Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-10-18

1 6ylY6m0, 4 mSmOcF Oh inc cxcGuIIFc COuH-
| ell. made a motion that the whole subject
| Of currency be made a special order of
business for 10 o'clock tomorrow morning.
| which was carried.
| Plea for Cotton.
| Mr.. Charles ]. Haden OF Atlanta, Ga.
| made "a plea for the cotton fields" saying:
The cotton fields Of the south need a
larger volume Of currency at the harvest
| season. Cotton at that season SO nearly
| absorbs our whole banking capital that
| other lines OF trade are thereby made t0
| suffer. Am here to ask your distinguished
| body to throw the weight Of its great In.
win relieve this yearly congestion. 1t Is
| unjust and unsafe that we be left wholly
dependent upon eastern banks. 1t some-
times happens that demands. enormous and
| Unforeseen, are made upon New York for
| money just at the time Of the cotton move
| ment.
| will pause at the threshold Of my argu-
| ment to say that we want only sound
money Cotton is to the commodities what
| gold Is to the moneys-the most universal
ly coveted. the most readily cashed, the
most widely consumed among the great
4 staples of trade. It demands currency
as good as gold, q currency regulated and
! warranted by the federal government and
| redeemabie in gold. Federal Endorsement
American financial stability. and upon II
| floats the flag OF our business supremacy.
It is necessary that I approach by way
! of certSin established facts. as upon step
ping stones, to prove the truth Of my postu-
late.
Other parts Of our republic. in the first
| half Of the last century. accumulated their
surplus In the form Of the yellow metal. or
\ its equivalent in the worlds markets; but
| the cotton states held their cash reserve in
black Drawn end sinew. species of prop
| erty not elsewhere marketable. 1t would
1 be irrelevant to recount the story or how
| this reserve of 81, 500, 600 COO was stricken
| from the balance sheet.
| Sown and Reaped in Debt.
Beginning with the crop of 1855. and con-
tinuing by very slow and gradual diminu-
| ton for about thirty years, the cotton crop
| was literally sown and reaped in debt. For
4 the first decade OF that period, contrary to
| our national traditions. and In violation OF
/ the Federal Constitution, the cotton crop
| was punished by a direct federal tax. Dur
| Ing the first decade. and, indeed, through
| the greater part of the second, our people
| were oppressed by a degree Of poverty
| which can be understood only by those who
| know the wreckage of a war OF Invasion:
and by debt which trails the footsteps OF
| poverty, as the jackai pursues the wounded
| prey. ,
| A system of crop mortgages prevailed
| throughout the south. Cotton was the only
crop on which the farmer could obtain ad-
| vancements of supplies It alone command
| ed gold, and gold was then at q premium.
| In most instances the crop was mortgaged
| before the seed terminated; the law for
babe that the lien should be made before
the planting The supply merchant gave
| his mortgagor a line of credit and charged
| against him his supplies at profits SO ex-
| orbitant that they would now sting the
| conscience Of even a modern trust. In his
| turn the merchant pledged these mort
| cages to the eastern wholesale merchants,
| who. In their~turn. demanded profits com
mensurate with the helplessness of the
| consumer. The supply men were generally
| called factors. The farmers vaguely
| thought that this word was corruption of
malefactors.
| Banks and money lenders were few and
remote. In September when the cotton
| bolls began to unfold their palms. display
ing the crisp white staple. the clamor for
saler called the factor. and the factor called
the farmer. The factor sent his patrols
on horseback through the districts to in
| spect the crop of his debtors. and to see
that the staple was hurried to the gin
/ and from the gin hurried on to the factory.
Sometimes years came and went before
| he earned. All debts matured at harvest
| time and no one was willing to wait. The
importers OF Manchester and Liverpool ar
| bitrarily named the price. 1t was trans
/ than sale. There was but one question:
How much will the English spinners
| give?'
Very Dark Years
1t Is painful to consider that era-those
| desperately dark years in which it seemed
| to me, as a boy. that the sun of hope
which cheers the earth and gilds all ma
| ture had set forever upon the scenes of
| my childhood" The greatest agricultural
product OF the world was disposed of by
| the toilers of the field as If by beggars
Our government allowed its monopoly in
| herited of nature, to be slaughtered by
| alien hands. Lacking financial support,
Ia nj In 10 to
| temporarily, the clamor of creditors while
| the cotton producers could hold their crop
even long enough to negotiate with for
| eign consumers. the people of America lost
and the people OF Europe gained. within
| those thirty years, at the lowest computa-
ton. more than a billion dollars of gaid!
A report of the Department of Commerce
and Labor now fresh from the printing
| press. tells us that during the last fiscal
year cotton was the king of American
| exports" The ranks of the different artt-
cles OF export are as follows:
All kinds OF breadstufrs. 1s6 900 900
An kinds of provisions. 211 OOo 900
| All kinds OF iron and steel. 161. 100000
sources, or from swift witnesses. Between
the bureau of commerce and laDor and the
| cotton fields there Is no political affinity.
1t Is a declaration Of the government. unrer
product of the world. This same report
further shows that the total balance of
trade for the fiscal year in favor Of Amer
lea was only $374.0eO,OOO. Thus, but for
the export of cotton, there would have
been no balance Of trade to our credit, the
whitening blight OF panic would have set
in, and not only would our people have
been short OF what we now have in hand
nearly $500, 100000. but In addition thereto
$50 GOO, 900 Of American gold must have
been sent across the seas to foot our losses
| and to augment the prosperity Of other
lands The worlds annual output Of gold is
less than the south's annual output Of cot
| ton.
4 A Fostering Mother.
1 During the years of the travail of cotton,
iron and steel were the favortte offspring
of the protective tariff system. The gov
eminent. as a fostering mother. barred our
ports against the free ingress of the manu-
featured products of the old world to pro-
tect our, Infant Observation-Disclosures.
though now hoary-beaded with age. are
still sucking at the breast-and in return
these infants. brought back into America
during the last fiscal year the splendid re-
turn of 1851 100000. Herein was wisdom
justified of her Children During the same
era, the government. by enormous subsi-
dies of land to the transcontinedltal rail-
| roads. developed the great northwest,