Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1911-09-27
STAND FOR BETTER PRICES.
Appeal to Farmers and Business Men
Of OcOnee County,

Gentlemen: Not since the year
i907 has there been so great need
for organization and a combined ef-
fort on the part Of the farmers and
business men of the South as at pres
ent, and we must organize and stand
together or suffer a loss Of many mil
Mons OF dollars, as present conditions
show.
The cotton crop of 1911 has cost
the producer about 12 cents per
pound, and Is now selling for about
10 ~ cents, and will go still lower in
few days If we continue to sell. This
means loss to the farmer of about
$40 per bale, and a total loss to the
South Of about one hundred and
twenty-five million dollars on the
present crop.
Our National Union met in Okla
homa on the 5th Of September and
fixed the minimum price at ID and
b cents per pound, and on the 18th
the Commissioners Of Agriculture of
the Southern States met in Mont
gomery, Ala, together with about
900 farmers and business men
from different sections of the South.
This meeting endorsed the action Of
the Union and pledged their support
to aid the farmers in holding their
cotton.
Now, brother farmer, this means
fight, and hard fight-one that will
try your nerve. 1t means loss or
gain to the South Of many million
dollars. VIII you go into it?
At meeting Of Oconee County
Farmers Union on the 23d it was
the minimum price, and we ask
every farmer and business man in
the county to join us in this effort.
Remember 1t Is as much to your in
terest as 1t Is ours that we enter this
fight, and 1t is your duty to see that
your wives and children are remu-
nerated for their services while max
ing this crop. Whether they were in
the house or in the field they aided
you, and should have something for
their labor. You are the one they
look to for their rights.
We will have some Doubling
Tnomases" who will say, "You will
lose the fight" but pass him by with
contempt and look back to 1906,
when we had over three million bales
carried over from the previous year,
and made that year about thirteen
and half million bales. The Far
mers' Union fixed the price at II
cents, the Cotton Association at 10
cents At that time cotton was SELL
ing at cents per pound in January.
BY united effort Of the two organi-
cations, and help from our merchants
and bankers, we raised the price
from cents in January to II u cents
In July. This was done with cotton
enough to keep the mills running
full time and a surplus Of nearly
four million bales to carry over.
Now, If the farmers could gain the
victory In 1906, when chances were
so against them, | see nothing to
fear in this fight, If we will only de-
mand our rights and stand together
until we get them. But, on the
other hand, we need not expect to ac-
complish anything by standing off
cursing the speculators and spinners.
They care nothing for your cursing;
they are attending to their own busi-
ness, and If we don't attend to ours
we are bound to suffer; and 1t will
be our fault, not theirs.
Our national officers have done,
and are now doing, their full duty
to assist lis, but they can do lis but
little good without an effort on our
part.
notice where the business men in
C'i oI"'N' "i' III oSfSidl SeCllOHS
IN this State have pledged themselves
to aid the farmers in holding their
cotton by advancing money on ware
house receipts, and the merchants by
indulging them on their accounts as
long as possible, and am constrain-
ed to believe our business men to be
as loyal as In other sections. There
fore all we have to do is to do our
part and all will be we'll.
Yours for success,
A. II. Ellison,
President Oconee County Farmers
Educational and Cooperative I'M
ion Of America.