The Oroville weekly gazette. [volume] (Oroville, Wash.) 1905-19??, 1913-03-21

states! Compare these HSureS anu
then be good enough to admit that the
Farmers Union has not done these
states any harm Another point. You
know the boil weevil ruined Texas"
Well, the pesky thing has shown the
world that the South can flourish
without cotton So if the price does
not suit, just quit raising it.
The chief object of great farmers
movement, and the only one for which
il can claim the support of the Amer
lean farmer, is to work out a solution
to the crop moving problem This
policy has not been adhered to by the
Farmers Union with stupid rigidity,
from time to time have developed
locally and sectionally, but in the main
the greater activities of the organiza
ton have ben devoted to this partic-
ular field.
Originating in a great cotton pro-
ducing state-Texas-nat the
question uppermost in the minds of
the founders of the order was, how
can the farmer secure a fair and
equitable price for this great cash
crop of the South? Get it be remem
bered that adversely and not prosper
ity gave birth to the Farmers Union.
Prosperous farmers have very little
inclination to organize. 1t matters
not that other business interests find
It expedient, even in times of the
greatest prosperity, to cooperate that
they the more easily perpetuate con-
ditions that give rise to their wealth.
the farmer is too self-satisfied to con-
Germ himself with such business tao
tics. 1t is only when the iron heel of
an oppressive and Ubiquitous system
grinds out the last penny of profit for
his labor and leaves him and his family
with scant food and scantier raiment
that he becomes willing to profit by
the example of big business and Or
ganize for his own protection)
The price of most staple farm crops
is fixed and controlled largely by
spectators and middlemen operating
upon the boards of trade and eX-
changes. Upon no crops are the eff
fects of the fictitious prices main
tanned by this system of control more
noticeable than upon cotton. That
practically no facilities existed for
storing and holding cotton at inter-
ior points has been great boon to
exchange operators, because this lack
has forced the sale of greater por-
ton of the crop direct from the gin
and demoralized markets throughout
the harvesting season has been the
inevitable result. To provide means
for storing and holding, that distri-
button might be made more uniform
throughout the year, the policy of
building local warehouses to be oper-
ated and owned by the membership
was early advocated by the organi-
zation.
1t is rather difficult to convey an
accurate conception of the rapidity
with which the movement spread.
Some idea, however, of it's magnitude
that within less than five years the
organization had spread into practi-
cally every cotton producing state,
and simultaneously with the develop
ment of the Union, warehouses were
built so that at the end of that time
nearly every county had one or more
warehouses in operation.
These local warehouses have been
the basis of the success of the Farm
ers' Union in the South. 1t has been
the policy of the national union from
time to time to fix minimum price
on cotton and to call upon the mem
bership to withhold from the market
until such time as the price could be
obtained. These holding movements,
though entirely voluntary on the part
of the membership, have been uni
formly successful because of the
strength of the local warehouse sys-
TEN. 1t must not be understood that
these efforts to prolong the marketing
period have invariably resulted in Sc
curing the price agreed upon, but the
effect, in years when proper determ-
nation was shown, has been such
upon the market that much better
price, without exception, has resulted
than would have otherwise obtained
No data is at hand to give the exact
saving in dollars and cents to the
farmers of the South as direct re-
suit of these holding movements, but
that the sum total runs into the mil
lions is evident when we reflect that
the price has been gradually forced
upward from five and six cents per
pound to ten, twelve and even fifteen
cents per pound. and that during each
of the past ten years there have been
marketed from eight to fourteen mil
lion bales.
Time has served to show the
strength and also the weakness of the
warehouse system. Though very use
full ii is by no means perfect The
isolation of the warehouses under in