The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1920-10-22
Farmers Hold
Your Cotton for
Better Prices.

selling at 40 eents;: today only u
cents il offered. The South will
produce 10 million bales, which il
sold Al 40 cents. will bring two
'Iblllion ourhuhdred million dollars
'Eii sOld at2Dcents will bring one
EbillOn two hundred million. A
,Iloda Of one billion two hundred
million in four months will bank.
rupt our section. Our lands and
all ether property will ddpreciate in
value: our bankers, merchant, clerks
|laborsEs lOreanissd or uncrKanised)
travelling salesman, hotels. doctors,
factories, schools, churches, towns,
acities, andrailroads viii suffer, and
above al our farm population will
disgustsd and thousands will leave
the farm never TO return.
This Department sent out ques-
itionnaires on the cost Of producing
this cotton crop, and the average
cost was above "a cents per pound
based on q yiSld Of S75 pounds Of
SEED per acre. Into this cost WAS
figured rent Of land, preparation Of
land, fertilization, planting. barring
off. chOppins, hoeine. fighting vice.
wills, cultivation, picking, hauling
to gin and market, ginning, black
smithing. etc. Forty four per cent
| OF the total cost was for human labor
Thus the balance or So per cent,
was an actual outlay of money out
| of the iarlne.s pocket or bank &C.
counts. Fifty six per cent Of "a
cents is 10 cents, about the present
selling price, which leaves nothing
to the millions who produced it.
So the spectators, bear gamblers,
and peanut politicians arc asking
Ius to feed and c.othe 0urselve and
work eight months for nothing. A
jrun has boon made on our property
When run is started on a bank the
bank can appeal to State Banking
Department, which will take oyer
tie bank and give it time to make
arrangements to meet the emergency.
What would the bankers, mer-
chants, manufacturers, coal operator
| railroads, newspapers, and all other
lines Of business do if their assets
had been cut in half by spectators
or manipnlators in four months
time? They would either break OF
close up shop. Likewise the farmer
| must close up Shop or break. We
do not want to break; so the only
thing to do is to close up shop. Dc
not sell bale for sixty days. The
mills only have a sixty days supply
of cotton on hand, and il ne hold
till that 10 gone there will be the
widest scramble for cotton the worlc
has ever seen. If it is in the farmers
hands, the farmer will get his
price, if it j. in the spectators
hands the Spectators will fix the
price. The mills are shutting down
because the farmer who sells Is help
ling the bear gambler ruin the mark,
lot; tho mills will not buy on .
declining market, but will buy on
o rising market.
The night riders may think they
are helping the cause, but they ar'
liniuring it. Cease destroying ano
let the farmers gin their cotton, sc
! they car borrow money on it.
j Farmers, keep faith with those you
lowe. Turn over the receipts, or i
you do not put in warehouses turf
over the cotton TO the man you on
!. liz ne wants it. In turn beceech tn
, business people to keep faith will
the farmer and extend his notes 0
lend him money if he has tn
cotton. The is no better collatsra
. than cotton.
/ The American Cotton Association
advises me that the bankers AM
merchants throughout Alabama ar
helping in the holding movemsn
Except in few cases where they ar
J absolutely not able to do go.
II The world is naked and need
more than We have grown. but ca
mot pay for it all at once. The cot
Iton farmer is not . prOtiteer. ID