The farmer's political economy. "The dead horse in our spring branch." Farmer Dan Luke's exposure of cotton marketing

Front matter

Class _^AlLA02iL

Copyright N° _

COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT.

Preface

It is the purpose of this book to awaken our people to the needs of a better system of marketing America's greatest crop — cotton — and to urge our government to the necessity of action in giving the needed relief. The results to our farmers as a class is clearly and accurately stated herein. We are making no personal attack on the cotton exchange, but are advocating good and wholesome legislation of a constructive character. Our premises are well taken and conclusions are beyond question. The necessity of this book is apparent. The cotton farmer is not represented when it comes to fixing the price his cotton sells for, and after sweating under the present system of fixing the price for thirty years, his nose is still to the grindstone. It is no experiment with him. He has the butt-end of the log to tote and is not represented on the cotton exchange. Dan Luke prays the blessings of the Lord will attend his efforts and asks the prayers of all good Christians.

Chapter I

(a) The result to all classes of farmers in growing cotton.

(b) Cotton problem is too big for one farmer, a county of farmers, a state of farmers, or all the farmers in the South, to correct by organizing.

(c) System of marketing spot cotton exposed.

(d) The Government helps every other class of industry and it is the duty of our Government to help us market our cotton intelligently.

(e) The assistance required is an elastic currency to relieve distress in cotton marketing.

(d) Hazard and Thrift — Religious stench.

(f) Distress cotton defined by Bill Bryant.

Chapter II

(a) Dan Luke's address to the United States Congress.

(b) Dan Luke's political speech.

CHATPER III.

Dan Luke's Address to President Wilson and his Cabinet.

DAN F. LUKE

CHAPTER IV. Dan Luke's Address to the Farmers

To raise funds to further the plans outlined in this book, and for the worth of itself, this book is sold and not distributed free, and we want the holder of this copy to sell his neighbors each a book.

PRICE $1.00.

Remit to F. J. Bivins, Moultrie, Ga.

"Things that have lain dormant for years, once stirred, cause economical and political revolutions that are everlasting"

The first six hundred and forty copies of this book have been mailed to the United States Congress, each Representative, Senator, President Wilson and each member of his Cabinet, all receiving a copy.

Chapter I

The Boy, Martin L. Bivins, Listens to Dan Luke.

"May the Lord bless you, boy, that you will listen to Dan Luke; it is hard to get grown folks to stop long enough to look at you, much less listen. It is a delight to look at your bright face, boy; and you are only twelve years old?"

"Yes, Mr. Luke, I am twelve; but do let me hear you. My parents have read me the Bible since I was four, and since I could read I have read it thru, and I can tell right from wrong."

"There, just to the point, Martin, right and wrong — there is a right way to everything, and there is a wrong way. I will tell you the story and ask you which is right and which is wrong. I am past the middle age, lank and lean and turning some gray, but am still well preserved, as you see. I am bred to the soil in Georgia, have reared a family of boys and girls and lived an honest life the best I could."

"Right, Uncle Dan ; even all the school children know that you are an honest and upright farmer."

"Too quick, boy, to answer. It is not myself that I want you to answer for — it is my story. My story may seem a little long, but we will get thru with it in just a few minutes. It is about the burden of the cotton farmer. We live in a favored section; we are blessed in our climate, fuel and water ; our land is fertile and yields abundantly ; our Creator has been kind to us, has given us health, strength and abundant yields from our fields. There should not be a half-clothed, halfshod, half -fed man, woman or child in our fair land; and yet, my boy, out of 3,000 rural homes in our county, these conditions exist in one form or other in 2,900 of them. Why should this be? / have found out where the evil is by my long experience. I see the light, and that is what I have to tell you about."

"Now, Martin, imagine that you are a man, for I want to argue the case between us two for the truth of the matter, and for convenience, we will arrange our discussion into subject heads, and we will have for our first heading :

'Our Tales Beseeching/

"Let us go at the matter with a full understanding. My name is Dan F. Luke, Postoffice, Meigs, Ga., and you are the oldest son of F. J.

Bivins, Moultrie, Ga. We will base our tales on actual facts so that we can back them up with sworn testimony, if St. Peter should call upon our House of Congress, Representatives, Senators, and our President, for an accounting as to their stewardship. We will only mention a few names — one from the 100 that have the necessaries of life, one from the 900 who have a part of the necessaries of life, this 1,000 owning their land and having no interest to pay; one among the many that have bought their homes on terms, or borrowed from the long loan to improve with; one among the many that rent the land cultivated at so much per year; one among the many sharecroppers ; from the best off down to the fellow that loses his mule; another his corn and existables of life for himself and family, by the foreclosure of chattel mortgages. Then we will show that the 100, the 2,900 are all victims of either a gigantic trust or a faulty (rotten) system, which system is so thoroughly entrenched upon us that neither one farmer, nor five thousand farmers, nor the whole of the farmers in the Southern States, can correct. And that to correct the system that puts the burden on us our government will have to provide us with an asset currency so that we can market our cotton intelligently."

Martin: "You are a patriot. You make no complaint of the supply or credit store which furnishes supplies at a usurious price, or the mule dealer that furnishes mules on credit, that cost about $150, at a cost to the farmer of $250 to $300, both or either taking a mortgage from the farmer, supplied on all the chattels in sight ; or the fertilizer dealer, who takes a chattel mortgage on what is left ; nor do you complain that our farmer cannot get a little money from the bank, even after he has given satisfactory endorsements, except at the rates of 10 to 18 per cent ; nor do you ask the government to give us what is understood as rural credits."

Dan : "Right you are, boy. Our supply stores, sales stables and banks are run just like all such stores, stables and banks are run throughout the cotton belt. And while the American nation may be benefited by the rural credits, we can do without the rural credits in the cotton belt and put up with all the evils amongst us, if evils they be, if we can only market our cotton crop intelligently. You see, the cotton crop matures in the fall and is thrown on the market all at once, to the tune of six hundred million dollars worth — four times as much as the spinners want to buy at once. Pandemonium runs wild. We have to sell for what we can get to keep the sheriff off us, and the results of such a system is best told by actual results to us."

RESULTS TO US.

One Out of "100 Best-off" Farmers.

Facts given by Mr. Alexander Hall, Moultrie, Ga., Route 5.

Owns 200 acres of land, paid for and owes no money, and does not borrow or buy on credit. Runs three plows; has eight children. Hires no labor, but works children as laborers in fields. Dresses himself and children in only ordinary, common clothing, and has the necessities of life. Makes an average of twenty-five bales of cotton a year, but when he sells has no say-so as to price he is given, but everything he buys is priced by the other fellow.

"I live at home; I buy clothing, shoes, flour, coffee, sugar, and fertilizer, for which I pay cash. I am a 'diversified farmer,' as taught by the newspapers. I have not had any providential misfortune. I want to make some money and have tried, but cannot do so growing cotton. I am sore on cotton farming, as it is impossible to be a thrifty citizen and grow cotton. There is no wage in it.

You cannot grow cotton to profit by hiring your labor, and where a man does not work his children from six years of age up in the field, he cannot come out of debt and also have the necessities of life. He could not do it if his neck depended on it."

"There is only one way for a planter or farmer to make money with the use of hired labor, and that is to have a grab or commissary and keep books — always careful that no laborer exceeds his account, and making sure that at the end of the year he has gotten it all, and his labor has 'just live^/ as one would say. I am talking about white farmers and planters, and it is useless to mention the negro. It is no secret that practically all negroes on farms in Georgia are simply peons. It is impossible to be otherwise under the present system of marketing cotton. We have to grow cotton, as there is no market at all available for getting cash out of other crops, beyond the local demand. I am fifty-three years old and want to sell my farm and go somewhere else out West and try my luck. It is not the Southern white man's fault. The fault is the system of marketing cotton under distress."

Another Out of 900 "Best-off" Farmers. D. A. Mashburn, Doerun, Ga.

Runs two plows. Works only himself and children. Is a diversified farmer, growing all his eatables at home, except flour and sugar. His labor is done by himself and three sons. One son is of age and will farm for himself during this year, 1913.

"I give my average income and expense for ten years and show how I now stand :

"My expenses for family of seven: Clothing, $100.00; shoes, $50.00; flour, sugar, coffee and other necessities, $100.00; swapped old stock for younger, average per year, $30.00 ; improvements, building, fences, etc., $100.00; for church and school purposes, $70.00; insurance premiums, $63.62; fertilizer, $100.00; taxes, $75.00; new tools, average, $50.00 ; make from 8 to 14 bags of cotton and handle from $500.00 to $700.00 per year. Average outlay above $738.62. I keep books. Here they are.

"You ask how can one pay out more than was taken in. I will explain: I sold my timber to make the improvements with for the $100.00 item mentioned, and this winter borrowed from N. Y. Life Insurance Company $125.00 on my policy. I paid my twenty-one-year-old boy $75, and my bank account now is $10.00. You see, in the past, I had money in the bank at times of from $100.00 to $500.00, from the sale of my timber. That is spent living at home, economically, providing ordinary clothing and doing without what was wanted except necessary things; have not kept even growing cotton. People can talk and theorize, but I have been and am 'going to mill/ I owe no money and have no interest to pay. I can borrow money from the bank, or buy on credit. I have grown cotton in the past to buy those things that I do not grow or make, but after ten years of good management I am now compelled to grow cotton to pay my running expenses. I run behind to the tune of about 2 cents a pound on my cotton.

"We farmers will have to quit buying, or debts will get us and ours. What makes Georgia seem to be prosperous is that millions are loaned each year from long loan agencies for periods of five to ten years. If I had a long loan interest to pay I would have to give up right now. I could only afford jeans for clothing, and work barefooted. The long loans are procured by farmers to square up with. There is no money in growing cotton at 15 cents a pound, and even at that price a farmer could only get the necessities of life. At a less cost he cannot. I would say I am above the agevrage farmer."

One Who Borrowed to Improve With. A. P. Tucker, Moultrie, Ga.

"I own my land, run four plows and work my children as laborers. We make an average of thirty bales of cotton a year. I borrowed from a long loan company to improve with. After paying taxes, fertilizer, clothing and shoes, I have no money left. When my five-year loan fell due, I had to borrow from another loan company to pay up with, and had to borrow a little more this time to fill up the hole caused by trying to have part of the necessities of life. There is no money in growing cotton for me, but there is nothing else that I can grow for market except stuff for a home market, and this is limited. I have no money now and will have to borrow from the bank or get goods and supplies from a credit store."

One Among the Renters.

Freeman Griffin, P. 0., Autreyville, Ga. Has three children and runs one plow. Makes from five to twelve bales of cotton, averaging eight a year :

"I can read and write and have been able to school my children so they can read and write, and have sent each one to school twelve months. I have no money and have to go in debt to get the supplies we do not grow at home. We all wear plain clothing and have never been able to accumulate."

One of Best Share Croppers.

D. S. Mead, Age 53, Autreyville, Ga.

"I have been a share cropper and shared with different landlords. I have six children living with me, two others grown and left me; one a renter and one a share cropper.

"The first landlord I was with two years and left him with a little corn and bacon. No money.

"Was with second landlord two years, and left him with 50 bushels of corn and 300 pounds of bacon. No money.

"The third landlord I was with three years, and left with 50 bushels of corn and 500 pounds of bacon. No money.

"Was with fourth landlord a year and left with 75 bushels of corn ; no bacon. No money.

"Fifth landlord had me three years. Left with 75 bushels corn and 500 pounds bacon. No money*

"The sixth landlord I was with three years. I left him with no corn, no bacon, no money, and in debt $20.00.

"Was with the seventh landlord a year. Left with 100 bushels corn; no bacon; no money, but out of debt.

"Was with eighth landlord one year and left with 150 bushels corn, 800 pounds of meat, and no money.

"The ninth landlord I was with two years. Left him with 125 bushels corn, 800 pounds meat and $50.00 in money.

"The tenth landlord I was with one year. Left him with 75 bushels corn, 500 pounds bacon and no money.

"Was with the eleventh landlord two years, 1911 and 1912, and left him with 100 bushels corn, 500 pounds bacon, and in debt $130.00.

"Have been able to give each child twelve months' schooling, so each can read and write. Can read and write myself some."

P. O., Doerun, Ga.

Runs two plows ; works children in field as laborers — girls and boys.

"My horse died and I had to get another horse on creHit to work the land with. Made good crops, lived economically, plain clothing and no luxuries — doing without many necessities. In fall 1912, my creditors did not give me time to gather all my cotton to pay as far as I could, but the remainder of my cotton was levied on in the field, and also my corn and potatoes were levied on and sold by the sheriff. Having lost all my eatables, the purchaser felt sorry for me and gave me the sweet potatoes."

— Hartsfield, Ga.

Do not despair; thousands keep you company. You gave your note to the supply store and the fertilizer dealer, and on pay-day sold your cotton and paid as far as it would go. The man that holds your note that has never been paid has given you a bad name, and you live in hopes to pay some day, maybe, this year. You and your wife wear common clothing and your children wear no shoes. Feel cheerful, old boy, for Jesus is your friend.

Dan: "Now, Martin, we have given a true illustration of the results of the sum total of our efforts as cotton-growing farmers. What causes such results? It is the unfair system that has us bound worse than slaves, like felons — yea, stronger than with chains and balls. What it costs to make a pound of cotton is not considered, even to the extent of a feather's weight, in the fixing of the price it brings on what is called the cotton market. Nor has the farmer, the producer, any say-so whatever, in what price he gets for his property — cotton. Such a system leads to uncertainty, poverty and in wholesale suffering for the necessities of life among the cotton farmers — for the men, women and children. The condition of the 100 who have the necessities of life does not alter the situation. They are victims of the system too. They sell their cotton without representation as completely as do the 2,900, although his cotton is not distress cotton at any time of the season. It is true that he is only 1 to 29, but the 29 suck him in the suckhole. He ultimately is compelled to sell, and when he does he has no say-so as to price. He is without representation, too. The Southern farmer is one-third of the American nation, and the position he is placed in is beyond his control." Martin: "You are right, Mr. Luke; the system makes all the white farmers slaves. They part with their goods for not what they can get, but for what they are given. This is true of the white farmer. The system makes him a slave. This is more true of the negro. He was once a slave, and now he is worse off than a slave. This is a coincidence. My grandfather owned hundreds of them, but they got the necessities of life. They had warm clothing in winter, shoes, and all they needed to eat. My grandfather treated them just as well as you treat your horse ; gave all a good, comfortable house, and substantial, necessary feed. Now the negro is worse off — ninety per cent of the negro farmers being only share croppers, under the white man, who is now a slave to the system." Dan : "Hang the 'nigger.' He is alright in his place. Why, there is not ten 'nigger' farmers out of 500 in the whole county who can procure a barrel of flour. He is allowed his peck of meal and seven pounds of bacon for his week's ration, and you bet the 'nigger kids' sho' am proud when blackberries and watermelons come in. How in the dickens can we figure for the 'nigger,' when it is the white man's battle to keep the sheriff off him and his?"

Martin: "Excuse me, Mr. Luke; I am sure that 'Uncle Tom' meant good when he wrote his cabin book?"

Dan : "There, now; your town school learning has got me up in the air. So, Martin, we will just let the 'nigger' be."

Martin : "Thank you, Mr. Luke."

Dan : "The ability to market our cotton intelligently is beyond our control. It will require the great arm of the American nation thru national legislation to remove from us such a condition. The system of marketing the nation's greatest crop would be a disgrace in the tolerance of the Turkish empire. It is a system that reduces the tiller of the soil to uncertainty in his business, to poverty, to ruin. It is a system that injures every citizen and business of America, financially, morally and religiously. How can there be an over-production of wheat on our Western wheat farmers when there are millions of mouths in the South that can't afford a round of biscuits once a week?"

Martin : "You are right there. The same is true of cotton. Our Southern people alone would consume twice the amount of clothing and shoes, than they do if they could have what is necessary. There is no such a thing as over-production with half the world half -clothed."

Dan : "Hold on, boy. The South cannot grow or pick enough cotton to clothe its share of the world's trade. But discussing and estimating this idea is unnecessary, for I will show you whether it can or can't, it has got nothing to do with the way I propose for the government to help us. That is with the soundness of my plan."

Martin: "But, Mr. Luke, won't you please show why the farmer cannot turn the bear loose without the government's duty being called upon, before you give us your plan?"

Dan : "Alright, boy. I will show you that the cotton system is too big for one farmer — too big for a county of farmers — too big for a state of farmers — and too big for all the farmers in the South to help him or themselves to a square deal, and then we will go into my plan. "Cotton Problem Bigger Than One Man."

"Dan F. Luke grows a bag of cotton, hauls it to Meigs, Ga., to market and offers to sell same. A local man who is a cotton buyer (similar buyers are in all the towns throughout the distress cotton season), samples the bale and offers Dan 8 cents per pound. Dan says: 'I want 10 cents per pound. It cost me 10 cents to make it/ Buyer says : 'You can't have but 8 cents/ and forthwith produces a telegram showing that 8 cents is the price on the cotton exchange. Dan, if he sells, has to take 8 cents, and if he does not sell that day and comes again, he still has to take the exchange price on whatever day he sells the bale of cotton. In other words, the cotton problem is too big for Dan or any other one farmer. Boy, you have never sold a bale of cotton. Well, sir, it is a sheepish transaction. Whenever I sell a bale of cotton, sowehow, I always feel like I have stolen something."

"Cotton Problem Too Big For a County op Farmers"

"The farmers of this, Colquitt county, Georgia, will organize, build a cheap metal warehouse, store their cotton in it, meet and each pledge to hold his cotton until he gets 12 cents per pound — the cost of production — or better. W. H. Bryant, of Moultrie, Georgia, fully intends to hold, but when a note he owes falls due October 1st, and payment is demanded, he is forced to sell his cotton at exchange prices — say 9 cents per pound — to meet his obligations. And what happened to Bill happens to two-thirds of the remainder, and just a few days more the bunch is cleaned up. They have to sell to pay debts incurred in growing this cotton. I call cotton that the owner is forced to sell 'distress cotton/ It follows, then, that the cotton market problem is too big for a county of farmers."

"Problem Too Big For State of Farmers."

"The farmers in the state of Georgia organize into county units, all willing and agree to hold.

Their operating expenses, fertilizer, clothing, labor, taxes, etc., have to be paid. Distress cotton furnishes all the spot cotton needed at exchange prices. ,,

"Problem Too Big For All the Farmers in the South."

"Mr. H. J. organizes the farmers into what is called a cotton association. He assumed to be the dictator and bluffed and ordered cotton held for 15 cents. About half the farmers got organized. The fight was on. Farmers refused to sell at 10 cents, even if the sheriff got them. The cotton exchange held tight around 10 cents, and it is an actual fact, Martin, that the spinners put representatives among the spot cotton and paid from 1 to 1 1-2 cents per pound more than the cotton exchange said the price was. This occurred almost the whole season. Then was when I began to sit up and look, and now see the light. H. J. retired off of the map. I hear nothing of him now. Whether he got messed up on either side of the market, or whether he became a cotton gambler in the deal and got rich, I do not know. The farmers organized under a new name. My farmer neighbors say hold for a living wage, but they never get it. Ever since the one time, above noted, the exchange price is the boss. They propose to hold and market cotton as needed by spinners. The same thing happens to them as happened to our county. A national organization of farmers is alright for many eleemosynary purposes, but they are helpless to market their cotton as an organization. All efforts have failed. If you will pardon me, I will gcess why. Most of the well-to-do, the 100 kind, will not join, because they know the farmers cannot live up to any such pledge, and the latter is in such large numbers he cannot be organized to hold cotton, and if successful, it would be in violation of the law by combining to fix the price. Their efforts in this matter have to be open. They have no institution like the cotton exchange to run behind with the appearance of competition. The whole of the farmers cannot be organized to a working basis — only a part can be. The organization begins to die out before every county is organized. It takes lecturers and organizers to visit each militia district, and before they get around the first get cold feet, the organization begins to get smaller, and all the arganizations pass into history. Now, if the farmers could be organized successfully, and if it is not against the law to combine to fix the prices, he could not do so, because his cotton is distress cotton. Why, boy, take for instance, Georgia. The balance of trade is running against us. Our people have to send more money out thru the merchants and other channels than is brought in from the sale of our crops. The cotton is used as money to settle balances which are made to mature just at the time cotton should appear. Now, boy, suppose the farmers held their cotton at the point of the bayonet for a living wage; that would bankrupt the merchant right on up the line."

Martin: "I see, Mr. Luke. Unless the government gives us an asset currency, it would be impossible to hold the cotton and market it, as needed, intelligently. It takes a cash circulating medium to pay debts and settle balances. We have to sell our cotton and cannot hold it to market as needed. You have shown conclusively that the farmer cannot turn the bear loose. But, Mr. Luke, why can't the farmer issue mloney to be redeemed when the cotton is sold?"

Dan: "We might issue, but it would not be money. Only the government can issue money. We have given that power from us and given that power to our government."

Martin : "Now, Mr. Luke, let's have your plan. Argue fully each phase of the case, please, sir."

Dan: "We have shown conclusively that the cotton farmer cannot as an individual or part of an organization, have any say-so as to what his cotton sells for. It is the purpose of my argument to expose the method of marketing the nation's cotton crop, having previously shown the evils thereof, and to show the fairness and necessity of a better system, which can only be had thru the recognition by the national government by legislation, which legislation will be to the great advantage of the American nation. Also to show the proper legislation that will place America where it should be, to build up our manufacturing industries in cotton goods, to the end that in addition to growing the raw cotton we will manufacture the cotton goods of the world. It is not the intention of this argument to ask special favors, but in insisting that the government must come to the aid of the cotton farmer to give him a square deal. The asset currency must be available to the uses of the American manufacturers on the same basis when needed."