Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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City of Union and Suburbs Has f^tT} W~W TT 1%T^T 4l^f VTI T "M M C \ City of Union and Suburbs Has five Large Cotton Mills, 0ne Knitting I BJ Bi I ^ I l/jl W I M/ M / Li Wkv Five Graded Schools, Water Work*, andSpinning Mill with Dye I lant, Oil I H . I [ 1^1 m I Sewerage System, Electric Lights,Three Mill, i? urniture Manufacturing and | | |li ^ / >W U L 1 Hanks with aggregate capital of $250,000, Lumber Yards, Female Seminary. JLJi ML*M 4 I. Electric Railway. Population 7,000. VOL. liV. NO SOPTH CAROLUiiiql^Sm'EMBKIl I I#1.00 A YEAR: Wm. A. NichoUm Union, Soutl PAY INTEI ^ Time Certificate M rnTTAM mire \icn m LU I I vFIl JUILL V LK [g An Appeal to ttie Peopl ? in Regard to Another dj Involving Millions of S) and involving Unlimit 85 for the faamers of t BS it Most. Q SSEE2B?B?E2E8BBS?< To the People of South Carolina:, i If cotton seed, like corn yielded ] a liquor containing a liberal percentage of alcohol, an intoxicating beverage, instead of only a wholesome article of food in < liquid form, cotton oil would long ; ago have been manufactured and < sold under the care of the State. Five minutes consideration of ] the subject will show that cotton ] oil equally deserves the attention ] of the State, needs its care fully < as much and offers a source of < revenue, which offends no man's < conscience, ten times as promis- i ing as alcoholic liquors. i Without desiring to take the i least part in the dispensary agi- 1 tation and being perfectly con- < tent to leave the final settlement' i of a question upon which the j i people of the state are far better' t advised than myself to them and i to the able debaters upon both < sides, I would like you to suggest \ to both sides that the cotton seed i is no longer a by-product of the i cotton plant but the joint and j equal partner of cotton itself in ( the industrial life and devolop- \ ment of the South and offers a i field for statesmanship and pa- 1 triotic endeavor in which all men i of all shades of belief upon the i liquor question may unite and j . work with untold benefit to them- r. selves and to the State. i WHERE CAROLINA'S FUTURE j WEALTH LIES. j In ten years time South Carols Una pnnld hv nrtivp nnH infplli. . gent control of the cotton seed industry increase the value of her 750,000 ton or 500,000,000 bushel cotton seed crop from $12 a ton or some 18 cents a bushel to $40 a ton or some 60 cents a bushel. She could add an additional profit of 3 cents a pound to her cotton crop from the seed, an additional value of $10 an acre to all her lands in cultivation; could find employment for and feed a quarter of a million , more population and increase the wealth and taxable values of the : State by at least 50 per cent. I appeal to Senator Tillman and all other brainy and patriotic Carolinians to intermit their dispensary strife long enough at least to consider carefully the subject. A WAR INCIDENT. Gentlemen of South Carolina, I am no mere theorist; I am talking to you upon a subject which has been a life study with me, upon a subject which you have had hitherto little opportunity to study as a whole and in its full relation to the welfare of the South and your own personal and individual interests and investments in the south. In order that you may be convinced that I am not a theorist but capable of giving you sound sensible, practicable and profitable advice, let me tell you a little personal incident of my life. You will pardon me for being personal, considering the end I have in view. When war between Spain and < the United States was being anticipated, I had my office at the little village of Fort Hill. S. C., * I li Carolina, I REST ON I is of Deposit. I ss^osaggssssssB SUS CORN JUICE. $ e of South Carolina Sj Live Liquor Question qp Dollars to the State CD ed and Honest Graft gj ne srare wno Need pg 33EBBBEBBEOSESEBm ind was quietly engaged, in completing some studies I had long been making in my specialty and my profession, the cotton seed, in the laboratories of Clemson college, and in the fields of the agricultural experiment station only a mile away. I read an interview, or a purported interview, in the Columbia paper in which one of our bravest and most honored Confederate generals was made to advise southern men to keep out of ;he approaching war and leave it entirely to the north. Believing nyself that if this sentiment jpread it would do incalculable larm to the South, I, in courte )us protest against tne general's -eported but later disavowed >rie\Vs, tendered my services to foe governor of South Carolina is a private soldier in the event )f a war with Spain and upon var breaking out quietly enlisted n the nearest company then forming. At Columbia over my protest this company made me juartermaster sergeant. In this position I quickly found that the ations furnished by the governnent were not suited to Carolinims in summer time and were producing not only great complaint but severe illness as well. The water was as bad as the *ations. There was no company fond to buy better food, no government pay till two months ater. We were in a bad fix. I got Capt. Ezra B. Fuller to et us march down to a hotel for meals for a few days at the government's expense until we could jet straightened out; exchanged wherever possible government rations for fresh vegetables; bought all the fresh milk that could be had from day to day; boiled water by the barrel and ppened a stand at the foot of mir nrvmno htUama wiii^uuj oucct wncic a11y 3ne in the regiment could buy at very little above coat. The small profit, some $25 I believe, went into a company fund. The improvement in the condition of the men was remarkable. When our ragged and almost penniless regiment arrived at Chicamauga park I repeated the same thing on a largfr scale and Company C's "Caron&a Cabin" soon became known to all the regiments in that part of the park, gave us a company fund of some $300, before giving way to the regimental canteen. This fund enabled me and my successor to take proper care of both the well and the sick and finallv to return to their homes many who otherwise' would have succumbed to disease in Chicamauga and Panama park. Having done this I resigned my office, took my place again in the ranks, and later was transferred, at my own request, when the First South Carolina was mustered out to a Tennessee regiment and finished my service with men from my native State. HELP NEEDED BY CAROLINA. Now our regiment was no poorer as compared with the northern and western regiments that surrounded us and from ' : r?' ;" i j^Y1 /Vii kfffmf l% y ..Y'- * - J?ar * Y iKi\vjyiflSEE arid European countries. South Carolina needs all the revenue from these other states that she can possibly get from her cotton seed crop and its valuable products which they are now getting from us so far below their real value. , If it so happens that the work and study of my lifeinjthjis^***^ product hav^^lwwHilem much the same position toward the entire State of South Carolina at this present time as I was some years ago toward Company C, and if I can show her how to draw her much needed revenue from othei1 ana mucn ricner states, 11 i can help to prevent or cure some of the diseases or troubles in her economic condition and place her upon a safer and surer road to wealth, I trust she will not deem it presumption in me to offer my help. Now, good people of South Carolina, have you no industrial captain able and strong enough to take' up this work and will you not let me for a short space be his right hand man, his quartermaster sergeant, as it were, and with all due respect to his high position show him what his men, the people of South Carolina, need most for their economic welfare at the present time? I cannot help you with my hands or my presence, as I did your boys some years ago, for my home is now in my native State, but if she will undertake this thing in earnnof T iirill v\1n/lrvA 4-/\ C/\i coi x vYin [yicu^c tu ?jvutu uaiulina all the information and knowledge I have acquired during more than 20 years, everything of value I possess in refererence to the cotton seed without hope or expectation of reward, for South Carolina has already given me that which I value more than I do my life, and my debt of gratitude to her is already great. WHY THE COTTON SEED NEEDS STATE AID AND CONTROL. I promised in my last letter to show you in this why the cotton seed needs State aid and control. You have already learned that your cattle-growing industry has declined to so low an ebb that its recovery and fuil development without the fostering hand of the State will be exceedingly slow and difficult. You have already learned that the slight esteem in which you Vmlfl r?ntfrm r?il ia tn tV?o fa#?+ that not one of you has ever seen any cotton oil made as freely and as carefully as the Filipino makes his cocoanut oil. You have already learned that unless the several products from the seed are made better, and with more relation to the high priced uses for them, that your revenue from the cotton seed crop cannot be large. Why are they not made better? You have a right to know and without this knowledge no progress is possible. Therefore, cost me what it may, you shall know the plain unvarnished truth. Two notoriously bad trade customs are chiefly responsible for this. The first of these is the fact that the oil mills everywhere from North Carolina to Texas buy cotton seed, good, bad and indifferent, provided they be not too bad, at a uniform price per ton with no grading or selection worthy of the name. There is hence no inducement for the planter, ginner and middleman to take the same care of cotton seed, which is a much more perishable product than wheat, that is taken of wheat which is heavily discounted by the flouring mills for any inferij ority in quality. The second of these is that the refiners upon whom the burden of finding a market for some 95 per cent of the oil falls, buy cotton oil, good, bad and indifferent, provided it is not too bad, at a uniform price per gallon. They only require that crude cotton oil shall not lose more than 9 per cent of its weight in refining, shall be free from objectionable flavor and odor and produce a given yellow color on refining. Ten per cent of bad seed or some 10 ?>er eont f'fo cooking, care and ?$he crude oil will still SpU which will "pass" ford. Only off oil is eTand no premiums are ("excellnce in quality. ? hence no inducement hide oil mills to make the oil alripod as they might. One of .the most intelligent oil mill men'of Georgia told me recently he knew of only one mill in the State that refused to accept cotton seed containing an excess moisture, which every one knSfife^Ul ferment and in-7*rrxjxttWMfiong before it can be crushed One of the most intelligent .crude oil men of South Caroling, who also understands refirttng, but does not refine his oil recently admitted to me that cooking the hull with the kernel inju*e<Lihe quality of the oil but, as he put it, since the refiners ire not in the missionary business they will not pay him any more for crude oil which has not been injured in this way. It is useless for me or any one I *-- -*** * eise co asK cne planters, gmners and middlemen to deliver cotton seed to the mills in as sound, clean and dry a condition as possible when the oil mills will neither discount excessively moist or slightly dan^ged seed nor pay a premium for excellence of quality. It is useless for me or any . one else to ask the oil mills to-make oil for edible purposes oi^t none but sound seed, 1 to remflfee ^immediately on manufacture .the moisture and settlings fS*om the oil which so quickly injure it or to place it while still hot from the presses in airtight tanks away from the injurious action and chemical changes of light and air when the refiners neither discount the oil when not injured more than some 10 per cent and refuse to pay a premium for excellence in quality. RUINOUS DISCORD. The nature and compositions of the cotton seed is such that we are compelled to have the assistance of farmers, cattle growers, ginners, oil mills, refiners and consumers to dispose of it to advantage, and where all of these without exception are working at cross purposes, often actively hostile to each other, the result is contusion, distrust, low prices and products which are made in such a way as to prejudice the consumer against them or else accept them only when he dan get them far below their intrinsic value. The net result of all this discord and misunderstanding is that the south is losing every year some $125,000,000 on its cotton seed crop and the State of South Carolina some $20,000,000. If all the diverse interests that are needed to market the cotton seed crop could be brought to work intelligently and actively together each one could make double the profit it is now making and the cotton seed crop could be made to bring its full value. The greatest sufferer from all this discord is unquestionably the State, and the only power in my humble judgment which can put an end to it is the State. Millions of value in the cotton seed are lost outright to the State, vanished into the air with no benefit to anyone. Millions more which the State should have go now to northern and western States and foreign countries. ALL NATIONS LAUGHING AT THE SOUTH. There is not an intelligent J northerner or westerner, Engi lishman. German, Frenchman, ' Austrian, Dane or Dutchman who is at all familiar with methods of cotton seed handling and j manufacture in the south who is not amazed at the stupidity and " folly of our people in ignoring | the simplest principles of practical and political economy in refer, ence to the cotton seed and persistently regarding it as a byproduct of tne cotton plant while , he is laughing in his sleeve, per! haps, at <rur follv and pocketing j the badly coined gold dollars we j are giving him at half price, i The south fought the political fight of its life since the war in favor of a double standard for money, the remonetization of ( silver and yet when nature has F. M. FARR, President. T 1 Merchants and Plai Successfully Doing Busi is the OLOKST Itank in B hus a capital and surplii is the onlv NATIONAL H has paid dividends ?m B 3 pays FOUR per cent, fl H is the only Hank in Uni SI H hits Hursrlar-Proof vaul B pays more taxes than A WE EARNESTLY SOL / ????? given her a double standard of value in the cotton plant, cotton and cotton seeu, she givoo all her time to cotton alone and refuses to monetize the cotton seed. South Carolina needs far more today the unlimited coinage of pnf f An 1 M vwnuii occu luiu iim very oesi and highest priced products it will make than she ever needed the unlimited coinage of silver. . She has no silver. She has twice as much cotton seed as she has cotton. WHY NOT TEN CENTS COTTON OIL AS WELL AS COTTON? The south has fought long, hard and well against tremendous odds for ten cent cotton. She has got it. Nearly every man, woman and child in the south has been benefited by it, and by the grace of God she ought to be able to keep it there till she can bring her cotton seed up to pay her one cent a pound more for every cent a pound she takes less than this for her cotton. If those powerful interests who want cotton cheaper will turn in and help to make cotton seed worth more they will be more likely to get it and with less objection from the south. If the south will fight as long, as hard and as well for ten cent cotton oil and five cent beef cattle she will get both, will get two cents a pound, 60 cents a bushel, $40 a ton for her cotton seed, equal to four cents a pound of cotton on her entire crop. Will not South Carolina lead in this as she has so often led the south before? STATE REVENUE FROM COTTON SEED. In order that South Carolina may effectively guide the cotton seed industry into more profitable channels, make it bring the wealth it should into the State and herself derive the large revenue she would get for this work, something radically different from both the dispensary system and the State fertilizer control will no doubt be necessary, though valuable points will doubtless be had from the large fund of experience gained in both these quarters. The first step should be a State cotton seed commission to investigate the whole situation most thor oughly and then with all the information at hand, recommend to the legislature some simple, practical working plan, which may be developed little by little as experience and experienced workers are gained in this field. There are both abuses to be remedied and public favor to be won, there is a campaign of education to bextmductod A Jotorminod and earnest effort made to induce or compel the diverse interests in this cotton seed industry to 1 _ 1 _ A. 1 i. J* worK in narmony, at leasi as lar as the quality of the products is concerned, with the single end in view of making ultimately one of the State's leading agricultural products, or crops, bring a fair and full price in the markets of the world without injury or injustice to any individual or corporate interest. I would prefer not.to foreshadow the work of such a cotton seed commission, but as addtional revenue for the State would doubtless be the actuating motive in undertaking this work, it is perhaps well to state that if this commission could accomplish no more than grade cotton seed according to quality, arrange an equitable basis for purchase of seed by the mills, based upon a , percentage of the value of the | products of a ton of seed, provide | for the pro rating of the seed ; among the existing mills and [ forbid the unnecessary duplica niHMHai J. D. ARTHUR, Cashier. 3C E nters National Bank, ness at the "Old Stand." Union, IS of $101,000, Hank in Union, ountinK to $200,400. interest on deposits, on inspected by an officer, t, and Safe with Time-bock. Id, the Hanks in Union combined. ICIT YOUR BUSINESS. cation of oil mills, it could effect an immediate saving on South Carolina's cotton seed crop in in xccwo'i, ovnotmjvo commissions to middle men, improved quality of seed delivered at the mill and better yields and improved quality of product therefrom, of which the State might justly claim, say, 50 cents per ton, or $50,000 for every hun* vu bnvuoaiius tuns 01 sescl, amounting: to, say $250,000 to $300,000 income from the seed which now go to market. This will not be in the nature of a tax but only a part of the savings effected by the State's control. If the commission should succeed in removing the distrust and lack of cooperation now existing between planters and oil mills, and promote the exchange of seed for meal and hulls on some uniform and equitable basis a much larger proportion of the cotton seed "crop would be delivered by the planters to the oil mills, and much more cotton seed meal made and used both for fertilizer and feed with a correspondingly larger increase in the present fprivilege tax on fertilizer. If the State should also inspect and guarantee the purity and quality of cotton oil offered for edible purposes in the State its consumption would be largely increased and an inspection tax upon oil offered for _ this purpose would be both legitimate and beneficial to the mills and planters. Taking the whole field into consideration I think that the State might confidently count UDOn receivinor a rowoniifl A ---O M IVTVIUI^ V/l at least a million dollars a year, ulmate out of the cotton seed and its products without being felt in the least since it would add ten or twenty times a million dollars to the profits of the farmers and the mills from the whole crop, properly handled. CONCLUSION AND SUMMARY. This is the sixth article I have written upon the general subject of Carolina, Clemson and cotton seed. I would like to make it the last and turn the further discussion over ?;o you South Carolinians yourselves, who are most interested, holding myself in readiness to give any further information that may be desired. I expect to be here at Pendleton only till Sept. 1st, when I return again to Tennessee. In these six articles I have shown or pndpflvnrprl tr* cVimir you: 1st. That South Carolina has a mine of wealth in her cotton seed crop if she will only bore into it J instead of raiiU-iitoi with what she can get on the surface. 2nd. That the cotton seed is not a by-product of the cotton plant to be buried in the ground to raise more cotton with, but a primary crop comparing favorably with wheat and corn in quantity and exceeding both in intrinsis value per bushel. 3rd. That all, the products of the cotton seed, upon which of course tne market price of the seed depends, are selling in the worlds markets at from one-half to one-third of their intrinsic value from discord among the different interests concerned, from improper care of the seed and from improper manufacture, thereby entailing a loss upon the south of some $125,000,000 and upon South Carolina of some $20,000,000. 4th. That State aid and control in greater or less degree are absolutely necessary before anything approaching these figures may be made out of the cotton i seed crop. j (Continued on Ktli page,