The times and democrat. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1881-current, 1911-05-25
TBls is A GOOD PLAN
EHB SOUTH SHOULD FINANCE
IFS COTTON CROP.

Ehe Could Do 1t If Each State Would
RuiId md Guarantee Bonded Ware
aouse1.
The Atlanta Constitution says:
Cottoa is the cardinal factor that
gives the south financial world pre-
eminenc,s. We plume ourselves on
the kinlly crop and say We levy tri-
butte upon civilization.
We da not!
Eurore does it for us! The deter
mining Lest Of the control of any CIV
an crop is in it's financial handing
and selling.
Eurore does that, through it's ware
houses that store cotton the year
round and feed it to mills as tney
need it, and at market prices then
prevailing.
The south-the southern farmer
that produces the cotton, and the
business man whose welfare Is IN
extricahly involved in the price at
which 1t sells-dumps most Of the
cotton on the market three or four
months after 1t natures.
The south takes what 1t can get
nnder these conditions-hampered by
glut, proved on by spectators, at the
whim Of ebb and flow in financial
conditions, and in utter and blithe
defiance of the laws Of supply and
demand. 81.
The souths folly is Europe's OPP
portunity. Europe seizes the oppor-
tunity.
Beginning with September and 60
ing through December-with negl1g1-
BILE exceptions-cotton flows from
America in steady stream, toward
Europe. Be the price high or low,
fair or fixed, very large part OF the
crop cosses the Atlantic, and the fam
er and the. southern business man are
eliminated.
It is Just here that Europe begins.
Capacious warehouses dot Liverpool,
Bremen, Hamburg, other great ports
of entry. Southern cotton is salted
down Is those warehouses. 1t only
comes out as the mills need it, and at
the price fixed by economic law, not
dire necessity. Europe reaps the
warehouse and insurance charges.
The south chews the bag.
II we had sufficient storing capac-
ity on this side, and If that storage
capacity were properly bonded-then
and, only then, would the south
control the cotton crop, its own pro-
ducts by which it. now levies, not
tribute, but just what the world lis
minded to- give it.
We do not know how much the
south has lost, and loses, by this
frightful violation of common sense!
Each year must add several millions.
The total throughout history, must
be appalling. -.
Once upon a time this situation
was txcusable. Today, 1t Is hardly
short of criminal. Before the war,
the science of business and organ
ization was in it's infancy. We could
not be expected to know OF the ma
chinery that is now common. For
few Years after the war, the job OF
recup Grafton monopolizsd our time;
and we didn't have capital enough,
sometimes, to pay the shoemaker,
much less finance big undertakings.
Today. 1t is different. Southern
banks bulge with capital. On the as
set of the cotton crop alone We can
borrow millions If we go about 1t
rightly There is no earthly expla-
nation for present conditions save ig-
norance, timidity. inertia or indifser-
ence - n2@iG ,F$S :
It is time to cut the bonds. The
toll we have already paid. is sicken:-
Ing. Each year cotton mounts high
er as a dominatingrfactor in world
relations. Each year the toll-the
criminally unnecessary toil-wsf be-
come more eSorbitant in almost a
geolaetrical ratio.
There is an easy way out. II Is
through properly bonded warehouses;
and enough Of them, in the southern
states where the cotton iss grown.
The executive committee Of the
Farmers Union. recently in session
at Little Rock, took a step toward
freedom. It instructed President
Barrett to frame bonded warehouse
act, and authorize stateAunions 'to.se-
cure It's passage by their respective
legislatures. The details Of the. plan
are not yet before US. But there Is
light in the Louisiana plan. .....
For Louisiana Is the first southern
state to begin to emancipate the
southern cotton crop from, foreign
control. Last fall the voters Of Lou
isiana passed constitutional amend
ment authorizing the Dock Board OF
New Orleans, which Is part OF the
states machinery, to erect public
Bonded warehouses for the storage
of cotton. The voters are not to be
taxed a penny. The state is not Pc
cuniarily liable. The bonds for erect
ing the warehouses are to be sold at
public subscription, and they are Sc
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