The Brunswick news. [volume] (Brunswick, Ga.) 1906-2016, 1914-09-03
BY William Hurd Hillyer.

mas Deen asked SO often and answer
ed so variously during the last few
days, that it would seem that .he
possibilities of the subject would be
almost exhausted. But in fact, ow-
ing to the wide ramifications of this
greatest event Of the past Thousand
years, | believe the whole matter,
even in its local aspect, has heen
scarceley more than touched upon in
a purely superficial way.
The immediate effect of the great
struggle has alreay been felt. For
the first time since cotton became a
staple commodity it is unsaleable at
any price. The few scattering sales
under pressure afford no basis on
which to estimate a true market val
ne. There has been a great deal OF
hurrying to and fro between the cot
| ton growing states aud the national
capital, and vast amount of talk
in the newspapers and elsewhere, a
| few frantic proposals for the gov
eminent to buy our cotton even as
the Brazilian government bought cof-
| fee from the San Paolo coffee plant
ers. But at this writing-beyond a
treasury ruling which will permit of
warehouse cotton certificates to be
| used as a basis of emergency cur
rency through the national banks
nothing definite has been accomplish
| ed The cotton is being hauled to
market and finding no buyers, is be-
ing stored in the village warehouse,
| under the hungry gaze of the sheriff,
or hauled back again to rot at the
farmers back door.
From being normally hard up, the
southern cotton planter is now fac
| ng the stark specter of bankruptcy
Truth About Cotton Problem
These are facts and it would be
the height of folly to close our eyes
&C actual conditions Only by facing
| the facts as they are can we hope
to avert the grave consequences of
the present prices
affairs. With the foreign spinners
| temporarily ont of the market and
with our textile industries paralyzed
| for the moment by the financial shock
| the truth is that there is no market
for cotton, not because there are no
ships but because there are no buy
ers.
The intrinsic value of the staple,
however, is unimpaired. Cotton is
worth as much today as it was two
| months ago, and, except that the
channels of trade are so disarranged
that they cannot absorb it, As soon
as the European war is over the de
mand for cotton will be greater than
ever before. Even if the struggle is
prolonged there VIII be a gradual
resumption of activity and the staple
will again be in demand. The solu-
ton is not to try to bolster the mar
ket by artificial means hut to enable
the farmer to bridge the depression
and hold his cotton until he can OBJ
tain living price.
Loan Value Should be Fixed
AS above stated, the first step in
this direction has been taken. At
last cotton has been lifted to parity
with other staples in that it is now
recognized by government authori,
ties as liquid commodity which the
banks may use as a basis for circu-
'ating bills. 1t now remains to pro-
vide some sort of standard value
against which the banks will be au-
thoriZed to lend in the absence of
4 true market value. This standard,
whether it be seven cents or nine
cents or even higher, need not be
purely arbitrary. BY taking the var.
ious factors of average price for the
period of years, cost of production
tive capacity during the next twelve
or eighteen months, an equation
should easily be worked out which
would yield the true economic value
of pound of cotton, irrespective of
abnormal market conditions. This
true economic value would then be
an absolutely safe basis upon which
the banks could lend and the United
States government could authorize
the issue of currency.
Crop CurtaiIment Necessary.
Personally. | do not doubt that
these details will be worked out in
time to save our cotton crop from
being sacrificed. But even when this
is done the situation will still re-
quire the mot careful and statesman.
like handling. For unless our farm
ers can be induced to diversity their
crops and largely curtail the product
ion Of cotton next year, all our aims
will come to naught and we will be
confronted next fall with worse
situation than We face today to the
worldwide glut of cotton which will
then exist will be added the prob
lem of maturing loans carried over
fro mthis year.
Bright Side OF Picture.
Having faced the dark side of tLe