Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1916-09-20
standing ready to discount &C

paper at 3 1a per cent for banks, there
is no excuse for the market to be de.
moralized by over-receipts. do not
believe in advising farmers all the
time to hold cotton. l think they
have been injured often by advice to
hold when the logic of the situation
did not call for higher price,, but
when the mills are making money,
and when the crop Is known to be
smaller than the consumption of the
year, there Is no excuse for de-
cline"
Do my readers want any stronger
testimony for much higher prices
than the above conservative express
sion of Mr.. Coker? Then here they
are: l learned yesterday on unim-
peachable authority that there are
mills in this State that have sold their
output for the next six months at
price that will give a handsome profit
at 20 cents per pound for short cot
ton. They are expecting to buy half
Of their requirements at IA cents be-
tween now and January and after
that expect to pay fabulous prices for
cotton-but 2S cents per pound for
the later half will make their cotton
cost only % cents, at which price
they have assured handsome profits.
One mill has made profits Of 40 per
cent in the past six months. They
need it and l rejoice in their pros
perity, but the farmer also needs 25
cents. viii he try to get it; or will
he let the speculator? Why will he
let the far-seeing business man buy
his cotton now at IL to ID cents and
sell to the mills al 2S to 80 cents
next spring? If the farmer does,
with all the light we have tried to
throw on the subject, then he should
not abuse the speculator nor the gov
erEment when he sees others reaping
the profits that should be his.
On the same authority there is a
mill that can pay 40 cents for good
staple cotton properly giuned Will
he do it? No, not so long as farm
ers think 20 to 90 cents a fine price.
Do not misunderstood me the sta
pie cotton must be properly ginne0,
not large per cent Of it, but fibre
that is not only waste, but must be
combed out by expensive process.
know Of hard-headed business
men who are buying cotton and stor-
ing every bale. When will the
farmer, who grows the cotton, take
the trouble to inform himself, and
market judiciously? I trust every
paper in the State will publish this
letter, and that every farmer and
business man will join with the few
of us who are trying to have the
South seize this opportunity and get
on an equal footing with the business
of the rest Of the country.
The Progressive Farmer says it
does not know that it is advisable to
stand for 25 cents-that such a price
will demoralize the farmers, etc. In
reply, say that labor in the South
cannot grow and harvest enough cot
ton to supply the worlds demands
unless the price is made so attractive
that cotton farmers can go into the
labor market on an equal footing
with other employers Of labor We
have been content "to live at a poor
dying rate so long that our friends,
the State presidents of the Farmers
Union in particular, are afraid we
will be demoralized if we secure
living wage. T.. w. Dabbs.
(Since the above was written,
have noted the explanation given in
the press by Clarence Poe, which puts
different light on the action OF the
Farmers Union presidents, and while
| extend to them my apologies. their
delay in leaving this statement un-
challenged has given rise to wide
spread criticism. therefore, leave
the original article as written as in
dicating the feeling of the farmers
aroused by the statement sent broad
cast, accredited to the union presi-
dents.-E. w. d.
II D,Ii