Fort Mill times. [volume] (Fort Mill, S.C.) 1892-current, 1920-07-29
MARKETING OF COTTON
STRESSED BY SPEAKERS

About $50 farmers and business
men of Fort Mill attended in the Ma
sonic hall Friday evening a meet
ing under the auspices of the Amer
lean Cotton association in the interest
or the better marketing of cotton.
There was some confusion as to the
hour OF the meeting. otherwise 1t is
thought the attendance would have
been larger. Addresses were made
by John q. Richards of Kershaw. A.
A. McKeown. district demonstration
agent, w. II. Mills of Clemson College.
Asbury F. Lever. member OF the fed
eral farm loan board, and DR.. D.. B.
johnson of Rock Hill. president OF the
York County Cotton association. Each
or the speakers was given close at
tention and committees were appoint
ed to stir up interest in the housing
OF the local cotton crop and to secure
FUNDS for the cooperation with other
townships or the county in the en-
ployment OF county cotton gradeE
The meeting was presided over by DR..
Johnson.
Peculiar interest attached to the
speech of Mr.. Lever. for Is years the
representative in the lower house of
Congress OF the Seventh South Caro-
lima district. who resigned n few years
ago to accept a place on the federal
farm loan board. For six years Mr.
Lever was chairman of the committee
on agriculture OF the house of rep
resentatives and is considered one of
the leading authorities on agricultural
conditions of the country. He was
the author OF the Lever food control
act, war measure designed to pre-
vent protiteering in the necessaries
Nr %
legislation in behalf of the agricul-
tural interests OF the country. His
speech in Fort Mill urging the farm
crs and business men to stand by the
American Cotton association in it's
efforts to promote the better market
Ing OF cotton was a strong presenta-
tion of the necessity for the cotton
growers to unite in protecting them
selves against the cotton spectators
and middlemcn II they would receive
the value of their product. Frequent
ly during Mr.. Levers speech he was
applauded and n number of those who
heard him remarked, after the meeting
that 1t was regrettable that South
Carolina should lose the services OF q
man so well equipped to serve the
public.
Major Richards. the first speaker
Of the meeting. said in opening his
address that IL the cotton farmer re-
ceived the profit to which he Is en-
titled on his product 1t would not only
make for his own prosperity but the
prosperity of the Southern people
generally. adding that men who do
nothing toward the production OF the
cotton crop are the men who are reap
ing the big rewards from 1t. Until
the American Cotton association was
organized" he said. the cotton farm
ers never had the real sympathy and
assistance to which they were entitled
from the business interests of the
South: but all are now standing
shoulder to shoulder and through the
cotton association this cooperative ef-
fort has in the last few years saved
half a billion dollars to the South on
cotton raised during those years" Ee
urged membership in the cotton as
ISOLATION. saying ii was fight for
the industrial freedom Of the South.
and with adequate warehousing facil-
tiles. proper grading and official
weighing a new day would dawn for
the cotton States. THE farmers
know as much about grading cotton"
he said. "as w. J. Bryan does about
the different brands of liquor; and
because of their lack of knowledge of
the different grades of cotton they
are annually beaten out of an i'm
mense amount of money. 'They lose
enough in this way every year." he
said, Ito build warehouse at every
ginnery In the South. Most OF the
buyers are honest. but like the farm
er know little about the different
grades of cotton and rather than run
the risk OF losing use too much con-
servatism in grading the cotton"
South Carolina ought to have fac
ilities for warehousing 100000 bales
of cotton" said Mr.. Mills. but the
storage facilities today will care for
only about 200. 900 bales" he added.
York county Is better off in this re-
spect than many other counties of
the State. The annual cotton crop
OF York amounts to about 40, 900 bales
and the county has warehouses with n
capacity OF 10000 bales" He was OF
the opinion that Fort Mill needs a
warehouse of about 600 bales capac-
ity. the cost of which would depend
upon the kind of material used in its
construction. He estimated that cot
ton could he stored in such Il ware
house as Fort Mill needs at about
"a cents per bale per month. THE
big farmers are able to take care OF
themselves by erecting their own
warehouses and putting them in the
State SYSTEM" he said but 1t is the
small farmer who needs the benefits
of the public warehouse so that he
will not have to throw his cotton on
the market as soon as 1t Is gathered.
He directed attention to the ruinous
practice of many farmers who leave
their cotton exposed to the weather
and said that every farmer should
store his cotton to the best advantage
to be able to get cheap insurance on
it.
Following the address of Mr.. Mills.
Mr.. Mckeown went into detailed