-/. y^
CJ^ii
"GOLDEN R.ULE-^
Vol, 5. No. 39.
GASTONIA, N. C., SEPTEMBER 28, 1911
One Dollar a Year
Barrett Outlines Plans for Holding Cotton,
and Discusses Result of Meeting of South
ern Cotton Groivers at Montgomery.
President C. S. Barrett, of the Farmers’
Union, who has just returned from the
National Convention of that organization at
Shawnee, Okla., and from the Cotto'n Grow
ers’ Congress at Montgomery, has issued a
statement in which he states the impregnable
position of the Southern farmers, and urges
'kcin to stand shoulder to shoulder to win the-
%ht for fair prices during the opening sea
son. Mr. Barrett also brands as absouletly
'^/ithout foundation the reports of a bumper
erop, and declares the world will pay a legiti-
■riate figure for the staple if farmers, in co
operation with business men of the South,
'vill conduct the proper sort of campaign,
^'lis statement follows:
To the Cotton Growers’ of the Southern
States: The recent convention of the South-
Cotton Growers’ at Montgomery, Ala.,
satisfied me that the South, as a unit, has
last waked to the need of co-operating and
making a vigorous fight for insuring a fair
price for its main staple, cotton. I do not
’'^member to have attended a more enthu-
siastic gathering, a more representative one,
*^r one more patronized by prominent, hard-
headed business men. Commissioners of ag
riculture of the Southern States, and men in
close touch with every class of farmer, were
present. The concensus of opinion was that
^tton should be held for fifteen cents. This
''’as in line with the verdict of the National
Convention of the Farmers’ Union at Shaw
nee, which decided that cotton should not be
^old at prices prevailing, and should be held
^nd financed for a higher figure. At Shaw
nee, more than a thousand telegrams were re
ceived from various parts of the South, de
claring that the organization would work to-
'Vard the end of holding the staple, and help
ing needy farmers, until the market reached
n correct price.
Montgomery the Hon. Thos. Heflin,
congressman from Alabama, E. J. Watson,
commissioner of agriculture from Alabama,
niid myself, were constituted a committee to
s^ipervise publicity and propaganda.
^hcre is no doubt in my mind that concert-
^^1 measures will defeat the movement to bear
Cotton, and will insure a just level through-
the selling season.
Now is the time for the friend of the farm
er to prove his friendship by substantial aid.
Cotton is the best collateral in the world. The
banker and the small merchant can, and I be
lieve will, accept it as such in cases where
“distress” cotton might otherwise be thrown
on the market only to glut it.
It is to the first interest of the business men
of the South whether bankers or merchants,
to join the farmers in this movement for their
rights. Even one-fourth of a cent off the
just price for cotton means a loss of millions
visited upon every trade channel. It re
solves itself simply into a question of letting
the world know, by our actions, that we are
going to market and not sacrifice our cotton.
If the business man and the banker fails in
Notice of Call Meeting. |
Wg hereby call a meeting of the Ad-
visory Council and State Executive
Commirtee of the North Carolina Farm
ers’ Union at Greensboro, N. C., Oct. 5,
1911, at 8:00 o’clock, p. m.
At this meeting the Executive Com
mittee will select the place and fix the
time for the next annual State Conven
tion. County Unions or towns desiring
^ to have this convention within their
bounds, should have their propositions
in the hands of the Chairman of the
Committee, ^Ir. I. P. Coggins, Bear
Creek, N. C., so that they may be pre
sented at that time.
H. Q. ALEXANDER, Pres.,
Matthews, N. C.
I. P. COGGINS, Chairman,
Bear Creek, N. C.
his duty, if the public man fails in his often-
repeated protestations of loyalty to the faim-
er, they vaill all suffer in similar degree. With
regard to cotton, we stand or fall together.
An unjust price for the farmer means lack
of prosperity for the merchant, the banker,
the business man—whether in the city or
counXry. A just price means prosperity for
all in same proportion. The mills of New
England, after a season of curtailment, aie
resuming operations. Does this look like
there is an absence of demand for cotton?
It is incumbent upon us not to sell our
birthright, not to yield the results of the year’s
toil at the behest of market manipulators.
You are in better shape than ever to make
this fight a winning one. You have no excuse
for falling in it. You have grozun hogs, corn
and other food stuffs this season. You are
less in debt, less under the domination of the
mortgage, than at any period in Southern
history You whipped the gamblers before
when you were head over ears in debt. If you
don’t do it now, almost debt^free, you de
serve little sympathy from yourself or the
world.
As never in history, the farmer and busi
ness man of the South are prepared to battle
side by side. The conference at Montgomery
proved that.
My present purpose in this hour is to press
upon all'Southern elements the necessity of
keeping the pledges of co-operation given at
Montgomery, and of representing to all
Southerners the prime duty and self-interest
of participating in a movement that means the
welfare of the South, without regard to busi
ness or location.
CHARLES S. BARRETT.
Union City, Ga., Sept. 19th, 1911.
Duplin County Union.
Notice is hereby given to the officers and
locals of the Duplin County Union that the
next regular meeting will be held with the
Lanefield Local, No. 1068, on Saturday, Oct.
7th, 1911, at 10:00 a. m. All locals are urgeo
to have a full representation as very important
business awaits our earnest thought and
action.
Delegates coming by “rail” will be met at
Warsaw, N. C., by H. D. Middleton upon due
notice to him. Yours truly,
JAS. H. CARLTON,
County Sect’y.-Treas.
Duty.
This truth comes to us more and more the
longer we live. That on what field or in what
uniform or with what aims we do our duty
matters very little, or even what our duty is,
great or small, splendid or obscure.
Only to find our duty certainly, and some
where, somehow, to do it faithfully, makes us
good, strong, happy and useful men, and
tunes our lives into some feeble echo of the
life of God.—Phillips Brooks.
I’ll;
■l-Sg' yn
r?
1^*'
Leaders are finders—followers get the leav
ings.