The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1914-05-07

OF the COtLOn INDUSTRY do IL oAioe9 W.
day that the American people are los
ing SIS, 100000 per annum from the
mishandling of their cotton crop.
Our present system of procedure is
both slipshod and wasteful. There
fore. one of the vital problems con-
fronting the people to-day is the effl-
cient and economical handling and
marketing of the products of the soil.
1t presents a problem of vast magnl-
tude, both from an agricultural and
economic viewpoint, and it is prob
lem in which every wearer of cot
ton goods is interested.
1t so happens that cotton, the pur-
est known natural form of cellulose,
will bear more abuse than any other
crop material and yet retain a large
proportion of it's original value. Corn,
because of it's perishable nature. de-
mands far better treatment, and re-
ceives it. If our billion-and-a-halt-
dollar corn crop were treated one
half as badly as our cotton crop II
would no doubt shrink in value halt
a billion dollars annually. There are
corn cribs on the farms and eleYa-
tors and warehouses at the railroad
stations and primary and secondary
markets for the protection OF the
crop in general. Still. 10 bushels of
corn, worth ordinarily at market,
prices from SIS to Sc, requires as
much space as a bale of cotton, for
storage, which is valued at from 500
to $50.
Cotton planters persist in produc-
ing too many varieties in each COM
munity. and are careless in picking
and in handling unginned and glnned
cotton on the plantation. Neverthe-
less. in a broad sense the lndlvldual
farmer is unable, because of the COM
plexity of the present system, to cope
with the great problems that exist.
Most of the abuses with which spin
ners, especially foreign splnners'
charge the American planter arise
after he has parted with his cotton
and when he no longer has any voice
i'm its treatment. These facts must be
clearly recognized as necessary and
permanent reforms can be brought
about only by community action
among the planters and by co-opera-
ton between growers, ginners, COM
press men, common carriers, bankers
buyers, spinners and merchants.
An occasional period of low prices
is not as serious a danger to the
American cotton industry as cont1n-
nal high prices that serve to stlmu-
late a rapid development of cotton
in foreign lands. A we'll established
foreign market means an ultimate re-
duction or restriction OF our own
prices. This in turn, Injuries every
one concerned, from the planter to
the producer. The United States pos
sesses no natural monopoly of pro-
duction, for cotton may be grown IN
many other parts of the world. Ac-
tive efforts to develop the culture OF
cotton are to-day being made in num-
erous foreign countries, particularly
Mexico, Peru, Brazil, Argentina, Al
geria.t Sudan, Togoland, Nigaria, In
dia Turkestan and China. The only
adequate protection against foreign
competition would be to improve our
own industry by growing better cot
ton and by growing it more cheaply
than other countries are able to do.
notwithstanding the lower wages OF
the foreign plantation laborers.
Some manufacturers are frank
enough to say that they do not de-
sire long or strong cotton, thus en-
couraging the planters to plant lnfe-
rior varieties. II the goods wear out
faster new garments must be pur-
chased more frequently and this
brings larger profits in turn to the
manufacturers of this weak stock OF
fabrics. Such entire disregard of the
interests of the ultimate consumer
may serve to gain a temporary pro-
fit. but it cannot be expected to es-
tablish the cotton industry on ba-
sis of permanent prosperity. The
American public is at last beginning
to appreciate the vast difference in
values of strong and weak cotton pro-
ducts. Manufacturers of long staple
cotton goods have undertaken an ac-
tive campaign of education regarding
the superiority of their fabrics. Some
of the more advanced States have
laws forbidding the adulteratlon and
misbranding of textile goods. Ihe
need for pure-clothes laws is one OF
the same vitalness as that for the
pure food law, for the rapid wearing