The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1922-04-19


ilstory records none greater than it
Dlds falr to become. 1t is a movement
having nothing to do with achieving
leglslatlVe enactment, or in any Tay
tending to cause politicians to natten
their ears to the earth; it does not de-
pend for it's successful elimination on
the signing Of a bill by the President,
surrounded by proud group of lead
crs who carry away the golden pen as
a souvenir. Happily, the movement OF.
which l write has to do with men
fghting their own battles alone and in
their own way, They are the growers
Of that stormy petrol Of all crops
cotton.
Back Of tho movement for pooling
cotton and selling it cooperativeIy--
which is tho now deal designated III
the title Of this story-lies a decade
during which cotton growers have had
the most violent churnings, now up to
unwonted heights, now cast down
again to still lower depths of despair
Drought, pest, war and world OF buy
ers gone mad-mad at one time with
wild orgy Of spending, and more mad
again with poverty and penny-squcez-
ing fright.
What Is Going on Today
Add to the picture host of parasitic
spectators, taking normally an unnec-
essary toll from every bale Of cotton,
buying wildly on rising market and
going bankrupt on the slump which
followed, leaving price unsupported
while fading away to the ow point
determined by the quantity of distress
coming into sight-add all this, str
we'll and remember it has been brew
ing for ten years, and you have the
background Of what is going on today.
Two and half years ago | wrote
for The Country Gentleman the story
Of the American Cotton Association.
1t was story OF spontaneous move
ment Of group Of leaders from every
section starting in earnest fight for
permanent higher standard Of living
for the American cotton grower In the
main the outcome Of this initial en-
gagement was clearing of the air.
The American Cotton Association was
concerned in the abstract speaking
broadly-with bettering Southern con-
ditions.
Through the various state and the
Federal governments enacting ware
house legislation, facilities for housing
cotton are becoming more and more
adequate each year The problem is
solved, and with the crop stored and
insured credit becomes a more simple
matter.
Now the same general fight for bet
termcnt is sweeping on in the more
concrete form of cooperative cotton
marketing associations springing up in
every cotton state Of Importance, and
the American Cotton Growers EX
change, headed by Carl Williams, Of
Oklahoma, binding the whole together
in single unit.
81. Scottowe Wannamaker," remark
ed leading man in the South, taught
the farmers to think in terms Of the
industry instead Of in terms of the cot
ton bale. Cotton was put on the front
pages Of the big daiies." And from
this beginning has sprung the biggest
development which has ever come into
agricultural history.
Today i've have four states-Okla-
homa, Mississippi, Texas and Arizona
handling comparatively a goodly part
of the 1921 crop. In Arkansas and in
North Carolina approximately half the
prospective crop for the next five years
has been signed up by the growers.
organization is going forward rapidly
in Alabama, Georgia and South Caro-
lima. Soon the new plan will have
covered every cotton-producing tsatc.
Picture in your mind the old condi-
ton, with every cotton producer his
own sales manager. Every village Of
the South was market place; a score
Of buyers, keen judges Of cotton grades,
hour by hour Uniformed Of price chang
es, matching wits with hundreds of
small nfarmers standing by the curb
with one or two or three bales Of
cotton on wagon. What chance had
the farmer OF justice and fair dealing?
Then let me picture to you the plan
| found in operation in Oklahoma.
Each farmer as he receives the bale
from the gin turns it over to the local
representative Of the association and,