Imperial Valley press. (El Centro, Calif.) 1907-current, 1920-05-25
COTTON CONTRACT
is MADE PUBLIC;
LABOR IS NEEDED
Secretary Meredith Issues An
Appeal to american People
to Aid in Crisis: Local 1ssO-
citation Needs Men.

d erS association IS trying to solve the
Il labor difficulty which exists in I'm.
I perlal Valley in regard to cotton al
: this time
In this connection the association
wishes to draw particular attention to
recent appeal of Secretary of Agri-
culture Meredith to the people of the
cities to aid the farmers in harvesting
their crops.
CITY MANS PROBLEM ALSO
The problem" he declared, sis as
much the city mans as it is the farm
ers. Their interests are ineXtricably
bound up and interdependent. | often
wonder if the people of the cities
realize how closely the problem comes
the packing centers the cities of the
enough meat to feed them for perhaps
flour to last few weeks. Their wee
to day. Practically everything they
eat is only few days. or at most,
few weeks. removed from the farm.
duction it is almost instantly reflect
Sti vi llc peUpIt VI tilC NitICS.
Right now We face the danger of
such a shortage for the next year.
Curtailed acreage necessarily means
curtaled food production. and without
adequate labor farmers cannot main
tain adequate acreage. Not alone is
there shortage CT 30 per cent in the
supply of hired farm labor the coun-
try over, but farm work is greatly be-
l. = - = ~, 10. ,,l
MENACE TO PROSPERITY
Even with the best possible season
from now until harvest, those two
things, shortage of labor and late
spring, mean reduced production. With
poor season from now on. food
scarcity is inevitable, and food search
ty is a menace TO national property
everywhere. High wages means little
to the city worker if he cannot buy
food except at famine prices.
"The curtailment of immigration
alone during the war has been suffl-
cient to make deep cut in the normal
supply Of labor of all kinds. With
what supply of labor there is the
farmer feels he is unable to compete
with the higher paying industries Of
the cities. If he is to get the help
he needs this summer he must rely or
a thorough awakening on the part OF
city people to their possibilities
in the situation. They have got to
realize that 30 far as agricultural pro-
duets are concerned II Is an emergency
that the country faces as grave In
many respects as that which we faced
during the war. and calling for the
same degree of patriotic response.
During the war the city people
showed what they could do 20 aid the
farmer in emergency.
LARGE CROPS IN 1918
'The present shortage of farm la
Dor exactly corresponds in figures and
fact to the shortage which existed in
the summer of 1918. Yet exception
ally large crops were produced that
year. Whv? In the first place, be-
cause the individual farmer himself
gave every ounce of his energy to the
patriotic duty of seeing that the coun-
try at war did not lack for food. Old,
retired and sometimes crippled farm
erS, with their wives, went INTO the
fields to help. But important also Will
be the fact that large numbers OF
business men. students and workers
in the city responded to the appeal
that they spend a part or all Of their
vacation periods in the fields helping
the farmers. Only by similar coop
Grafton can we meet the present emer-
gency in the agricultural situation.
viii the city folk respond
The contract which the cotton asso--
citation is offering to the growers OF
the valley and which they urge sign
ing is as follows:
Whereas there is an impending labor
shortage for the proper growing
manuring and harvesting OF our pres
ent cotton crop. and whereas 1t IS m
perative that the Imperial Valley
Growers association receive SuDStan-
tial aid in carrying on the work or
providing sufficient labor for SAID
crop, therefore, we the undersigned
cotton growers in consideration Of ad-
yances of funds and other agreements
to supply such labor, hereby authorize
YOU to add 15c per 100 lbs to your
regular ginning charge for all short
staple seed cotton, including the var
iety known as Durango" ana 30c per
100 lbs. for all Pima seed cotton ard
we. each Of us. separately, pledge our
serves as follows:
For and in consideration OF cove
nants entered into, or that may be en-
tered into as above, by any ginner, or
einners. and the above named asSocla-
ton, of which / hereby acknowledge
myself a member, hereby pied ge my
self to paw the amounts named above
on all cotton ginned from my 1920 cot
ton CROP or crops. and hereby author
ize any gin cooperating with our aSso-
citation to collect said amounts when
my cotton is ginned and pay same to
the treasurer of the Imperial valley
Growers association and further pledge
myself not TO gin with any ginner VINO
will not, or does not, in good faith
cooperate with the above named asso-
citation, and further agree that IN case
of failure to reach an agreement with
the gin companies the said amounts
may be collected from my cotton crop
through any other agency the board
of directors of the above named asso-
citation may elect. Provided, however
that this agreement is void II bona
fide growers Of GO per cent OF the cot
ton acreage of Imperial county DO not
i.sx H., natfN