The central record. (Lancaster, Ky.) 18??-current, 1918-05-02
DYING A NATURAL DEATH
OR ASSASSINATED?
Should The People Have A Verdict Ren.
dered 10 Accordance With The Facts!


best counties of the State of Ken.
lucky, is on its death bed. Those
in command should turn on the
light and Immediately find out
whether this fibre is a necessity
II it is, it should command rea.
sonable price, if not the people
should be informed and should not
be raised. It looks as though some.
where a hidden hand has a hold on
the throttle. Can the hand be
found? 1t can and should be un.
earthed. Is cotton used for any of
the same purposes that hemp is, is
wool OF is linen? These and SINH
liar questions are ones thai; the
hemp growers of Kentucky wan,
answered In 1915 cotton was a
drug on the market at Is cents per
pound. In 1915 hemp was worth
8 cents per pound Today cotton
has doubled, wool has doubled but
hemp is only worth ~ cents.
Is this fibre used as a substitute
for either wool or cotton? Let the
authorities find out these facts and
report to us why it is that every
other farm crop and every thing
the farmer buys is higher yet hemp
is lower than it was this time last
year. 1t certainly costs more to
produce hemp than any fibre on the
market. 1t requires our best land
which has increased 80 per cent in
value inthe last few years, taxes
have kept step with the advance in
land and the drains for Liberty
Loan, Red Cross and other worthy
objects needing support in the pros
ecution of the war, are heavy.
Cutting costs more, breaking three
times what it did in 1915, in fact
every operation from the breaking
Of the land to the cost of putting
the hemp on the market has risen
yet hemp is less than it was last
year. 1t certainly looks strange to
the old farmer who generally sits
tight and saws wood. Is it not due
the farmers of Kentucky that Con-
gress and the Senate investigate
this peculiar state of affairs? Is
there a conspiracy in restraint of
trade? Is there a niger in the
woodpile? Cannot Ollie James call
an investigation? Can't Beckham
do his part; what about Cantrill and
Harvey Helm?
Can you show the farmers why
the cotton men, the wool men have
prospered and only the hemp grow
er is laboring under the burden of
low prices? II you can, see what
hand, if any. the International Har-
vester people are holding; find out
why Wisconsin and other places are
buying hemp seed to raise hemp,
yet Kentucky growers are forced to
quit the raising of the fibre? Hemp
broken by machinery, half cleaned,
is selling today for more on the
market than our own good hand
cleaned Kentucky hemp. Inves-
tigate the value Of hemp by experts
not controlled by the International
Harvester Co., or some other firms.
Find out what profit the thread
miller and manufacturers made last
year and what profit they are going
to make this year and see if hemp
is not used in conjunction with
wool, cotton and linen in the making
Of cloth.
The statesmen of Kentucky
should take up this matter at once
80 we can know whether to make
stove wood of our hemp brakes or
Try to stay with the industry. Why
S it you can take the Bill of Lading
from Danville, Hudson and Davis,
with a car of hemp consigned to an
Eastern Manufacturer, and then
write to the same firm about a sale
If your hemp and receive no ans
yer; the same is also true of Spears. |
Have the books open and let the
farmers see if there is not a COM
'ination. Does the law not furnish |
redress. Bear in mind hemp one
ear ago was selling at $14.50 and
With the conditions heretofore mem
Toned, this year is selling for SIP.
Don't tell US there isn't rot some
where so rotten that a man with
atarrh can smell it. Let's have
he exact facts from the hemp brake
o the loom. Let all the people
ing "A Charge To Keep l Have A
iod To Glorify".
Hemp Grower.