The farmer and mechanic., 1914-09-29

amount which normally goes abroad.
outside of the 40 per cent we use and
and the one-third imported that Eng
land uses, assuming that her mills will
run in a normal way Then what does
that leave on our hands Of the Ameri-
can cotton crop? 1t leaves 40 per
cent and 40 per cent of the American
cotton held back from a 14,e00, ,000FI
bale crop would amount to 5.6OO,000
bales: and that amount Of cotton held
back in this country, in my Judgment
would put the price of cotton down to
or cents. and if the war continues
our only salvation in the South would
be to &c to planting grain.
Manufacturers Big Chance.
Senator Simmons then resumed:
Mr.. President, so far as the man
ufacture OF cotton is concerned. this
situation, if we can get transportation
facilities. offers the cotton manufac-
turers of the Cnited States the great
est opportunity that they have ever
had Given the factories and the
money to operate them and the ships
to carry their product to the neutral
markets OF the World-to Central
America, South America, the West
Indies and the Orient-instead of
manufacturing in this country one
third of the raw cotton that we pro-
duce in the South we might find a
ready demand for much greater per-
centage Of our raw cotton to supply
our own mills, and we might enor-
mOuSly increase the output of cotton
goods in the South and New England.
"Mr. President, I hope the time
may come, and | believe the time will
come. when the United States will
manufacture the bulk of the raw cot
ton we produce in this country. and
the coming Of that time will be great
ly fastened if we shall take advantage
Of the opportunities this situation af
fords.
Il do not take, as the junior Sena-
| tor from Mississippi suggests, a pes
simistic view Of the present situation
[ take an optirn site view Of it. | be-
| lieVe with the Senator from Missis-
sippl that the war cloud will roll over
| even sooner than we expect. | believe
| if the war cloud does not roll over.
if this is a long and protracted war,
! that many of the mills Of England,
Italy, and France will continue to
| operate and to consume our raw cot
| ton
| But we all know that war operates
| to curtail their activities under most
| favorable conditions, and to my mind
we would be crir1inally neglectful and
| unmindful Of our duty to the farmers
and the manufacturers Of this country
If we did not do everything possible to
| safeguard their interests. The first
| condition to this end is to provide ade-
Quate ocean transportation. If, con-
| frOnted by this condition, we sit idly
| by and hug the hope and the expec-
| tatOn, though there may be just and
reasonable grounds for hope that Eu-
| rope, because of her necessities, will
| come to our relief and take care of
this situation, we shall be criminally
| neg1ectful in our duty to our consti-
tuents''
Unsafe to Rely on Foreign Ships.
Answering the suggestion of Senator
Williams that enough foreign vessels
might come to American shores to
handle such commodities as the
United States might desire to ship to
Europe, Senator Simmons said:
What [ intended to say and all ]
intended to say with reference to that
matter is that, SO far as our wheat
crop is concerned, SO far as our cot
ton crop is concerned so far as our to
baccO crop is cOncerned-and / will
say, by way Of passing, that we nov
sell abroad about 5e,O0O,O0O pounds
Of our leaf tobacco annually-ar
enormous loss will result unless thi.
necessity for transportation is pro
vlded for in some way, either by the
: countries of Europe coming to ou1
aid or otherwise. They have with
: drawn practically all aid at present
and we do not know when they viii
return to the seas with their mer
chant vessels; and if they do return
we have no assurance that they viii
2 for long time to come be able t.
/. supply a sufficient number of ships t
answer our requirements. 1t takes al
enormous number of ships to supply
the needs of our export trade Las
year there were cleared from thi
y country for Europe about 100000,
tons of merchandise; and Europe
g releasing a part Of her merchant ship
:, and returning them to the channel
I of trade while others are impresse,
Il into service or tied up will not suppl
: the demand. If the war continue
: more than two or three months I an
afraid she will not be able to help u
n to anything like the extent that tn
e exigency Of the situation requires.
4 Time to Act.
Mr.. President, the point am-mak
! ing is that it is our duty to do some
thing ourselves and not to RELY alto
n | Ppthpr upon the pOSSi hility Of c;t,,