Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1914-12-23
EUROPEAN WAR SHAT.
TIERS KING COTTON'S
THRONE
FLEECY STAPLE MUST PAY RAN.
SOM INTO THE GOLFERS OF
WAR.
Nation Rings With Cries of Stricken
Industry.
BY Peter Radford
Lecturer National Farmers Union

BY Peter Radford
Lecturer National Farmers Union.
King Cotton has suffered more from
the European war than any other az.
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
king!"
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 a BALE:
bankers have been formulating hold
ing plans; congress and legislative
bodies have deliberated over relief
measures; statesmen and writer's
have grown eloquent expounding the
inalienable rights Of His Majesty"
and presenting schemes for preserv-
ing the financial integrity OF the
stricken staple, but the sword of Eu-
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 a
war loss OF 100000 900, and a bale
of cotton brave enough to enter a
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 q 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 of 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. filling 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
guish 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, II,
indeed, we have not already laid the
foundation for at least temporary re-
lief.
More Pharaohs Needed In Agriculture.
Farm products have no credit and
perhaps can never have on a perma-
nent and satisfactory basis unless
build warehouses, cold storage plants,
elevators. ETC., for without storage and
credit facilities. the south is COM
PEELED TO dump its crop on the market
at harvest time. The Farmers Unions
In the cotton producing states have
for the past ten years persistently ad-
vocated the construction of storage
facilities. We have built during this
period 1000 warehouses with q ca
pacity Of approximately 1000, 900 bales
and looking backward the results
would seem encouraging, but looking
forward, we are able to house less
than one-third of the crop and ware
houses without a credit system lose
30 per cent Of their usefulness. The
problem is gigantic one-too great
for the farmer to solve unaided He
must have the assistance of the bank
er. the merchant and the government.
In production we have reached the
high water mark of perfection in the
worlds history, but our marketing
methods are most primitive. In the
dawn of history we find agriculture
blowing with forked stick but with
system OF warehouses under govern
mental supervision that made the
Egyptians the marvel of civilization,
for who has not admired the vision of
Joseph and applauded the wisdom of
Pharaoh for storing the surplus until
demanded by the consumer, but in
this age we have too many Josephs
who dream and not enough Pharanha