Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1910-03-16
is in GOOD FIX.
President Barrett Of Farmers Union
Says Farmers Can Get in Such q
Condition as to Sidestep ALI Future
Panics Simply by Making Cotton
Their Surplus OF Cash Crop e

| ASo SAARAJ w -
Their Surplus OF Cash Crop T.
President Charles S. Barrett of the
Farmers Union declares that thu
Southern farmer has the greatest
| cinch in all history and that he car
become Independent Of all future
panics by making cotton a surplus Of
cash crop and planting the remand
Ter of their lands in other necessary
crops. He says:
Gin the fall of 1907 we had fnan.
eial stringency in this country, s
sort of near-panic, but near enough
10 embarrass thousands Of Southern
business men. Do you remember
how it affects you?
"The way for members of the Far
mers' Union to kill the effect of future
panics, so far as they are concerned
is to raise at home all the foodstuffs.
for man and beast, necessary to run
The farm.
"The procedure is as plain as the
nose on your face and it is proven by
my own observation and experience
and the observation and experience
Of thousands of other farmers.
"In Campbell county, Georgia,
where I live, I know a farmer who
makes cotton simply as a surplus, a
cash crop. TIE rest Of his land he
puts in grain and fodder and potatoes
and other vegetables. He doesn't for
get poultry and eggs, either.
Cotton a Cash Crop.
"This man sidestepped the panic
IF 1907. He never has to go into
lebt to the village merchant. He new
,r has to consult the village mer-
chant regarding how much or how
little cotton he shall plant. He raises
aogs and at the first touch of perma-
nent cold weather he kills them. The
result is that when he sells his cot
ION nearly all of his proceeds are
profit, with a small amount he has to
take out for dry goods or farm I'M
elements.
"There are many thousands such
members of the Farmers Union, but
aot enough by a jug full. Every men,
Der of the organization, every far
ner in the South for that matter,
ought, in plain business self-interest,
20 produce enough to feed himself
and his family the year round, leav-
ing cotton as a crop to give him
ready money, but no more impor-
;ance than that.
"To raise all cotton and ignore
toodstuffs and grain is to go into debt,
in the majority of cases, to your mer-
chant and to expose yourself to the
full blast of a panic should one come
along.
"On the other hand, if you produce
On your own acres the things need
full to sustain life in, yourself, your
,,amily and your employees, not forget
ling your stock, you can absolutely
defy the pinch of panic, be i%ndepend-
ent Of the merchant and the banker,
and be your master in the true sense
Some Sensible Advice.
nPlant moderately in cotton, raise
your own food and the food for your
stock, and raise a wall against dis
aster for yourself and your family.
HThis year it looks like you must
make the choice.
SIN the cotton season just closing,
cotton; brought as a rule; high prices.
The crop was not large and the
worlds demands were exorbitant.
"Under these conditions cotton
brought a good price. 1t will not
bring a. good price next fall if lou al
low yourself to be fooled by high
prices into planting a huge crop.
"One thing that is likely to de-
eide even the smartest of farmers. He
reasons this way: Il know my neigh
Dor is going to reduce his cotton
acreage, and plant foodstuffs. So I'll
plant the usual acreage and make q
profit off his cautiousness.'
"That way lies a tremendous crop
and uncertain prices next fall. Avoid
the temptation as you would disease
or dishonor. Plant conservative,,l in
foodstuffs.
Farmers Has a Cinch.
"Did you ever realize that the
Southern farmer has the greatest
'cinch' in all history? In the first
place, providence has given him q
world-monopoly of cotton, the one
staple that is indispensable to civil.
cation.
"The nations must have our cot.
ton, and they get it from the South
though they a secure their !steeI
and their wheat elsewhere.
SIN addition, providence has SC
constituted the Southern States sc
that in every one of them the average
farmer can raise the food essential t.
feed himself and his family, with alb
solute disregard to the mercantile
world.
"In any other section, in any 9th
er country. I belive the people
would quickly have gotten on to thi:
monopoly and made themselves abso'
lutely Independent.
cit is up to the Southern farmer tt
make himself independent, to 81
place himself that he can defy pan
les and debt, and gradually accumu
late wealth, by Investigation. No
Investigation one year or two years
hut every YEAR,