Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1913-01-10
BIG CONVENTION
OF FARMERS UNION
state President Crow Gave u Report
of Trip To South to Secure
Cotton Bags

County Formers Union, which was
held at Albion last Friday and Sat
| urday, was one of the largest and
most enthusiastic in the history of
the organization. Nearly every
local in the county was represented
| by delegates and much interest was
manifested in both the open and
closed meetings. AT the open meet
ing Friday excellent addresses were
made by Professor r. w. Thatcher,
r. A. Gowens, teacher of the Ban
ner school, Chester Farr, a student
at the w. S. c.; P w. Cox of Colfax,
and A. d. O'Kelley, president of the
County Union.
The election of officers resulted
as follows: President, A. d. O'Kel-
ley, Albion; vice president, NJ. w.
Merritt of Rosalia; secretary and
treasurer, II. S. Mcclure of Garfield;
conductor. J. C. Farr of Albion;
chaplain, Robert McClaskey of AL
bion; doorkeeper, B. Atherton of
Pullman; executive board, B. T. Man
chester of Colfax, j. w. Haines of
Pullman and John MCGEE of Palouse
After the installation of the new Of
| ficers, State President Crow gave a
report of the trip which he and p. w.
Cox made to the southern states to
investigate the possibility of secur-
ing cotton sacks to use in place of
the jute bags, He said, in part:
las l have sent out to the locals
in my monthly letter a complete re-
port of our trip to the south and the
result of same, / will make this re-
port brief and say to the members
of the Union to be sure and attend
| the called meetings which / have
president of each local Union, and
you will get more thorough and
elaborate report.
Brother P. W. Cox and myself
left Colfax via the O.-W. r. e NJ,
and Oregon Short Line, on December
IA and arrived at st. Louis on De-
cember 18. Here we interviewed the
Bemis Bag company, one of the larg-
est bag m anufacturing companies in
the United States. Severe tests we're
here given of the strength of the
cotton bag, but after due considera-
| ton we concluded that nothing could
be done with this company Of any
value to the Union.
after remaining in st. Louis one
day we resumed our journey over the
Louisville G Nashville railroad,
changing trains at Nashville for At
lanta. Here we were met by our
national president and several promi-
nent officers of the Georgia State
Union, whose headquarters are In
Union City, a small village II miles
from Atlanta. These officers, being
familiar with the factories Of At
lanta, conducted us to one OF the
largest bag factories in that city, the
Fulton Bag and Cotton Mills. The
president and manager, Mr.. Elsas,
was greatly interested In cur propo-
sition, all Of which the members of
| the Union will understand II they
will attend the meetings OF their
local, as I have recommended. This
factory can deliver us cotton sacks
at the price mentioned In my letter
! to the locals, but not In sufficient
quantities. While We were in At
lanta we learned OF another large
bag factory near the old battle field
CT Chickamauga. After a good visit
with our national president, Mr.. Bar
| rett, and dining on "possum and
sweet potatoes" we left Atlanta on
Christmas morning for Chickamauga.
This bag factory Is managed by Mr..
d. A. Jewel, president of the COM
pany, is very congenial southern
gentleman, who gave US hearty re-
ception. but explained that his fac
tory has a bleaching process in con-
nection with his bag factory and
makes only bleached sacks. He con-
Quoted us through the factory, ex-
planning each process in the bleach
ing Of cloth, which was very instruct
I've and interesting to US, but was not
what we were looking for. He did,
however. give us some valuable IN
formation concerning the use OF
flour in bleaching cloth which led
us to inquire as to the kind OF flour
and we were informed most OF hlf
flour came from the Chattanooga
flour mills. So he gave as letter
of introduction to Mr.. Hutchinson
general manager of the Mountain
city Mills, Chattanooga, Tenn. Al
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