The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1905-10-06

given to the orders of the committee
of management. The mere state
ment of these requirements is enough
to prove that these plans could never
be carried out successfully in both
Europe and America.
Although the main purpose of the
international Cotton congress has
nothing to commend itself to Ameri-
can monopoly. The cotton supply
suddenly became and still remains the
subject of deepest solicitude On the
part of all. The rulers and the pub
lie have seized blindly upon every
plan for increasing the cotton supply
outside of the United States, and it is
not surprising that under th~se con-
ditions they have made the mistake
of trying to raise cotton in Africa
along the line of the greatest resist
ance, while neglecting the undevelop-
ed resources of our southern states.
Free Trade In Cotton.
Reports OF little jag of cotton
grown in some remote part Of Africa
are hailed with enthusiasm in Europe,
while an increase in the cotton crop
of America is but additional evidence
of the peril of American supremacy.
Apparently Europe has forgotten that
free trade in American cotton is guar
anteed forever by the greatest free
trade document in existence, the con-
stitution of the United States, which
forbids duties on exports. American
cotton, like that of Asia or Africa, be-
longs to those who will pay the most
for it. The price of Indian, Egyp-
tian and American cotton fluctuates
under the same influence in all parts
of the world, and an increase in the
cotton supply, no matter in what
country, benefits Americans and Eu-
ropeans alike.
Cotton cannot be raised in Eu-
rope, and to the European cotton
spinner it makes no difference where
he gets the supply of raw material,
so long as he gets it. AS we'll in
Texas as in Togo; in Mississippi as in
Madagascar; in South Carolina as in
that Grave of the White Man, Sierra
Leone. There being no advantage in
colonial cotton as such the question
OF increasing the supply is reduced to
the simple problem Of raising cotton
where the required quality and guam
tity can be produced at the lowest
cost. That locality is found in our
southern states. Nothing is easier
than predicting limit to the Amer
can cotton crop unless il is being
wrong in such prediction. A year ago
it was confidently asserted that the
limit had been reached, but the south
ern planter took off his coat, rolled
up his sleeves and raised more cotton
last season than was grown in the
whole world seven years ago. Tempt
ed by the high prices of last year and
favored by the weather, the southern
farmer put forth little more effort
and not only relieved the scarcity, but
fairly glutted the markets Of the world
with 100000 bales.
Nor is such a crop a matter of SUR
prise when the possibilities are con-
sidered. The cotton belt, with an area
Of 100000 square niles, is nearly as
large as France, Germany and Austria
Hungary combined, yet the area un-
der cultivation is but half the size OF
Prussia.
There must be, of course, a limit
even to the vast resources of the
American cotton belt, and in view OF
the fact that the future increase in
the worlds requirements is practical
ly unlimited, it may be worth while
for far-seeng statesmen to encourage
the extension of cotton raising in
Asia and Africa where it is not now
grown on commercial scale, to build
and subsidize railroads into the inte-
rior, to distribute free seed and farm