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THE COTTON INDUSTRY.
(Boston Herald.)
That East Boston is to have a new
group of cotton goods mills to cost
from >4,000,000 to $5,000,000 and em
ploy 8,000 hands is due to two in
teresting circumstances. First some
of the investors have shown their
faith in Boston by increasing their
stake here. Second, it is evident that
students of the situation at the south
are convinced New England has an
important future in this industry.
Eugene N. Foss, the only pro
moter of the plant whose name has
yet been published, except the Dra
pers, who will furnish the machinery,
has shown that large iron goods could
be profitably manufactured here, and
refused definite advances from Pitts
burg, while he is active in the devel
opment of Boston real estate. With
him this is no mere maudlin senti
ment or home sickness, but conviction
based on knowledge and experience.
When he persuades capitalists to join
him in a mill at East Boston, located
at the water front, and invests heavily
in the concern himself, he does so
because he believes the harbor will
afford frequent sailings In worthy
ships to convey his wares to foreign
lands. It is chiefly for export that
he plans his product, and he chooses
the site to avoid use of railroads,
either for obtaining raw cotton and
coal or for shipment of goods. The
port of Boston and Its future activ
ity are, to Mr. Foss, the chief assets
of his site.
Evidently the true situation at
the south is more clearly understood
by the stockholders of the East Bos
ton factory than by our people in
general. New England suffers with
the south to some extent from the
present labor famine but not in so
great degree. It is not Massachusetts
that has been scouring Europe for
operatives. When spinners and weav
ers go to the south they cannot al
ways be induced to stay. Georgia,
North Carolina and South Carolina
in the ten years 1890 to 1900 increased
the number of their coton goods op
eratives 193 per cent. The “census
of 1905“ (actually 1904) was for a four
year period. At the same rate of
growth the percentage of increase
would have been roughly four-tenths of
193, or 77 per cent. The check in rate
of expansion of the southern mills has
been made still more evident since
the census year by the cry for opera
tives.
The climate of New England is not
only more conducive to nimbleness,
both of mind and of fingers, than the
southern, but more agreeable the year
round to persons of a mechanical turn,
and the development of cities here af
fords better facilities for education
to children and adults and for enter
tainment of many kinds. One of the
reasons for locating in East Boston is
the supply of help.
After all, how r ever, there is no rea
son for unfriendly rivalry between
the two parts of the country. It is
the export trade for which both will
strive as the total product more and
more shall exceed the home demand.
“The United States,” Mr. Foss said
in a recent address, “is exporting too
much raw material. She should make
her cotton up into cloth and then ex
port It.” The “value” of exports to
a country Is not the selling price, but
the number of people who have made
a living In the production. New Eng
land will be competing In cotton goods
not with the south, but with the coun-
Farmers’ Union Department
'Roster of National and State
Officers
NATIONAL OFFICERS.
C. S. Barrett, president, Atwater,
Georgia.
J. E. Montgomery, vice-president,
Gleason, Tenn.
R. H. McCullough, secretary-treas
urer, Beebe, Ark.
L. N. Holmes, chaplain, Bernice,
Louisiana.
STATE OFFICERS.
Georgia Headquarters—Barnesville..
R. F. Duckworth —President.
W. P. Quinby—Vice-President.
J. L. Barron —Secretary-Treasurer.
J. L. Lee —State Organizer.
G. M. Davis —Lecturer.
J. G. Eubanks —State Business
Agent.
Alabama —I. A. Worley, president,
Guin, Ala.; E. J. Cook, secretary-treas
urer, Pell City, Ala.
tries to which the south sent last year
3,634,045,170 pounds of raw cotton.
New England will continue to be one
of the south’s best customers.
SHALL WE CLAIM OUR OWN?
(Arkansas Union Tribune.)
The south is composed of thirteen
states, and these are divided into 813
counties. In comparison to the rest
of this mundane sphere it is as but
an atom to the Rocky Mountains.
On this comparatively small area
is produced one commodity upon which
the entire habitable civilized world
is dependent for supplies to keep
going the more than 200,000,000 spin
dles in which is invested untold mil
lions of money for the dividends it
pays, saying nothing of the by-prod
ucts and the indispensable needs for
the comfort of the millions of indi
viduals. Yet with this natural monop
oly, of soil and climate, for the produc
tion of cotton, the southern farmer
has been the football for a few finan
cial pirates to annually be skinned and
fleeced out of his own by them.
Up to the organization of the Farm
ers’ Union no one ever raised his
voice or lifted his hand to bring about
a change in the imperfect conditions
under which the farmer labored or the
foul means by which he was robbed.
But the Farmers’ Union has served
notice upon the heartless commercial
system that has “pressed the crown of
thorns upon the brow of labor,” that
the southern farmer knows he occu
pies vantage ground in this heretofore
uneven battle, and he is determined
to plant his guns on the parapet of
the enemy and forever drive them
from their strongholds.
Organization and education are the
guns, and controlled marketing is the
ammunition, by which we will slay
the enemy. Then we will come into
our own. .
DECREASE IN EXPORTS OF
COTTON.
(New York American.)
On the 24th and 25th of this month
the National Association of Cotton
Manufacturers will hold In Boston Its
eighty-second annual meeting. During
the latter part of May the American
WATSON’S WEEKLY JEFFERSONIAN.
Arkansas —J. B. Lewis, president,
Jonesboro, Ark.; Ben L. Griffin, secre
tary-treasurer, Conway, Ark.
Indiahoma —J. A. West, President,
Shawnee, O. T.; B. C. Hanson, secre
tary-treasurer, Shawnee, O. T.
Louisiana —L. N. Holmes, president,
Bernice, L,; J. W. Boyett, Jr., sec
treasurer, Tanhill, La.
Mississippi—J. M. Bass, president;
Hazlehurst, Miss.; G. W. Russell, sec
retary-treasurer, Hazlehurst, Miss.
Tennessee —J. E. Montgomery, pres
ident, Greenfield, Tenn.; J. T. Brooks,
secretary-treasurer, Atwood, Tenn.
Texas —E. A. Calvin, president, Dal
las, Texas; B. F. Chapman, secretary
treasurer, Dallas, Texas.
South Carolina —O. P. Goodwin,
president, Anderson, S. C.; B. F.
Earl, secretary-treasurer, Anderson,
South Carolina.
Cotton Manufacturers’ Association, a
similar organization, will hold its
eleventh annual convention in Phila
delphia.
If America based its prosperity in
cotton manufacturing on our exports
of these products, the two associations
named would have no occasion to con
vene. In the past year the value of
cotton goods shipped from the United
States was less by $13,000,000 than
in 1905.
There is no occasion for alarm in
this, as America is unable at present
to supply the home demand for cotton
goods.
It was announced recently by buy
ers in New York city representing
prominent retail houses throughout the
United States that they never before
encountered such difficulty in obtain
ing cotton goods supplies.
“STAY OUT OF POLITICS.”
(The Union News.)
I have heard the phrase “stay out of
politics” until I am sick at the craw.
The first thing that makes be sick
is that it usually comes from a class
that had rather see the Farmers’
Union fail than make a succcess. It
is not because they love the farmer
that makes them give their advice.
They are afraid of the farmer in
politics and I don’t blame them; if I
didn’t belong to that class who till the
soil I suppose I would be hollering
“keep out of politics.”
The Farmers’ Union is not going to
make the mistake that has been made
by other organizations along the po
litical line.
We are not going to let a few politi
cians use us to boost themselves.
We are not going to put out men
for office. Why should we? Let him
who will run. We will look Into his
record, if he shows up all O. K. we
will vote for him or against him if we
want to.
We are not going to let these howl
ers keep us from thinking for our
selves. We will study public quues
tions, and while we do not expect to
right all the wrongs ws do expect to
have our say.
GO SLOW ON CROP NEWS.
(The Co-Operator.)
Never mind about crop reports and
acreage. The Farmers’ Union mem
bership is not Interested in such
things. It does not matter what the
acreage is or what the condition of
the crops may be, nor weather condi
tions. The only thing Is to hold your
products for the minimum prices fixed
by the National Union and to take no
less.
Every local Union ought to adopt
resolutions binding its members not to
give out crop estimates, acreage or
anything of that sort to any human be
ing at any time. It is each farmer’s
own business, and no one else’s how
much land he plants, or what the con
ditions of his crops may be.
THE SHIP SUBSIDIES.
The ship subsidy bill which it was
proposed to pass was to pay bonuses to
seven mail steamship lines. These were
as follows:
Ist. One from New York to Brazil, a
line already in existence, controlled
by J. P. Morgan.
2d. One from New York to Argen
tina, another line already in existence,
controlled by J. P. Morgan.
3d. A line from the gulf port, sup
posedly New Orleans, to Colon.
4th. From San Francisco to Pana
ma, Peru and Chile, the present Pacific
mail steamship line, controlled by Mr.
Spreckles and already under contract
to carry the mails to and from South
America until 1911.
sth. From San Francisco to the
Orient via Hawaii, a line already in
existence and owned by Mr. Edward
H. Harriman.
6th. From Seattle to the Orient, a
line already running, controlled by Mr.
James J. Hill.
7th. From San Francisco to Austra
lia, a line at present controlled by Mr.
Edward H. Harriman.
THE SOUTH TO THE FRONT.
(Philadelphia Record.)
The south has tried Bryan twice.
It has tried an eastern candidate once.
There have been three consequent fail
ures. They were failures of default
west and east. There is no need of
going into particulars. Now let the
south lead. Let it name its own can
didate —some stalwart southern Dem
ocrat —and call upon the true Jefferso
nians of the north and west to re
spond. That is the logic of the politi
cal situation.
THE ROOSEVELTIAN HEAD.
(Waterbury, Ct., American.)
Way back In 1887, on May 17, as
shown In the life of E. L. Godkin, Mr.
Godkin remarked to C. L. Brace as
follows: “I am afraid ’Teddy’ Roose
velt has not got his father’s level
head.” Mr. Godkin kept this opinion
unchanged up to the day of his death,
and even now, 20 years after, If he
were alive, would probably still en
tertain it.
THE STATE’S RAILROAD.
(The West Times.)
The state of Texas is now trying
government ownership of railroads in
a limited way. The legislature has
just passed a bill to extend the
state railroad from Rusk—which has
heretofore been used only for the
purpose of hauling fuel to the furnaces
at Rusk—to a point on the T. &N.
O. and the I. & G. N. thus connecting
this state line with two Important
trunk Uses.