AMERICAN SOCIETY OF EQUITY 123 



or absorb all these local groups. In 1906 it took the lead in a "forty-day 

 whirlwind campaign" to obtain pledges from the farmers not to dispose 

 of their crop at the prices offered by the trust. This campaign succeeded 

 so well that on January 2, 1907, according to one report, about 58 per cent 

 of an estimated 92,000 acres planted to tobacco for the year was pledged to 

 the newly organized Burley Tobacco Society . 2;> 



Even more aggressive action was planned for the 1907 crop. Equity 

 officials sought to "produce a short crop and sell it for a long price." They 

 also suggested that tobacco factories be established in the event that the 

 American Tobacco Company failed to purchase the 1906 and 1907 crops. 

 On July n, with some 103,000 acres out of an estimated 135,000 planted 

 reportedly in the pool, representatives of the tobacco associations from 

 Wisconsin, North Carolina, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, and other 

 states planned a meeting with representatives from Ohio, Indiana, and 

 Kentucky to organize a tobacco association covering the entire country. 

 In the fall of 1907, the Burley Society formally announced that it would 

 attempt to eliminate the 1908 crop altogether. 26 



Despite the various methods employed to facilitate organization, diffi- 

 culties of the most trying character arose. The unfavorable system of land- 

 tenure system, the indifference of the slow, lethargic, and incompetent 

 farmer, the financial disabilities of most producers, and the financial 

 strength of trust opposition impeded action. Fortunately, both the Planters' 

 Protective Association and the Burley Society received considerable as- 

 sistance from their few well-to-do members, as well as from equally sympa- 

 thetic warehousemen in Louisville and Cincinnati who saw their busi- 

 ness menaced. 27 



Perhaps more irritating than even the expected trust opposition was the 

 attitude of the independent farmer who refused to join the association, 



25. Wisconsin Equity News, June i, 1908, p. 4; Western Tobacco Journal, 

 XXXIV (January 7, 1907), p. i; Everitt, The Third Power, fourth edition, p. 289. 



26. Western Tobacco Journal, XXXIV (March 18, 1907), p. i; (May 13, 1907), 

 p. 7; (July 15, 1907), p. i; (November 4, 1907), p. i. 



27. Youngman, in Journal of Political Economy, XVIII (January, 1910), pp. 40- 

 41; John L. Mathews, "The Farmers' Union and the Tobacco Pool," Atlantic 

 Monthly, CII (October, 1908), p. 484; Wisconsin Equity News, June i, 1908, p. 5; 

 R. Bache, "The Great Tobacco Strike," Technical World, VI (1907), p. 604; Young- 

 man, in Journal of Political Economy, XVIII (January, 1910), p. 43. 



