Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1919-12-17
N. Y. EDITOR TALKS OF COTTON.
Walter Is. Brown ut St. Matthew'S
Has Learned Much.

merc1al, before q meeting OF the
Calhoun County Cotton Association,
ut st. Matthews, November 15.)
Gontlemen: Another big man is
Mr.. Wannamaker II another big
man IS Mr.. Whitman, the owner of
the New York Commercial.
think I might as we'll tell you
j how 1t came about that | am down
here. MIR. Wannamaker invited Mr..
Whitman to go down to New Orleans
in September and speak before his
association. Mr.. Whitman could not
go and asked me to go. saying, 81
an Il Southern man, born in Ken
lucky, and | know the South, but you
do not. If you are to be the editor
Of this paper you should have first
hand information regarding the
South and you should find this out
yourself; therefore l think that you
should go down and meet these peo-
pie and study the situation"
While on this trip | stopped at
different points in the South on the
way down II On my return | met
the people and did not get back
to New York until two weeks later.
| got down there with the Northern
idea. want to tell you frankly
that ! had the idea that the South
and the Southern cotton farmer we're
really profteering. Mr.. Whitman
told me | was wrong. got down
to New Orleans and | met the grow
them and talked to them. talked
with men from Mississippi, Georgia,
Alabama, Texas and the Carolinas
and Oklahoma. they all told me
the same story. There was no
chance for their getting together.
They did not even know | was going
to speak to them. All Of this opened
my eyes. | saw that the South had
a problem and tell you that the
North does not know that the South
has a problem.
Their became intensely interested,
vent back and talked to Mr. Whit
man and he said to me, "Well,
thought 1t would open your eyes,
and | said to him, "The first chance
l get am going back South I had
learned a little and | wanted to get
q better idea Of the plans hat the
SOUTH was undertaking under the
leadership Of the American Cotton
Association. | wanted to see their
plans for doing away with the old
methods OF handling cotton, and this
is h reason | have come here. !
wanted to go on to Atlanta, but |
find 1t necessary to return to New
York.
want to tell you gentlemen hat
this thing has opened up to me like
a new book, 1t is a new thing to
me, I nave read a great deal about
cotton and thought / knew a lot
from the marketing standpoint and
from the cotton exchange standpoint,
but the best way to study the ques-
ton is to come down here and get
into the cotton fields. and I want. to
tcli yOU thnN dis has beer a wonder
fni experience. i have learned this
i, mprUin& Eow 70 eat - uursimmon |
was ~intHuauced for tuc Grgt time to
sweet potatoes.
People from the North can learn
much from the South. began to
look into your big problem. After
returning from my trip to New Or
leans wrote an editorial along the
line Of work being done in the
South and l feel sure that within
the next few years the whole ma
chinery n method Of marketing
cotton will be entirely reversed. We
are entering upon a new era. This
q got to be done. | wondered
why 1t was that these people with
whom | had talked told me that they
were not getting back out Of the
price Of their cotton, the price for
which they were selling their cot
ton, a fair profit above the cost Of
production. At first this puzzled
me. | began to study into the mat
ter further and I found hat the trou-
bic was that the cost which their
cotton took from the producer and
the consumer was not a perfectly
straigh line. There were obstacles
in the way. There was a long line
of unnecessary middle men causing
great losses to both the producer and
the consumer. To me this came as
something fresh and new and it ap-
peared to me that the whole trouble
was that the farmer sold his cotton
Immediately after gathering 1t in
order to get returns and that he did
not sell 1T gradually throughout the
year as 1t was needed, but disposed
OF 1t at once. This was the great
trouble. Next, in which way could
that trouble be removed. Farmers
woul have to be able to carry that
cotton in some way and get financial
returns In such a manner that he
did not have to sacrifice 1t. The an
swer OF course "a the warehouse.
TO put his cotton in the warehouse
seemed to him to be Il perfectly
simple matter, but where was his
warehouse to come from. how was
he to secure that? This seemed to
be at first a rather difficult PROPOSE
ton, but | concluded that If the farm
crs Joined together and worked in
cooperation, it could be done and |
wondered why this had not been
Ian M. N1I