The Covington leader. (Covington, Tenn.) 18??-current, 1918-11-28
JUDGE PETE CHALLENGES
THE BIG GARRY OVER"

We reproduce the following article
from the rsl Of Judge John ! Peete,
from the Cotton and Cotton OIL News
Covington, Tenn, Nov. /, 1918.
Hon. N. 7. Blackwell,
Hotel Martinique, New York.
Dear Sir Being a subscriber to
and a reader Of your Cotton and Cot
ton Oil News, have kept up with
your movements and wanted to write
you at length this morning, but my
typewriter refuses to work this morn
typewriter refuses to operate from
some cause, and to write with my fin
GERS is a rather slow business.
AS wrote you last February, | am
one Of that class Of cotton producers
who do not believe we have ever had
a square deal, and also that | am thol-
oughly imbued with the belief that
some person or persons in the en-
ployment Of the government at Wash
ington are now and have been Tor
quite a while in league against the
cotton producers of the south. | re-
ioice that we have such a champion
as yourself to do such valiant service
for our welfare. read on first page
of Cotton and Cotton on News for
October 28, "The Conspiracy Against
Cotton" in which it was claimed that
there was "carry over" from last
wear Of 4,258,000 bales Of cotton.
And | read your editorial on the SIT
uation in "The Kingdom of Cotton"
on the next page of the same paper.
| regretted that you omitted in your
said editorial to explode that fake
"carry over" idea which has been SO
persistently and assiduously pressed
as a certainly upon the public mind.
suppose you read a few months
ago an account by Senator Smith, OF
South Carolina, Of his going to the
agricultural department at Washing
ton and calling for their statistics
as to the number of bales of cotton
produced and consumed for the last
three years, and the figures showed
the consumption to DE more than
three million bales greater than the
production. There was a meeting
held in Memphis on May II, last,
called the farmers and bankers meet
ing, but all the speeches were made
by bankers OF their boosters, and
| the burden and gist of every speech
was to mold and establish the belief
and sentiment of the great carry
over" from last year Of 4,258,OOO
bales. / was the only man present
who challenged the statement.
trust that your stay in New York
will enable you to turn on Hood
of more light in the interest OF those
who produce cotton and that you
will thoroughly and repeatedly ham
mer into the cotton producers heads
the fallacy and absolute incorrectness
of the "carry over" of the 4,258,OOO
bales and that the real facts to be
| that while in the last three or four
years 37,OO0,000 bales had been pro-
duced and 100000 bales consumed,
the overplus of consumption having
been drawn from the surplus OF pre-
vious years.
Cotton at 30c sounds good COM
pared to cheaper prices, but when
cotton is intrinsically worth 40c OF
more those who do the work and
those who furnish the land, houses
teams and tools and supplies to max
the cotton and pay heavy taxes should
have the profits instead Of those who
do nothing during the spring and
summer months but plan and plot
and scheme, while the real producers
pIow and sweat in doing such ser
vices as to feed and clothe the world
Very respectfully
JOHN Y. PETE.