The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1911-05-04
THE SOUTH IN DANGER.

BANKERS by President Barrett Of
! the Farmers Union Against Enter
ing Wedge of Foreign Ownership
OF Cotton Lands and Points Ur-
gent Need of Action.
/ To the Officers and Members OF the
Farmers Union:
/ From the, first moment that | was
entrusted with the Presidency OF this
great organization, 1t has always
been my effort to avoid the note of
the alarmist or the sensationalist
But the time has come to speak
/ plainly regarding a matter that Is of
| the first importance not only to the
/ farmers of the South, but as we'll to
/ the business men and the people of
/ the South generally.
| 1t has not escaped the attention of
the more thoughtful that an English
! syndicate recently acquired a large
/ acreage Of fine cotton lands in one
Of the central Southern States.
The tacit purpose is to produce
cotton on these lands for English
spinners, thus avoiding dependence
uPOh INC oOuIACIA SOItOh
If this were just one instance, it
need not occasion concern.
But 1T has come to my attention
that similar negotiations are on foot
in other portions of the Cotton Belt
What is more significant, l am also
informed that foreign spinners gen
orally are contemplating the advis-
| oil iIifxy Of hnx 10
Southern States, and produce their
own staple.
Of course, in each one of these
cases the most scientific methods
will be employed, as much cotton will
be raised to the acre as the special
list can extort, rotation and fertiliza-
ton will be used to retain the rich
proved farm machinery will be on
the program.
| We cannot censure foreign spin
ners for projecting this movement
1t is simply business proposition
with them.
1t should also be business prop
osition with the South to take cog
nizance of a movement that may
throw the balance of power in our
so-called monopoly of cotton into
the hands of foreigners.
And such is the inevitable conclu-
sion Of the policy under debate by
Egiish and continental spinners.
Hundreds upon thousands of
Southern farmers would be COMPEL
ed to compete upon the open mar
ket with a product raised by the
buyers upon our own soil and by
the most improved methods.
1 The demand for native-grown cot
ton would dwindle as these foreign
owned farms came into their full
productiveness.
! Prices might, probably would, be
controlled by mill interests as abso-
lutely as they used to be controlled
by cotton exchange operators before
the days of the Farmers Union.
The penalty would not be confined
to the farmer.
It would be visited in a greater or
less degree upon every business in
the Southern States, since Southern
business and cotton are, as yet. in
separable financial factors.
The stream of gold now coming in
to the South each year from Europe
would be lessened. Cotton, which is
now one Of the eountry's greatest re-
liances for preserving the itnerna-
: tional balance on the right isde
would lose much of its vitality in
that direction.
am speaking temporarily, be
: cause this menace is yet no larger
than mans head. We can avert it.
/ and we must go about the task with
: out delay.
: Conditions under a general inva-
| sion of foreign land buyers would be
. disastrous The absentee landlord
t ism that is making life such strug.
gle in England, and more of a strug.
gle in Ireland, might be reproduced
: IN a proportionate scale in this
: country.
: The one way is for Southern farm.
ers to acquire their own acres and
e what is of equal importance, to use
!. upon them the most scientific of cul
tural methods. It is case Of fight
y ing the devil with fire.
We may as well face the trutf
v no as later And the truth is tina
e cotton-growing in the South viii no
It reach a genuine business basis unit
|, every farmer makes every acre re
z turn its maximum, until he reduce.
n the cost of production to a minimum
|. and raises his own food products.
n You may ask how this is to b
y done when hundreds OF thousands o
farmers do not own their own farm
n or are under obligations to land
" lords.