The Natchitoches enterprise., 1914-12-17
EUROPEAN WAR SHAT.
! TIERS KING COTTON'S
! THRONE
FLEECY STAPLE MUST PAY
RANSOM INTO THE COZ
FERS OF WAR,
Nation Rings With Cries of
Stricken Industry.
BY Peter Radford.
Lecturer National Farmers Union.

King Cotton has suffered more
from the European war than any
other agricultural product on the
American continent. The shells
of the belligerents have bursted
over his throne, frightening his
subjects and shattering his mark
cts, and, panic-stricken, the nd
tion cries out God save the
king"
People from every walk of life
have contributed their mite to-
ward rescue work. Society has
danced before the king; milady
has decreed that the family ward
robe shall contain only cotton
goods; the press has plead with
the public to "buy a bale"; bank
ers have been formulating hold
ing plans; congress and legisla-
tive bodies have deliberated over
relief measures; statesmen and
writer's have grown eloquent ex-
pounding the inalienable rights
of "His Majesty" and presenting
schemes for preserving the hnan-
cial integrity of the stricken
staple, but the sword of Europe
has proved mightier than the pei
of America in fixing value upon
this product of the sunny south.
Prices have been bayoneted, val
ues riddled and markets decimat-
ed by the battling hosts of the
eastern hemisphere until the
American farmer has suffered a
war loss of $40O,0OO,OO0, and
bale of cotton brave enough to
enter an European port must paw
a ransom of half its value or 60
to prison until the war is over.
Hope of the Future Lies in CO.
operation.
The Farmers Union, through
the columns of the. press. wants.
to thank the American people for
the friendship, sympathy and as
sistance given the cotton farm
ers in the hour Of distress and to
direct attention to cooperative
methods necessary to permanent
ly assist the marketing of all
farm products.
The present emergency pre-
sents as grave a situation as ever
confronted the American farmer
and from the viewpoint of the
producer, would seem to justify
extraordinary relief measures,
even to the point of bending the
constitution and straining busi-
ness rules in order to lift por-
ton of the burden off the backs
OF the farmer, for unless some
thing is done to check the inva-
sion Of the war forces upon the
cotton fields, the pathway of the
European pestilence on this con-
tinent will be strewn with mort
gagged homes and famine and
poverty will stalk over the south
land, filling the highways of in
dustry with refugees and the
bankruptcy court with prisoners.
All calamities teach us lessons
and the present crisis serves to
illuminate the -frailties of our
.nafketfng methods and the weak
ness Of our credit system, and
out Of the financial anguish and
travail Of the cotton farmer will
come volume of discussion and
a mass Of suggestions and finally
a solution of this, the biggest
problem in the economic life of
America, if, indeed, we have not
already laid the foundation for at
least temporary relief.
More Pharoahs Needed in
Agriculture.
Farm products have no credit
and perhaps can never have on a
permanent and satisfactory basis
unless we build warehouses, cold
storage plants, elevators, ETC., for
without storage and credit facili-
ties, the south is compelled to
dump its crop on the market lat
harvest time. The Farmers
Unions in the cotton producing
states have for the past:ten. years
persistently advocated the con-
struetion of storage FACILITIES. We
have built during this period
1900 warehouses with a capacity
of approximately 100000 bales