The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1909-04-14
CUT IT OUT
The Farmers Urged To Reduce
The Cotton Acreage
VERY GOOD ADVICE

Would Only Follow it Out Gen
orally Throughout the Cotton Pro-
ducing Region.
Columbia, April S.-President B.
Harris, Of the South Carolina State
Farmers Uaion, has issued the fol-
lowing address, which be desires that
the county papers Of the State should
copy:
Again I want to call your atten-
ton, farmers, that now is the time
to fix price on the 1909 cotton crop.
Will you make 1t or Is cents? 1t
is in your power to make it either.
81 want to, If I can impress upon
you, that diversihcation Of your
crops Is the keynote of the situation.
l want to urge every Southern farmer
to plant at least rs per cent Of his
cotton land in food crops, so as to
let's see If 1t will pay us as farmers
to diversity our crops. To my knowl-
edge, the farmer who has not been
making home self-supporting has
been swapping 81 for SO cents. Now
let's see if this assertion is true.
"The farmer who bought corn last
year paid $1.10 cash for it. If he
borrowed the money to buy with, it
cost him s1.25, as he paid interest
on the money. If he hauled it home
ten miles it cost him 10 cents. 1t
is worth 10 cents per bushel to haul
corn ten miles, so his corn cost him
s135. Now, any good, progressive
farmer can make all the corn he will
need on his farm for 35 cents per
bushel. You see he gave dollar
for what he could have raised for
35 cents per bushel. Are any of
the Southern farmers guilty of the
above? If so, go and sin no more.
"Did you buy any bacon? It is
selling now for II IL cents cash.
Still swapping 81 for so cents. Any
good farmer can. raise enough for
his family use or cents per pound.
Did you buy any hay? I you did
you are still at the same old way
of exchanging. If you bought
horse OF mule you paid from 5000
to $3.50. You can raise one just
as good for less than 500. Now,
brother farmers, do not say that you
can not raise corn for 35 cents. Try
to do it. I have met more than so
farmers this year that raised 1t for
less than 35 cents per bushel, and
as many as Is who raised 1t for less
than 20 cents.
"The farmer who is raising corn
for 80 cents, bacon for cents, rails
ing his own horses and making home
self-supporting has quit swapping 81
for so cents. The farmer who is
buying is still at his old job. While
the farmer who is buying on a lien
and mortgage on his crop is just
swapping 81 for 25 cents, for the
cash buyer is swapping 81 for oo
cents. He can raise it for half what
he pays for it when he buys 1t.
Brother farmer, if you are guilty OF
the above sin I say to you, sin no
more.
"Now, what price will you have for
the 1909 crop? Will you have s or
Is cents? Remember, it is all in
your hands, and you will get what
ever price you make it. To get 10
cents you will have to diversity your
crops and stop exchanging 81 for
so cents, or you will never be able
to get a remunerative price. Now,
what is the use Of the farmers OF
the South to raise 12,0OO,GO0 bales
of cotton and not get for it any
more than they can for 7,000,O00-
or 5000, ,0Oo-bale crop? Think OF
the enormous expense Of raising the
extra 100000 bales to bear the
market down. And who does this?
It is the farmer. Think and consld-
er for a moment what you are doing
and you will quit it.
"Do you think for moment that
the manufacturer would do any sucn
ruinous business as this? No, he
would stop one-half Of his machinery
at once and curtail his output one
half and make the same proflt.
Now, brother farmers, use little
good business judgment and common
good horse sense. | hear some farm
er say Mr.. Jones is going to cut his
cotton acreage and I will just in
crease mine. Sad, but this is too
true to make joke Of. This is just
what the speculative world says you
will do. The most essential tnlng
for the farmers to do this year IS
to plant 35 per cent Of cotton land
in food crops and live at home.
81 took dinner the other day with
man who lives in the country |
can not say that he was farmer,
for his dinner did not satisfy me IN
calling him farmer, for everything
he had on his table was bought
Out of curiosity I asked him how ne
cured his bacon. He said Mr. Ar
mour cured it for him. asked
him what tomato he found was pest
for canning. He told me his were
canned in Baltimore. I asked MIN
what kind OF turnips he soWed 1or
making salad. He told me he bought
that also. Then I wanted to kno"
what kind Of cotton seed BE- planted,
and he quickly answered: I plant
Toole's and Cooks.
$50 you can readily see that ne
was a planter and not a real real
farmer. This is the kind Of farming
that causes Scent cotton. was
in grocery store the other day ana
one Of these planters came IN 10
buy some corn, -four, bacon and nay.
He asked the price Of corn, sl.lo;
flour, ST per barrel; bacon, i l.
cents per pound, and hay, s25 per
+on He said 10 the merchant, are