The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1915-09-17
SHOULD FIGHT FOR
12-CENT COTTON
Farmers, Merchants and Bankers Should
Cooperate in the Campaign to Save
$25O,OOOOOO to Southern
Cotton Growers
(By Clarence Poe, in The Progressive Farmer.)

has Just been meeting in Seattle,
Washington, and what was the mes
sage that the president of this great
est organization of financiers brought
the country? He predicted, saws a
press dispatch, that "an almost unhe-
Ievable prosperity is rushing on the
nation," or to quote his exact words: :
when bank reserves, which are
greater now than they have ever been
in the history of the county, are dis
tributed, the nation will enjoy almost
unbelievable prosperity. The volume
of money on hand is so great that it
can not find natural outlet. The
movement of the tremendous crops
with the attendant financial activity,
will still further increase the bank
reserves"
And manufacturers are no less op-
tlmlstlc than bankers. The Factory
magazine of Chicago recently took a
poll OF l63 Eastern and Middle West
ern manufacturers as to the prospects
for business in the fall. Forty, or
practically one-fourth of the total
number, declared condition "excep-
tlonal," % "fine," or "above normal" !"
60 good" 18 "fair" and "fairiy
good" only seven "dull and Door"
and only one 'much below normal and
very poor"
Another points not to- be over
looked is
w. The New Federal Reserve Act
msures Better Prices.
President Hirsch of the Texas
Bankers association told the big Cot
ton States conference of Southern
bankers in Galveston: "For the first
time in the history of the South, GEN
tlemen, the Southern bankers have
the financial ability to market grad
ually this crop. 1t would almost an
pear as. if the federal reserve act had
been drafted for the benefit of South
ern producers" Just because the re-
serve act doesn't give the farmers all
the help they need-just because it
doesn't take the place, nor profess to
take the place, of the much-needed
rural credits legislation-is no reason
for denying or minimizing the great
advantages it does offer.
Ihe federal reserve system does
enable the banks in the South where
money Is needed = to draw upon the
great reserves in other sections for
making loans on the cotton crop; or
as Mr.. w. P. G. Harding of the fed
eral reserve board officially says:
Banks have now ample facilities
which they have never before enjoyed
for rediscounting the notes taken
against such loans, and it is for them
pSfa sthaIi.fsr any other agency. to
determine the policy of the South in
regard to the marketing of the pres
ent cotton CROP"
And President Woodrow Wilson in
a letter to Mr.. Harding writes: at is
evident from what you tell me, that
the country banks with whom the
farmer and other producers directly
deal can get money at from to 41a
per cent. think that we can
confidently expect that the banks in
the cotton States and in the agricul-
tural regions generally will content
themselves with rate not more than
or per cent above the rate which
they themselves pay" 1t is up to the
banks to justify this faith expressed
by the head of the nation.
And the crop can be warehoused.
Mr.. Harding points out that even last
fall the South had facilities for stor-
ing 1l,577,465 bales, and these facil-
1ties have been greatly increased since
then.
The next thing probably ought. to
say is
". Twelve-Cent Prices Are Justified,
COntrabard or No Contraband.
Of the 8,543,000 bales of American
cotton shipped to Europe in the fiscal
year ending July 81, 1915, only 242,-
OOO bales went to German ports. Of
course, there was more that went in
directly to Germany, but we must re-
member that a considerable part of
Germany's normal demand for cotton
was exported to Germany's foreign
trade and that this trade will now be
supplied by other countries. The con-
traband order may almost be termed
INFAMOUS If England does nothing to
compensate us for trying to make
Southern farmers bear our burdens,
but In any case to offset the contra
band order we have U the greatly
Increased demand for cotton for war
purposes. i2) the increased demand
for American, English and continental
factories that must supply the trade
formerly supplied by German mills,
together with the fact (3) that Ger
many is almost sure to buy and store
up cotton right here in America to
hold until sea trade is reopened. Even
with the cOntraband order in effect,
therefore, l2-cent prices are amply
justified, whereas with open seas to
all Europe, cotton would likely bring
ID or Is cents.
. An able and eminent committee on
arbitration ought to be named at once
by England and America, to make a
fair and just estimate of the damage
price per pound resulting from the
"order in council' and contraband or
der, and England should then be re-
quired to pay this amount per pound
as bonus to every American cotton