The Lexington dispatch. [volume] (Lexington, South Carolina) 1870-1917, 1905-05-10
The Lexington Dispatch.
Wednesday, May 10, 1905.
Cotton Growers.
What the Southern Cotton Associa.
ton Stands For.


The enormous increase in the
value of the staple after it has passed
through the loom, presents the high
eat evidence of the necessity for the
more rapid building of cotton mills
in the South, and the exporting OF
the finished product from our shores
rather than that of the raw material.
The export Of our raw cotton an
nually brings more gold into this
country than the combined exports
of all other agricultural products
and agricultural implements shipped
from America TO foreign countries.
a crop of such magnitude in value,
and one upon which the entire civil
lied world so absolutely depends,
should receive the immediate pre-
lection of every business interest in
this country. No cotton grows IN
foreign countries up to the present
time, can be deliverd st our ports at
a less price than 14c per pound. 1t
is generally admitted by experts
which have Investigated the Efforts
made to produce cotton in foreign
countries, that up to the present
time, such efforts have been a failure,
and it is extremely doubtful if there
will ever come time when foreign
grown cotton can ever be produced
proftably in competition with Amer
lean grown cotton.
OUR AsIAT1c TRADE.
Il is confidently believed that the
Panama Canal will be opened to the
commerce of the high seas within
the next ten years, after which time,
the South will be in a position to
secure direct and quick trade re-
lations with the Aslatic nations of
the Far East. In China alone, more
than FOUR HUNDRED AND
FIFTY MILLIONS OF PEOPLE
are ready and willing to wear cloth
made from American cotton. In
Japan, more than FORTY FIVE
MILLIONS OF PEOPLE are
equally willing to be clothed from
American grown cotton. With the
introduction of our trade relations
with three hundreds of millions of
people, a crop of fifty million bales
of cotton can be consumed with the
same ease as is now done with q
crop of ten millions, among the civil
lied nations Of Europe and America.
With these splendid possibilities
lying just ahead, only waiting for
proper development, the time has
come when the South must no longer
look to the mere matter Of produc-
tion, but in the development of our
agricultural resources, We must begin
to reach out for wider markets in
order to meet the rapidly developing
agricultural conditions of the South.
INFORMATION AND COOPERATION.
The principal motive power need
ed to advance and promote our in
terest are splendidly equipped organ
lied forces, operating in perfect
harmony to reach a correct solution
of the problems which now confront
US. This organization among our
people is being sought through the
SOUTHERN COTTON ASSOCIA-
TION, and tie prospect for success
is particularly gratifying at the
present time. The South possesses
an abundance OF brain, energy and
manhood. In the veins of her peo-
pie courses the highest type of
Anglo-Saxon blood; a race which has
always been equal to every emer-
gency and which has invariably &C.
complished every great object which
it has undertaken. What the South
needs more than all things else, is
Information with reference to the
matters outlined above. Our people
should know the splendid possibili-
ties within their reach and how to
develop their great resources. The