The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-08-12
Urges the Farmers to Hold the Staple for Gradual
 Absorption
GOVERNMENT AND
 BANKS SHOULD AID
Thinks Staple Should Be Ginned in Order to Allow Farmers to Real ize on the Seed, Thus Reliev-
 ing Pressing Needs

W. D. Nesbitt, ones of the best informed cotton men in the south, read a paper be- fore the Birmingham Ad club yesterday on the business situation, with special em- phasis as to the cotton market. The paper of MT Nesbitt was as foilows:~
 In discussing the Attitude of the Busi- ness Man to the Present Situation, the first thought that occurs to us Is one of sympathy for the awful calamity that has come, not to foreigners in Europe, but to our European neighbors and kinsmen. The titanic struggle of today is but a re newal of the effort for growth and expan- sion that marked for centuries the his- tory of your ancestors and of mine; and the blood that today stains in widening pools the map of Europe flows from the broken bodies of near kinsmen of thou sands of Americans.
 The second thought is one of thank land of peace and abundance, and that as nation and as individuals we are hap oily placed to use our brains and energies in assisting those less fortunate, and in preserving and increasing our own strength and position of independence.
 The third thought, and to this l shall address myself today, is that of com mercial self preservation and advance ment.
 Unfortunately, the attitude of many of our business people today is that of one fearfully contemplating the present storm with its binding lightning, rolling thunder
 
 failing to take account of the accompan- ing rain that means bountiful harvests. quickened health and full flowing streams that furnish potential energy for enter prise and gives God-made and God powered avenues of transportation.
 Let us look around and take inventory of our opportunities.
 'The successful nation community and individual is not one that has great op- portunites, but one that is self contained and reliant. and out of changing situa- tions makes it's own opportunity and then by energy and push develops it's destiny.
 We constantly hear that we are not do- ing things like our successful predecessors in affairs of state or commerce. Study what they did and you will find that they with thought followed by energy, did those things best suited to the changing cohditioiS III WAlNil they lOuiiu lutiHStiNts and did not continue by rote or imitation those things previously established under different circumstances.
 The Nation Is Ready America today, more than at any time in it's history is prepared to take full advantage of world trade opportunities now presented by the strangulation of manufacturing Europe. For two years American finance and commerce has been ir continual severe training, and today securities are nearer a basis of inherent values and credits less extended than al any time since 1896. Every business man and manufacturer has for months whit tied and pared his cost sheets. We stand as nation rawboned and ready
 "A wise and patient President ably assisted by a democratic government lhas. under many difficulties and some abuse, preserved our neighborly rela- tions with tormented Mexico We are at peace with the world and have strengthened ourselves in the good opinions of the South American gov ernments.
 Big fraud has been haled into court and is being punished and dis sipated. Big business breathes freer in the knowledge that within the law it will be herished-character and not SiIt IS tHt ttSt.
 Small enterprises and individual eff fort takes courage in the fact that no longer can they be silenced or de- stroyed through discrimination in | transportation or by financial strangu- lation engineered by powerful compet- | itors.
 "The new currency law is completed | just in time and close government su- pervision through the. splendid reserve board which includes our fellow towns man. MT. Harding. means not only great additional financial help to the industries of the country but more equitable distribution of this help be- tween the large and small centers and much greater opportunity for sound as sistance for deserving individual un- ldertakings 1 "The income tax has shifted large burden from the backs of the poor tt the holders of plenty and think of it the opening gun of an European wal which closed her factories and crippled her ability to trade, announced tns opening of the Panama canal thai brings the consumers in the balance of the world directly to our doors ane Horns an ocean lane of commerce tha' for thousand miles skirts our shores
 "The government is moving for ships of American register to carry our pro ducts. South American trade that ha' gone so largely to Germany and othel European countries will find it more certain and safe to trade here. Let. seize the opportunity and make rela