Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1919-12-17

successful without injuring the CON
sumer, they have a selling ~Organiza-
ton. a warehouse organization, and
one for distributing direct 10 the Job
bers. They will not sell any OF their
products to anyone but q wholesale
jobber end will not sell in any
larger quantity than they feel he can
legitilmately distribute, they will not
sell enough so that he can use this
fer speculation. If he wants more
he must prove that his business has
Increased. There was q time five or
six years & when tho growers OF
r&i$!ns sold their crop even before
it was rui&ed and for two or three
cents u rcund and sometimes as low
as a cent and a half. This was be-
fore the growers began to count the
cost OF production and now
they have turned around and have
organized and the price has zone up
10 nine and ten cents and sometimes
as high as &c cents a pound. The
OIL method was absolutely wrong,
economically wrong and unsound
frc.n n business standpoint. Tho
be utiful part OF this plan is that
1t hes not increased the cost to the
consumer. This plan has been fol-
lowed out with prunes, apples, april
cots and all other lines Of fruit.
Now why cant this same plan be fol-
lowed by the Southern cotton pro-
Queer?
Vague Idea Of Cost.
Another thing | discovered in
studying the cotton situation in the
South is that no one seemed to have
a very definite idea Of the actual
cost Of production. | wanted a lot
Of information on that point. 1t
struck me as being very peculiar
that in figuring your costs you did
not add in the cost Of labor for what
it should have been. 1t was strange
to me that the small grower should
work his wife and children ana him
self six days Il week without making
an allowance for this labor. That
struck ME as being fundamentally
wrong, 1T brought me face tc face
with a new feature and this was hat
these people had to work so hard
that the children could not go to
school. This struck me with Il sharp
snap. | happen to be very much in
terested in educational work and l
am chairman OF the school board Of
my district in Brooklyn in which |
have under my supervision over
1000 school children in addition to
a high school Of 1000. In New York
our compulsory education laws are
enforced down to the last line.
When | came down here and dis
covered this educational system |
realized that 1t was a terrible men
ace to the United States. The whole
United States is vitality interested in
the education Of the South. They
may not realize 1t, but it is Of in
terest to them rs the welfare Of the
entire country depends upon this
feature. We can never have one
section Of the country suffer In this
manner without the whole country
feeling the effects Of the same.
realize that the price Of cotton must
include a living wage for those who
raise 1t and that this living wage
must be sufficient to enable the peo-
pie to live deccntly and send their
children t. school. II !, is Neces-
sary to add 10 the selling price OF
cotton III order 10 bring this about
then it is unly right hat that step
should he taken, i is Il FAR smaller
tax upon the people Of the United
states to pay an extra cent or two for
cotton In order to educate the chill
dren OF the South than it is to ap-
~propriate large sums for the curing
of ills that follow the lack Of educa-
ton, therefore, the question Of q
fair price or cotton to the producer
OF the South is one that vitality con-
Germs the entire United States. An
other feature in the study Of this
situation which impressed me on my
visit drought the South was the mat
ter OF the tremendous of
the South. What a wonderful coun-
try you have lying dormant here. If
the young men Of the South will
appreciate what they have here and
set the South to work, this section
OF the country will be tremendously
prosperous.
have been impressed with the
fact that the South seems to raise
only cotton and that they take the
money that they get for that cotton
and send to Chicago to buy hogs. l
could not understand why this
should be done, | could not see why
divide their farms and raise enough
food and feed crops to keep them
selves. ! understand from q person
al investigation that almost any
known crop can be raised in the
South. You must have very wonder
full soil and | could not see why
you would continue by the planting
Of cotton to take from the soil much
Of It's fertility. The solution Of this
seems to me to he that you should
rotate crops and plant something
that would put the fertility back in
the soil. This seems to me to be
logical and reasonable. am going
to look further into this feature OF
the situation.