St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1914-11-28
EUROPEAN WAR SHAT:
TIERS KING COTT0N'S
THRONE
RnRcY STAPLE MUST PAY RAN.
INTO THE coFF1Rs or
81 WAR.
Il. MINE Win crlss d strteksA
Industry.
Dy Petsr Radford
ecturer National Fapmsrs' Onion

frightening his subjects and shattef-
ing his markets, and. panic-stricken.
the. nation cries out God save the
kingi"
People from every walk Of life have
contributed their mite toward rescue
work. Society has danced before tho
king; milady has decreed that the
family wardrobe shall contain only
cotton goods; the press has plead
With the public to "buy q bale;
bankers have been formulating hold
ing plans; congress ana legislative
bodies have dsliberated over relief
measures; statesmen and writer's
have grown eloquent expounding the
.inalienable rights Of '.His Majesty
and presenting schemes for preserv'
ing the financial integrity Of the
stricken staple, but the sword Of Du.
rope has proved mightisr than the psn
Of America In fixing value upon this
product Of the sunny south. Prices
have been bayonetsd, values riddled
and markets decimatsd by the battling
hosts Of the eastern hemisphere until
the American farmer has suffered
war loss Of 500. DOT. 900. and . bale
q cotton brave enough to enter .
European port must pay . ransom Of
half its value or 20 to prison until the
war ID over.
Hope Of the Future Lee In ce-opera.
!. tlon.
The Farmers' Union, through tho
columns Of the press, wants to thank
the American people for the friend
ship. sympathy and assistance given
the cotton farmers IN the hour Of dfs.
tress and to direct attention to CO
operative methods necessary to per
manently assist the marketing Of an
farm products.
The present emergency presents -
grave . situation a. ever confronted
the American farmer and from the
viewpoint Of the producer, would seem
to Justify extraordinary relief meas
iures, even to the point Of bending the
constitution and straining business
rules In order to lift portion Of the
burden on the backs Of the farmer.
for unless something IL done 70 check
the invasion Of the war forces upon
the cotton fields. the pathway Of the
European pestilencs on this continent
will be strewn with mortgaged homes
and famine and poverty win stalk oveg
the southland, hlling tho Highways q
industry with refugees ana the hank.
ltuptcy court with prisoners
AL calamltlee teach ID lessons and
the present crisis serves to Illuminate
tho frailt1ss OF our marketing meth.
DDS and the weakness Of our credit
system. and out OF the financial IN.
guish and travail Of the cotton farmer
win come = volume Of discussion and
. mass Of suggestions and finally Z
solution Of this, the biggest problem
in the economic life Of America, II,
indeed. We have not already laid the
foundation for at least Temporary 70.
Aef.
More Pharaohs Nssdsd IN Agriculture.
Farm products have no credit ana
perhaps can never have on q permas
nent ana satisfactory basis unless W
build warehouses, cold Storage plants,
e1evators. etc., for without seprags and
credit facilities, Tho south q COM
PEELED to dump fts crop on the market
at harvest time. The farmers Unions
In the cotton producing states have
Tor the past ten years persistent1y Id
vocafed the construction Of storage
facilities. We have built during this
period 1000 warehouses with CO.
pacity Of approximately 1000, 900 bales
and looking backward the results
would seem encouraging, but looking
forward We are able to house less
than one-third Of the crop and ware
houses without q credit system lose
20 per cent Of their usefulness. The
problem IL gigantic one-too great
Tor the farmer to solve unaided. He
must have the assistance Of the bank
or, the merchant and the government.
In production We have reached the
high water mark Of perfection in the
worlds history. but our marketing
methods are most primitive. In the
dawn Of history We dnd agriculture
blowing with forked stick but with
. system Of warehouses under govern
mental supervision that made the
Heyptians the marvel Of civilization,
tor who has not admired the vision Of
Joseph and applauded the wisdom Of
Pharaoh for storing the surplus until
demanded hy the consumer, but In
this ago We have too many Josephs
who dream and not enough Pharaohs
who build.