The Dispatch News

COTTON GROWERS
PUSH CAMPAIGN

Two hundred cotton growers representing every section of South Carolina met yesterday in the Columbia theater, reviewed the record which has been made during the past four years by the South Carolina Cotton Growers Cooperative association, reflected for a moment upon conditions which had prevailed before the birth of the association, and then unanimously determined to launch at once and to wage with the utmost vigor during the next 18 months a campaign for signatures to a new contract which will become operative with the crop of 1927. The contract under which the association is now operating will expire with the handling of the crop of 1926.

Immediately following the meeting yesterday afternoon it was announced that 503 members representing 12,434 bales had already signed the new contract thus giving the campaign a tremendous sendoff. The initial signers represent practically every county in South Carolina and these signers have pledged themselves to see the movement in their respective counties.

To Begin Immediately.

The decision to begin the campaign immediately was reached after careful deliberation by the members, it was stated. The first drive will be to resign the present delivering members of the association. When these are resigned a most intensive effort will be launched to secure signatures of those who have not been members of the association during the past four years.

R. B. Caldwell of Chester, chairman of the organization committee, presided over the meeting and in calling it to order took occasion to give a review of the operations of the association for the past four years. He gave facts and figures which he said showed that the association is not only built upon the right theory but that it is working marvelously well considering all of the obstacles it has had to encounter, and upon this basis alone, we are going to appeal to you and all of the delivering members to renew your contracts for another period and to live up to them in spirit as well as in letter, and to join us in appealing earnestly and continuously to those on the outside who ought to be in with us to sign up also."

Mr. Caldwell pointed out the tremendous growth of cooperative marketing of cotton. The first associations got under way in 1921 and that year they handled 351,841 bales. The following year, 1922, other states came in and they handled 755,843 bales. Of the 1923 crop they handled 925,215 bales. Of the 1924 crop they handled 1,036,237 bales. Of the 1925 crop they have already received more than 1,400,000 bales.

Government figures showing the prices received by non-members as compared with members during the past three years were also quoted by Mr. Caldwell as showing "the benefits already obtained by members of the association."

Moser Talks.

C. O. Moser, general manager of the American Cotton Growers' exchange, the overhead organization of the cotton cooperatives, also reviewed the wonderful progress made by the cotton cooperatives. He pointed out how the movement had grown from five years ago when it was "a mere idea in the minds of a few patriotic and determined men, without a dollar behind it; without a member; without an established credit; without an actual customer; without facilities for starting and financing the business; without an organization of trained and responsible employees in any of its departments; without public confidence, in fact, without anything except of the leaders in the soundness of the plan and a knowledge of the experience of other farmers in other lines of agricultural production" to 12 big organizations now embracing approximately 300,000 cotton growers with unlimited credit, controlling the best warehouse facilities in the country and strongly and fully entrenched in the confidence of the business and farming world.

Dr. B. W. Kilgore, president of the North Carolina Cotton Growers' Cooperative association, and U. B. Blalock, general manager of the same association, spoke briefly. Governor McLeod was in attendance on the meeting and was to have spoken but was called back to the capitol by pressing business.

Numbers of members spoke from the floor strongly indorsing the movement and making an earnest appeal to every member present to go out and get contracts. Among those speaking were: T. M. Dantzler of Holly Hill, Alfred Scarborough of Eastover, W. C. Davis of Manning, E. C. Brown of Oswego, D. E. H. Wyman of Estill, H. O. Hanna of Hampton and many others.

Finally on motion of H. Lee Scarborough of Sumter the gathering enthusiastically voted to launch the campaign immediately and to push it with all possible vigor.

Maurice Matteson of Columbia led the assemblage in singing "America" and the opening prayer was made by E. W. Dabbs of Mayesville.