The Harrison times., 1911-06-10
PRES. BARRETT SPEAKS PLAIN
Issues Warning to Farmers and Bank
ers Against Entering Wedge
OF Foreign Ownership.
To the Officers and Members Of the

entrusted WIN INe preSlQenCy OI luIa
great organization, 1t has always been
by effort to avoid the note of the
alarmist or the sensationalist.
But the time is come to speak
plainly regarding matter that is OF
the first importance not only to the
farmers of the south, but as we'll to
the business and the people Of the
south generally.
II has not escaped the attention or
the more thoughtful that an English
syndicate recently acquired a 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.
If this were just one instance, II
need not occasion concern
But it 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 th'sC
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 1t Is
simply a business proposition with
them.
1t should also be a business propo
sition with the south to take cog
nizance of a 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 a development
is plain.
Hundreds upon thousands of south
ern farmers would be compelled to
compete upon the open market with
a product raised by the buyers upon
our own soil and by the most i'm
proved methods.
The demand for nativegrown 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.
1t would be visited in greater or
less degree upon every business in
the southern states, since southern
business and cotton are, as yet, II
separable financial factors.
The stream of gold now coming
into the south each year from
Europe would be lessened CottCl,
which Is now one of the countrys
greatest reliances for preserving the
international balance on the right
side, would lose much of Its 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 q struggle in
England, and more Of a struggle In
Ireland, might be reproduced on
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 1t is case Of fight
ing the devil with fire.
We may as we'll 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 It's 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 hand with this
should go scientific marketing and
distribution under cooperative au-
spices.
In this battle with " problem that
Is going to grow In a geometrical
.otIo ,ha oId ~ tho sopth har,, husIpoea