Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1905-03-08

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for American trade and enterprise
has not received the attention which
it deserved from Congress.
eve beg that the recommendation
be renewed in special message to
Congress, and we do 80 as the spokes-
men of the Southern Inter State
Cotton Convention, held in New Or
leans last month, which unanimously
adopted resolution directing this
committee to submit the question of
how to enlarge the markets for our
cotton products to your attention.
PLANTERS AND MILL MEN.
"The interest of no two classes are
more closely allied nor 80 mutually
dependent as the cotton producers
and cotton manufacturers. One can
not long thrive at the expense of the
other. There is some middle ground
where the entire cotton industry will
find stable basis, and where labor
with the manufacturer and producer
will find remuneration for its
efforts. Mr.. President, the full value
of raw material is only obtained
when manufactured nearest the point
where that raw material is produced.
We are producing far more food
and clothing material than we need
for home consumption, and we must
either curtail production or find out
side markets for the surplus; the
latter we believe can be done with
profit and justice to all, and with in
| jury to none. We believe that the
South is not afflicted with over-pro-
duction in its cotton industry, but
that under proper methods of dis
tribution there is a market for all
that we can produce. Take as an
example China, which imported in
1908 cotton manufactures to the
value of $S2,OO0,OOO, to which the
contribution of the United States
amounted to only $S,S00,000, or a
little over one tenth. For the calen-
dar year 1904 there was considera-
BILE improvement, the amount of our
exports of cotton cloth to China
reaching $l4,000,000. During the
last six months of the year the value
of these exports was 81 100000, and
if this standard could be maintained,
as it seems likely to be, the figures
for the present year would obviously
be as much in excess of those of 1904
as the latter exceeded those of 1908.
1t may seem that a trade which
grows at the rate of SO per cent. per
annum is not much in need of special
encouragement or promotion.
BOOM FOR AN ENORMOUS TRADE.
"But, rapidly as the demand for
American cotton is growing in China,
that demand still represents an insig-
niticant fraction of the consuming
capacity of the vast population of the
Empire. Even at the present rate of
export we are sending but little more
than the equivalent of one yard of
our cotton fabrics to every inhabitant
in China; if the consumption of cot
ton cloth per head of the Chinese
population was equal to that of the
United States there would not be
cotton enough grown in the world to
supply it. You, Mr.. President, have
done your utmost to preserve the
boundless possibilities of this market
for American commerce and industry
by your steadfast and resolute adhe-
sion to the policy of the open door
of equality of commercial opportunity
for all nations in the far East. The
question seems pertinent, why cannot
the exporters and manufacturers Of
the United States do the rest, with
out further aid or cooperation from
their Government The answer is
to be found in the peculiar conditions
which surround the introduction of
foreign goods into the interior of
China. 1t is the testimony of all
who have studied the subject from
actual observation that China's trade
possibilities are immeasurabie that
| FOREIGN trade has merely scratched