The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1912-11-30
PLAN FOR COTTON PLANTERS
{ They Should Succeed They Must
Adopt Methods Used by Sig
Corporations, Says Carter.

Nnle IN Baltimore recently T. w.
Carter Of Jackson, Miss, president
Of the Mississippi division of the
Farmers union, talked at some length
TO a representative Of the Baltimore
American Of conditions in the south.
Mr.. Carter is also president Of the
National Warehouse company which
is an ofshoot OF the union and which
was founded for the purpose of as
sisting the southern planters in the
marketing Of their chief crop.
The cotton planters" said Mr..
Carter, "can only succeed by adopting
the methods used by the great bust 4
ness concerns Of this age. | do not
refer to monopolistic combinations,
but to the approved, up-to-date
methods that successful corporations
employ. individually the producer
down on our plantations Is too feeble 4
to protect himself; he is usually hard
pressed for cash and Is forced to sell
his bales for whatever the buyer
chooses to offer. It Is high time to
ring down the curtain on such bar
barous epoch OF agriculture. Rec
ognizing that the Individual Is power
less, the producers have at last seen
that their only solution lies in their
collective strength and that safety and
financial independence can only be
gained through concerted action
The plan of our warehouse COM
pany, which is but three years old, and
up to this time in operation only in
Tennessee and Mississippi, is based on
the ownership and control by the union
OF about 1900 warehouses scattered
throughout all the states Of the south.
Our aim is to remedy the present
defective scheme of selling by induc-
ing the growers to store their prod
uct in these warehouses instead OF
flooding the market as they do now
with cotton just as soon as it is gath
cred and ginned. Naturally the glut-
ting of the market at the opening Of
the season causes prices to drop, and
the producer Is kept in state Of
poverty. But the National Warehouse
company comes to the rescue by I'D
vancing 80 per cent of the value of
the amount stuI I'D, and Tits TeaaieHes
the producer while it also maintains
an equilibrium of prices by keeping
the bales off the market at time
when there is little CT no demand.
Stability of values is more desir-
able than a high price with intervals
of wide fuctuation. The plan also
includes a Standardization of ware
house receipts which will be reeog-
nized in every par Of the cotton belt
There is no better collateral on earth
than this feecy stuff, and the men
| who make it, If they handle their pro-
perty with cleVerness,s can be abso-
| Iutely masters Of the situationthe
elect Of the whole agrarian brother-!
hood for they are almost the sole
| makers OF crop that civilized human
| ity must have regardless OF cost.
Il have been talking about cotton.
but there are other things in which
| the baleful influence of the middleman
is just as easily demonstrated. What
| is the one prevailing subject Of com.
| plant throughout America today? Is
is not the high cost of living? And
/
can vouch for it, being farmer N.Y.
self. that the growers of grain and
fruits and vegetables are not reaping
any fat returns. ALI over the south
| potatoes are allowed to rot in the
fields, and even. peaches are left un-#
picked on the trees when they are in
| keen demand in the cities Of the east
and north. The explanation Is that
there is no profit TO the producer, but
that all the financial gain accrues to-
the different middlemen who stand
/ between the producer and the public.
| Railroad rates are not to be blamed,
| for they are not unreasonable, but
when a heavy toll is taken by four or
five different parties handling the stuff
/ ere the last retailers tax is added,
| what hope has the purchasing public
/ Of a fair deal? repeat, that the
| extortionate prices now being. levied
on the necessities Of life are the direct
4 result of a vicious economic system.
It can be ended only when those who
/ produce can sell directly, or as near
as possible, to the army Of consumers.
The idea that the tariff or the in
| creased gold production has anything
to do with the ridiculous raise in the
cost of living may sound well, but II
has no basis in truth
i GROWTH OF BIG INDUSTRIES