The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1909-09-17

the United States Intellectually the l HIS
cotton growers are surrounded and 4 re-
coerced by factors which have no other ne
purpose than to keep them in this be- Is%
nighted vassalage. From this condition
influences of a new American spirit 1 ~
must liberate them Is%
We smile at the Celestial shivering in 4 Ia
the midst of coal-felds larger than the sgS
state of Pennsylvania Americas att- rs
tude toward cotton is almost equally rs
grotesque. On the southern rim of the l Is
United States, within an area of prac rs
tically IA states, is grown so per cent. f.
of the worlds supply of cotton. The re- liz
naming 20 per cent, grown in South I&%
America, India and the far east, is of an IL
inferio. quality and cannot compete
with the cotton grown in the United y
States Notwithstanding this enormous
advantage the fact still remains that l#ss
this heaven-sent boon, paradoxical TX
though it may seem, does not enrich, { -
but rather impoverishes, the southland ts
This is a tale of commercial inepti. A9 Z
tude Our greatest asset is our greatest -
humiliation. Cotton is king but it is a ~
badly served monarch. Other nations H
by farsighted policy, intense activity, NJ
and commercial alertness, have over.
come the tremendous advantage we
"
the raw product, and with cheap labor on loom
and machinery for the manufacture Of the fir
ished product now control the markets of tn
world. In the Orient, where we once had on
share of trade, the market to say the least /
slipping from us. 1t seems almost travest
on American business methods that Englis
and German manufacturers can go on tn
docks at Galveston and take our raw cottor
carry it to Europe in subsidized ships. weav
1t with cheap labor, retransport it to the I'm
ted States, pay the customs duty, and under
sell our home manufacturers. There is some
thing wrong here isn't there?
Cotton is the clothing of the uncounted mu
titudes, and even those born to the purple d.
pend upon cotton for much of their appare
ing. King Cottons dominion is mankint
America, therefore, producing practical
alone, a commodity vital to civilized life an
progress, has in that harvest the secret
Incompatible wealth and power. 1t is nC
steel or lumber, kerosene or corn. that insure
enduring leadership for the United States. VA
capital and dynamic genius have gone into III
development of steel. yet this is transitor
The scepter of steel must ultimately slip fro
our grasp. The iron-ore beds OF the Lake S
perior region are doomed. Experts have nun
bered their years as less than a generation
Lumber cannot furnish a permanent found
ton for our industrial pre-eminence The 70
ests are fast vanishing. Oil has contribute
one of the leading items to our export trad
and has multiplied incredibly the fortunes
its managers; but the oil-wells cannot disgorg
their iuminant forever. Besides the Bak
fields are ready to compete. Our corn an
wheat before the end of many decades wi
be consumed at home. Argentina, central FL
rome and Manchuria produce these cereals
prodigal abundance. Even if our corn an
| wheat were the worlds sole sufficient suppl
las I'm the case of our cotton. the oversee nj
lions could dispense with these staples, q
some of them now do. Millions upon million
of Mongolians have not yet developed an al
petite for anything save rice. But all of ther
are clad in cotton goods. An additional inc
on the shirts worn by the Mongolans woul
mean one million bales of cotton, and this
the market that is slipping from us
Cotton Makes America Supreme Anon
Nations.
Thns II is cotton, and cotton alone, that ca
r,ake America permanently unique and 81
nreme among the nations. This fact make
rrotesoue the record of our unsuccess in sci
irQ finished cotton products across the Sc;
T-he only foreign customer that counted at a
tmnortantly in the totals of our export trad
nos china. and our market there has pitiabl
declined England, Germany, and japan ar
forcing our ships from the Pacific. Just as the
crowded them off the paths of the Atlantic
We should be carrying cargoes of cotton good
~ all the ports of the earth. Instead OF tha
the nations send here for so per cent. OF theI
raw supply manufacture II into all forms {
commodities. outsel us in all the worlds ma
kets. and even successfully ship the manufa'