Oxford eagle. (Oxford, Lafayette Co., Miss.) 1876-current, 1908-05-21
A Communication From r. L.
.or-r


your valuable paper for the puc
pose Of being more clearly Under
stood by Mr.. Plant and other
that are interested, my position
or ideas ii the cotton question
Also my purpose for referring !,
Mr.. Plants article.
II was not my intention u play
smart or pretend % know NOR,
about the condition Of affairs thar
Bro. Plant. was glad 90 see his
letter and the words If encOur-
agement that it contained did
great good and was highly APP
prcciated, and invite him b.
write oftener. also invite hi.
attention 70 my article and see ii
did not admit that supply and
Gemand had Is weight 70 some
extent. II understand, it is the
speculative demand that controls
and not the supply that cousump-
lion demand.
According to Mr.. Ellison, one
o: the leading authorities on the
consumption % American cotton,
the world needed u, JO0.0 900 bales
Of American cotton this year, that
is the Appropriated amount that
consumption demanded. Now
then if this be true why is it we
did not have Il fixed price on cot
ton instead of it ranging from s
cents to II ~ cents.
Then again statistics show that
consumption has been on the in
crease for several years, there
fore the demand is greater. So
We will get some record on cotton
for 1903, the year Bro. Plant
refers to selling on the 9TH day Of
July, which must have been some
of MS 1904 crop. The 1901 crop
which vas only i0,0ll.374 and
being the time Mr.. Sully corner
ed on cotton and run the price to
II ii cents, was it the supply
that consumption demanded that
caused this rises. II that were
true it looks ike Brown and Sully
would have held their own and
been in the market the following
season and even up to now.
Then we vii, take the bumper
crop of 1905, which according to
the government report Is, 30j. go
bales, the price for that crop
ranged from 6.s5 to II 1-2, then
the crop of 1901, estimated at II, :
261, l63 bales with the steady in
crease in consumption and ac-
cOrdiGg to statistics, manufacture
ers increasing their plants and
cotton at low cbb, and will
leave that 20 you Bro. Plant to
tell the reason why. But there
Is no doubt in my mind that by
controlled marketing values can
be regulated. When a rice Is
agreed on every time the article
II offered for sale for less it Is =
traasgression of the law OF sue
cess and an economic crime for
which there must be an atone
ment. This is recognized in bust
ness circles and combinations
take the place Of competition
Cutting prices means freezing out
competitors ana only the strong
est survivor. Business goes
where the most and best can b.
had FOR the money.
The farmer has the greatest
volume OF business Of anybody
and by proper management he
can WELD the greatest power OF
any class in the business world.
The idea IS to make cotton Il side
line and fortify yourself behind a
breast-works of hog and hoGiny
then sell your cotton when the
price suits you and not until then.
Now in conclusion | will say to
Mr.. Plant that | enjoy your let
tiers very much and | did not in
tend Ia enter into a contest at all
by differing with you, that was
my opinion and ii We could get
more OF our people to get up and
express their opinion and stand
for their rights we would be bet
ter OF. As 10 your last question
let Us try u not believe tnat they
are THAI way and do everything.
reasonable To win them over.
Very Respectfully.
FRONTS l.. LINKgR.