The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-09-21

near APPROXIMATION " CcItdlHty IIldii
the government with it's expensive
corps and equipment.
When the committee on minimum
price for short staple cotton goes
into executive session, it is supplied
with detailed statistics regarding the
probable yield for the cotton belt.
It is also we'll versed in the prob
able limits of consumption for the ap-
preaching season. The Union keeps
a careful census Of old and new mills,
and is in a position to figure out
within conservative pounds just about
to absorb before another crop comes
into market.
Common Sense Price Fixing.
While secrecy surrounds all the SEES
sions of the convention, those relating
to the minimum are guarded with
double care. Nc one outside the Union
knows to a certainty just how the
committee this year arrived at its de-
cision, or the exact nature Of the &C
ton of the convention.
There is no reason to believe, how
ever. that the committee and the con-
ventiOn, after a scrupulous survey Of
the whole field, decided that Is cents
q pound was likely to be an equitable
and ~attainable price.
But-and here comes in the shrewd,
business sense-the convention did not
tax any chances. 1t fixed it's mini
mum, but left full power with the
executive committee to lower or raise
the figure to accord with unforeseen
conditions.
The Problem of Distress Cotton.
The problem of distress cotton"
presents perennia}ly a difficult propo-
sition to the individual farmer, as to
the Farmers Union.
Distress cotton speaking broadly,
is that raised through Indebtedness to
merchant or banker, and therefore
produced under conditions necessarily
making it difficult to hold for a
higher or a legitimate price.
To overcome this phase, the union
is everywhere adopting the policy Of
erecting warehouses in which cotton
can be stored, properly bonded, and
certificates representing a certain per-
centage of face value used as collateral
for loans
The plan has worked we'll in sew
eral States. In Georgia, it is better ad-
vanced than any of the Southern
States. Lately the union warehouses
in this State were amaigamated under
a m board of control, and the
probabilities are that the members
here will be enabled to hold for a
fair price without visiting hardship
on their creditors or themselves.
Warehouses Through Cotton Belt.
The warehouse plan is yet in it's in
fancy. Eventually, it is to span the en-
tire cotton belt, controlling enough of
the cotton to balance the market
When that day arrives-and prudent
prophets see it in the not distant
future-the element Of chance in the
marketing of Southern cotton will
have been obliterated, and the South
can address itself to business unfretted
by market m~anipulations and the con-
stant specter of starvation prices.
Thoroughly LOgi,a al Plan.
The thorough logic of this plan is
another c%linching tribute to the in
creasing business sense of the South
ern farmer.
For years past, financiers and econ
onists of note have agreed that the
bonded warehouse plan was the only
feasible method of controlling the pro.
duction Of this World-embracing sta
pie.
been used out West in the market
ing of Wheat and corn with the hap
piest effects, and there is every reason
to believe success will soon crown it's
transplanting to the South.
Hot Air. No Longer a Factor.
These are the practical, commercial
aspects of a movement that the world
Of finance and in the United
States must be forced henceforth to
reckon with.
The Farmers Union does not claim
that it is i~mpregnable, nor that it has
solved, or is on the verge Of solving,
all the problems of the producer. But
it does claim, and visitors to the Biz
mlngham convention and other con-
ventiOns know the claim is well based,
that 1t is making great strides in that
direction.
1T has succeeded in getting rid Of The
dead wood, the flotsam and jetsam,
the worthless and floating elements
that clutter every great movement in
its inception.
1t is stripped for business, in neat,
naked, lighting trim, ready for the
fray, full of courage and supplied with
keen brains and men Of answering
conscience.
Hot air. no longer appeals to the
farmer. That also was proven iE the
recent convention. AS President Bar