Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1912-02-28
AIKEN . SCORES COTTON BEARS.
Some Interesting Facts About Ex-
4 change ManipuJatioHs--Att
ney General Wickersl' m
Touched Up.

Mr.. Aiken, of South Carolina: Mr..
Chairman, some time ago l intro
duced bill (H. r. 12403), the pur-
pose Of, which js 10 regulate trans
actions on the produce exchanges OF
this country. This bill, If enacted
into law, will confine transactions on
the exchanges to crop products actu-
ally in existence and ready for deliv-
cry, fixing proper penalties for viola
tions Of its provisions.
At the same time introduced this
bi!--July -. 1911--I knew in a
general way the evils Of exchange
methods, but their enormity was not
known to me fully until the closing
months Of that year.
Only few years ago a large per
cent Of the lands and homes OF South
efn farmers were under mortgage.
Reduced to poverty by the war, the
Southern soldier came home to en-
list IN an industrial struggle full Of
deprivation and little less terrible in
its effects than the scenes Of blood
and carnage through which he had
passed. Cotton, by reason of its cli-
matte adaptability and ready market
value, is the natural Southern crop,
and It's cultivation offered the only
hope to the Southern farmer after
the War of Secession. In the history
of its decline in price to less than
half the cost Of production could be
written history Of deprivation, suf-
fering, and even want never before
experienced by a people Of like re-
finement and intelligence. Northern
cotton mills were reaping harvest.
They extended their investments to
the South and, North and South, mill
interests flourished as never before
in the history of this country. South
ern homes were swept from their
owners and converted into mill
profits, and these in turn placed in
new mills. Hard as was the struggle
with the cotton farmer, it was not
without it's beneficial results in cre-
ating new demand for the cotton
Though many were driven from their
farms to seek work in the mills,
better day began to dawn on those
who remained on the farms. In
creased manufacturing took cotton
+ more and more out Of the hands of
the spectators, and it began to COM
K mand a price that gave profit to
(. the. nroducer. Mortgages. yellow
with age, were lifted from southern
homes, and peace ana conten tment
could bo read even III the lines pf,the
furrowcd brow.
These dark days in our history
will never be re-enacted. Our peo-
pie have concluded that they are en-
titled to part OF the profit of their
crop. They have built warehouses
and have so diversified their crops
as to stand the assault OF the cotton
gambler, and few Of them, at least,
will share the profit with him and
the mill man.
Determined, then, as few Of our
people are, to have share in the
profit on their cotton, the indignation
they feel toward a lot Of cotton gam
blers whose market manipulations
have robbed them Of millions of dol
lars profit on this crop is not hard to
understand. The poorer, the more
helpless, farmer has been squeezed
out and forced to part with his crop
below the cost Of production. This
hal already been fed to the greedy
bear.
Two years ago, when Messrs.
Brown, Hayne, Scales and others
were charged with maintaining
pool to hold up the price Of cotton,
the Attorney General OF the United
States had them indicted before a
Federal grand jury. And for whose
protection? 1t was done at the in
stance Of lot of bear thieves who
had systematically robbed Southern
planters for more than 80 years. The
indictment alleged that mill men had
to pay fictitious price for their cot
ton, and many Of them were forced
to shut down. | know something of
the inside history Of that so-called
the idea originated with Southern
mill president Of La Grange, Ga;
that the details were worked out al
Greenville, in my own State, and
that so-called bull operators were
brought in to aid the cotton manu-
facturers to uphold the price OF raw
material against the manipulation OF