Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1912-05-14

drained Oh neT SOlu, WHICH, Is lOChcu
up in New. York banks to maintain q
commercial supremacy in which the
south Is not permitted to share, be-
cause as we allow our cotton to de.
prive our customers of their purchas.
ing power, the price falls and our pro.
fits 60 This Is the real reason why
the south cannot hold her cotton
New York will not permit it, because
she desires this foreign gold in ordel
to maintain her financial supremacy
1t is not only irksome to the planter
but also to the foreign buyer Of oul
cotton. Last October the price Of cot
ton had dropped from IA to cents
per pound. Frantic appeals were
made to the planter to hold his cot.
ton. AS a matter Of fact, 1t was
physical impossibility for him to do so
and If he had, 1t would have put ev-
cry bank and lien merchant in the
south into the bankrupt court. The
advances for making the crop was
credit money from the north, and
the time had come when New York
needed it's annual supply Of gold, and
the cotton crop was sacrificed. LOOK
at it now since New York has its
reserves replenished, and the surplus
of the crop has passed out Of the
hands Of the farmers; cotton has re-
covered almost all 1t lost in october.
Middling is bringing IL cents. Here is
q loss to the state of South Carolina
alone of thirty millions Of dollars.
This Is in the face Of the fact, that
the crop has proven larger than antic-
pated. The government reports in
dicated 14,S00,000 bales in October,
and it was claimed that drop Of thir-
ty-five dollars per bale was to dis
count this enormous yield. Now
when the crop seems to be sixteen and
one-half million bales. there Is an ad-
vance of cents per pound. There
can be no explanation for such an
economic absurdity, except as I have
set forth, and there is no relief save
for the state government to provide
warehouses and thus enable the plan
ter to finance his crop. This Is not
an exceptional case-in 1908 the fluc-
tuation amounted to seven and one
half cents-thirty-sev dollars and a
half per bale, more than one-half OF
the total value Of the crop. Is not the
conservation Of this vast sum the duty
of the state. Cotton Is the basis Of
our civilization. The thirty million
dollars of which we have been depriv-
ed out of the crop Of 1911, Is being
felt in every home in South Carolina.
We are told to curtail acreage In 1912
and raise our supplies at home. This
is good as far as it goes, but 1t does
not lie at the root of the matter. Must
we only make profit by discounting
the bounty of nature? The present
advance in prices demonstrates the
fallacy Of the over productions theory.
There Is a need and use for every
bale of our cotton, because production
has not kept pace with increased con-
sumption of American cotton. 1t is
not q question Of -production-ft
is a question of finance-one so large,
and embracing interests SO varied, and
so widely scattered, that
nothing short of the functions Of a
power can solve the prob
lem. You may say, it Is no larger
than the interests represented by the
steel trust-true, but the individuals
who form the steel trust are few,
highly intelligent men, located in the
centres of population.
The cotton planters are scattered
over thousands Of square miles, indi-
producing few bales of the
total crop. Many Of them are ne
groes, and the moment you attempt
an effective organization, the race
question becomes an issue. The lack
Of general education and the blight of
ignorance Is the greatest handicap to
the south. What chance against the
combined wealth and brains Of the
nation have these humble toilers
planting in the bleak winds Of March
and picking in the September heat,
each contributing his mite to produce
the crop for which the manufacturing
and financial world so eagerly await?
Is not a class so situated and produc-
ing a crop that feeds and clothes 75
per cent Of the people in twelve states,
loo 70 in fttrn
ing the worlds balance Of trade in ia
vor of the United States, worthy of all
the protection that the state Of South
Carolina can give through the exer-
else of her constitutional powers?
"High Finance"
BY reference to a table Of prices,
find that the average annual fluctua-
ton in the price Of cotton for thirty
years Is about SO per cent-that is
the market has fiuctuated 25 per cent
above and 25 per cent below the aver
age mean price. Thus II will be seen
that 1 have received. say, seven and
one-half cents per pound for cotton
uuElTS the lIlIee IlolllS WITCH was
to sell. The average price
Is 10 cents and IL 1-2 cents the maxi
mum price, which | would receive Ia
ter when normal money conditions
hold sway. These prices are not due
to the operation Of the laws Of supply
and demand, but to the general re-
iuction in prices, which must invar-
iably follow a violent contraction in
the ,'olume of money. This applies
With tvo-fold power to cotton because
{ the contraction of credit money at
home and the drain Of gold from
abroad, which gold Is not permitted
to go into circulation again until after
cotton has passed out of the hands of
tho planter.
What is the remedy? I answer, di-
rect trade relations with the foreign
buyers Of our cotton. With the es-
of warehouses to carry
surplus cotton and the issue Of these
certificates. the same banks which
furnish the spinners with money in
Manchester will loan us money
through their correspondents here.