Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1904-02-02


estate is bringing now compared with
that time; see the crowds on Canal
street; the people that are daily turned
away from our hotels, and the general
air of prosperity that is prevailing
everywhere; and you may be able to
form some slight conception of what
the rise in cotton means to the south
II would hate to think, however, that
the prosperity Of the farmer was at
the expense Of the southern mill inter-
ests: but 1 honestly think that any
harm these high prices have caused
the mills is only temporary; that as the
Years roll by the south will consume
more and more Of the cotton 1t grows
and that high prices for cotton, which
NATURALLY would mean high prices for
goods, will bring the mills more pros
perity than low-price cotton, which
would mean an impoverished south.
Some Of the northern papers are
making a great outcry about the ter
rible tax on the public that the en-
|hanced value Of cotton goods causes
They seem to forget altogether that
there are many goods made by Ameri-
can mills which have a protective
duty of 40, so and even 60 per cent
If the public are so much to be thought
lof, why not remove this duty and they
will be able to buy goods even cheaper
than when cotton was selling at five
cents. The high price Of cotton natur-
ally makes high-priced goods. which
the public have to pay for. but hun
Idreds Of thousands Of southern farmers
get the benefit Of same; but the pro-
tective duty on cotton goods, which the
public also pays, benefits only. a COM
paratively small number Of stockhold-
ers in the mills. I do not mean that
advocate the abolishment Of duty or
cotton goods, but claim that the ideal
condition for the general prosperity OF
this country is high priced goods, If II
enables the southern farmer to get q
high price for his cotton.
1.-The south hardly realizes as yet
what the price obtained for its cror
will mean for the prosperity Of this
section. The chances are this crop will
bring in the neighborhood Of s600,000,.
900. The value Of no other crop OF
any description ever put in the ground
approached anything like these figures
The yearly output Of all the gold and
silver mines Of the world Is not as
great; and the diamond mines Of Afri-
ca do not even approach it. II this car
only continue for few years, there
is no section Of the world that would
be better off than the south. OF course
in the north there Is more wealth, but
1t Is concentrated and this $600,000,0 00C
is distributed everywhere throughout
the south. We may not have as many
immensely rich people, but we will
have fewer really poor people thar
Anywhere in the world.
II have not the slightest doubt that
many of US here will live to see the day
when fifteen million bales will be con-
sidered small crop, and possibly al
that time the southern farmer will be
able to afford to sell same at say nine
or ten cents. When that time arrives
doubtless The Bounteous' Buston will
be furnished with a special car by the
Lancashire spinner to take a trip
through the south in October and look
ing out at the growing crops between
sips of Scotch whisky and champagne
will declare that twenty million bales
Is the minimum; and perhaps he will
occasionally get out at station and
measure the bolls before forming this
opinion. And Mr.. Neill, the spinners
friend, whose boast Is that he has
saved the spinners Of the world hun
dreds Of millions of dollars at the ex-
pense Of the southern farmer by his
come out in January and declare that
MIR. Buston was wrong, that the crop
cannot be less than twenty millions
minimum. Wall street and the English
newspapers will write denunciatory
articles against the government bu-
Ireau report and claim it was defraud-
ing the honest bear speculator by only
making the crop 14,950, 900 bales. When
that time arrives. however, I trust the
south will be in such a prosperous con-
dition that the farmers can laugh at
these estimates and dictate the price
at which they will sell the commodity
they have raised.
Il trust sincerely that the south will
Appreciate the good fortune that has
befallen it and will make good use OF
same. I strongly advise the farmer to
resolutely abstain from speculating in
cotton. 1t is his business to raise the
cotton and get all he can out Of It,
which is certainly hard enough work;
but if he attempts to get rich by spec
ulating also In the commodity which
he raises, he is apt to find that, never
mind what price he may obtain for his
cotton, he will not be much better off in
the long run. Each one to his calling
and the farmer is the last person in the
world that should speculate.
LAS a southern man 1 am certainly
proud to think that the South Is re-
gaining; in fact, I may say has regain
ed, it's old position in this country; and
I trust most sincerely that we will re-
member what the south was before the
civil war and try to make that our
model. Let US not think that the ac-
formulation of money is all-important
but let us try to make the new south
what the old south was-a land where
politics was not a business, but
where the public office was considered