The Bourbon news. [volume] (Paris, Ky.) 1895-19??, 1921-09-06
BETTER TOBACCO PRICES AND
THE TOBACCO ASSOCIATION


that something is needed to save the
tobacco industry. 1t is not surpris-
ing, therefore, that the bankers all
over the Blue Grass and hill sections
Of the State are actively in favor Of
the Cooperative Marketing of Bur-
ley Tobacco; and that such a large
number of growers have already
signed the pledge. The plan is so
simple and clear, and it's application
to the sale of tobacco is obviously so
practical that growers need only to
understand it to be eager to join.
The five-year contract, the seventy
five per cent. minimum, the election
of directors according to districts;
all districts representing equal
amounts of tobacco; and the prin-
ciple of each member having only one
vote in the election of directors will
give the organization a business
structure that should insure it's Sue
cess.
But the features of the plan which
are the most convincing are the five
year contract and the seventy-five per
cent. minimum. The long term con-
tract will enable the directors to ac-
quire the facilities and equipment
necessary to the proper handing Of
the tobacco as we'll as enable them
{ to obtain an effective working per-
sonnet and develop a proper sales
| policy.
nfxy MI
mum will give the members of the
Association the security of group ac-
tion as against the helplessness of in
dividual action. AS it is now with
each grower selling his tobacco indi-
vidually, the weakness of his bar
gaining power, as compared with
that of the manufacturer, will al
! ways force him to accept whatever
price is offered him. For it makes
little difference with the manufact-
urer whether he buys the tobacco
of particular grower, he can always
purchase his supply from the $4,000
other growers of the district who are
eager to sell as evidenced by the long
lines of tobacco wagons that crowd
the streets of every market town dur
ing the selling season. Among those
fifty thousand are large number
who are financially incapable of do
ing other than Immediately accepting
the price offered them, no matter
how lowtit happens to be.
This depressed price paid to those
growers, who must sell Immediately
to meet their grocery bills and buy
clothing, determines to large extent
the value placed upon all the tobacco
in the district. But with the union
of thirty or forty thousand growers
selling together, the bargining pow
er of the weaker member is raised to
a level with that of the stronger one;
and the position of the larger grower
is strengthened materially.
The plan is reasonable, it is sound,
it is necessary. One needs only to
understand it to be for it. The serl-
Gus questions are these: Will the
seventy-five per cent. minimum be
obtained by the fifteenth Of next No
yember? Are the tobacco growers
going to act now or will they wait
until they have suffered longer, and
are forced into a weaker and more Sc
rious financial position before they
| take action to better their marketing
condition?
We leave it to your good sense, Mr..
Grower, whether you are going 10
let slip by the opportunity to stab1-
ize the. price of your tobacco, and
protect the value Of your land by
signing the Growers Cooperative
Contract.
We believe that as a sensible man,
you are going to sign.
At Versailles, the committee rep
resenting the Burley Marketing AS
ISOLATION reported $4,000 pounds IT
| tobacco signed Tuesday. The neces-
sary rs per cent. is assured for the
county, workers believe.
County chairmen of the Burley To-
bacco Growers Co-opertive Assocla-
ton have been called by Organiza-
ton Manager Joseph Passonneau TO
meet in Lexington this (Friday) al
ternoon at 2 o'clock to report the ex-
act conditions in their various coun-
ties as to the number of POUNDS
pledged and the prospect for an early
completion of the campaign to sign
up Is per cent. of the crop to the
marketing association.
Congressman J. Campbell Cantrill
presented a forceful argument in
speech at the Opera House in Mays
Vile, Tuesday, in behalf of the con-
tract of the Burley Tobacco Growers
Cooperative Association, declaring
that it presented the only solution OF
the problem of the tobacco growers
of the hurley district. At the close
of the meeting 22,596 pounds were
signed, making total of 1,21O,5O0
pounds for the county.
Three hundred tobacco growers OF
Franklin county heard Joseph Passo-
neau, organization manager of the
Burley Tobacco Growers Co-opera-
tive Marketing Association, and Jas.