The Richfield recorder. (Richfield, Idaho) 1909-1931, 1914-12-10
EUROPEAN WAR SHAT
TIERS KING CO7T0N'S
THRONE
FLEEcY STAPLE MUST PAY RAN
SOM INTO THE GOLFERS OF
WAR.
Nation Rings With Cries Of Stricken
Industry.
BY Peter Radford

King Cotton has suffered more from
the European war than any other ag
ricultural product on the American
continent The shells of the belliger
ents have bursted over his throne
frightening his subjects and shatter
ing his markets, and panic-stricken
the nation cries out God save the
kingl''
People from every walk of life have
contributed their mite toward rescue
work Society has danced before the
king; milady has decreed that the
family wardrobe shall contain only
cotton goods; the press has plead
with the public to buy BALE;
bankers have been formulating hold
ing plans; congress and legislative
bodies have deliberated over relief
measures; statesmen and writers
have grown eloquent expounding the
inalienable rights of His Majesty"
and presenting schemes for preserv-
ing the financial integrity of the
rope has proved mightier than the pen
of America In fixing value upon this
product of the sunny south. Prices
have been bayoneted, values riddled
and markets decimated by the battling
hosts of the eastern hemisphere until
the American farmer has suffered
war loss of 100000 900, and a bale
of cotton brave enough to enter
European port must pay ransom of
half its value or go to prison until the
war Is over
Hope of the Future Lies In co-opera-
ton.
The Farmers Union, through the
columns Of the press, wants to thank
the American people for the friend
ship. sympathy and assistance given
the cotton farmers In the hour Of dis
tress and to direct attention to CO
operative methods necessary to per-
manently assist the marketing of all
farm products.
The present emergency presents as
grave situation as ever confronted
the American FARMER and from the
viewpoint of the producer, would seem
to Justify extraordinary relief meas
ures, even to the point of bending the
constitution and straining business
rules In order to lift a portion of the
burden off the backs of the farmer,
for unless something is done to check
the invasion of the war forces upon
the cotton fields, the pathway of the
European pestilence on this continent |
will be strewn with mortgaged homes |
and famine and poverty will stalk over
the southland, filing the highways of |
industry with refugees and the bank
ruptcy court with prisoners
All calamities teach us lessons and
the present crisis serves to illuminate
the frailties of our marketing meth
DDS and the weakness Of our credit
system. and out of the financial an
,uish and travail of the cotton farmer
will come a volume of discussion and
! mass of suggestions and finally a
solution of this, the biggest problem
n the economic life of America, II.
indeed, we have not already laid the
for at least temporary re-
ief
lore Pharaohs Needed In Agriculture.
Farm products have no credit and
erhaps can never have on a perma-
ent and satisfactory basis unless W.,
u1ld warehouses, cold storage plants.
levators, ETC., for without storage and
redit facilities, the south is COM
elled to dump it's crop on the market
harvest time. The Farmers Unions
the cotton producing states have
'r the past ten years persistently ad- I
ocated the construction of storage {
lcilities. We have built during this
eriod 1000 warehouses with ca
acity of approximately 100000 bales 7
Id looking backward the results
ould seem encouraging, but looking
rward, we are able to house less 1
an one-third of the crop and ware q
fuses without credit system lose f
per cent of their usefulness. The v
oblem is gigantic one-too great n
the farmer to solve unaided He
lst have the assistance of the bank Il
the merchant and the government II
In production we have reached the s.
sh water mark of perfection in the II
rld's history, but our marketing II
'thods are most primitive. In the
wn of history we find agriculture
wing with a forked stick but with d.
ystem of warehouses under govern W
ntal supervision that made the CT
yptians the marvel of civilization,
who has not admired the vision of
eph and applauded the wisdom OF Sc
.raoh for storing the surplus until ca
landed by the consumer, but in 70
age we have too many Josephs
dream and not enough Pbaraohs
build w