The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1911-11-07
TO RELIEVE COTTON SITUATION.
Action Taken at Farmers Union Meet
in in Columbia On Thursday
Night.

tonight, to consider the cotton situa-
tion( is explained in the following
resolutions, which were passed:
"That this Farmers union recon-
mend to every farmer in South Caro-
lima who controls bale of cotton to
hold from the market every bale Of
cotton. except ''distressed cotton"
"That this holding action be tele-
graphed to the authorities Of all 9Th
er cotton States in the South, with
the request that a SIMILAR plan b. put
into action there.
THAT the building of cotton ware
houses Of a small scale throughout the
States as now be CONTINUED under the
approval Of the unioc, with the idee
of eventually merging.
s'That pledges be taken in writing
in every county IF the Stare from far
mers saying how many bales of cct-
ton they will put themselves Oh rs
agreeing to hold Until September 1,
1912, if necessary, f.: reasonable
price, the exact fgIr: t.. be agreed
upon in the immel!ate te future.
"That another set of record books be
opened in each county Of the State, in
which farmers will be asked to put
themselves on record as agreeing not
to plant more than 60 per cent. of their
arabic lands in cotton during the sea-
son of 1912"
The meeting was we'll attended, the
room being at one time nearly full of
keenly interested farmers and others.
It was evident that there was a spirit
of determination to take whatever
steps were possible to relieve the
present low prices paid for the cotton
on the markets.
The plan offered by DR.. Wade Stack
house, of Dillon, for a solution of the
cotton situation precipitated the long
discussion and opened up the whole
question of cotton growing and sell
ing. The plan, in brief, called for the
formation of a State warehouse COM
pany, with capital stock of $1,000,000,
to be divided into shares of the par
value of $50 each, the money to be
subscribed by the farmers of the
State Fifteen warehouses were to be
built at the most logical points in the
State, having all advantages of COM
peting freight and water rates, and
these warehouses to have enough ca
pacity to hold at \least one-fourth of
the cotton crop of South Carolina.
To get the arrang ngements whereby the
farmer would be able to get the money
advanced On the warehouse receipts,
Mr.. Stackhouse advocated the forma-
tion of a trust company, to guarantee
the warehouse receipts and see that
the money was obtainable, the trust
company to be of 3l,500,000 capital
and to be located in Columbia. In ad-
dition, he also planned for legal con-
tracts to be obtained by this ware
house company from farmers, stating
that this cotton stored must not be
sold before August, 1912, for less than
the minimum price fixed and agreed On
by the mass meeting tonight, and i'll
they did so that the farmer forfeit to
the warehouse company the differ
ence between the price he obtained
and the minimum price agreed on. Of
course, cotton went over the mini
mum price, the farmer could sell when |
he pleased.
The plan by Mr.. Stackhouse provid-
ed for reduction in acreage of at !
least 25 per, cent, the warehouse COM
pany to have farmers to sign contracts
to this effect. To guard against the
breaking of the acreage reducing con-
tract, a penalty was suggested where !
by the farmer should turn over to the !
warehouse company all cotton pro-
auced On any acreage over and above
Is per cent. The plan is an elaborate :
one and went into the situation in !
detail.
Mr.. Jeff Buyck, of Calhoun county, !
suggested as a substitute a landlords ;
or landowners association, all owners
of land to organize this association, toa
agree to hold cotton and reduce acre
age Mr. Ruyck wanted land owners to
agree to hold all unsold cotton until !
the price reached IL cents, and to take
the matter of reducing acreage on
their own shoulders. Tne association,