The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-09-22
OUR COTTON. CRISIS
AND THE WAY OUT
By CLARENCE POE
AN ADDRESS BEFORE THE MOORE COUNTY FARMERS UNION, CAR
THAGE, N. c.. SEPTEMBER Is. 1914
By CLARENCE POE

Sdt So otBNs q lCCtlII
of the County Farmers Union here
today Editor Clarence Poe, of The
Progressive Farmer, was the speaker
of the occasion, taking as his subject
that vitality important topic, the cotton
situation, and discussing in order the
duties Of the individual cotton grow
er, the state, the national and the
county. In part he said:
Let us begin with ourselves-the
duty of the individual farmer. That
duty is to hold the utmost possible
pound of cotton off the market until
conditions adjust themselves. No mat
ter what Congress has done or not
done, cotton prices would never have
dropped below ten cents if it had not
been for panic-stricken farmers trying
10 give away cotton when there was
no market for it. Those who We're
forced to sell l am not blaming, but
you know and 1 know tina hundreds
who didn't have to sell have been
selling and hammering down prices
for everybody else.
THE wild talk about having to
carry owe half the crop till next fall
IS doubtless responsible for much Of
this panic-a falsehood apparently
started or perpetuated by bear spec
ulatOrs n other INSCRIPTIONS men
anxious to buy cotton cheap. In the
very beginning / had it knocked out
OF a committee report in the Southern
Cotton Congress in Washington, but
there hasn't been a week since hat I
haven't seen some reputable mans
name signed to this outrageous fabri-
cation which has no doubt already cost
us millions Of dollars. The facts are,
OF course, that only Is per cent Of
the worlds spindles are in France.
Germany n Austria combined, and
John Sharp Williams declaration that
English mills nay not only work but
work overtime to capture German
trade seems about the view Of DR.. Car
yer of the United States Department
OF Agriculture, Americas foremost au-
thority on agricultural economics.
1t is true that there were only
$1,000 bales exported in August this
year as compared with over 200, 900
bales last year. But 1t is also true
that up to September l, 1914, we had
exported 3,734,00O bales as
with only 3,422,000 bales t the same
date last year. And the
foreign mills have had a fair surplus
to run on and didn't need to place fur
tner ORDERS at once-nor were ships
available during h first part Of Aug
ust. Moreover, Southern mills, which
up to this time last year had taken
220,0OO bales, says Secretary Hester's
latest report, nave this year taken only
1f,oO0 bales-Only one-third of last
years takings. But they haven't
stopped running.
Her then We have the whole sit
uation: There simply hasn't been ,
market for cotton. The wheels of
commerce have simply beer at a tenn
porary standStill-a tandstiu that
cannot continue and is, in fact, already
being relieved. Merchants have not
wished 60 buy new goods, preferring
to sell out old stocks entirely or wait
q little while. AS it is against law
and comfort for people to go naked
so orders for more clothing to start
up the mills must replenish their
STOCK or raw material. And with only
q small proportion Of the worlds
spindfes in the war zone, and English
and American mills anxious to capture
the trade Of any European mills thai
close there is likely in any case to
W put a small decrease in the worlds
cotton consumption in h year 1914
10, While II the war stops. there NAV
be an actual increase.
Inc individuals duty is TO hold
every pale for fairer prices.
"Ihe big fact / have been irvine
70 prlng out is just this. While
conditions may have afford
ca JustlIlcation for a drop to twelve
cent prices, a drop below ten cents
-. - hOt JuSllll6u DIV con-
dltions now existing. 1t is not that
cotton worth only seven or eight cents
~ pound that these prices have recent
y prevailed. The truth is rather that
there was temporarily, no market: the
mus didn't wish to buy at all, and
,hey gave these prices simply as a
matter of form to whatever farmer
insisted on giving away his crop any
how.
what ought the individual farmer
therefore to 10 in this situation? He
ou8nt, wherever possible, to hOld
every lock of his cotton until prices
sound forth the word to all the world
mat every man who voluntarily sells
Veacn a ten-cent level. He ought TO
n pound OF cotton at present prices is
a traitor to his family and his fell
lows He ought to remember the
lighting message of the great Apostle.
And having done all, to stand" In
the long u then the man who holds
cotton has everything to gain and
nothing to lose. We are like the man
who has hit the bottom of the well
and there is no way for him IN climb