedness OF the unintelligent,
thriftless farmer. BY their long years
Of custom working under the yoke ot
debt, these slaves of king cotton have
grown into kind Of machine, aud
are becoming Indifferent to their loss
Of manhood and independence. The
Farmers Union must go after these
farmers with jack-screws and prize
them LIN out of their sipnificannn ND |