Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1913-07-11
The Farmer.

wv i
with even greater force to the farmer.
A nation ever draws Its truest wisdom
from the deep wells Of contented ag-
riculture. Like the laborer, the farmer
Is delving into the root of things, ask
ing himself the question, what Is the
advantage OF q government guarantee
ing me possession Of my property,
when combinations Of capital can de-
prive me of the Just profits arising
from the use Of that property" The
government permits trust to exist,
and in the fall curtail all credit by re-
| fusing extensions, In order to force my
cotton on the market to draw GOLD
| from Europe Is this not confering
upon one class, the power by increas-
ing or decreasing the value of credit
and gold, to AK the price of the product
of my labor, without regard to the law
of supply and demand 2" This ques-
ton Is pressing for solution In every
AGRICULTURAL state In this Union. The
first bill on the subject was from the
wheat growers of Minnesota, then our
cotton warehouse, bill In South Caro-
lima, and bill more comprehensive
and far reaching In Wisconsin creating
a commission to handle all farm pro-
ducts. When such man as Clarence
Poe of the Progressive Farmer Is de-
voting his mastery mind and the en-
ergies Of vigorous manhood 10 TINS
work, something Is bound to happen.
Next to God. the farmer stands the
only Creator. He takes the elements
and makes something, where before
was nothing. Others grow rich and
live I'm luxury by merely changing the
form of what Is created by these hard
handed sons Of toll
The cotton crop constitutes a nation
al asset that has been used to make
the United States the mistress OF the
financial world, and yet we who grow
II remain comparatively poor. Food
products are distributed over the en-
tire world, but the south has pracu-
cal monopoly In clothing material.
Once we make intelligent use OF this
power we will become the richest and
most cultured people In the world. IL
is lying right there awaiting US. for
one, do not believe that we can ever
secure the unity Of action demanded
by SO large an undertaking except py
invoking the powers and functions OF
government. m sfe.it.s
The Grange, Alliance and Farmers
Union are monuments telling the story
of wasted effort IN individual co-opera-
ton. Is there not necessity Take 1911
as an example: in October, sold COT
ton as low as Ga cents, which was
forced to do in order to meet the .ex-
pense OF making the crop. The balance
of my crop put into warehouse and
the next June 1t sold at 12A cents. Now
pound of cotton In June would make
as much cloth as a pound In October.
The price Of cloth was the SAME. so
there was $50 per bale that somebody
made out of my cotton between Octo-
ber and June. There must have been
900. 900 bales Of cotton sacrificed in
| that way In South Carolina. Think OF
s20. 600. 900 clear loss for the farmers OF
this state. They bore It all, the fertil-
fzer. factory, doctor, lawyer. preacher
| and merchant was paid In full f3l
Take table of pric0s for ten years,
YOU will find the average difference pc
| tween October and May runs about $l6
per bale. The losses on any one lof
| these crops would establish ware
| house system: for South Carolina which
would render US independent. The
warehouse receipts would be collater-
al eagerly sought in Europe where the
price of our cotton Is fixed! All OF the
money Of this country for practical
purpose Is drained each year into tne
reserve banks Of New York. They ad.
vance funds for making the crops, ana
| due I'm the fall. New York must have
our cotton to draw European gold TO
maintain her supremacy. II the farm
ers on a large scale undertake to hold.
the New York bank, calls the local
bank, 1t calls the merchant, and ne
calls the farmer, who can only pay Dy
sacrificing his cotton. This means
twelve months. supply then on the
market in three months, with the
price steadily falling. 1t enables DO
mestic mills to stock up with a supply
of cheap cotton and the cotton mer-
chants take the surplus at lowest
prices, and in late years with an al
most total absence Of competitive buy
| ing between the domestic and foreign
merchants. The lower they can force
the price in tie fall, the more room
there Is for an advance In that held on
storage by these great cotton mer-
chants. When you consider that the
funds used in large part for this is
money sent by the country banks TO
New York, as a reserve fund, Its full
enormity is comprehended. TWO
thirds of the reserve funds Of the en-
tire country are deposited In New
York, It Is used as "call money and
| loaned to cotton and stock spectators
to gamble with. They can create q
L
calling 1t in. What everybody should
want Is stable prices. 1t is not ques-
tion of supply and demand Of cotton,
but of supply and demand of money,
and this Is absolutely In the hands or
La few men in New York city controii-
i fne the Clearing House association.
Cotton Is the corner stone OF the great
structure which they have built up,
because It is the one crop that draws
gold from Europe. would like TO
know, why IL we produce the crop. and
/ own the lands, and Europe Is not 10
/ be drained of her gold reserves, that
there Is not sufficient financial wisdom
| in congress from the south, to uullze
a God-giyen monopoly for the benent
of our section? Why should all OF the
bank reserves OF the country De con-
| centrated in New York?
| Under Wilson's new currency
scheme there viii be regional reserve
banks, and the money from the South
Carolina crop will be kept at home. AT
| present in the United States, the right
| to issue money is based upon United
States bonds. I understand that this
relic of barbarism and heritage OF the
war. by means Of which they have
made us pay a heavier war debt than
France paid Germany, Is to be changed
and that the right to issue VIII De
based upon the assets Of the bank, as
II is In Canada, France and Germany:
| II this be true what better asset couid
there be than cotton warehouse Ger
tificates under state management. we
could finance our cotton with these
certificates and pay all Of our domestic
debts. Then demand from the con-
sumers Of cotton price that would
forever put the man with land beyond
the reach Of the usurer and money
shark, both great and small. Land IT.
self is unwieldy, and not good bank.
able asset, but put the product OF that
land into a paper that passes from
hand to hand as readily as money It
self, and you give the land value
hard to estimate. This Is nothing more
than what other nations are doing. IL
is to nationalize great monopoly: as
IGermany has done the potash indus
try, and Sweden its iron and steel Id
dustries. It Is based upon the funda :
mental principles Of justice, and Is In
accord with the trend of events ana
the spirit of the times. Minnesota has
applied 1t to wheat, and the governor
Of Wisconsin Is backing a similar Dill
| for all farm products.
The south produces two-thirds OF
the clothing materials OF the woria:
They must have our cotton or go half
clothed. Furthermore the cotton OF the
hi