The times and democrat. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1881-current, 1911-08-12
URGED TO Hold COTTON
ADDRESS is ISSUED BY SUMTER
COUNTY UNION.
Argument by Committee Giving Rea-
sons for Sending Appeal to People
of South Carolina.

sons for Sending Appeal to People
of South Carolina.
In an address issued to the farm
ers of South Carolina committee
Of the Sumter County Farmers un-
ion urges the holding of cotton un-
til higher price is obtained. The
address is prepared by committee
consisting Of E. w. Dabbs, president
of the State Farmers union, and j.
M. Brogden and S. N. Welsh. 1t
is as follows:
"To the farmers and all the busi-
ness interests that are affected by
the price of cotton:
The Sumter County Farmers
union at it's last meeting unanimous
ly directed US as a committee to call
your attention to the serious condi-
ton that confronts us in the outlook
for low prices for this crop of cot
ton. Thirty or forty days ago cot
ton sold in Sumter for Is 1-2 cents
(spot). Today a holder who would
not. then sell was glad to get
IL 1-2 cents. These are actual sales.
What has brought about such "a
slump in this short time after cotton
had held steady for nine or ten
months at IA to Is cents? They say
because there is prospect of over
100000 bales. 1t is not more
because the world, judging by the
past, thinks it can stampede the
farmers and the merchants, and buy
below 10 cents before Christmas.
The men who are predicting snch
prices are working with might and
main to bring about 10-cents cotton
by telingll. ,Jddl lxzfifff -? {
by telling their farmer friends that
the crop is the largest on record.
You ought to sell as fast as you
can, for cotton is bound to go low
err Apparently not knowing that
this is the very gay to bring about a
lower level of prices.
"Now we have no quarrel with
the Northern and foreign spinner
who wants low-priced cotton. 1t is
only part of his business to get
the raw material at the lowest pos
sible price and it is also part of his
business to sell his finished pro-
duct at the highest possible price.
But how any Southern man, even
owners Of mill stocks, can wish to
see low prices for cotton, or can In
any way give aid and encourage
ment to the enemy by joining in the
hue and cry that prices are bound
to 70 lower is past our comprehen-
sion. For every business man and
every cotton mill in the South is in
evitably bound up in the general
prosperity of this section.
If Southern mills would seek out
new markets for the manufactured
goods, and learn from the successes
of foreign mills to cater to the de-
mands of the worlds trade In the
fabrics the world wants, put up In
the kind of packages the world
wants, they could join hands with all
the business interests Of the South
and fix and maintain the highest pos
sibNe price for cotton and cotton
goods.
THAT the mills will not do this
is abundantly proven by the history
of recent years when our own mills
kept out of the market while the
farmer was falling over himself to
sell his cotton, and later paid more
for their stocks than the foreigners,
with freight and other charges add
ed. We may expect the same thing
to happen this fall. Hence we leave
the Southern spinners out of the
count.
But we do call on every mer-
chant and every fertilizer manufac-
turer and every banker and every
railroad man to join with the Farm
crs' union in urging every farmer
to hold back his cotton until the
world Is willing to pay a living
nrice for it. Such q course can
hurt no one, and it will help every
one: the merchant by giving him
cash customers for his goods, the
fertilizer plants by increased use OF
their goods, the banks by larger de-
posits on more imported goods than
our people will have the money to
buy, and every profession, and call
ing by the increase in the circula-
ting medium brought about by the
larger flow of foreign gold in all
the arteries of commerce.
There can be no question that
this will be the result Of higher
prices for cotton. If it were not
true. from whence comes the present
prosperity of the South? 1t is 10
cents cotton that has done it. AS
surely as the sun rises in the east
and sets in the west, just SO surely
will there be stagnation and want,
distress and bitterness, in thous'
ands of homes in the South, and they
will not all be farmers homes, II
we let this crop of cotton sell for
20 cents or less.
with the worlds stocks of cotton
almost depleted, with the automoplle
tire industry alone taking hundreds