Letter from Mr. J. P. Stovall

Plantersville, Miss., Aug. 25, 1905.
Ed. Journal - Just at this time many are sending reports and estimates of the cotton crop; a few of those estimates being made by the big planters and more by the members of the cotton exchange and board of trade, men who seldom ever see a cotton field except as they may pass by on the other side on the back seat of a two horse outfit; and yet another estimate is made by a class of men called by Mr. Wilson his field reporters and said by him to be his most reliable source of information, who gather statistics from a car window while asleep on the reclining chair or berth of a palace Pullman sleeper, at the speed of about 70 miles an hour; eight different sources of information and the only man who could give anything like a correct estimate is conspicuously left out of it, that is the man who pulls the bell cord over old Beck with one hand while he holds the helm of the plow with the other, (and thinking that he is doing righteous service to God and wife and little ones until he goes to sell his cotton in the fall, when he is told that he has made too much cotton and that a small crop will make you richer than a large one, a false theory based upon a false premise, a false logic made use of to draw a false comparison.)
    Now, Mr. Editor, I have been called upon by the S.C.G.A. (Southern Cotton Growers Association) to make a report of my community and I am asked to venture to estimate for the whole county, and notwithstanding I have not traveled over the whole county, I have seen all, or nearly all, of the 4th and 5th districts in the last three weeks and have observed the cotton crop closely and have made particular inquiries of the farmers and have personally inspected a large percent of the crop in my own community, and taking this as an average upon which to base the estimate of the crop of Lee county, I place the per centage of last years crop at 65 and the total in round numbers not more than 16,500 bales.  Wait and see who is nearest right, I or Mr. Wilson's car riding reporters.  More anon if I am taken to task for it.
    I will add, however, that I have seen some few crops that are far in excess of anything I have ever seen before from Carolina to Texas; they will make two bales and a remnant per acre, but the bales will be hay if it is saved and the remnant will be cotton stalks if they get tall enough to pull up.
   J.P. Stovall

A Plea to Farmers

    Now that the Farmer's Educational and Co-operative Union of America and the Southern Cotton Growers Association have both passed on a minimum price of 12 cents for cotton and $20.00 per ton for seed, and this price being that of men who make the fiber and consequently the only man on earth who does have the God-given and also the commercial right to make a price for both commodities; a right that is conceded throughout the commerce of the world to every trade and profession except the farmer, and this right has always been denied him, but the same has always been assumed by the next man as soon as he becomes the possessor and seller of the farm products, and inasmuch as the Spinners' Association of the world have said in their assembled capacity that they would not buy above 9 cents for the next 90 days in order to establish the price of the present crop and the remaineder of the crop of last year not above 9 cents to them, which means a speedy collapse in prices to about 7 cents to the farmer.
    It only remains to see who can hold out longest, whose crib is fullest, whether we farmers can do without their money longer than they can do without our cotton.  We Farmer's Union and C.G.A. men regard every man who does not take part in this great battle with us for our rights as being on the other side and an aider and abettor to the oppressor.
    We do not ask you to become a member of the organization if you do not think it right to join them, but we would ask you not to put any cotton or cotton seed on the market below the established minimum price.  Do not be a "lie-out" in this great battle; remember that "skulker and lie-out" defeated the Confederate government and see the low estimation in which they are held on both sides today.  I entreat you to deport yourselves like men; you will be financially benefitted and more respected by the enemy, though defeated by your action, and if your action defeats the farmer, you will have the contempt of both.
    J.P. Stovall

TO THE FARMERS OF LEE COUNTY

    The Farmer's Education and Cooperative Union of America and the Southern Cotton Growers' Association have both fully considered the cotton situation in its fullest sense and did it after having gotten at current statistics as could be and these statistics were corroborated and verified by the government report and they have not as yet been proven to be false.  I have been in a work for two months which has afforded me the opportunity of talking to more farmers individually and collectively than any other in the county and I wil add that I have also talked to many merchants in a private capacity and also to no few of them in my public speeches, and all of them endorse what I say in my public speeches and believe my private conversation and I will say that I have been complimented on all sides for my two writings that appeared in the Journal and that encourages me to come again and express my sentiments and give you my views and tell you a few things that I have learned on this great campaign and I will also tell you of one or two observations that I have made and one or two charges taht have been hurled in my face all along the way by farmers, merchants, lawyers and tailors.
    First, I find that the crop is truly a short one and I find that all farmers believe in the commercial rule that holds good throughout the world and the one rule that is practiced by all others and is also practiced by the farmer in his dealings with his brother farmers and that is that the owner or seller of chattel has the right to make the price of his chattel, and I find many men who are very noisy and firm in their assertion of that right and also in the assertion of the right to weigh and measure their commodity and will snort and cavort and swear that they hope the day will soon come when they will get that right awarded to them.
    Now, my brother, I tell you in this article just as I tell you in all my speeches that the only say-so you will ever have as to prices is through organized effort and that say has already been said by the Farmer's Educational and Co-operative Union and the S.C.G.A. in making a minimum price of 11 cents for cotton and one cent a pound for cotton seed, and I will say that both of these organizations spoke by delegated power and it is the only way that you or any other organized body can speak and that it is the way in which all other organizations do speak.  It only remains for you to act in unison and harmony one with another, and you will soon have the right that you so vociferously demand.  Yes, brother, you can get that price inside of 3 days if every producer of cotton would keep his majority at home and let Mr. Price know that there would not be any more cotton sold for less than 11 cents and then keep your seed and let Mr. Seedtrust know that they are worth 1 cent per pound to use on the farm, and then you would falsify the charge that is hurled in my face when I am told that I cannot organize the farmer and that if I do he won't stick.  Show him that you will stick; show Mr. Price that you have a "coat of aunt Jemima's plaster" all over you and the more he tries to pull it off it only sticks the faster and although he may tempt you with 10.99 you freeze to it for 1 more point and more if you want it.  Yes, brother, the world has fleeced you long enough and now as you have the opportunity and a channel through which to float you can use your oar and keep your boat in the channel where there are no snags and you are not in any danger of sinking.  Both organizations have said it; one of them is composed entirely of men who made the crop and have a right to know what it is worth; the other is composed of men who made it and merchants who buy it and lawyers who are said to be the adjuster of rights, and doctors.  These men all combined know more about it than Mr. Price does who never saw a boll of cotton in his life.
    J.P. Stovall