Newspapers / The Progressive Farmer (Raleigh, … / Jan. 3, 1905, edition 1 / Page 1
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4 S H 1 1 it 4 i and Ctoe KOtltfOtifl mt PROGRESSIVE FARMER VOL. XIX. NO. 46. THE COTTON PLANT VOL. XXI. NO. 45. RALEIGH, N. C., JANUARY 3, 1905. Weekly $ I a Year. PORT ARTHUR FALLEN ! Port Arthur has fallen! An Associated Press dispatch, sent out at noon Monday, 2nd, says that the State Department at Washing ton has received official dispatches announcing the surrender of Port Arthur to the Japanese forces. This information is later thrm that given on page 8. The surrender is a fearful hlow to Russian prestige in the Far East. A CLEAN SWEEP. Our 10-cent and 15-cent subscrib ers are responding marvelously to our appeal for renewals. They are coming in by dozens, scores, hun dreds. But we must make a clean sweep. We do not want one left in outer darkness. If you sent in a club, please see every man before the end. of the week and ask for his sub scription for 1905. In your neighborhood we expect you to do your part. Get every man to renew, if not for a year, then foi six months; if not for six months, ihen for three months. Let us make a clean sweep. A Practical Suggestion. The next time you go to the post office get a package of 25 or 50 pos tal cards, and then sit down and write for the catalogs of improved implements, improved machinery, im proved seeds, poultry, live stock, fer tilizers, etc., as advertised in The Progressive Farmer. Then . study these catalogs and find out what im provements you can make in your farming this year. If prices are low, all the more reason why you must adopt labor-saving machinery, which is always cheaper than human labor; all the more reason why you must have the tools which will cultivate the land most effectively; all the more reason why you must have the most productive varieties of crops; all the more reason why you must have the most profitable breeds of cattle and hogs and poultry. You can't make a better use of these win ter nights than to get these catalogs from our advertisers and study them. And when writing, be sure to say, "I read your announcement in The Progressive Farmer and Cotton Plant." North Carolina Fanners' Institutes. Farmers' institutes will . be held by representatives of the North Carolina Department of Agriculture at the following times and places: Warrenton, Monday, January 9. Jackson, Tuesday, January 10. Halifax, Wednesday, January 11. Kinston, Thursday, January 12. Greenville, Friday, January 13. Tarboro, Saturday, January 14. Washington, Monday, January 16. Roper, Tuesday, January 17. Williamston, Wednesday, January 18th. Currituck, Friday, January 20. Camden, Saturday, January 21. Elizabeth City, Monday, January 23rd. Hertford, Tuesday, January 24. Edenton, Wednesday, January 25. Gatesville, Thursday, January 26. Winton, Friday, January 27. Windsor, Saturday, January 28. The addresses and discussions at these Institutes will be of the high est practical value, and we earnestly urge the attendance of all Progres sive Farmer readers in the commu nities visited. Favors the "Twenty Per Cent Club." Messrs. Editors: I see notices of Mr. Arendell's pi en for "Twenty Per Cent Clubs," and I will say I want us to carry out this plan. If you will do all you can for us, we will do the rest. You know that we must do something or we will go up. I will say I will do all in my rower for the "Twenty Per Cent Club." F.D. WILSON. Halifax Co., N. O. INDEX TO THIS NUMBER. Clothes and Fashion, Arachel. ... 6 Competition for Tobacco Trust, J. W. Sanders ... .... 5 Current Events: Editorial Re view 8 From Secretary Parker on Cot ton 4 Growing Apples and Nurserry Stock, II. H. Hume 3 In Wake County, II. M. Cates. . . 10 Irish Potatoes and Rye, R. C. Whitener 2 Lessons from the Live Stock Ex position, H. H. William 3 Nature Study for Early January, F. L. Stevens 11 New Year Reflections of a Pro gressive Farmer, C. C. Moore. . 1 Organizing Tobacca Growers and Cotton Growers, S. C. Adams.. 5 President Jordan to Progressive Farmer Readers, Harvie Jor dan 4 Timely Notes from a Mountain Farmer, H. M. Daniel 2 The Cotton Situation, S. H. Hobbs 4 Why the Butter Will Not Come, J. C. Kendall 3 Why the Farmer Needs More Live Stock, Tait Butler.. 3 Departments on usual pages: Home Circle, Q; Social Chat, 7; State News, 12; General News, 13; Teachers' Reading Course, 14; Our Young People, 15; Markets, 16. COTTON: A SYMPOSIUM. THE COTTON SITUATION. Cotton the Only Low Priced Product Organization Imperative Manufactur ers will Help Make Estimates in Pounds Farmers Should Make Smaller Bales. Messrs. Editors: The cotton situ ation has been so fully discussed by men more able than myself, the ground has been so thoroughly har rowed, that I feel as if nothing I can say will add anything new to the dis cussion. However, it sometimes does us good to take an inventory and see how we stand. In the first place, I believe that demand and supply, when left to a normal condition, regulates the price of every commodity that has a name in commerce, and any business man or farmer who shuts his eyes to this fact will sooner or later be poorer, if not wiser. Now what is the situation of cot ton compared with other commodi ties? It is this: there is not another article in the whole category of hu man industries just at this time, save cotton alone, but that is selling for more than the cost of production. The great discoveries of gold helped to settle the money question; the hum of human industries is heard both night and day; yet in all this intense activity it is only in this Southland of ours that the cry of "low prices" is heard, and that for her great staple cotton. Some great writer in the North, in looking up into the heavens at the Milky Way, exclaimed that it was but the reflection of light from the cotton fields in Dixie. Happy thought in deed ! Cotton is king! and when left to a normal condition of demand and supply, it is the greatest money crop on earth. Of the $500,000,000, in round numbers, balarce ot trade in favor of this country last year, three-fourths was for cotton and cot ton goods alone. If it were not for cotton, the balance of trade in favor of this country would sink to an in significant amount, our gold reserve would become exhausted, and we would become a borrowing instead of a lending nation. This is one side of the situation. Now another: After a long de pression of prices from 1893 to 1901, owing as much to the scarcity of money as anything else, great dis coveries of gold were made in Alaska and elsewhere. This, combined with the short crop of 1901, made cotton once more king. New industries were opened up, old ones were en larged, mortgages we had tried for years to shake off were cancelled, new school-houses were built, old ones made more comfortable, the people awakening everywhere to the advantages of education. How could we educate, from 1893 to 1901, with cotton from four and one-half to six cents per pound ? It took everything we could do to 'keep buckle and tongue together, so to speak. After waiting and toiling so many long years, the clouds of adversity began to clear up. The star of hope had just risen above the horizon. Then, just as we were going to reap the benefits of fair prices for the last tiiree crops, the greatest, blow we have ever received in the history of this country has befallen us but a blow we were never in better con dition to withstand than now. On or about December 3rd, the gamblers of Wall Street, by selling paper cot ton, and through the influence of the Government report, depressed the price of cotton more than ten dollars a bale, thereby entailing a loss of more than $40,000,000 to the South erly cotton planter, which means a loss- of two dollars per capita for every man, woman and child here. Now what is a remedy for the pres ent and a safeguard for the future? This is the burning question of the hour. It is a gigantic task to or ganize the farmers, a herculean task indeed, but I believe it can.be done, and done effectively. The "bears" of Wall Street have over-done them selves. They have attacked the farm er in the hour of his greatest strength since the war. It will take time and a combination of the best brain and business capacity of the whole South to complete this organization and make it effective, but once com pleted, its effect on business every where will be incalculable. Call it a trust if you will, and there are some things about a trust that are com mendable; and one thing you can rely on: when men combine together as one man and move in a certain (Continued on Page 4.) 1 1
The Progressive Farmer (Raleigh, N.C.)
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Jan. 3, 1905, edition 1
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