The spectator., 1921-02-01
WOULD REDUCE
 COTTON ACREAGE
REDUCTION IN COTTON ACREAGE IS INDORSED BY THE STATE
 CONFERENCE.
LAST SESSION IS STORMY
Closing Hours of Conference Were Marked By More Or Less Turbu- ienee, Farmers Were in Big Ma.
 jority at Conference.

Little Rock.-After heated discus. sion the state conference of farmers, planters, merchants ana bankers adopted a resolution endorsing the so, called Memphis plan" for the reduc ton of the cotton acreage in 1921. Af ter adopting this resolution the confer ence adjourned sine die at 1:30 p. m.
 This plan. which was adopted at the meeting of the Southern Cotton Con efrence at Memphis December 7-S, 1920 would compel all cotton growers tc reduce their cotton acreage so that they would plant not to exceed one third of their cultivated land to the staple The plan provides for the signing of pledges by farmers tha, they will not exceed this limit, by landlords that they will compel theii tenants to observe the limitation, and by banks and mercantile firms that they will not extend credit to farmers who exceed the limit.
 After adopting the resolution en dorsing the Memphis plan," the con ference at once adjourned without making any provision for organizing tc enforce the reduction plan. However supporters of the plan said that an organization is provided in the Mem phis plan" itself and they quoted Ar ticle of the plan, which reads as fol lows:
 Immediately after the Memphis cotton convention adjourns the presi dents of each of the several state bankers associations in cooperation with the officers of the American Cot ton Association, both the national as sociation and the state dIvlslon, the farmers union and other farmers or ganizations, shall be requested to ap point state central committee con sisting of three or more bankers which committee shall undertake the organization of the said state by the appointment and supervision of coun. ty executive committees, which shall organize the said counties into tM cotton reduction movement for the purposes stated in the foregoing pre-. amble.'
 It was said that as a result of the endorsement of the Memphis plan" by the conference recently 1t is proba. ble the heads of the various organlza- tions mentioned will get together at once and appoint state central com. in, Nfay nh hfc plan.
 Opponents of the Memphis plan" argued that 1t was impractical, that it could not be enforced. and that it would arouse resentment among the farmers and cause trouble over the state. They declared that if the far. mer was forbidden to plant all his land to cotton, that would be the very thing he would want to do. They con. ceded the urgent necessity of radi cal reduction iu cotton acreage. but they said that the thing to do was to conduct campaign stressing the necessity of every community raising its own food and feed. They present. tu HSuiCo Ao oucW tiihi II tAbo "Ci V done 1t would automatically result in | a decrease of 50 per cent in the states cotton acreage. and they argued that no greater reduction would be adyisa, 1 ble.
 However, sentiment was so over. whelmingly in favor of the Memphis plan" that it's opponents offered no l opposition to the adoption Of the reso- lution. which went through by unan- imous vote.
 The closing hours of the conference were marked by more or less turbu. lence. Farmers were in a big major 1 ity at the conference, and the major. | ity of them were anxious to adopt the | Memphis plan and to adjourn. Many of them wished to leave TOT their homes on early afternoon trains. The audience appeared to he filled with ora I tors who were eager for an opportun- | ity to talk, and finally F. ]. Bodman. chairman of the conference. was forc- ed to announce that oratorical out bursts would be limited to five min- utes.