Shiner gazette. [volume] (Shiner, Tex.) 1893-current, 1908-02-06
". TOM WILLIAMS
SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS

of production, His time was occu-
pied in the management Of the af-
fairs of his farm. Was his time
worth anything9 His education
and his skill were brought into full
play and force in the preparation
of his land, in the pitching of his
crop, in its cultivation, in fighting
and warding off crop enemies, in
gathering his crop, in preparing
it for market, in marketing it. Is
all this worth nothing Is the wear
and exhaustion Of the body and
mind and the worry and care Incl
dent upon the production of a
crop worth n othing Is the capital
invested in farm, in the teams
and farming implements, in the
feed stuffs for man and beast,
needful in the years work, worth
nothingY Shall therebe no interest
on this investment added into the
cost of production? All these
things we have enumerated above
enter into the expense account and
cost bills in every other line Of bus
mess under the sun, and why not
into the business of farming, too2
Look back through the long,
hard years since the war bugles
ceased to sound in 1865, and the
tramp Of marching forces were no
longer heard in the land; contem-
plate the fearful, awful struggle
the cotton producers of the South
have encountered and met bravely
and say if the manhood, the cul-
ture, the refinement, the hopes and
ambitions and ideals, the very lives
ofthe Southern people, have not
been absorbed in the production
of cotton Aye, and the woman
hood and childhood Of the South,
too, for the United States census
in its last report, chronicles the
cruel fact that $4,000 Southern
white women and their children
have been forced to toll in the cot
ton fields, and whyg Because the
cotton planter has been robbed of
his heritage, the product of his toll
because Of the unjust system UNI
der which he must market his crop.
Go to the Eastern cotton mills,
90 to the Southern cotton mills, go
tothe European cotton mills. See
the polished spindles as they whirl
drawing out the fleecy cotton sta
pie into long strands Of thread, in
to huge bundles Of yarn, and in
their very whirr you will hear the
signs of the Southern mothers as
they chopped, plowed, or picked
the locks, and the means Of the lit
tie girls and boys as they dragged
along the heavy cotton sack. Look
upon the looms. See how accur-
ately, how wonderfully they weave
the meshes of the yarns into cloth.
In every mesh Of yarn, in every
yard Of this cloth is woven the
tears Of Southern women and their
heartaches and the injustice and
wrong that greed and graft have
heaped upon them. Shall not
these things be charged up in the
cost bill? Look at the young
Southern farmer girls and young
men, who, because they had to give
the years Of their childhood and
youth to labor in tie fields to ward
off starvation, have grown up in
ignorance without the blessings Of
an education and without the
graces and beauty that education
give, and answer if this should not
be included in the expense account
Many and many a father and
mother and the children have been
forced to remain at home on Sun
days from church or Sunday school
because they had no clothes to
wear, being deprived Of the conso-
llations and the training Of religion.
Will you say that this cannot enter
into the cost of cotton production
There is no price that might be
charged for cotton that will be suf-
ficient remuneration for the sacri-
fees needful for its production.
The Farmers Union has come
to right these things; to .extort
that Justice so long denied and t.
secure just and honest price fol
farm products in business-like
fair and honorable way Read the
following few words, taken from
the report Of a speech recently de