Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1908-09-18


titled him.
| He sees, too, that comprising seven
| tenths of the population Of this coun'
try he is possessed of only one-eightl
of it's wealth.
Some of my more prejudiced friend:
may ask: What else can you expect
in cut-t throat age?"
] 1 say it is not a cut-throat age any
more than the fifteenth century was a
cut-throat age. Kings, lords and bar
ons then held the producers Of wealth
in bondage, demanding from them the
fruits of their toll, and kindly return
ing just enough upon which to exc out
bare existence that they might make
more wealth for the masters.
The difference is, and still is, that
the kings, lords and barons were or
ganized and had force and the author
ity of law on their side.
Education, the triumph Of democracy
has done away with these conditions
The man who produces the food and
clothing for the nation and the world
today is not in bondage to the modern
kings and barons and lords Of indus
try and finance unless he puts on and
rivets his own shackles!
The kings, lords and barons Of 1905
speedily adjusted themselves to chang
ed conditions. They recognized thai
organization, system and business-like
methods have taken the place Of the
old ways of concentrating wealth and
raising themselves up in supremacy
over it's producers.
That they have been able to do this
with any degree Of success, that every
farmer is not receiving a just compen-
sation for his labor, solely is due to
the fact that the producer of cotton
and corn and wheat and fruit and what
not, has placed himself upon a plane
of equality with the modern kings and
lords and barons.
He has failed to fight them with the
modern weapons of organization, sys-
tenn and cooperation, and he pays the
penalty. He clings to the methods that
were in use at the time Of Adam, and
complains because of the results!
The farmer is the one man who
brings his product into the market and
asks meekly: What will you give
me?" And then take what is given
him. Up to a few years ago there
was not even a semblance Of trade
about it. The buyer simply dictated
what he was willing to give, and the
producer humbly accepted!
The farmer as a class form the great
est producing corporation in the coun-
try.
What other corporation, one-horse or
Standard oil, would calmly submit to
such conditions?
Is 1t any wonder, then, that wealth
Is Saecumulated in a few hands, that
we find trouble developing our waste
places; that the farmer, as a class, is
the poorest of our population, when ne
should be the richest? =
IT'S with a iiffn realization Of these
conditions and a determination to re-
move them that the Farmers Union
was founded 1t appealed with vigor
and persistence to the masses of the
country's wealth producer, dealing the
facts I have roughly outlined to you.
The result has been that today
scarcely five years from our organiza-
ton, we have a membership approach
ing 100000 of the people upon whose
efforts the prosperity Of this country
depends.
AS the reward for our activeness and
for the loyalty Of our members, the
south has received more money for
it's great basic cotton crop in the last
four years than at any time in its his
tory, and this, in spite Of powerful in
fluences that have wrought cunningly
at the old game to break the solid
front of the farmers, with the inten-
ton Of securing cotton at their own
prices.
The cotton farmer no longer goes
meekly to market and takes what is
given him. He says: MY cotton Is
worth so much to me and to you.
demand this or that price for it. 1t is
my property and have right to put
a price on it."
The movement, it is true, is yet in
it's infancy. We have still to combat
poverty and fear in our ranks, and
fierce attacks from the outside. 1t Is
difficult to get a man to hold his cot
ton when his debts cry for payment
and his family for necessities.
We are fast removing these obsta-
cles, the only ones that stand in the
way Of full success. Our claim of ware
houses stretches from the Atlantic to
the Rio Grande: it is being strength
ened and given more links each month
We find ourselves constantly more able
to secure such financial assistance for
our members as will enable them to
continue to work in harmony for our
mutual ends. l believe in time that
cotton scrip will be negotiable in every
southern state and city and town.
And we are just in the beginning of
this plan also. Our meeting on the
18th of July at Memphis perfected a
system for each of the cotton states
which will enable every farmer, If he
will abide by the rules of the Union,
to secure for his staple exactly what 1t
is worth. l cannot emphasize this
triumph too strongly. 1t marks a
turning point in the progress of the
Union.
Our warehouses, too, are only a por-
ton of the enterprises undertaken and
accomplished by our members. Every
state where the Union is organized
maintains many industries in which
stock is held by it's members. This Is
a feature Of cooperation in which the
stock is held by its members. This Is
feature of cooperation that the
Union strongly encourages. Our peo-
ple must find investments for their
surplus money, remunerative invest
ment, which will increase communities
properties.
It may not be out Of place while or
this subject to direct your attention to
cant ont ao rliar in the yea