The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-06-04

Washington, D. c. ' WANT to tell you how Uncle Sam has saved the cotton crop of the nation \ how he has kept his children from bankruptcy, and thereby prevented un- told millions of human beings at home and abroad from going in rags. The story is one that deals not only with the south, but with our balance of trade. It affects the cotton factories of New England as well as those of Great Britain. and all parts of Europe. It affects the lifework of millions of women and children and the pocketbook of every man in the coun- try.
 It is the story of d plague greater than that of the locusts which ate up Pharaoh s Egypt or of the grasshoppers which some years ago chewed the heart of bleeding Kansas" It is the story of a bug not one-tenth the size of a mans finger nail. but which, uncontrolled, bade fair to scratch prosperity from the face of the best states south of the line of Mason and Dixon It Is the story of the boil weevil and of how Uncle Sam's army of 75,000 demonstration farmers scattered over the cotton belt are fighting sit and thereby bringing in an era of wealth the possibilities of which are beyong the wild est dreams of that land
 The Realm of King Cotton
 Have you ever thought how mighty King Cotton is? He Is the righest mon- arch on the face of the globe. He has an aggregate annual income, in raw material and goods, worth billions of dollars, and this is steadily growing in value. Our own share of tue cotton crop has more than doubled within the past 20 years and has quadrupled within the past 50. If the present rate of increase continues the demand will be twice as great within 20 years more, and by 1850 we shall be asked to shupply more than 5o,000, 900 bales. This estimate is based on the worlds consumption of cotton, of which we are bound to always be the chief factor. We are now making more than aeven-tenths of the whole, and although England. Germany and Russia have been spending millions to compete with us. they have so far labored in vain. They have tried to develop new fields in Africa, Asia and elsewhere. but the climate and labor in those fields are such that they have but little hope for the future.
 Where Is some cotton made in India and Egypt and smaller amounts in Rus sion Turkestan. Brazil and China. but of the total crop of the world the United States still produces a great deal more than two-thirds and the pros pect Is that she will do that for all time to come. She would certainly dt iil"Io II II were not TOT tne poil WeeFi and she can still do that so the scien- tiafs of the agricultural department tel me, with the weevil to fight.
 A Bug Which Eats Gold
 Just before I go farther I want te toll you something about this little bug which eats gold faster than the mercury used in our smelters I saw one during visit to the agricultural department this afternoon. It was in- closed in g glass bottle no bigger around than lead pencil and not ar i. inch long, It is not as large as a flea and 1t is. fin fact. a little green-sn Gray creature about a quarter of ar lnrh long. with n miniature snout of the danie character as that of razor-ba ack h0g It is really beetle which breeds 1n tho pods and seeds of the cotton n1ant and which seems to feed alone 0ppn it. N is cunning creature and