The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1890-05-08
THE SUB-TREASCRY HUMBUG.
Congressman Cothran Knocks 4 Hole
Through the Bill.-A Warning to the
Farmers of the South not to be
Caught with Chaff.
+ Special to News and Courier I

! ran, Representative from the Sd South
! Carolina district, has received SO many
letters Of inquiry from his constituents
IN regard to the sub-treasury bill, that
he furnishes the following copy ofan
answer to one Of them, with the hope
that through The News and Courier it
may reach all his constituents:
House OF REPRESENTATIVES I. s.,
WASHINGTON, April -, 1890.
Mr.. A. NJ. Guyton. Piercetown, S.
C.-My Dear Sir: Your letter of the
l4th instant has been received. In it,
writing in behalf of yourself and neigh
bors, you ask me "please to tell US
! (you) what the bill (known as the sub
treasury billy proposes to do; also your
jmy) views concerning said BILL"
Acknowledging at the outset and to
the fullest extent the right ofevery one
of my constituents to demand Of me,
Us their Representative, at all times,
information upon public questions, l
promptly and cheerfully comply with
your request.
Upon the subject referred to by you,
two bills have been introduced in the
present Congress, one in the Senate
and one in the House. I send to you a
copy of each Of the bills. Upon each of
them you will observe the words "by
requests; in legislative ethics, this
simply means that the Senator Mr..
Eance] and the Representative Mr..
Pickler] who introduced them are not
thereby necessarily committed to their
support.
The bills provide for the storage in
ware houses Of all kinds of farm pro-
ducts which are suitable for storage and
shipment and not of an Immediately
perishable nature. These ware houses
are to he built all over the country, at
an estimated expense, to be borne by
the Government, Of something like
S50,000,000. Upon the products so
stored certificates shall be issued by the
Government, and to the amount ofS0
per cent of the value Of the al ticles so
stored the Government shall lend to
the holders Of these certificates, or
receipts, money at the rate of per cent
per annum.
REASON FOR THE BILL.
The obvious reason of the demand for
this extraordinary Legislation is the
present depressed condition of the
agricultural interests all over the
United States, and especially in the
Western and Northwestern States. The
burning of corn for fuel in the State of
Kansas is the most complete and sum-
married statement of tile cause. This
is so far from being applicable to the
farmers of South Carolina and of the
Southern States that it may be we'll to
reflect very seriously before We give
to the proposed measure our support.
AS / am now serving as your Repre-
sentative in Congress my last term, it
seems to me that I am in a position to
deal with you in a spirit Of the utmost
frankness, and altogether freed from
any possible charge of denagogy in
saying, that regard the farming in
terest Of the country as embracing its
very bone and sinew-the mainstay
and support Of the Government itself.
These interests are suffering from
over-production, and for the want of
adequate means to transport the tre-
mendous surplus of products to mar
kets beyond our own borders.
THE WEST HAS GROWN TOO FAST.
On account Of cheap and fertile lands
in the West and Northwest, the vast
tide of immigration that has steadily
flowed thither for the last twenty-five
years, the bulky nature of their pro-
duets and their remoteness from the
markets Of the East and of the world,
the prices realized have not been remu-
nerative. Besides, the cost of living
and of production has been greatly in
creased by an unjust, unnecessary and
oppressive system of tariff taxation,
resulting in a widespread and almost
universal network of farm mortgages,
given to secure money advanced by
Eastern capitalists. The census of the
present year if correctly taken, will be,
in this regard, an appalling disclosure
to the whole country. 1t required but
4 single good provision crop in the
South, with which were blessed last
year, to bring about the catastrophe
and along with it this demand for relief
to them mot to u.s. which has found
expression in the proposed sub-trea-
sury bill.
I do not believe that this picture is
overdrawn or exaggerated. You may
ask, how is it with ourselves? Many
would doubtless answer, bad enough.
In my travels over the district last
summer, which took me once into your
own excellent neighborhood, I did not
find a single farmer who attended to
his business half as we'll as he could
have done that was not prospering. l
could name number of them, whom
you know as we'll or better than I do.
no USE FOR THE PROPOSED WARE
HOUSES.
To come directly to the point: Sup
pose Government ware house should
be erected at Piercetown, what would
you or your neighbors putin it? Cotton
bales are we'll nigh the only consider
able surplus products of your farms.
Nobody eats cotton; it is too bulky to
steal without almost certain and speedy
49,