The weekly chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Craig County, Okla.) 1905-1913, 1911-12-01
COTTON TRADE PAYS
TRIBUE TO EUROPE.
Better Banking System Needed TO Give
The South Command of Its
Own Trade.

New York, Nov. 2S.-Irying T. Bush,
OF the Bush Terminal company, who
has put millions of dollars into pier Z
development on the New York water I
front. and who is recogized as an au.
thority on coast-wise and overseas
commerce. said before leaving for Eu- I
rope that he believed that the greatest
benefit from the opening of the Panama >
Canal would accrue to the southern j
ports.
The port of New York said i!r i
Bush, naturally will gain from the /
great expansion of our trade with the {
Orient that will follow the opening O.
the canal, but the southern ports, et'
pccially the ports on the Gulf, like
New Orleans and Galveston, viii reap
the greatest benefits.
'eThe commercial interests OF the
south are looking forward to the
growth of their trade with the open /,
ing of the canal, but do not believe +
they fully realize what this coming
recharting of ocean routes means to
them. The opening of the Suez Canal
marked an epoch in the worlds com
merce; the opening of the Panama
canal will mark a greater epoch.
"The south has been making great
strides in our export trade, which now
reaches the enormous total of two bill !
lion dollars a year, How few people
lrealize that, next to New York, the two
greatest shipping ports of the country
are the Gulf ports of New Orleans and
Galveston. They far outstrip the ports
of Boston and Philadelphia. 1t is our
wonderful trade in cotton that has
placed the south in such command
ing position in our export trade. We
are selling abroad every year close TO-,
half a billion dollars worth OF the
south's great staple Cotton is the 5ul
wark of our export trade.
"But the south cannot reap the full,
benefit from the export trade and from
the opening of the Panama Canal sol
long as it continues to be dependent
upon outside gnancial centers for the
financing of its trade.
Every pound of cotton that is ship
ped today from the south pays its tsRI
lutte to the London banker, either dil
! rectly or through New York. One Of
! Jour leading international bankers said
at New Orleans, last week, that the
United States paid hundreds of mil
lions of dollars year tribute to fot
= eign bankers for financing our foreign
t trade. A good share of this tribute is
/. paid by the south
r "The whole country needs mora
e modern banking system to finance our
f SO, 500 900 900 of foreign commerce. 1t
/, lis time we stopped paying tribute TO
it Europe for doing work that we ought
e to do ourselves for our own profit Bat
l. the south. more than any other section
of the country, and especially in view
f. of the expansion of southern commerce
a that will come with the opening of the
,f canal, is in need of a better BANKING
ie system.
IS Il do not mean to say that the south
e. has not strong sound banks that com
f. part most favorably with the banks ol
the rest of the country. Nor do meal
st to say that banking progress in the
is south has not kept pace with southern
OF business In fact, there has been
wonderful increase in the south's bank
If ing resources in recent years. In thi
Id past ten years, while the deposits o
re the banks of the whole country has'
w gained 116 per cent. those. of the soutl
at have gained 24t per cent, or more thai
m twice as much. Southern bank deposits
s. have increased since 1900 from sS75
10000 to 0O,000.000 =
rs 'But. what the south needs-sS
ot this is what the whole country needs
a is cooperation between the banks ths
ar will enable them to do the work thf
a foreign bankers now do in financin
ot American commerce.
lu- GAS business man interested in OF
int foreign trade have special intere'
lat in banking reform that viii place l
an on par with the nations of Euror
re- in handling the credit transactions thu
control the overseas commerce of tn
he world"
lat