Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-05-02
Mill Mergers and Alien Land Owners.

excitement that would follow. The
thing would be of such immediate and
pressing Importance that the people
would simply be compelled to take
notice.
| The statement Is made merely for
illustrative purposes There Is no i'm
mediate danger of war between the
United States and any Of the other
powers of the world, for several rea-
sons that might be cited. But suf-
ficient reason is that there is not
government in the world that hasn't
sense enough to know that the inevi-
table result of such a war would be
good licking, sooner or later, most
probably sooner.
There are other things of vastly more
Importance to the people Of the south
than the probabilities Of war. There
are things that more closely affect the
future welfare Of the individual and
of the people as whole; but to arouse
those most interested to proper
sense of their importance calls for
far more tedious and complicated pro-
cess than a mere telegraphic state
| ment.
It is not our purpose to be in the
least sensational. The things with
which we are dealing are devoid OF
sensational possibilities in fact; but,
nevertheless the subjects we propose
to discuss, are as important in their
bearing on the veal or woe of the
great southern people, as would be the
results of q war between the United
States and any triple combination OF
foreign powers that could be selected
for the other side.
The things we have In mind are
| first, the cotton mill merger movement
that is now being pushed at such a
rapid pace in this state and North
Carolina, and second, the movement
that President Barrett, of the Farmers
Union is calling attention to in anoth-
er column with reference to the pur-
chase of southern cotton lands by for
eign capitalists with view to secur-
ing greater control of cotton produc-
| tion in the south.
Now, we are not trying to arouse any
unreasonable passion or feeling of bel
| ligerency in this matter. We are ap-
pealing merely to sound judgment.
| According to our view so far as that
| view is able to penetrate, there is alb
solutely nothing wrong in either move
ment. The cotton mills Of the south
have a right to merge and combine
| If they want to. There Is nothing to
prevent it, and we do not believe it is
possible for the government to make
laws that will prevent it. We say this
with pretty extensive general knowl-
edge of the history and development
of the trust idea, and what has been
done for the ostensible encouragement
of trusts. But all this Is another mat
ter that belongs to a different consid-
Grafton. Neither do we see how it is
possible to prevent foreign capitalists
from buying up southern cotton lands
and farming them on systematic bus
mess and scientific principles. Fur
thermore, we are not satisfied that 1t
would be for the best interest of the
country to prevent such thing even
| if it could be revented-certainly not
by legislation.
While there is no intention of going
exhaustively into the economic theo-
ries bearing upon this proposition, it
| is a fact that the all important source
as we'll as the base of all wealth is
land. For the clearest exposition Of
the truth of this proposition it is nee
essary to go back to the older coun-
tries of Asia and Europe, and to the
more thickly populated sections of the
United States. The time was in this
country when land was so cheap that
to own for the asking. Then followed
the period of steady and sure growth
in value; but still values as measured
| by prices have not reached a point
where they can be properly appreciat-
ed by any except the most farsighted.
If foreign capital comes to this
country for the purchase of land and
for cotton culture in considerable
quantities, it will be safe to look for
ward to a tremendous improvement in
general agricultural methods. Of
course there are those who will pooh,
pooh, the idea-who will scout the idea
of a Yankee or an Englishman being
able to manage the "nigger and the
| at. ond tphn will that
because they with their experience
cannot make big money under existing
conditions, no one else can. But time
will show that this Is mistake. The
| Englishman and the Yankee will be
able to command all the knowledge
and experience that has been acquired
and in a short time they will be ap-
plying on a tremendously large scale
all the best methods that have hereto
fore been applied only on very small
scale. They will show that they will
know how to make money, and they
will show also that they will know how
to acquire additional lands along with
many of the land owners.
, The idea Of the cotton mill merger
as we see it, will be to secure better
control of the consuming market on
the one hand. and eventually to con-
troll the price of raw cotton on the
other, hand. This, we will not discuss
! at length just now. 1t is only neces-
sary to review a principle that has
been worked until the cotton producer
ought to have a very good understand
ing of it. For instance, say the cotton
crop of a season is 100000 bales and
the mills require 100000. They
have all the statistics and all the in
formation at their command and know
how to manage. If they can get con-
troll of 100000 bales at the outset Of
season and then keep off the market,
| the tendency Of prices Of the unhought
cotton still i'm the hand Of the produ-
GERS will be weak and downward until
there is a near approach of the day