The Donaldsonville chief., 1911-06-24
PRES. BARRETT SPEAKS PLAIN
Issues Warning to Farmers and Bank
ers Against Entering Wedge
of Foreign Ownership.

of Foreign Ownership.
To the Officers and Members Of tF'
Farmers Union:
/ From the first moment that wa:
entrusted with the presidency OF this
/ great organization. 1t has always bee1
by effort to avoid the note OF tht
alarmist or the sensationalist
But the time is come to speal
plainly regarding matter that is o1
/ the first Importance not only to the
| farmers of the south, but as well tc
| the business and the people Of the
south generally
It has not escaped the attention oi
the more thoughtful that an English
| syndicate recently acquired large
acreage of fine cotton lands in one OF
the central southern states.
The tacit purpose Is to produce
cotton on these lands for English
spinners, thus avoiding dependence
upon the southern cotton farmer
II this were just one instance. II
need not occasion concern.
But 1t has come to my attention
that similar negotiations are on foot
in other portions of the cotton belt
What Is more significant, / am
also informed that foreign spinners
generally are contemplating the ad.
visibility Of buying large tracts In
the southern states, and produce
their own staple.
OF course, in each one Of these
cases the most scientific methods
will be employed, as much cotton will
be raised to the acre as the specialist
can extort, rotation and fertilization
will be used to retain the richness
Of the soil, and the latest improved
farm machinery will be on the pro.
gram.
We cannot censure foreign spinners
for projecting this movement. It Is
simply a business proposition with
them
sition with the south to take cog
nizancS Of movement that may
throw the balance of power in our So
called monopoly" of cotton into the
hands of foreigners.
And such is the inevitable conclu-
sion of the policy under debate by
English and continental spinners
The meaning of such development
Is plain.
Hundreds upon thousands of south
{ n farmers would be compelled to
~ompete upon the open market with
product raised by the buyers upon
our own soil and by the most i'm.
proved methods.
The demand for native-grown cot
ton would dWindle as these foreign
owned farms came into their full
productiveness.
Prices might, probably would, be
controlled by mill interests as abso-
lutely as they used to be controlled
by cotton exchange operators before
the days Of the Farmers union
The penalty would not be confined
to the farmer
It would be visited in greater or
the southernS states, since southern
business and cotton are, as vet, IN
separab1e financial factors
The stream of gold now coming
into the south each year from
Europe would be lessened. Gotten,
which Is now one Of the country's
greatest reliances for preserving the
international balance on the right
side, would lose much of It's vitality
in that direction
Conditions under a general invasion
of foreign land-buyers would be disas.
trous. The absentee landlordism that
is making life such a struggle in
England, and more of a struggle in
Ireland, might be reproduced on a
proportionate scale in this country.
The one way is for southern farm.
ers to acquire their own acres and,
what Is of equal Importance, to use
upon them the most scientific OF cul.
tural methods. It Is a case of fight.
ing the devil with fire.
We may as well face the truth now
as later. And the truth Is that cot.
ton-growing In the south will not
reach a genuine business basis until
every farmer makes every acre re.
turn its maximum, until he reduces
the cost of production to minimum
and raises his own food products.
You may ask how this is to be done
when hundreds of thousands of farm
ers do not own their own farms. or
are under obligations to landlords.
We can, first, help ourselves. We
can do that by sacrificing, pinching
and scraping, until all OF US get out
Of debt and accumulate enough to
make first payments upon farms.
We can, next, reinforce this policy
by utilizing scientific methods, and
all the help we can get from the
Farmers union lecturers and govern
ment agents and state and federal
agricultural departments and expert
ment stations. Hand in hana with this
should go scientific marketing and
distribution under cooperative au-
spices.
In this battle with problem that
Is going to grow in geGmetrical
ratio, the aid Of the southern business
man is needed.