Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1915-01-01
SHOULD SELL Object

SHOULD SELL DIRECT
Warehouse Commissions Talks Of
| Cotton and Finance.
An interview with r. H. Paddison,
deputy United States shipping COM
missioner for the port of New York.
published December 90. in the Column
bia State, In which Mr.. Paddison
spoke Of the urgent demand abroad
for American cotton, especially among
the belligerents in the European war,
has brought down upon the state
warehouse commissioner, John l..
McLaurin, some hundreds OF letters,
J inquiring In most cases whether South
Carolina might not exploit this de-
mand to advantage.
Mr.. McLaurin has drafted a letter In
reply to all such inquiries, In which
he says, among Other things that he
deems 1t advisable that his powers be
so enlarged as to enable him to nego-
tiate sales direct with foreign spin
ners. "The reserves are exhausted"
he says. and they are obliged to
have our cotton"
Mr.. McLaurin's letter follows:
Foreigners Buy Futures.
Dear Sir: have your letter Of re-
cent date, In reference to shipment Of
cotton abroad. have writtep sevsFsl
articles on this subject, and herewith
inclose you q statement given out by
me, which was published In sthe CO.
lumbia State of December 8. in which
I called attention to the fact that the
German and Austrian governments
both were buying futures In the New
York markets to protect their manu-
facturers.
When was member Of the United
States senate I was very severely
criticised for advocating ship subsi-
dies I recognized as. far back as
1900 that the south. producing the
chief export crop of this country. was
at great disadvantage because we
had to depend upon foreign vessels to
carry our products abroad. Germany
England, France and Japan were pay
ing heavy Subsidies to their ships and
the inevitable result was to drive the
American merchant flag from the sea.
At the time that ] took this stand
there was only one line Of American
vessels left, and this has now gone un-
der foreign flags. The fact is that q
considerable portion Of the money In
vested In foreign ships is American
money, and they went under foreign
| flags In order to participate In these
subsidies. But, under the terms OF
the subsidy. as soon as war In declar-
ed all Of these ships become part OF
the navy Of the country whose flag
they are flying.
In our extremity President. Wilson
Is proposing that the government buy
the ships outright and allow private
persons or corporations to operate
them.
Tip to the President.
It seems to me that II the Federal
administration had sufficient back
bone to announce positively that cot
ton, not being contraband Of war,
would be shipped to any country In
the world. under the protection Of the
Il <14u0Ilt<u navy tudl uOu0 VI ILC
countries now at war would dare to
interfere. AS It Is, II looks as II Eng.
Hand ts determined that sotton shall be
4 fatslpped isowfere except t0 ner. TAX
l ing this. In connection with the fact
that the secretary of the treasury Ia
responsible for exporting to the Bank
| Of England enough gold to have
| bought one-hah of the cotton crop, II
seems that the south is expected to
contribute at least one-half Of this
crop to enable England to conduct the
the time that the treasury department
made this large contribution Of gold
| to the Bank Of England. the British
| ministry gave notice to the spinners
that they could not furnish funds for
the purchase Of American cotton, and
that they must consume their re-
serves. The effect Of this, Just as this
to cut prices half In two. II there had
been no war, the action Of the secre-
tary Of the treasury alone would have
destroyed one-half Of the value Of the
cotton crop Of the south.
have never been able to see why,
when England and all the other coun-
tries in Europe declared moratorium
the United States should not have
done the same thing by suspend,ny
specie payments. Two hundred mill
lion dollars Of gold was exported to
This was equivalent to $500. 100000 OF
paper money, enough to have bought
the entire cotton crop at 10 cents per
pound. The reason assigned for doing
this was that 1t would protect Amer-
can credit, but II seems to me that
American credit could have been bet
ter guarded by forcing q high price
for our export products than by de-
nuding this country Of gold to protect
bonds and stocks in the New York ex-
change. It is far more important that
our domestic debts, due our own banks
and merchants be met, than that bank
ers and brokers in New York should
receive all the aid from the Federal
administration to maintain the price
Of paper securities.
Wade Plan Misused.
The Wade plan was ''the tub thrown
to the whale" and instead OF helping
the producer, merely furnishes fund
for the cotton spinners to buy at re-
duced prices. / have positive knowl-
edge that, instead Of lending this
money to farmers to hold their cotton
for an advance 1t is being loaned to
the mills to buy at present low
values.
IH6 Only TtHcuy i cCC 10 " iSkoo0 w
part with our cotton and enlarge the
powers conferred upon the state ware
house commissioner under the ware
house act 80 as to permit the commits
sioner to- negotiate bales direct with
the foreign spinners. Their reserves
are exhausted and they are obliged to
have our cotton.
have been watching the situation
very closely and I am satisfied that 1t
Is not so much the lack Of ships as 1t
Is taking advantage Of the war situa-
ton to charge enormous freights and
that no concerted effort is being made
on behalf of the producers Of cotton
but that all the efforts have been In
favor Of the consumers.
see by the market reports that
cotton is bringing 25 cents pound In
Russia, Germany and other countries
of Europe. They not only have to
have the raw material to keep the
mills going, but also to replenish their
reserves. II the farmers will hold their.
cotton and reduce their acreage at
least so per cent they will have time
to study the situation and then the