Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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TO COTTON GROWERS. Address Issued by Committee of Cot ton Growers' Convention Held in Columbia. The committee appointed by the cotton growers' convention. held in Columbia on Thu- Jay night, has is sued the following address to the cot ton growers of South Carolina: To the Cotton Growers of South Caro lina: We, the committee appointed by the convention which met in Columbia on December 8 to issue an address to the cotton growers, wish to say that we joyfully hail the fact that cot ton farmers of the south are begin ning to realize that upon their indus try depends the prosperity of the en tire southland and to a lare extent that of the world, and that specula tion and manipulation of the market, for the purpose of depressing or rais ing the price, is of vital importance, not to him alone, but to all other in dustries, and that he is not alone, as sometimes reformers or so-called re formers have led him to believe, but that he is a partner in business with every industry in the south, and that today we wish to impress him with the fact that the bankers,lawyers, doc tors, merchants, manufacturers every vocation and avocation-are ex tending to him the hand of sympathy, not for brotherly love, but for the sole love of a dollar, and in this fight to maintain the price of cotton at a remunerative point that all that he has to do is to show to the world that he proposes not any more to be the slave of his emotions, but that he will stand and act according to the dictates of his real friends, successful business men, and that their advice to him, voiced in this letter to him to 'day, is that the laborer is worthy of his hire and that we, representing the different avocations and professions, extend to him our promise, word and pledge that we will extend to him in all ligitimate ways our moral and financial aid. Now to specify: The speculator and the speculative market have no regard for the law of supply and de mand, hence our opportupnity. The man who has sold January. February. March or any future months has pledged himself to deliver that cotton on demand or pay the margins. De cember is here; thousands of bales have been sold for delivery in Decem ber. The same in every month run ning totJuly. Holding the cotton for 6o days. allowing no. spots to be placed as hedges against future con tracts, simply means that the specula tor has either to pay the difference between what he sells that cotton at today and what the broker demands of him as the margin or pay the price of the spots held for that to hedge his venture. The cotton mills, not through any fault of theirs or any an tipathy toward the farmer, but simply because there has been no farmers' exchange, no concentration of cotton through a farmers' organization, they have been forced to deal with men for their supplies who could get it in bulk. Hence the condition that ex ists today. That the broker, realiz ing the disorganized condition of the farmers and his lack of knowledge of the simple business laws, sells to these mills cotton for future delivery. It is to his interest to depress the price of cotton because the margin between what he buys it at and what he delivers it at determines the pile he makes on the transaction. There fore the mills have got to look to these brokers for their supplies. These supplies are promised. The mills cannot spin goods, yarn or cloth out of the contract written on paper. It has got to come out of your cot ton. The brokers have got to supply it when the mills require the fulfill ment of the contract. Hold your cot ton, set the price and on delivery day the broker will pay it. It is manifest to any farmer tMtt if he has too bushels more corn than is necessary for home consumption that he has 1oo bushels for the market. If the market is for 50 bushels, he has 50 bushels surplus. If he goes into the market to sell his corn and no one wants it because every one has a sup ply, he mu.st realize that he must dis pose of that corn at a sacrifice or hold it himself. He cannot expect a man or the trade to take it simply as a special favor to him. This is not business, so that next year, with that experience in mind, he will either un dersta the market, put himself in a position to beep posted, and either i)lant so as to have no surplus, but to meet the requirements of the trade. This is an illustration of the condition that confronts us in the cotton mar ket. If we expect the world to pay us a remunerative price for our cot ton. we must either carry our surplus ourselves. fix a price on the am' int the world demands or raise just so much as is necessary for the consump tion of the trade. Therefore, as a farmers organization we call upon each man to exercise good common business sense, and if we have pro duced io per cent. too much, which has cost a 50 per cent. reduction in the price, let us so regulate our next year's crop that we will raise just what is necessary to meet the demand at 10 per cent. below consumption and realize the 5- --r cent. profit. Last year taught the 50 per cent. profit. This year has very forcfully taught the 50 per cent. loss. It has been said, and truthfully, that an agi tation of reduction of acreage means an increase of acreage, and acting upon the presumption that the other man is truthful and that he is a liar, the farmer pledges himself to reduce his acreage, goes home and increases his acreage in order to reap the bene fit of the other man's sacrifice. We are not fools any more, so that by resolutions adopted last night we have appointed that there shall be township organizations, and each man's name who goes on the list pledges a reduction in acreage and in commercial fertilizers that does not reduce shall be published in the list after May 22d as being the man who made a promise and in order to catch the neighbor napping tried to profit by his own deception. We offer this advice as to a reduc tion in acreage and in commercial fer tilizers because we believe, in fact, we know, that each individual will be profited who heeds it, whether his neighbor does it or not, for this reas on: If so much cotton be raised next year as to depress the price below the cost of production and he has curtail ed his crop and raised his own sup plies on the acreage not planted in cotton, he has lost less money than his neighbor, who has ignored his ad vice and raised cotton at a loss and has no supplies to fall back on. Hence from every standpoint. from every economic view, a reduction of the cot ton acreage means increased pros-4 perity to the south and to every in dividual. It is needless for us to mul tiply words. The wayfaring man, though a fool cotton farmer, need not err. WVe wish to appeal to every farm er simply to use every effort in his poe to save the profits that he is { now in possession of. the cash that he has realized from last year's high riced cotton, to live more economi cally now than he has ever done be fore, not to exhaust his cash surplus, I so that he may have a fund upon which to fall back in case of disaster of any kind. We note with pain the disposition among our farmers to spend their money for that which is not essential. such as new buggies, flashy harness, showy appearance, wvhen the old would have served the same purpose and left him his cash, which could have been used in the permanent im provement of his home and farm. In conclusion we are glad to say that there is a concert of action through the cotton belt looking to the reduction of acreage and the mainten ance of a -'emunerative price in cot ton. Texas, Oklahoma, Indian Terri tory and Georgia wired us last even ing that on the 17th day of December meetings will be held in every county in the states mentioned for the pur pose of withholding their cotton from Ithe market, and no man in South Carolina having cotton for sale need be afraid to withhold it from the mar ket for the next 30 or 6o days. Respectfully submitted. E. D. Smith, Chin. F. H. Hyatt. F. H. Weston. Alfred Aldrich. R. P. Stackhouse. Strange~ to say, the coming man is one who has already arrived. The kind of mittens that keep a girl's hands warm are a man's fin gers. .You are right. Algernon: a breach of-promise suit is a court dress. Marriage is a good thing for some people-furniture dea1ers, for in :eed to bake either in tove. Sold by THE NE WooTENYS B IS ST EVERYTHII [Cilothina, Dress Go( Trunks, Rul ome to see me. F 3ame old stand. FriE iote or by account, pl nust know I need the S. J. \A COME SO( Whenever you start out on a This plan will save you mau p time. If we haven't just wh: SWe sball not urge you to buy Pgoods as soon as you can. Il every way to make selections MAYES' Di SOUT HIE3R THE SOUTH'S GREA TEST UNEXCELLED DINING CA THROUGH PULLMAN SLK: RAINS. CONVENIENT SCHEDULES WINTER TOURISTS' RATE For full information as to rates, Railway Ticket Agent, or 4. W.HU: THE ATLANTIC 002 HRISTMAS. IE At One and One-tli (Minimum Tickets will be place 24th, 25th, 31 st, and mit returning to Jan echers and student Lation and surrender iuperintendents, pres ts may be sold at the to 24th, inclusive. witi For full information ddress H. M. E W.J. Cr T1HE- LISK ROASTERi is the only Hill, SLJ BASTMINT rcaster on the market. It is guaran h nov-n- or on top of the WSEFiY HARDWARE CO., Just below the Dispensary. ARGAIN SALE ILL ON. IG AT COST hoes, eats ids, Notions, 5s, E11C., EIC. rices v'ill make you buy. nds owing me, either by ease call and pay. You money. . . . (OOTEN )N AND SEE shopping tour come here first. * 7 unnecessary steps and much it you want then look elsewhere. but we do wish you to see our will be to your advantage in beire the final rush begins. ~UG STORE.+ R AILW AY! SYSTEM. R SERVICE. PING CARS ON ALL THROUGH SON ALL LOCAL TRAINS. S are now in effect to all Florida routes, etc.; consult nearest Southern T, Division Passenger Agent, Charleston,.S. C. ST LINE ANNOUNCES OLIDAY ~RATES td First class Fares. rate 5s cents.) d on sale December 23d, January 1st, 1905. Final ary 4th, 1905. To all of colleges, on presen of certificates signed by idents or prir'ripals, tick ~above rate, Dec. 17th, ifinal limit Jan. 8th, '05. call on iticket agents or nmerson, Traf. Manager aig, G. P. A., Wilmington. N. C. Newberry, S. C. CrgaXisec1 18046. Capital - - - $50,000 Surplus - - 19,500 Paid Stockholders since organization 21,000 Paid Depositors in Savings depart ment since or gamzation - - $9,200 A man working by the d? y is paid or the time he puts in at %ork, but when that man saves a dollar for his - day's labor it works for him nights, as well as days; never lays off on account of bad weather and never gets sick, but goes right on earn ing him an income. It's a nice thi,g to work for money, but it's. much nicer to have money working for you. Try it--open a savings account with us and get some money working for you. Make a deposit. in the Savings department today and let it begin to work for you. Interest computed at 4 per cent January i and July i of each year. SUPERFINE SILVERWARE. In tea and coffee sets, both ster ling silver and plated ware. Te de and desirable with each passing year and our grandmothers' eyes would twinkle with amazement at the dis play to be seen here. Daniels &Willianison, COTTON GIN Insurance. Apply to Norwood & Tyree, Agents, New berry, S. C. Peoples Nationial Bank PROSPERITY S. CAROLINA Paid up Capital, - $25,000.00 Fire and Burglar Proof Safe: and Insurance. Interest al lowedin Savings Department. Promptness, Accuracy, Se curity and Courtesy guaran teed. Investigation invited. We want your business.* M. A. CARLISLE, Pres. H. C. MOLELEY, V. Pres. W. W. WHEELER, Cashier. Di RECTORs. W. P. PUGH W. A. MoSELEY JACOB B. FELLERS R.L. LUTHER GEO. W. BowERs JoHN B. FELLERS J. P. BOWERS GEo. JoHNSTONE M. A. CARLISLE H. C. MOSELEY Jos. H. HUJNRER Best Mineral As phalt Roofin C. H. CANNON, Near C., N. & L. Dep