Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1909-05-04
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TO HANDLE COTTON CROP.
Union Has Agreed Upon q
Plan.

Farmers Union Has Agreed Upon
Plan.
Columbia State, Saturday.
The county presidents Of the Farm
ers' Union of the state of South Caro-
limo met yesterday morning, passed
resolutions indorsing the warehousing
plan for handling and marketing cot
ton, passed a number OF general reso-
ilutions and adjourned.
The executive committee met at 10
o'clock and remained in executive ses-
sion until IL a. m, when 1t was an
nounced that the meeting would De
open, to hear addresses from Gov. M.
F. Ansel and others.
This meeting was called to order by
the state president, Mr.. B. Harris, who
introduced Mr.. r. Beverly Herbert. Vice
president of the Chamber Of Commerce
of this city, who welcomed the visitors.
Gov. Ansel, who was then introduced,
seconded the welcome extended by the
preceding speaker, but said formal
welcome was hardly in place, because
It was too much like welcoming man
to his own house. He said she farmer
Is the bone and sinew of the country,
and that he ought to be considered one
of them, because he sold little cotton
himself He complimented the farmers
on the great work in which they are
engaged, and urged the necessity OF
good roads. Said he felt an interest in
every public measure and enterprise
undertaken in this great state, and
while he was the governor Of the peo-
pie, he was deeply sensible that ne was
the servant Of the people.
Mr.. T. B. Stackhouse, president OF
the State Bankers association and OF
the Standard Warehouse company, was
next introduced. BY way OF introduc-
ton he said he could not make
speech and that knowing this, the COM
mittee had given him wide latitude
by assigning to him everything includ-
ed in the book from Genesis to Revela- |
ton for his text. Then he plunged
ton marketing. He said 1t Is big
subject. The gist Of his argument In
presenting the matter was that II
would be impracticable for the farmers
to carry out the programme as outlined
in the State, for the reason that there
is not sufficient money in the state or
in the southern states available tol
handle the crop and hold it while maxi |
ing another crop.
A Practical Address.
To market the cotton crop of the
south requires that the bankers who
locally supply the cash must go to the
north and east for the money to do 1t |
with. It Is a fact, he said, that the
financiers will not supply that money
as long as the cotton remains in ware |
houses owned by the corporations that
issue the certificates Of storage. He
said that there must be an absolute
enforcement of interest in the property
when the cotton passes out OF the hands
of the producer or the owner Of 1t and
into the hands Of the warehouseman.
This is the security that the moneyed
men demand.
When the cotton Is sold the certif- |
cate must be fr possession Of some one
not interested in the warehouse in
which it has been stored. He said that
such a proceeding would be like a
banker loaning money to a man and
then telling him he might keep the
evidences Of the loan in his own pos
session.
In a local wey, in comparatively SHALL
transactions, he said, where the par
ties are known to the banks and The
banks have the money in their possess
sion to do business, there Is no trouble
on this score; but when it comes to
going away from home to the money
centres in the north and east for cash
to dc this kind CT business it becomes
a different sort of proposition. Those
men demand the security, and they
must know the security is there and
that it can not be removed. Ware
house receipts given by men who own
the cotton which is stored in their own
warehouses are not considered secur-
ity by men who have no respect for
anything but abstract business.
Mr.. Stackhouse stated that the ca
pacity of all the warehouses In the
state, exclusive of the mill warehouses, |
is about 100000 bales. He said If the
Farmers Union would undertake to
carry out their project of amalgama-
ting the warehouses and conducting |
the business, they must prepare to take
care Of 275,O00 bales in this state. He
care Of the crop and handle it through |
small warehouses, scattered over a
large area. The cost Of their main |
tenance is too great, and would eat up
the profits on the product. He said
large warehouses would have to be |
built at the railroad centres. He rec |
commended that the farmers cooperate |
with the companies owning warehouses
outside of those owned by the Unions. |
He emphasized the statement that
about warehouses not owned by the
interests they control even when their
own men are in charge Of them.
The speaker also called attention to
the fact that the cost of bonding men
in charge of the business would be so
enormous as to be prohibitive. The
banks in this state have more conf |
dence in the standard warehouse man.
agement than in any other system of
warehouses in the south. Further, he
said that no warehouse costing less
than $4,000 can be made to pay.
The talk was considerably more at
length but these were the essential
features of 1t. 1t was listened to at
tentively, and the speaker was often
interrupted by questions from those
present.
Mr.. F. n. Hyatt.