The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1904-12-15
A COTTON MEETING
Trying TO Formulate Plaas 70 Keep
Up Prices
A STIR Ar the FlRsr SESSION
= shreveport Delegate Charged That
humoer Of Delegates Were At
tempting to inject Politics IN the
Convention.

ShietepoFt, la. Special. After being
almost hopelessly deadlocked in a par
lamentary tangle over the question OF
permanent organization. the first ses-
sion or the national cotton convention
Hhaly adjourned until O'clock Mon
day night without selecting permanent
officers.
Governor Blanchard on behalf of the
state welcomed the delegates to Louis
lana. and among other things said:
The question that has brought ss,,
here TO hold this great convention Is
not one affecting merely the cotton
growing region Of the South. 1t affects
Intimately and directly the whole
country. II the cotton crop OF the South
Is to be destroyed by this pest-if the
growth OF cotton as a commercial pro-
duct in the South is to cease Is the
result OF the invasion Of this insect
II Will prove world wide calamity. II
VIII affect ruinously large commercial
interests; 1t will affect disastrously ev-
cry commercial interest and every line
or trade the world over. More, perhaps.
than any other single product OF the
SOIL cotton permeateS and adjusts and
regulates the balance of the worlds
trade.
Its culture and harvesting. its prep
arlton for the market, its transporta-
uon to market, its marketing, its man
ufacture and the sale of it's fabrics give
employment to millions Of people In our
own country. It's transportation abroad
gives employment to many thousands
of ship-building and seafaring men. and
its manufacture into cloth in foreign
lands, and the sale Of such manufac-
lures, give employment to millions OF
men and women there.
"As merhcantable product. it Is
well-nigh indispensable to the worlds
trade. But more than this. The con-
tinued growth Of cotton in these South
ern States seems absolutely indispensa-
BILE to the convenience and comfort
aye. even almost to the existence itself
OF the people of the world. In the far
greater part the people of the world de-
pend on cotton fabrics with which to
clothe themselves. Their reliance is OH
the Southern States of the great Am
erican Republic for that which clothes
them, for here in the South we have
the practical monopoly of the growth
OF the cotton plant.
Great effort and vast expenditures
of treasure have been made to develop
worlds surface, but without success.
The cotton in the world grown outside
Of the United States has scarcely an
appreciable effect on the cotton mar
ket. The eyes of all are on the South
cotton. What is the American crop
going to be? What the price it will
likely bring? These are the questions
men ask of one another the world
over
"The South, gentlemen Of the con-
sention, is the clothfer of the world.
Let its crop OF cotton fail for three
years consecutirely and the people Of
the world will go in rags and naked
ness. Suppose. now as threatened by
this pest Of the boil weevil, it fails per-
| manently; and what will the people do
for clothing? Wool and silk and ramie
fabrics will not go round, as staple
articles of clothing. to more than a
third of the worlds population. Are
the people to go naked? That is not
too broad a question to ask. and to
ask here and now, in view OF the ter
ribie menace which overhangs the
South in this plague of the weevil.
The cotton crop of the South is
worth to the people Of the South In the
raw 100000, 900 per annum. 1t is worth
four times that Wnen mdnuI aCtuTed
The gold mines become exhausted in
time. The soil of the South that pro-
duces the cotton does not exhaust. The
cotton crop-this mine Of wealth, with
its output of 100000, d,000-has been
coming every year. 1t will continue to
come every year, only increasing an
nually, if saved from destruction by
this insect This cotton mine of ours
will make the South the richest of
countries If preserved. 1t is bound to be
so. With the monopoly here of the
growth of cotton and the dependence
of the world upon it to clothe its maxi
| edness. a golden stream must continue
to flow into the South. That golden
| stream turns the balance OF the world S
trade in favor of the United States. 1t
makes us a creditor nation. Let it fail
and we become a debtor nation. The
destruction of the Mexican boil weeyll
| thus becomes great national ques-
ton. and Congress and the nation
| should take hold OF it. Let this con-
| vention point the way.