The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1909-04-30
ND POLITICS IN union
SAYS Mr.. HIGHTOWER

| be done IOr HOIHluS, Dut IL any PioheS
accrued during the season in the stor-
| ing and handling of the cotton the
profits would be divided among the
farmers who were stockholders.
Under the plan proposed by the
State Farmers Union the costs OF
weighing, sampling and storing would
be reduced to a minimum, thereby saw
ing to the raiser of the cotton the
costly leakage resulting from the fire.
ouent landings. weighings, and sam
pings now experienced under the
present method from the cotton raiser
who peddles his cotton on the street
to the final point of shipment to Eu-
rope or elsewhere.
Speaking of the present method,
President Hightower said that the man
who raised the cotton and peddled it
on the streets, practically auctioned
off his cotton to the lowest bidder, as
in this method of selling cotton there
was no competition between the buy
ers.
One objection President Hightower
had heard as coming from some farm
ers,, was that they could not afford to
wait for their money until the cotton
was sent to Europe and sold. He ex-
planned that there was no good ground
| for an objection of this kind, since,
| Just as soon as the farmer stored his
cotton in his local warehouse he
would be given a warehouse receipt
and that this receipt would be good for
cash at the farmers local bank, or
with the local merchant with whom the
farmer traded.
President Hightower said he had
been asked what would all this save to
the planter. He said this could not be
figured out definitely until the plan
had been systematically tried, but he
thought it would be safe to say that it
would save to the raiser of the cotton
at the least SO a bale This would
mean the saving of several millions
of dollars annually to the cotton rails
ers of Mississippi.
Aside from the direct savings to
the cotton raiser, President High
tower called the attention of his hear
ers to the larger question that was
involved. And that was would the
ability of the cotton raisers of the
South, through a thorough and sys-
tematic organization of the Mississippi
plan throughout the South, of being
placed in a position to market their
cotton more nearly to meet the market
demands of the world. Instead of the
cotton raiser, as under the present
method, rushing his cotton to market
on the hunt for buyers, he would be
able to market his cotton more slowly
md have the buyers hunting the cotton
raiser.
Just here, President Hightower
called attention to the fact that though
the Southern cotton planters had a
of the greatest money prod
lct in the world they had never taken
advantage of the great opportunities
offered them to get the most that was
possible out of their crop which prac-
.ically meant gold the world over.
But, he added, the cotton planter
will never be able to do this so long
Is he keeps himself in debt. He must
irst learn how to get out of debt. One
way for him to do this is to learn to
study the best methods of farming so
hat he can improve upon what he is
loing. He should first begin by in
orming himself through reading of
What others have done and of how it
vas done, through some agricultural
newspapers and through getting into
communication with the state agricul-
ural college, the state agricultural de-
)artment and the state agricultural ex-
pertinent stations and become &C.
luainted with the agricultural informa-
lion furnished through these sources.