Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1915-08-24
Our Cotton as Contraband.

II the British proclamation which
makes American cotton c~ontraband OF
war is to have any material effect on
prices one way or the other, the causes
that are to produce that effect are not
vet apparent; but nevertheless there is
in this proclamation and in the CO.
related circumstances, quite a good
deal that Is entitled to serious consid-
Grafton.
When southern statesmen in congress
last year who foresaw the baneful effect
that the action of other governments
was going to have on the fortunes OF
the cotton producing south, tried TO
get our own government to forestall
and checkmate that effect by taking
such action as seemed warranted by
the premises, which suggested action
was not nearly so radical as that from
which they had taken alarm, they
were laughed at and ridiculed as desir-
ing to do the baby act" and exhorted
to take their medicine like men.
Although we saw the British gov
eminent getting behind and under
writing billions Of dollars worth OF
doubtful credits belonging to private
merchants in order to save those mer-
chants and incidentally the government
itself from bankruptcy. when Mr.. Hen
nv of Texas, Senator Bankhead of Ala
bama, and other true blue southern
ers, tried to have the government do
the same thing for the cotton producers
Of the south, the government would not
hear to such a thing, Notwithstanding
the fact that the proposition Of Henry
and Bankhead was actually more
sound than the British government
%expedient.
When, as the result Of the war pam
ic, the hundreds Of millions Of dollars
Of stocks and other securities, hung
I'D in New York and other national
banks Of this country, shrunk to less
than half the face value of the loans
they secured, the comptroller Of the
currency very properly suspended the
law that required the sacrifice Of those
securities, and prevented widespread
ruin that would be inevitable; but
when it came to the government being
willing to do the same thing for the
cotton producers, through no greater
risk or inconvenience than saying that
it would buy all the cotton offered be-
low IL cents a pound, there was no
response, except that southern con-
gressmen were tainted with advocat-
ing p%aternalism and pleading the baby
act.
The real effect of our governments
attitude in the matter has been to give
the Allied governments millions OF
bales Of southern cotton at less than
the cost of production and at the ex-
pense Of the people Of the south, and
still we are being told to stand steady
in the good work, to hold up u heads
and continue to act the part of men.
Now comes England, loaded down
with all the cotton she can carry, and
as much as she thinks she is likely to
need, taken from the south like taking
candy from a baby, and notwithstand-
ing the fact that heretofore she has
ever insisted that cotton must have
the absolute freedom Of the seas, tell
ing us that circumstances alter cases,
and that while she has seen proper to
make our staple contraband she pro
poses to initiate measures to relieve
the depression which might temporari-
ly disturb the market"
Here is paternalism, with a venge-
ance, and if we are not being made to
feel that we are being treated as
babies, it is certainly time we were
being shown something Of the real
thing.
If any government is to institute
measures to relieve depression" it
should be our own, and our W gov
eminent should be ashamed to allow
England to talk that way to us. If
the British government can relieve de-
preston, why cannot the United States
government relieve depression?
Everybody in this country with a
reasonable amount Of good common
sense ought to know that the British
government is not going to do any
thing to relieve depression and that
her specious promise along that line
is only a gratuitous insult.