Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-02-20
TO DEVELOP MARKETS.
Cotton Growers Want q
Special Commission.
GALL ON PRESIDENT
COMMITTEE FROM THE NEW
ORLEANS CONVENTION.
Ex-senator McLaurin Tells of the Vast
Possibilities for the Extension
of Our Export Trade.

! ~ COHiIilllee from the recent convention
Of cotton growers held at New Orleans
called on the President today and presented
to him long address bearing on this most
| interesting subject to the south. Eek Senator
John l.. McLaurin Of South Carolina was at
the head of the committee, which made a
| fine impression upon the President.
| Mr.. McLaurin said:
| ''Mr. President: During the last days in
January there met in New Orleans one of
| the most remarkable Industrial assem-
| blages that We have had in the south since
the war. The term cotton growers conven-
| tlon Is to some extent misleading, for the
| convention represented the merchants,
bankers and mill men to an equal extent.
| Inc convention found itself face to face
| WIN Two phases of situation that called
lof actlon. First the unreasonably high
| prices for cotton in 1902 and 1903 had, while
curtalllng the consumption of cotton prod
uc.s' stimulated the largest acreage on rec
ora, Whlcn with good seasons has produced
a surplus of two million bales over the con-
sumpt1ve demand of present bales.
Inc abe men who guided the delibera-
tl3ns OF the convention fully realized that
When they took steps to make 10-cent cot
ton next year the price would in 1907 again
stimulate large acreage, and that unless
we could before that time find wider mar
Ket TOT our products, we would have
front us.
mo one familiar with the uses of cotton
DOUBTS that this Is possible. We can point
70 an export trade in one section of North
emma that with comparatively little effort
was increased to over $40 100000 in a few
years. l have no hesitation in saying that
In China, Morocco. Abyssinia and other
portions OF the east we can with proper
effort develop markets that will speedily
put cotton and cotton products on a per-
| manently prosperous basis. The balance
Of the country is deeply interested
| In the prosperity Of the cotton plant
at a profit, we draw our supplies
Of flour. corn, mules and meat from the
| west. When it gets below the cost of pro-
duction we raise these supplies at home.
and the effect of decreased consumption is
speedily felt in the grain and stock belt.
Last year the exports Of cotton amount
ed to nearly 800, ZOO. and when you re-
member we kept at home 100000 bales,
valued at nearly s25OO00.0OO, to supply the
| mills of the south, you realize the enormous
value of the cotton crop in settling the
| trade balance of the world In favor of the
United States
1.-The convention adopted resolution APP
pointing a committee to ask you as the
President of the whole country to use the
power of your great Office to assist us in
| this undertaking. We were directed to con-
| fer with the leading exporters, and among
| them 1 requested the cooperation of Mr..
| John Foord and Mr.. Silas Webb, president
and secretary Of the American Asiatic AS
ISOLATION of New York. After full con-
| ference we have agreed and committed our
| requests to writing. which we will submit
| for your consideration
Address to the President.
Mr.. McLaurin presented the following adj
dress which the President said 1t would
give him much pleasure to read and study,
promising that whatever he could do to fur
| Their the interests of the cotton men of the
south would gladly be done
| "Mr President: We are here to express
regret that the recommendation In your last
annual message for the appointment of a
commission to study and report on the re-
sources of the great oriental markets as
| field for American trade and enterprise has
| not received the attention which 1t deserved
from Congress.
1--WE beg that the recommendation be re-
newed in special message to congress, ana
we do so as the spokesman Of the southern
| interstate cotton convention held In New
Orleans last month, which unanimously
adopted a resolution directing this commit
| tee to submit the question of how to en-
| large the markets for our cotton products
| to your attention
The Grower and Manufacturer.
| .a7,ba ,ntorests of no two classes are more
closely allied nor so mutually dependent as
| the cotton producers and cotton manufac-
| turers. One cannot long thrive at the eA-
pense of the other. There is some m1ddle
| ground where the entire cotton industry
| will find stable basis, and where labor with
| the manufacturer and producer VIII ma
! just remuneration for it's efforts. Mr.. Pres
| ident, the full value of raw material is
only obtained when manufactured nearest
| the point where that raw material is pro-
duced We are producing far more food
and clothing material than We need for
! home consumption, and we must either cur
| tail production or find outside markets for
! the surplus; the latter we believe can be
done with profit and justice to all and with
| injury to none. We believe that the south
| is not afflicted with overproduction In its
| cotton industry, but that under proper
methods of distribution there is a market
| for all that we can produce.
Eastern Markets.
'Take as an example China, which i'm
| ported in 1908 cotton manufactures of the
value of sS2,0OO,OOO. to which the contribu-
| ton Of the United States amounted to only
| $S,SOO.o00, or a little over one-tenth. For
| the calendar year 1904 there was a con-
| siderable improvement, the amount of our
| exports of cotton cloth to China reaching
$14, 100000. During the last six months of
| the year the value of these exports was
| $1O,OOO.O0O and If this standard could be
| maintained. AS 1t seems likely to be, the
| figures for the present year would obviously
1 be as much in excess of those Of 1904 as the
| l.
| that a trade which grows at the rate of
80 per cent per anEum Is not much In need
| of special encouragement or promotion
| But, rapidly the demand for American
| cottons is growing in China, that demand
| still represents insignificant fraction of
| the consuming capacity of the vast popula-
| ton of the empire. Even at the present
| rate of export We are sending but little
| more than the equivalent of one ward of o,,r
| cotton fabrics to every inhab IN Chino :.
| If the consumption OF cotton cloth ner head
| OF the Chinese population was equal to thu.
OF the United States, there would NOT no
cotton enough grown in the world tn os s,, NC
| ply it. win 70 sup
You. Mr.. President have done vo,,r :.
most TO preserve the boundIess nossih,,,t1a.
or this morket for American commercn q :, ,
! INDUSTRY by your steadfast and reso,nt
adhesion to the policy of the open door
of equality of commercial opportunitu ror
| all nations In the far east The nuestion
seems pertinent. Why cannot the exnortars
and manufacturers of the United STATES
| do the rest. without further aid or -co-oners
alton from their government? The answer
is to be found in the peculiar Conditions
| which surround the Introduction or for
| elgn goods into the interior of China. n ia
| the testimny of all who have studied The
subject from actual observation that China, g
| trade possibilities are immeasurable: that
foreign trade has merely scratched the s,,r-
| 70 nf hprr, ard hot