The Mena weekly star., 1921-01-27

1905, 1911 and 1915 as it is in 1920 and 1921. but that after each such crisis, when the price of cotton eoes higher the average farmer "back- slides and again gets hurt. He be- ileves, because of the inability to buy cotton goods the consumption his year will be between 30 per cent and 40 per cent below normal, that there will be big hangover" of the 1920 crop, and that it will be suicidal for the South to produce big crop in 1921. Dr. Knapp says cotton farmers pay the highest interest rates on bor- rowed money, because they carry no insurance. He said merchant or manufacturer who carried no insurance would be looked upon as little less than a fool, and that no banker would lend him money. He insisted that any and all one-crop system of agriculture was unsafe and unsound, but that the farmer who grew, besides cotton, corn, wheat, apples, strawberries and livestock, was insuring himself-insur- ing his money crop by other crops, and not putting all his eggs in one basket He said that in two coun- ties in Arkansas, Washington and Benton, this was done the past year, and that here the banks were full of money, the farmers almost untouched by the prevalent hard times. As an illustration of what he meant by safe farming he suggested as a plan for the average small farmer with a wife and three children, with team of mules, 2 cows, to head young cat tie stock, sows, 50 chickens, 20 acres corn, 10 to 15 acres spring oats, fol- lowed by peas, soy beans or other legumes; one-half acre Irish potatoes, 1 acre sorghum and l2 acres of cot ton, and with crop rotation he believed any family could prosper and improve their farm and outlook each year. He conceded he was "strong for the small | farmer" and that the problem of the | big planter and his thousands of acres was hard one to solve.
 l Dr. Knapp confessed he was fearful of plunging on any single crop, and in closing laid stress on quality and good preparations as the great essential in marketing
 After Dr. Knapp's talk, Claude 5. Fitzpatrick, president of the Arkansas Bankers Association was introduced and quickly proceeded to throw a monkey wrench into the machinery ' by insisting on the conference inn mediately adopting a motion to cut 1 the cotton acreage for 1921 to one third of that of last year. This was the plan adopted by the cotton grow CTS of eleven states in Memphis on December 2, last, and had some warm supporters Others were so strong against it, and for a time the air was pretty we'll charged and an explosion seemed imminent. Things were smoothed down, however, and the adoption of the motion postponed and i to take the usual course, but 1t doubt less will be adopted in the end.
 Moorehead Wright explained brief ly the working of the Federal Inter nationel Banking Company, strictly | Southern enterprise with capital stock of $7,000,000 and is expected to do much to place American cotton and would otherwise not go, and thereby assist in holding a better level of prices.
 A Mir. Lee of Helena was then in troduced and explained an "emerg. ency resolution" which provided fcl the payment of taxes this year in in- stallments, as follows: "A on April 10, A on October Is. and F on Dec ember IS.
 The resolution urged the legislature to take steps to make this effective and was adopted, followed by ad' iournment for luncheon.
 Tuesday Afternoon.
 Theodore Price, the great New York cotton authority, held the plat. form at the great gathering of far mers. business men and bankers 1T Little Rock for more than an hour or reconvening Tuesday afternoon. His talk stirred the enthusiasm of his lhearers, who, by the way, comprised q large percentage of genuine farmers and planters. The great step proposed by the New Yorker was close or \ ranizatfon of cotton growers, town shin. county, and state, along lines
 similar to those that have proven val
 nable to the citrus growers of Call
 fornia. He proposed to levy tax oi
 5 cents a bale to pay organization
 costs. and with suggested amenomeh
 to make this 25 cents, motion wa
 referred to the ways and means com mittee. The speaker said there were
 372 cotton growing counties.
 I Following MT. Prices, pr. Iat'
 Butler, editor of the Progressive Far
 mer. was introduced. pr. Butler
 with a great store of figures an'
 statistics, took pretty strong excep lions to some of the most popular ldea and theories advocated by some.
 had been commonly stated that cottol
 reduction campaigns did not material
 lv reduce. and Dr. Butler declared
 there had been 6 such campaigns
 that each had cut the production an'
 increased the price, giving these ng
 ures: ,zn,s Il iSos 147es 650Fo
 ioos 131co 200t
 1907 5.48e no n.o 1915 l4.11o oo'ote | fato .lo ,oJ ,.aductinp Of acre